Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua A. Davies.
Joshua A., we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve always appreciated fashion, even from a young age, but I didn’t always have the means to express myself with clothing. For most of my adolescence, I had no choice but to learn to make do with the few pieces I had, which was challenging at most times, but it also helped me eventually approach my personal style with a sense of creativity that I wouldn’t have found in any other situation.
Fast forward to my late 20s and I finally have a somewhat consistent capsule wardrobe. I learned what my sizes are, what colors work for me, and even what types of fabrics I prefer. The downside, however, was that I relied on fast fashion brands to build it due to their accessibility and price point, which meant my wardrobe was not sustainable and wouldn’t survive the changing trends.
It was then I realized I needed to create a wardrobe that would serve me in style AND ethics. So I broke it down to three things: my wardrobe must be cohesive, personal, and high-quality. I sold and donated all of my fast fashion clothing and within a few years replaced them with pieces that met my expectations, eventually creating a wardrobe that actually felt like it was made for me.
I began to document this style-evolution journey on Instagram in 2020, starting with photos of outfits that were made entirely of fast fashion brands and then fits made with higher-quality pieces as my wardrobe evolved. My account quickly gained traction, resulting in my followers growing substantially, attracting the attention of a wonderful online fashion community, and even receiving requests to style others.
What began as a hobby became something more, something personal, and I wanted to continue giving it everything I had. And now I’m doing exactly that.
My outfit photos are going strong and I’m still very active with the online fashion community. I help manage a personal style support group and have started creating sponsored content for brands like Prada, Ulta, and Armani Beauty. I’m preparing to launch my styling services later this year and will first serve clients here in Atlanta and then eventually expand to other cities.
I’m also using my platform to encourage men to change their idea of what it means to “dress masculine” by posting content that challenges gender stereotypes in fashion. Personal expression should never be restrained by dated social rules and that includes what we choose to wear no matter our sex, gender, or sexuality, and I want to help promote this message through my very own outfits.
I’m not sure where all of this will take me next, but all I know is that I’m grateful to be able to share my love, style, and perspective on fashion with others while also putting together some great outfits in the process.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
You would think creating a lasting wardrobe would be pretty easy, but it takes days of discovery, planning, and research, and that’s just the beginning. You then have to factor in a realistic budget, preferred brands, whether you want to buy new or second-hand, etc.
I didn’t anticipate most of this when I first started building my wardrobe, so I learned all of this the hard way; from rushing to buy as much as I could at once to not looking for the best deals to opting for short-lived trendy pieces. And as you would expect, these were VERY expensive lessons to learn from.
It wasn’t until about 1 year in when things started to move smoothly, and that’s when I also realized that it’s okay to trust the process and just take my time with it. In the end, my wardrobe was better for it (and so were my shopping habits!)
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Contrary to my Instagram, styling isn’t my main gig. I graduated from SCAD with a BFA in advertising design and I’m a self-taught user-interface and user-experience designer. I’ve been working at the software company Oracle since 2014 and am currently part of their cloud infrastructure team as a Senior User Experience Designer.
Design has always been my first love and I’m fortunate to be making a living from it, but in these past few years, I learned that this love doesn’t have to end with what I’m working on in just my career. We don’t have to be an expert in something in order to pursue it or even have to be getting paid for it, we just have to be passionate about it. And that’s exactly what I was thinking when I began my voyage into styling.
I have no experience or background other than always having enjoyed dressing myself, and for me that was more than a good enough excuse to become a stylist. Now instead of asking myself “what if”, I’m asking myself which fashion brand am I going to collaborate with next.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
It’s easy to think of luck as only something positive that works in our favor, but we have to remember that sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck is NOT getting what we want. It was this kind of luck that played an important role in building my wardrobe, as there were many pieces of clothing that I wanted but couldn’t obtain for a multitude of reasons, only to realize later that they wouldn’t have worked with my wardrobe after all.
Of course, it still hurts to lose out on a piece that I had my sights on, but a successful wardrobe only works with the pieces that work for it and to own a piece of clothing that I can’t style is oh so very unlucky, no matter how desperately I wanted it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.byjad.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/byjad
Image Credits
Personal photo credit: KJ Glover. Additional photos credit: Joshua A. Davies.
