Styled By: Inside Met Gala Mayhem: Stylist Jasmine Benjamin on Pressure, Precision and Power Moves

0:00 Today's guest has styled some of the hottest names in music.

0:03 [music] I'm talking Anderson .Paak, Miguel, and even a legendary Chaka Khan.

0:08 She's also been the brains behind amazing ads for the WNBA,

0:13 Nike, Google, and so many other amazing companies.

0:18 Jasmine Benjamin is with us right now to talk about her new book that pays

0:22 homage to the city of angels and also to discuss what inspires her fashionably.

0:33 Jasmine, thank you so much for being here

0:35 with us today to for being in this amazing showroom.

0:39 There's so many cool threads here.

0:41 I cannot wait to get into all of that, but first,

0:44 let's begin from the very beginning.

0:46 I know that you grew up here in Cali,

0:49 um and this is where like you had your beginning with fashion.

0:52 So, tell us like how did that your upbringing really

0:55 inspire you to become the person that you are today?

1:00 Well, I grew up in a really bohemian household

1:02 and my mother and father had really cool style.

1:06 Um my my father being from San Francisco and my mother being from New Orleans,

1:11 it just kind of brought this really great melting pot of alternative style.

1:15 And I also had an older brother who's a Gen

1:17 Xer who just was super into hip hop and grunge,

1:20 so he had really great style and I don't know,

1:23 something about having a southern mom,

1:25 there's just a different type of swag that they have.

1:27 So, I was really lucky to be able to witness all of their great style.

1:32 I also know that you are a stylist, but you are also a photographer.

1:36 So, how do you blend the both of those when you are on set for a campaign?

1:42 Well, you know, to be honest,

1:45 I feel like I really [music] learned photography by looking at the campaigns

1:49 in the magazines and then when I'm

1:52 on set seeing how the photographer sets up everything

1:54 and the lighting and the composition

1:56 and that really informed my eye throughout my entire

2:01 life of being a stylist to learn how to be a great photographer, to be honest.

2:06 And I know that you have big news.

2:08 You are dropping a book, right?

2:10 Your first book.

2:12 Tell us about the book and what inspired it.

2:14 You know, my book, what really inspired it was First of all,

2:18 I wanted to do something different than what

2:20 I'm usually known for, which is being a stylist,

2:22 and I want to really represent the city

2:25 and place that brings me the most inspiration,

2:27 which is Los Angeles.

2:28 And I felt like Los Angeles has the most rich,

2:32 diverse culture that people don't know about

2:35 unless you're an insider in Los Angeles.

2:37 And I wanted to showcase what my world looks like,

2:39 the people that I see every day,

2:41 the people that inspire me, the different neighborhoods,

2:44 and the different eclectic creative luminaries that I'm around all the time.

2:49 So, I was like, I'm going to make a book about this.

2:51 This is like just gives me I know I keep saying the word inspiration,

2:56 but it just gives me so much inspiration and it's inspired

2:59 like my entire career being a stylist living in Los Angeles.

3:02 I love that.

3:02 Love that so much.

3:04 And we mentioned earlier that you've [music] worked

3:06 with so many amazing artists such as Anderson .Paak, Chaka Khan, Miguel, right?

3:12 So, let's just dive into who [music] they are fashionably, like their essence.

3:17 So, let's talk about Chaka Khan.

3:19 What is it about Chaka Khan's voice,

3:22 her persona, her image that really blend well together?

3:26 Chaka Khan is one of one because she is a black soul funk singer,

3:32 but she's also like very bohemian and she likes to say,

3:37 or she used to like to say, very goth.

3:39 So, you know, she's coming out with fringe, she needs lace,

3:44 she needs velvet, she needs black, and she's just also so beautiful.

3:50 Every era of her life, she's more and more beautiful.

3:53 So, like Chaka is just like she's one of one.

3:56 She's so special.

3:57 Right, right.

3:58 She really is one of one.

3:59 Okay.

4:00 Now, let's talk about Miguel.

4:01 Miguel is all about R&B, baby.

4:03 All about R&B.

4:05 So, what is it about his style that really epitomizes [music]

4:09 R&B, the culture, the genre?

4:11 Well, when we met to work together,

4:12 it was really incorporating things that were authentically him, which is,

4:17 you know, he's black and Mexican, he's from Los Angeles,

4:19 and he has a really foundational love for rock music.

4:23 So, we really incorporated a lot of those themes

4:27 within his wardrobe when I was working with him,

4:29 and that has been foundational throughout all of the eras of his career,

4:33 even when I'm not there anymore.

