{"id":171198,"date":"2026-08-11T12:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=171198"},"modified":"2026-08-11T12:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:05:22","slug":"tati-cotliar-on-the-art-of-the-unexpected-in-styling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/tati-cotliar-on-the-art-of-the-unexpected-in-styling\/","title":{"rendered":"Tati Cotliar on the Art of the Unexpected in Styling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><em>Behind the Image is an ongoing MODELS.com series taking a more personal look at both established and emerging creative talent.<\/em><\/p>\n<style>\n.quote {\nline-height: 1.2em !important;\npadding: 35px 25px;\n}\n.wp-caption {\n    margin-top: 65px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141369\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141369\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/tati.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1890\" height=\"2043\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-171200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/tati.jpg 1890w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/tati-592x640.jpg 592w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/tati-1184x1280.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/tati-1421x1536.jpg 1421w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1890px) 100vw, 1890px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/tatiana-cotliar\">Tati Cotliar<\/a> | Image courtesy of Tati Cotliar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/tatiana-cotliar\">Tati Cotliar<\/a>, <\/a>Stylist<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Hometown:<\/strong> Buenos Aires, Argentina<br \/>\n<strong>Based In:<\/strong> Paris, France<\/p>\n<p><strong>You began your career as a <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/tatiana-cotliar\/role\/model\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">model<\/a> before transitioning into styling. How has your experience in front of the camera informed your perspective behind it?<\/strong><br \/>\nFirst of all, there&#8217;s a great difference between styling when someone else is doing it on you and styling when you&#8217;re able to interpret the character yourself. I&#8217;m quite lucky to have lived that experience. You have respect for the model wearing your creation. For the fact that there&#8217;s a human body behind it, so there&#8217;s a strong sense of empathy as well (uncomfortable shoes during a twelve-hour photoshoot or late-night show fittings make you feel more compassion). Having worn clothes and modeled them in front of a camera also gives you a great sense of how an outfit will look in the image, since you understand the movement behind it. At the same time, models are so lucky to have that behind-the-scenes experience, seeing a photographer, a great designer, a great stylist doing looks on you. It&#8217;s an incredible master class in fashion. While a lot of assistants try to work for free for years to be in this same space, you&#8217;re being paid for it, so I was lucky enough to have the best school.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What initially drew you to styling, and was there a defining moment that made you pursue it professionally?<\/strong><br \/>\nBefore starting to work as a model, I studied cinema back in Argentina. Without any fashion knowledge, I could understand the idea of a character built through clothes, as you&#8217;d see in iconic roles like <em>Annie Hall.<\/em> Before that, in school, there was a culture of dressing &#8220;cool,&#8221; adopting different music cult references to dress differently. The weirder the better. So I had this idea that you could create a &#8220;look&#8221; to show your personality. When I first started working as a model, I noticed that many designers and stylists were using the &#8220;character&#8221; concept to create looks. <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/marc-jacobs\">Marc Jacobs<\/a> or <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/prada\">Prada,<\/a> for example, always had a different girl in mind for every collection. I started getting into it, experimenting on myself, buying the craziest vintage, trying the weirdest clothing combinations, and so on. A few stylists started complimenting my looks and mentioned that I should pursue a career in styling. So while working as a model, I had it in the back of my mind. Still, I never did anything about it until my boyfriend at the time gave me an ultimatum, something like &#8220;you should take advantage of being in the fashion industry and having contacts, and just start doing it.&#8221; I contacted a young photographer who had photographed me before about working on something together. I asked a model friend to be part of it, and we asked the Dazed Digital team if we could submit the idea, and we did it for them. It took me about a month to prepare a short story with only five looks, since I had zero experience with styling, requesting looks, or even developing the creative direction for a story. I realized I needed more experience, so when I moved to London, I assisted <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/katy-england\">Katy England.<\/a> Shortly after, I started meeting more photographers and producing more work until I met <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/charlotte-stockdale\">Charlotte Stockdale,<\/a> who allowed me to join the <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/garage\">Garage Magazine<\/a> team, an amazing learning experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In your role as Fashion Director at <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/love-magazine\">Love Magazine,<\/a> you\u2019re shaping not just individual stories but a broader visual language for the publication. How do you think about building that narrative across issues, and how does that differ from your approach as a stylist?<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen you work at a magazine, you always have to consider a broader creative lens, even in fashion, which&#8217;s very different from when you get commissioned as a stylist for an editorial or a freelance commercial job. There are a lot of elements that help define the identity of a magazine (the editorial content, the graphic design, the different ideas for the fashion stories, the contributors you commission, the material, the brands you use, the strategy behind everything), so this greater identity comes before the individual desire to style something in a certain way. There&#8217;s a language to follow, and that becomes the priority. Each issue has its own theme, so even if we maintain the general magazine vocabulary, we have to reset our brains to restart the creative process. The magazine&#8217;s needs change from issue to issue, so even if there&#8217;s a common denominator across issues, there&#8217;s always a need to grow or do something different. I love working with the team, so there&#8217;s a constant conversation. I rarely enjoy creating on my own. I feed off conversations with the team, so I really love exchanging ideas. I&#8217;m super lucky because there&#8217;s an incredible synergy between all of us. It&#8217;s really cool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your process for conceptualizing a look? Do you start with references, emotions, or something else entirely?