The latest luxury for busy professionals is not worrying about what to wear

Anand Gopal had never considered working with a stylist. “I always thought personal stylists were for the elite,” the 45-year-old award-winning journalist and author told Business Insider.

Then, he met Zahra Waliji at a party and saw the outfits she’d put together for his friends.

He thought she was talented and enlisted her to style him for a friend’s birthday party in January.

Gopal, who’s based in New York, said he spent a few hundred dollars on the service, less than he expected. “Her model is more like personal styling for the masses, and I’m definitely in that category,” he said.

Waliji, who went from being unemployed in 2024 to personal styling nine clients this year, is just one out of an industry that employs more than 263,000 people in the US and is projected to add more than 65,000 new jobs over the next decade.

Many of these stylists dress everyday people for vacations, dates, work, and other day-to-day activities.

They help clients do more with less and craft personal brands that go beyond Instagram.

Most importantly, stylists are saving their clients two things that are often in short supply: time and energy. “We all have a million things to do, so to know that my outfits can be taken care of is really good,” Gopal said. “Not having to worry about what you’re going to wear is a nice luxury.” “[Stylists] are helping reduce cognitive load,” he added.

In 2024, Waliji had just resigned from her yearslong job at a New York City hospital before relocating to Tanzania.

Although she was focused on traveling, she was also designing, styling, and tailoring more than 40 outfits for herself and six family members ahead of her brother’s three-day wedding in Zanzibar.

Waliji was, to put it simply, inspired.

So much so that the now 42-year-old returned to New York City a year later with fresh creativity in her back pocket. “For the first time in my life, I was having fun styling my own body,” she said. “I was feeling more confident and knew I was really good at it.

So I wanted to do the same for other people and make styling my job.” In Waliji’s case, the career move turned out to be a relatively easy transition.

In our world of aesthetic perfection, many people — not just celebrities and billionaires — are seeking styling services.

It’s one of the various cosmetic enhancement tools that have made their way mainstream, à la Botox, veneers, and GLP-1s.

Searches for “personal styling” have skyrocketed since spring 2025, while breakout queries for the “best personal styling service” have increased 150% over the past five years.

Social media, of course, plays a role.

The more we post photos and videos of ourselves, the more we want to look our best.

There’s also the fact that, even when we don’t necessarily want to be, we’re always on camera — work Zoom calls, FaceTimes with friends, and Ring doorbells capture our every move.

Where there’s supply, personal stylists are meeting demand. “My clients are normal people, but they are highly successful and motivated,” Maiya Plather, a New York-based stylist, told Business Insider.

That’s why she and other personal stylists deliver more than just outfits.

It’s self-confidence and stress relief that clients are really paying for.

When a stylist dresses an everyday client, the task at hand is not necessarily to create a singular red carpet or social-media moment.

And for many clients, the process begins with their own wardrobes. “My approach is, first, teaching you how to rewear things in your closet,” Waliji said. “We’re minimizing having to spend more money.” Every dollar counts, especially since styling can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per service.

While Waliji initially charged thousands of dollars for services like closet cleanouts, following industry standards, she has since lowered her prices to reach more clients.

She now charges $2,000 for in-person capsule wardrobe consultations, $450 per hour for private style consulting, and $250 for virtual closet cleanouts, where she connects with clients over Zoom and helps them decide whether to keep or remove each piece of their wardrobe.

Clients may pay extra to purchase new pieces that help stylists fill gaps in clients’ wardrobes. “I have tried to master the skill of buying inexpensive clothes and making them look very high-end,” Waliji said. “I’ll practice on myself and style a look from head to toe for $75, so I know it’s doable.” Where celebrity styling and personal styling merge, though, is in the art of tailoring.

It’s not always the clothes themselves that make A-listers stand out.

It’s the fit. “[Clients] can buy a pair of pants for $25, invest another $30 to get them hemmed or to get the waist taken in, and then the entire look is elevated,” Waliji said.

As the industry has expanded to serve more customers, the array of personal styling services has also grown, benefiting both consumers and providers.

On TikTok, for example, there’s a subset of stylists who scour thrift shops and dealer archives to find unique secondhand pieces for clients.

Typically, these clients and stylists never actually meet; they communicate solely through texts and vision boards.

At the end of their exchanges, though, customers have standout pieces to add to their closets, and stylists have new social-media content they can use to promote their services.

The latter has proven especially beneficial for stylists who take their services online, regardless of their niche.

She styles everyday people with modern pieces and films their makeovers as part of an ongoing TikTok series.

Her videos have gained her 1.3 million followers, more than 28.2 million likes, and a plethora of new clients.

Videos like Welch’s often inspire people who never before considered working with stylists.

Through social media, they uncover that styling is an option.

A post shared by Kenzie Welch (@stylingwithkenzie) Actors, musicians, athletes, and models are often gifted clothes and loaned designer pieces for specific events.

Doctors, lawyers, and other everyday professionals who work with stylists don’t usually have access to those perks.

Still, they’re happy to invest in pieces handpicked for them.

When we don’t want to cook dinner, we order from DoorDash and let the fees add up.

Someone else can figure out what clothes work for our bodies, purchase them for us, and style them into multiple outfits.

And they can do so for any occasion.

It’s a bit different from what stores like Aritzia, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale’s offer through personal styling appointments, which are often limited to one retailer’s inventory.

Personal stylists can work across brands and build long-term plans for their clients.

Buying new pieces, turning them into cute outfits, and making sure you don’t forget anything when you pack requires time and energy that many people don’t have.

Stylists can ease that burden. “I’ll have clients say: I have a 10-day vacation, and I need you to style me for daytime and nighttime looks.

I want you to help me pack so when I go there, I know exactly what I’m wearing,” Waliji said. “I’ll do that, and I’ll take pictures [of each outfit] so they have a guide.” The ultimate luxury that results from personal styling, though, is confidence. “I’ve struggled with body image issues and confidence my entire life,” Waliji said, noting that she understands the emotional side of styling. “Working with women and men to make them feel powerful, strong, and empowered every day creates a kind of happiness that nothing else can bring.” One client of Waliji’s works as a teacher in New York.

Her personal uniform consists of a simple blazer and trousers every day — no accessories, skirts, or fancy hairstyles included.

When Waliji styled her for a party, though, she realized she could actually color outside the lines. “Everyone was talking about my outfit at my party, and I was turning a lot of heads,” the teacher told Business Insider. “People who I see every day at work got to see me in a new light.

It was a big deal.” Naysayers might argue that there’s no need to spend on personal styling when you can get fashion advice for free from a friend, a store salesperson, TikTok, and ChatGPT.

Stylists and their clients disagree. “I was working with a client, and I picked a Zimmerman dress for her,” Waliji said. “When she put it on, she said, ‘This is it.

I want every dress to make me feel this way.'” “I made an effort to understand what makes her feel good,” she added. “You can’t really get that from TikTok.” And you never know.

If you can’t afford a stylist but you meet one like Waliji, you might get lucky.

Styling, she believes, should be accessible. “I don’t want money to get in the way of making you feel good,” she said. “I’m a bad businesswoman.

I’ve worked with people for no cost.” The teacher client mentioned above was one of them. “If I’m being 100% with you, [Waliji] styled me for free as a birthday present,” she said. “But for the record, I would pay for her services.”

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