The Importance of Diversity with Michelle Li
COURTESY OF MICHELLE LI
NYC based stylist, writer, and art director Michelle Li has paved an innovative path for the fashion industry. From working with CFDA, New York Times, and Harper’s Bazaar, her background in social media content creation, photoshoot conceptualization, and journalism has led her to many diverse and optimizing opportunities that have led her to where she is now. Her inspiring journey is an encouraging piece to all young and aspiring creatives pursuing a career within the fashion/styling industry.
Growing up in Indiana, her early life was wholesome. Being born to Chinese parents, she was shown love through acts of service as well as keeping an open mind and learning something from every experience she makes. Because she was raised in a predominantly white town, it did not provide the exhisatliering lifestyle she was searching for. “Everyone was kind of the same,” she says, “which made me want to stand out more.” (Edwin USA). She then moved on to attend Parsons The New School where she did several internships, including Valentino and PR, but didn’t feel passionate towards them until she started interning at NYLON Magazine. “I worked with amazing people like Rachael Wang and Marissa Smith and they really inspired me to get into styling,” she says in an interview with Fashion Monitor. “Seeing how they operated heavily influenced and set the groundwork for how I work in the fashion industry today.” She received her first job fresh out of university for Refinery29 and then moved on to become a fashion editor for Teen Vogue. With a wider variety of resources and support, Michelle reached a creative freedom like no other. During her time at Teen Vogue, she also started a franchise about styling groups of girls within big fashion trends of the season; such as one with rollerskaters, and another ice skaters of Harlem for a winter story. After leaving Teen Vogue in May 2021, she started freelancing in styling and consulting and started working with Tradesy - a luxury secondhand marketplace. Along with creating a wide variety of second hand luxury pieces with Tradesy, she also has started content creation.
COURTESY OF MICHELLE LI
COURTESY OF MICHELLE LI
COURTESY OF MICHELLE LI
COURTESY OF MICHELLE LI
Some of her accomplishments include styling for ZARA Kids, Parade, Teen Vogue, Refinery29, and styling Lana Condor and Sadie Sink. Hand picked by H&M for the H&M Loves NY campaign, Michelle would also love to work with Acne Studios and Walk of Shame and would love to see diversity being improved within the fashion industry. “I think that it’s a huge step that brands are being called out for not being diverse and proper representation. There are so many beautiful models of color and plus size models, that it’s inexcusable to only use one in your show and consider yourself diverse.” (Fashion Monitor) The importance of having exposure for people who look like you and can, in turn, represent you is a sentiment she realized early on as one of the only Asian American families living in Indiana. These days, she recognizes how she’s on the other side of visibility, no longer the recipient, but rather a contributor. (Kalaidoscope - Michelle Li on Diversity in Fashion)
COURTESY OF MICHELLE LI
“Inclusion in fashion needs to be something natural - to a big deal and not in place just to meet a certain quota”