How Stylist Solange Franklin Transcends Fashion’s Limitations | Essence

Stylist Notebook is a series centering the career path of stylists on our radar discussing their largest inspiration sources.

“I’m coming back into myself and figuring out what is feeding me,” Solange Franklin, a stylist shares in conversation. This reflective sentiment is just a tase of the robust moments we delved into over a recent and enthralling video call. She tells me that at the end of the day, it all comes down to her purpose. Franklin says her purpose has always been to center herself and others with dignity.

We discuss life trajectories and outside experiences that seem nonlinear, but in reality align with the creation and understanding needed for image-making and world building which are a part of the work that encompasses styling. For instance, she explained how learning Japanese in high school culminated into her role working with Giovanna Battaglia at Vogue Japan, or how a degree in African American Studies has led to the research interests that interjects with her work while emboldening her sense of curiosity that drives her. “It is so fun to make those connections and understand the different pathways we [as Black people] enter into fashion, which is commerce, which is culture, which is usually what we’re centering in our work, in many ways,” she explains.

She has always been tenacious in her pursuit to actualize her dreams, and her indelible sense of wonderment is the edge she utilizes to bring her images and client narratives to life. Dressing Black women, fuller bodied people, and largely underrepresented populations is central to her work.

Franklin, who has styled artists such as Solange Knowles, Zazie Beats, and for covers such as ELLE, international editions of Vogue, and ESSENCE says the connections of community fuel her purpose for the work and inform where she will go next. Her work with The Gilded Age actress Deneé Benton last year and in 2024 was impactful and alluded to Franklin’s ability to create exceptional and standout press looks.

In her own words her daily practices she contemplates the “manner of dress and self-representation.” She tells me she breaks these ideals down through the lens of community, sustainability, beauty, and access–each of these make for an influential take on image-making, which is what Solange’s artistry culminates into, a poignant series of projects that have made up the crux of her career in fashion.

Below, we catch up with Solange Franklin to discuss her largest career highlights in addition to her approach to image-building, and more. 

ESSENCE: You have so many undeniable career highlights, can you talk about a styling job that will stick with you forever? 

Solange Franklin: My ESSENCE cover, which was the December/January 2024 issue. [To work with] such an undeniable force of women who have influenced how we talk, see, and what we see in the media, was really special to be a part of. One of my first big breaks was at ESSENCE, so I’ll always remember that.

A lot of your work has such a richness to it through pattern and texture. What elements do you gravitate towards instinctually when you first start a project? 

I’m very tactile. For me, I see the image and I want to touch it. I want to hear how the material wisps on the rack. My instinct is to go bold and I normally accomplish that by texture.

You’re from Iowa, went to school in Massachusetts, and have lived in NYC throughout the duration of your career. What have you pulled from all of these experiences that help shape your image-building? 

Being somebody who never felt truly comfortable where I grew up forced me to look inward. I think being very hyper vigilant, aware of fitting in or not, what pieces help you transcend certain social moments, garner too much attention, or can help you disappear. What I’ve gathered is the introspective of who I am and how I want to show up. The myriad experiences have forced me to understand that the confidence and clarity of my own vision is what’s going to carry me through.

What steps do you take outside of work that help make you a dynamic stylist when you’re at work? 

I love to read novels. I love character building, it helps my mind wander. I have anchor points of people like Eartha Kitt. She’s somebody who has walked with me for a long time and is an incredible, one of one character. I love textures and sculpture from artists like Simone Leigh to ground me. I hold images and people close to me to keep open eyes and an open heart.

There’s so much curiosity-driven research that goes into your process. How do you go about researching your clients when you take on a new project? 

I do a cursory search of them, what has been done before, and where they’ve been. But usually I’m just curious about where you want to go. It’s really important to me to talk and connect; to hear your inflection points, voice, how you react and think about things and how you want to be seen. 

I look for synergy, the alchemy of a moment which I can’t always plan but, the planning is in the preparation. I’d say, where I really start is from that first conversation of ‘Who are you? Who are you to the world? What is your public armor that you want to build or the message you want to convey?’ The next step is, what are the tools, how are we going to do it? And unwaveringly through my lens, because I want to feel like I have filtered my voice into this project, without taking over.

We’ve seen how a good stylist can elevate or even transform someone’s career. How do you contribute to that transformation with your clients? 

My hope and intention is to transcend, to [have them] think bigger or more expansive. To wear something they wouldn’t have dressed themselves in. Having an editorial background, the inclination for fantasy and trial and error is much more readily reached for. I like the idea of impact through piquing enthusiasm, curiosity, and starting a new conversation.

After some time, fashion enthusiasts tend to be able to identify a stylist’s work due to a certain style or craftsmanship they’ve developed. What are the elements that really speak to your process at its core?

I think my use of color and texture is unique. I’m unafraid of things that are considered bold. The word that I think about is vivacious. A great example of that is Zazie Beetz at the Venice Film Festival in Valentino couture. Pier Paolo [Piccioli] mentioned she was wearing this garment how he sees the modern woman, and that was such an honor. It was just insouciant glamour. I like that energy, that level of unprecious glamor.

The ESSENCE cover speaks to that in terms of an impactful ease. I really love Deneé Benton, my client who’s on The Gilded Age, and is a wonderful human being. We did the SAG Awards in Christopher John Rogers. For the Emmy’s she was in a finale look from Diotima by Rachel Scott. Venus Williams at the US Open was [in] beautiful harmony. Those looks are very Solange Franklin looks. It’s about proportion, impact. It’s about tantalizing boldness.

Does the approach to that boldness and vivaciousness feel different or more important, because of the people you style and the purpose that you bring to your work?

Absolutely. The ability to dream is such a privilege. To see us in certain spaces and in certain ways can change the way we feel about our own destiny. As [someone] who was not located in the center of where we’re seeing the pulse of culture and fashion happening, I crave to see it outside of myself. I do create things that I wish I would have seen growing up. There’s something dignified in that we can be seen in these different ways. I don’t want [anything] to be off limits to us.

I’d love to talk more about your styling relationship with actress Deneé Benton. What words would you use to describe the sartorial image you have created with and for her? 

What’s so dope about Deneé is that she is in her phoenix era. I feel inspired by the trust that we have in and with each other. We’re communicating with our language when we show up. Is acting or dressing a vehicle for something else? Right now she is dressing for her own gaze and it is exploratory. It is an age of discovery that is free and Black woman-centric. That’s an exciting and limitless place to be.