Stylist Profile: Chi Ilochi
Chi Ilochi is a 20 year old Nigerian American fashion stylist and designer based in Pittsburgh, PA. She describes styling as her “destiny” and has been interested in styling and fashion since she was 7 years old. Chi has now started a company, StylingByChi, and recently launched a magazine. That publication has, so far, both documented her favorite looks and helped her share the work of other Black stylists she looks up to.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCgpanSFNpV/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCCV6Eal0mu/
As a child, Ilochi never felt at home in “trendy” clothes. She didn’t like the way the clothes her peers wore made her feel, but, for many years, she tried to ignore that feeling. Once she acknowledged it, though, and stopped settling for what everyone else was wearing, Chi truly came into her own. Now, Chi describes her style as being full of mixed prints and wacky colors. Like any good stylist, though, this is not necessarily the aesthetic she brings to her work with clients. Instead, she receives fabrics from her aunts in Nigeria and finds pieces in thrift stores that fit her clients’ personalities and showcase who they are through their clothes.
In all she does, Chi aims to heal, inspire and share insight through her life and the art of fashion and style. She helps those who struggle with mental illness, physical illness, autism, troubled youth, and the list goes on, to find their own personal style. The stylist was an Assistant Stylist at New York Fashion Week last year, and has been featured in several publications, including The Northside Chronicle, VoyageHouston, and Buzz Magazine.
Ilochi believes that it is her purpose to style the people she does, especially since she’s overcome her own battles with depression and has dealt with the loss of three close friends to suicide. Chi believes it is important for her to share the power of overcoming through her gifts in fashion and style.
Images courtesy of Chi Ilochi