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt depends on the creative. For editorials, I usually start with a general creative exchange with the photographer to build a narrative. Then I start looking for references for my character, and after that, I start looking into the collections to see what works from each brand. Then I see all the clothes in person and start putting things together, following my inspiration of the day. That could mean mixing different textures, colors, shapes, and so on. If it&#8217;s a show or a commercial job, I always try to figure out a sort of &#8220;character&#8221; in my head, then I start trying clothes on based on that character and whatever inspiration comes to mind as I see them. The process is fairly similar to how I build a look for an editorial: seeing which shapes, crops, or silhouettes work together, and voil\u00e0.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What non-fashion influences (art, film, literature, music, etc.) shape your creative perspective?<\/strong><br \/>\nI usually reference a lot of film or TV, since that&#8217;s what shaped my creative eye and visual references when I was young. But lately I&#8217;ve been referring a lot to society. I like to pay attention to the reality around me, to more mundane experiences and people, roles in society and their codes, how real people dress, eccentricity and normality, all of it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What have you watched\/heard\/read lately that has inspired you?<\/strong><br \/>\nLast year, I went to a floating casino in Buenos Aires for the first time. It&#8217;s like a big boat casino built on the river to get around the city&#8217;s regulations on casinos. The interiors referenced a very tacky cruise ship, full of strong lights and colors, and the clientele was the most diverse and heavily dressed crowd, from drunk taxi drivers to kitsch-ily dressed old people. There was a place for everyone. These kinds of random, ultra-charged environments really inspire me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s been the most challenging moment in your career, and what did you take away from it?<\/strong><br \/>\nThere&#8217;s always a level of challenge with uncertainty, whenever you don&#8217;t know when your next job will be (I feel like all freelancers understand this), or when you&#8217;re changing environments of work or life. I&#8217;d say COVID was quite challenging. I was scared of not being able to work again, the economy was very challenging, and there was so much uncertainty. I wouldn&#8217;t say I learned anything specific, but in general, I do feel that changing factors in life always shape you, push you to change, and that&#8217;s always positive for humans. It teaches you to adapt to a new scenario and to start over.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s something outside of your work that you would like people to know about you?<\/strong><br \/>\nI can cook! I cook like an auntie when the mood strikes. I come from a family of restaurateurs and neighborhood matriarchs, so it&#8217;s in my blood. Feeding people and bringing folks together has always been part of how I show love, and honestly, I take so much pride in a good meal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What advice would you give to aspiring stylists looking to break into the industry?<\/strong><br \/>\nWorking in a team has always helped me. Feeling that you belong somewhere is a natural human condition. Look for like-minded people, or people who inspire you, and try to do things with them. It doesn&#8217;t matter if it&#8217;s not a big thing; it just has to bring you joy and pleasure and inspire you to do something. It doesn&#8217;t even need the goal of &#8220;breaking in&#8221; or &#8220;success,&#8221; in fact, quite the opposite. Sometimes, not thinking about the result takes the pressure off, and you begin to let go and push your ideas toward a place you actually want, rather than what you think you should do. Building a group of creative partners or a sense of belonging helps get a vision out there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who\u2019s one to watch?<\/strong><br \/>\nI really like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/elisa_voto\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elisa Voto<\/a>. I love what she&#8217;s doing at <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/magliano\">Magliano.<\/a> Also, <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/lara-mcgrath\">Lara Mcgrath<\/a> and her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thegoatdancerfittingrooms\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>, where she goes to different high street shops and creates avant-garde, couture-like looks by putting together different high street pieces. It&#8217;s very clever.<\/p>\n<h3>Selected Work<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/updated-vr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1481\" height=\"2000\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-171205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/updated-vr.jpg 1481w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/updated-vr-474x640.jpg 474w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/updated-vr-948x1280.jpg 948w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/updated-vr-1137x1536.jpg 1137w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1481px) 100vw, 1481px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nIsabella Rossellini by Zhong Lin | Image courtesy of Tati Cotliar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/vogue-it-la-curiosita\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">La Curiosit\u00e0 \u00e8 Il Mio Motore<\/em> for Vogue Italia <\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/\/models.com\/models\/isabella-rossellini\">Isabella Rossellini<\/a> is quite an icon, and it was such a pleasure to meet her and create these looks with her. I love this image. It reflects the sensitivity and depth that Isabella carries, interpreted beautifully by the incredibly talented <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/zhong-lin\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zhong Lin<\/a>, who created this gorgeous image. It&#8217;s very soulful. It was quite an important step in my career, as it caught the attention of a lot of people. She looks elegant, profound, and really amazing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ11-COVER1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1417\" height=\"2008\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-171202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ11-COVER1.jpg 1417w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ11-COVER1-452x640.jpg 452w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ11-COVER1-903x1280.jpg 903w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ11-COVER1-1084x1536.jpg 1084w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1417px) 100vw, 1417px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nBy Adrian Gonzalez-Cohen | Image courtesy of Tati Cotliar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/buffalo-zine-a-bee-in-my-bonnet\/1344394\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buffalo Zine Earth Issue<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nWhen we approached the creative for this story with <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/adrian-gonzalez-cohen\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Adrian (Gonzalez-Cohen)<\/a>, he told me, &#8220;Think hippy, think crafty,&#8221; and until then, I had never engaged with anything related to hippy or earthy aesthetics. However, I enjoy a challenge. I dug into it and became a bit like those characters in my real life. I enjoyed how playful I could be with the styling, mixing different textures, shapes, and high-street elements with more antique and couture pieces.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-10-at-1.02.18\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"875\" height=\"869\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-171203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-10-at-1.02.18\u202fPM.png 875w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-10-at-1.02.18\u202fPM-640x636.png 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-10-at-1.02.18\u202fPM-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 875px) 100vw, 875px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nCaroline Polachek by Aidan Zamiri | Image courtesy of Tati Cotliar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Desire, I Want to Turn Into You &#8211; Caroline Polachek Album Cover<\/strong><br \/>\nI loved this image so much. The subway set with <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/caroline-polachek\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Caroline (Polachek&#8217;s) <\/a> friends and family making cameos, the everyday elements added into the picture, like her headphones, she looks super cool and sexy, the ants walking in the sand, everything creating this surrealist vibe.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/abby-c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-171206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/abby-c.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/abby-c-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/abby-c-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/abby-c-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nAbby Champion by Camille Summers-Valli | Image courtesy of Tati Cotliar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/love-magazine-the-truth-shall-set-you-free\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Truth Shall Set You Free<\/em> for Love Magazine<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nI love creating narrative within fashion stories. Again, inspired by reality and by the increased number of celebrity court stories, our model is going for a &#8220;couture attire chic&#8221; look. I love the drama of the pictures. I really enjoy creating editorials with a clear story, where we play with character creation. I&#8217;m inspired by the person who, for me, remains the greatest genius in fashion, <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/Steven-Meisel\">Steven Meisel,<\/a> who mastered the narrative in his fashion stories. It was really fun to shoot this.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ19-COVER-PRINT-3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1991\" height=\"2560\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-171212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ19-COVER-PRINT-3-scaled.jpg 1991w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ19-COVER-PRINT-3-498x640.jpg 498w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ19-COVER-PRINT-3-995x1280.jpg 995w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ19-COVER-PRINT-3-1195x1536.jpg 1195w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/08\/BZ19-COVER-PRINT-3-1593x2048.jpg 1593w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1991px) 100vw, 1991px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nBy Alice Schillaci | Image courtesy of Tati Cotliar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/buffalo-zine-19-ss-24-covers\/2854472\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Buffalo Zine #19 Mother S\/S 2024 Covers<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\nThis cover story is very personal to me, as it is about &#8220;Mother.&#8221; My mom is a psychoanalyst, and I&#8217;ve always been obsessed with the language of a therapist&#8217;s office. I love collaborating with <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/people\/alice-schillaci\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alice Schillaci,<\/a> and the idea was to keep the therapist always in the same spot while the patients changed. The styling became quite film-inspired, almost trying to recreate some sort of normality, it brings me back to the cinema narrative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Behind the Image is an ongoing MODELS.com series taking a more personal look at both established and emerging creative talent. Tati Cotliar, Stylist Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina Based In: Paris, France You began your career as a model before transitioning into styling. How has your experience in front of the camera informed your perspective behind&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":171200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12752,13941,10527,10414,16,13943],"tags":[7233],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171198"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171220,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171198\/revisions\/171220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}