Meet Sheena Anne

Sheena Anne (@sheenaanne.ca) is a fashion stylist based out of Calgary, Alberta who works in both personal styling and professional photography/videography shoots. A lover of fashion, creativity, and art, her job allows her to express herself through the medium of clothes. Sheena is also passionate about her work as a body positivity advocate and a promoter of sustainability in fashion. 

While she loves her career and her job, it took Sheena a few years to come to the place that she is now. After graduating from university with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (major in Photography), she worked as a pet and animal photographer for ten years, a job which she felt was unfulfilling. After a career change and some time spent studying hair, makeup, and fashion, she decided in 2014 to work as a stylist and hasn’t looked back since.

“Fashion just clicked with my soul.”

BEING A FASHION STYLIST  IN CALGARY, ALBERTA

When asked what her least favourite parts of working as a stylist are, Sheena laughed. “If I didn’t like anything, I wouldn’t do it,” she put simply (though she wouldn’t say she’s a big fan of bookkeeping. Who is?). To her, being a stylist means being able to get creative in so many different aspects - she sees fashion as art and sees the clothes she works as pieces in composition rather than as specific brands or labels. She also quite enjoys getting to work with other artists when working as a stylist on a professional shoot. Although there is nothing that Sheena particularly dislikes about working as a stylist, she does acknowledge that there are certain myths that are perpetuated about the job while at the same time some truths aren’t discussed enough. 

Some of the myths? That it’s a glamorous job, or that fashion stylists are constantly well dressed. In reality, a stylist is often one of the worst-dressed people on set as they’re constantly running after other people or trying to coordinate plans. The hours are strange and inconsistent - one of her longest shoots was a video shoot that went on for thirteen hours, but another time she was back home after only four hours. One of the truths that Sheena rarely sees discussed is how emotional the job can be, especially when working as a personal stylist.

 “There’s a lot of emotional work that goes into clothing, and how people emotionally connect and identify with clothes is really fascinating.” 

Sentimental attachments to clothes, for example, have made appearances when Sheena has worked with clients to do edits of their closets. One of her most memorable incidents of this happening was during a closet edit where her client was in near tears over a t-shirt that had a lot of emotional value to them. Although one would think that this work could be emotionally exhausting, Sheena makes sure that those who she works with as a personal stylist are a good fit personality-wise, and to be able to make a difference in someone’s life, to make them feel good and give them direction on what to do with their clothes is quite rewarding for her.

As a stylist in Alberta, many people would think that it's an unrewarding landscape as the city isn’t exactly known for its fashion. Sheena views it with a lot of optimism. Compared to cities such as Paris or London where there is an established, accepted idea of what is fashion and what isn’t, she finds that people are much more open-minded about what is possible and what can be created. There’s a lot of opportunities - opportunity to make the fashion scene on their own terms, to create and establish a fashion landscape that is uniquely Albertan. 

BODY POSITIVITY ADVOCACY  IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Sheena’s work as a body positivity advocate stems from her experiences growing up. Growing up she was never one straight-size and grew up in a small town without many options which led to a lot of verbal bullying from her peers and others. When it comes to how she handles the verbal abuse that people used to and still hurl at her, Sheena stated that “Honestly, I’ve been plus-sized for so long, I’ve heard every insult there is.” She added that she knows that these hateful comments are not who she is, and are more a reflection of the people who say it to her. Some advice she’d give to others? 

“You have to love yourself, even finding just one thing to love yourself or you’ll go crazy from the hate.”

As a body positivity advocate, in Sheena’s eyes there is some good and some bad in the current Canadian fashion industry when it comes to being size-inclusive. While it’s good that some brands are finally waking up and expanding their size ranges, many are still not doing it or are trying to become known as size-inclusive while not actually putting in the work to do so. Being size-inclusive does not mean the largest size in your clothing brand is an XL to XXL, it means including sizes that go all the way up or at the very least including the option to custom size up. While Sheena understands that brands that are trying to expand their size ranges to be more inclusive may have to go about it in a certain, slower manner to try and have a viable business, she muses on how much more opportunity businesses would have if inclusive sizing was a priority of clothing brands from the start. 

Within the industry, language and representation are incredibly important to become truly plus size-inclusive. Visual representation, such as plus-size models on runways, photoshoots, and advertisements is still very rare to see despite there being a push to become inclusive. In addition to more true plus-size representation, Sheena wants to see images and models whose bodies are considered ‘atypical’.

“Most plus-size models have flatter stomachs, are hour-glass shaped, and at most are a size 14. It’s a bullshit representation of what plus-size actually is.”

This Refinery 29 article even discusses how plus size models often have to wear padding to achieve the ‘ideal’ hourglass plus-size look that companies prefer, pushing even more unrealistic beauty standards onto plus-size people. In Sheena’s opinion, having plus-size models with bodies that aren’t only hour-glass shaped, with different proportions would make a world of difference in the industry and for individuals. 

