By Sharon Feiereisen

I had the chance to meet fashion and celebrity stylist René Garza for coffee the other day and got some insight into his wonderfully fruitful career.

Garza started off in the fashion industry as a designer, but turned to styling where he has been making waves ever since. Having worked with the likes of ELLE, Harper's Bazaar, and Marie Claire, Garza is often sought-out by photographers including Marino Parisotto, David Byun, and Clayton Cubitt. Of course with Fashion Week on everyone’s mind, it must be mentioned that besides past work with the likes of Naomi Campbell, the undeniably creative stylist styled Joanna Mastroianni’s show. Garza is a uniquely versatile stylist as good with styling edgy fashion shoots as he is at styling corporate ads. In fact, in between styling a shoot for Ebony and dashing-off for another shoot in Atlantic City, the always busy Garza will style a runway show for VH1’s Make Me a Supermodel (Check-out the runway show he styled last season -- http://renegarzanet.blogspot.com/2008/01/make-me-supermodel-runway-show.html). Read-on to find-out about Garza’s career highlights, influences, what he thinks about The Rachel Zoe Project, and more… 

How did you get started as a stylist?

I was designing clothing and at all my fashion shows I had photographers wanting to shoot my clothes. A few of them asked me to style the shoots and from there they asked me to shoot other projects.

You used to be a designer. Do you still design any of your own pieces?

From time to time I do make stuff for shoots. I am working on a line and looking for backing.

You have worked on cover shoots, ads, celebs – any preference? Do you have a different approach for each?

Each job/client is different. I change my styling for the target audience. It’s rarely what I would choose to do 100%. That said, I always enjoy and believe in what I’m doing -- it doesn't matter if it's a high fashion edgy story or an advertising job with the model wearing Dockers.

Any fashion icons/muses?

I always love the way Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett look. I would love to work with them.