4:34 Because when you think of Miguel, you think about the leather.

4:37 You think about the bare chest.

4:38 Yeah, yeah.

4:39 You think about the arms out.

4:40 Okay, cool.

4:41 Love that.

4:41 And then let's talk about Anderson .Paak, right?

4:44 Anderson .Paak is a whole mood, right?

4:47 So, tell us how does Anderson .Paak's style really

4:51 embody who he [music] is on stage as an artist?

4:55 Well, with Anderson .Paak,

4:56 what's interesting about him is he's like this ball of fun, happy energy.

5:01 He really lifts the mood in any room that he's in.

5:05 And with him, it was more about like, you know,

5:07 he makes such such great like soul music, but there's some throwback elements.

5:12 So, it was like, how do we incorporate retro looks,

5:15 but kind of create them into a more modern way.

5:20 So, it was like mixing retro and modern together and really

5:24 joyful patterns and really joyful colors because that's his present.

5:30 Yeah.

5:30 And like it's just like a big melting pot of that and then you have this.

5:34 And then when we think about your career,

5:36 Jasmine, girl, you've been doing it all.

5:37 You have done so much.

5:39 What moments from your career still make you just pinch yourself to be like,

5:44 man, that really happened?

5:45 I always think about my first Grammys in 2013

5:48 [music] with Miguel because it was like the first

5:52 big artist that I was working with and I

5:55 really feel like I manifested that whole thing.

5:58 I always thought that the first big artist that I work

6:02 with, I want it to be a someone who might have

6:05 needed a rebrand and someone that I can kind of come

6:09 in and create this whole new world that was more authentically them,

6:13 and I felt like I really had that with an artist like Miguel.

6:17 So, jump to that year, 2013, it's the Grammys,

6:20 Adorn is the biggest song in the world at that time,

6:23 and it was just an amazing experience because it was my first Grammys,

6:26 and it was also witnessing this artist in the highest

6:29 of his life of his career and seeing how people are receiving him,

6:34 how he's receiving all the honors.

6:36 The Grammys that year was incredible,

6:39 and it was just a really fun ride that whole year.

6:42 Yeah, and then when you are styling for the Grammys, right?

6:45 Because that's an award show like no other.

6:48 So, what things do you keep in mind

6:51 when styling for that specific award [music] show?

6:54 That one, you really want to make sure the artist is originally original,

6:58 but like originally themselves.

7:00 Yeah.

7:00 You know?

7:00 And you want to make sure that [music] it's

7:02 not necessarily like pulling from a store, per se.

7:05 You want to either work with a designer,

7:07 maybe a fashion house in Europe, and pull clothes from the collections,

7:11 or if you're really lucky,

7:12 which my favorite thing to do is making customs with the fashion houses.

7:16 And that is like, to me, the top level of creativity you can do with a stylist.

7:22 Yeah, I love that part.

7:23 Take us into one of those moments though when you have

7:25 worked with a fashion house to create your own custom looks.

7:29 What is that process like for you?

7:30 Um it's so fun.

7:32 I feel like I really got such [music] great training working

7:35 with these artists and being able to kind of be a middle

7:38 person in a way because you want to make sure

7:40 the house is respected and their point of view is coming across,

7:44 but you also want to make sure

7:45 the artist's needs and how he's reflected comes across,

7:48 and you're kind of in the middle

7:49 making sure this really sweet balance is happening.

7:53 When I was working with Anderson .Paak, what was really great,

7:56 we were developing these looks together in this really

7:58 unique retro look we made for him,

8:00 and then fashion houses started to be interested maybe about a year

8:03 and a half to two years in, and Gucci at the time was very interested,

8:07 and Alessandro was a creative director, and it was like the perfect synergy

8:12 for an artist like Anderson [music] and his style.

8:14 So, they were so excited to work with him, and they would send us sketches,

8:18 and they would tell us what looks we wanted from the runway.

8:21 We got to pick them out,

8:22 and they make them in his size to have on hand for these special things,

8:25 even the stores in the back of the look.

8:27 And it was just really cool.

8:28 I think there was a one point,

8:30 Alessandro made a pant that was called the Anderson

8:32 pant because he was so inspired by, I

8:35 believe it was the LACMA film and art gala when we had that look for him,

8:39 and he really loved it.

8:40 And that's when I was like, see, we're hitting this really wonderful sweet spot.

8:43 Like I love that.

8:44 All right, Jasmine, thank you so much.

8:46 We really appreciate it.

8:48 Now, let us know where we can find you on social media.

8:50 You can find me on social media at Jazzy Benjamin, j a s i Benjamin.