Podcast

TDF Talks With Stylist + Art Director, Stephanie Stamatis

In today’s episode, we chat to one of Melbourne’s most talented stylists, and someone I like to think of the original Instagram influencer – Stephanie Stamatis, otherwise known as Stephanie Somebody!

We talked about Stephanie’s journey from interior design to styling, and finding her niche as a stylist and art director. She also shares some amazing advice for any budding desk-worker keen to take the leap into freelance creative work!

Written
by
Lucy Feagins

Styling by Stephanie Stamatis. Photo – Lauren Bamford.

More of Stephanie’s amazing work. Photo – Lauren Bamford.

Propping. Photo – Annette O’Brien.

Stephanie and her studio assistant Ella. Photo – Annette O’Brien.

Writer
Lucy Feagins
18th of October 2018

It’s a little-known fact that Stephanie Stamatis (aka Stephanie Somebody) started out as an interior designer, and worked in commercial interiors for six years. However, it was her early adoption of Instagram that propelled her career in a new direction, around eight years ago.

Like a lot of people in Melbourne’s creative community, I first discovered Stephanie way back in 2010, when Instagram was still an incredibly young and relatively unknown social media platform. Whilst most people, including me, were still wrapping our heads around this new platform, Stephanie leapt in headfirst, creating an incredibly beautiful and highly-curated feed, and becoming one of Instagram’s most popular early users. She was promoted by Instagram itself, and was one of the first Australian users to gather over 100,000 followers. Instagram provided Stephanie with the confidence to leave behind her interior design job, develop a distinctive styling aesthetic, and pursue work as a freelance stylist.

Since then, she’s worked for an incredible array of clients including Country Road, Mecca, Kinfolk, Myer, The Guardian, Penguin Publishing and many more. She’s also launched Studio Local, which she runs with business partner Sarah Cooper. This photo studio and event space in Northcote plays host to a varied calendar of workshops and events throughout the year.

I caught up with Stephanie last week to gain more insight into her incredible accomplishments, her thoughts on the social media landscape now, and what she’s aspiring to next.

 

Notes + Links

You can see more of Stephanie Stamatis’ beautiful work on her Instagram @stephanie_somebody.

And also read more about her work and projects on her website here.

Stephanie is the co-founder of Studio Local.

She often collaborates with Melbourne-based photographer Lauren Bamford and Yarra Valley-based foodie Cassandra Morris of Fig & Salt.

Stephanie’s styling has appeared in Kinfolk magazine. She would one day love to work with Pleasure Magazine and French publication Holiday.

We featured Stephanie’s Extraordinary Routine last year.

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