Courtesy Michelle Sterling
- Michelle Sterling is a corporate image consultant.
- She styles doctors, tech workers, executives, and investment bankers.
- She explained her career path and how to get the quiet luxury look.
In her 20 years as a corporate image consultant, Michelle Sterling has styled surgeons, tech workers, executives, investment bankers, and young, aspiring executives. She is the owner of Global Image Group and teaches online courses through the Sterling Style Academy.
The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.
I became a stylist after working in retail
I've always loved shopping. I go shopping every day.
My first official retail job was at Express, then I worked for Armani Exchange. I was making so much money before I even went to college.
I went to Wellesley College and studied French and Spanish. It was really useful because there were a lot of international students in Boston, so I could use my language skills when they were shopping. I worked at Emporio Armani and these international students had monthly allowances of $1,000 or more. That funded my shopping because they were shopping at these high-end stores that I worked at.
After I graduated, I went into investment banking for four years. I was getting super stressed out living in New York and being an investment banker. I wanted a more chill life so I went to San Francisco and started working for Emporio Armani again.
Courtesy Michelle Sterling
One day this guy walked into the store and he told me he was an image consultant, he'd been on Oprah, and that he made $50,000 in his first month as a stylist. Then while I was helping a customer pick out an outfit for the San Francisco Opera, I realized, "I can do this personal shopping job. I do it anyway."
I started working at Cartier because it was less demanding as a salesperson. They had computers at the cash wrap, so surfing the internet allowed me to start my business virtually. Back then, marketing was a lot easier. You just really had to have a good web presence.
I had a high ranking website. There weren't that many stylists around, so I was serving San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Miami, Texas, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. I didn't make it right away — it took about three years. I called myself an image consultant because I thought people would take me more seriously.
Most of my clients are 6- to 7-figure earners
Typically, my clients work in tech or finance, or they're a very successful professional or entrepreneur. Their annual income is at least $250,000 to $1 million and their budget for consultation should be about $2,500 per day.
The most anyone has spent in one shopping trip was $50,000. The client came from the Midwest to San Francisco to see me. He was going through a divorce and basically a midlife crisis, so he dropped all this money because he needed to reinvent himself.
The most interesting clients I've had are all doctors it seems. I had a plastic surgeon client — he was single, lived on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and he had two flashy sports cars like a Porsche and a Ferrari. He dated blonde models.
We needed to elevate his image. I told him the shirts that he was buying for $50 aren't going to cut it. We brought the budget to about $250 per shirt. This guy was like something else. He asked me to segment his wardrobe to rainy days, sunny days, going clubbing when he was sweating versus going clubbing when he was not sweating. I was like, okay, well, this is going to cost a lot to make his lookbook.
Some of my clients are executives and budding executives. I have parents contact me who want me to train their kids to become a future leader, because they feel like their kids don't have direction, or they just need a leg up in order to become successful. Recently, I seem to have this younger demographic between, 25 and 30 contacting me for consultation.
Courtesy Michelle Sterling
The quiet luxury brands to buy
Quiet luxury is big in California. It's kind of an unspoken competition about how you look. People in Silicon Valley wear nice things and if you have a clue, you'll wear them. But if you don't, then it shows that you haven't been around long enough because all the people that are super successful are wearing these things.
Quiet luxury is common in New York too, but it's not as subtle as in California. In San Francisco, you could be wearing an $800 t-shirt and it just looks like something that's $50 or $30. That's how quiet the luxury is in California.
Some of the top brands for quiet luxury are Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli, and Zegna.
One tip I give people is to work on their own personal brand, because these days, it's important for you to project an authentic image and something that's unique to yourself. So whatever you're wearing is a representation of you.
Do you have an interesting job in retail? To tell your story, please email this reporter at jortakales@insider.com or text (646) 768-4742 using the Signal app.