For stylists looking to be part of this positive change in the industry and work to be plus-size inclusive, Sheena recommends that they actively work with plus-size models and gain hands-on experience. Having experience with dressing someone who is plus size will help stylists understand and learn better than going to a third-party source like Googling the answers. Some last thoughts on body positivity from Sheena: The more inclusive a business is, the more that they can reap the benefits from it, both financially and socially. Right now the average size that most people wear is large and up, so it makes no sense to exclude these sizes from a financial, stylist, or consumer standpoint. 

A plus-size shoot Sheena Anne styles.

Photo: Darryl Pollock

Model: Abriana Soll

Make-up and Hair: Branden Sant

WORKING WITH SUSTAINABILITY IN FASHION

Sheena’s first exposure to the idea of sustainability was when she began working at a vintage store. The store she worked at introduced her to not only unique, one-of-a-kind finds, but the idea of how sustainable fashion can make a difference for both society and the environment. Buying from vintage, consignment, or thrift stores, she explained, can help you better represent or express yourself because you’ll be buying unique pieces rather than clothes that many people already have. As a stylist, she often pulls outfits from pieces that she’s thrifted for professional shoots, and prefers not to pull new clothes as she feels that buying from small thrift/vintage stores also allows her purchases to go back to the community. When she’s working as a personal stylist, she’ll do a closet edit so that her clients know exactly what is in their closet and how to style clothes they may not have realized still suit them. If she and the client decide that some of their clothes do not work, the thrift store and the local fabric recycling depot are always options. 

When it comes to the current sustainability practices of the fashion industry, Sheena has one word to describe them: “Bullshit.” It’s a new territory, she explains, with not a lot of regulation from either the government or the industry which can lead to a lot of misinformation and misleading of consumers (click here to read an overview on the current state of sustainability in the industry by The Issue Magazine). For the industry to change, she says that fashion professionals themselves need to change; supporting brands that are legitimately practicing sustainability, supporting local brands, even working with bigger brands if they have sustainable practices. There also needs to be more accessibility to sustainability for consumers, especially in terms of a lowered financial barrier. 

“There’s an idea that sustainable fashion is expensive, when really it starts in your own closet and what you already have. Sustainable fashion is accessible to all, no matter your socio-economic status.” 

The more inclusive the industry can be when it comes to sustainability, the better for businesses and customers. Consignment stores, for example, should look to expand their plus-size clothes so that customers have more options and can buy local. For individuals looking to practice sustainability, she recommends thrifting or going to vintage/consignment stores. Sewing is also an option, or finding a friend who can sew or alter clothing for you. For professionals, she believes that keeping an open mind as to what fashion can be and doing research as to which brands they want to support and why is incredibly important. She also stresses that if you as a professional want to be sustainable, the best way is to do and not just talk about being sustainable. 

“I want sustainability to get bigger as a movement.” 

Sheena emphasized that she’d like to see the entire fashion industry get behind real, genuine sustainability, i.e slowing downtrends, cutting down on runway shows, using sustainable fabrics, as she believes it’d be a positive movement for everyone. While some people and brands are just starting to wrap their heads around the push for sustainability, she also believes there still needs to be a lot of education within and outside the industry. Using the internet and apps such as Instagram can really help people learn about what sustainability looks like and what the brands that are doing it right can be like.

“Using the everyday tools you have to educate yourself is also really important.”

For those reading this article and live in Calgary, Alberta, she does have some favourite sustainable stores to recommend: Antiquare Boutique (@antiquare.boutique), a vintage store, Danielle’s Consignment (@daniellesconsignment), which recently opened up a plus-size rack, and the Women In Need’s Society (@winsyyc), a thrift store whose proceeds go back to the community they serve. 

TIPS, TRICKS, AND ADVICE FROM A STYLIST

Some final tips as a stylist? Sheena says that her favourite trick for finding your personal style is something she learned while in school:

“Think of three words that you would use to describe your style.”

The words can be anything, as long as they make sense to you. When you’re shopping, look for clothes that match this description. For herself, it took her a long time to find her own style as fashion wasn’t really on her radar, and if it was, the most popular advice for plus-size people is to hide their bodies, which isn’t particularly helpful. For plus-sized people looking to find their own style, she recommends that they stay off google, figure out what they like to show off and what makes them uncomfortable, and find clothes that work with your preferences. She also despises the idea of body shape dressing (the idea of pear, apple body shapes etc.) as it’s an archaic idea that believes the hourglass body is ideal, and any other body shape should aspire to look like the hourglass body.  As a stylist and an individual, she’d rather that everyone dress to highlight what they love about themselves, and not what the fashion industry believes they should look like.