Mira Leibowitz’s first memories of fashion link back to her playing with silk scarves. She has since been fashion editor of GQ and Glamour South Africa. Leibowitz sits down with MatieMedia to talk about her career in fashion.
At a young age, Mira Leibowitz and her older sister styled themselves using their grandmother’s collection of silk scarves. “We would just play with these scarves and make dresses – whole outfits – out of them. This was probably my first memory of playing and having fun with fashion,” says Leibowitz.
Now, sitting in the Woodstock Exchange in her mostly black outfit, Leibowitz is preparing to go on set for a photoshoot with the clothing brand Poetry as a fashion stylist.
Mira Leibowitz, a freelance fashion stylist and former fashion editor of GQ and Glamour South Africa, describes her job as “multifaceted and multi-disciplinary”. “I do creative direction, styling and producing,” she tells MatieMedia. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
Leibowitz, who grew up in Johannesburg, also recalls playing with dolls such as Barbies and creating a whole world just from them.
She continued her creative passion for fashion in high school. Her “most fun and memorable project” was her work as a costume designer for school productions.
However, Leibowitz admits that while she knew she loved “the idea of fashion” growing up, becoming a fashion stylist was not always her dream.
“I actually really wanted to study architecture […],” she recalls. “My math marks just weren’t good enough. I tried so hard, but you have got to get good marks [to get into architecture].”
But when she started her bachelor’s degree in fashion and apparel design at LISOF Fashion School in 2010, she felt that she found herself. Leibowitz never regretted the decision to study fashion.
“I’ve always felt like an outsider and now, I feel like I finally fit in,” she says.
We would just play with these scarves and make dresses – whole outfits – out of them. This was probably my first memory of playing and having fun with fashion.
Finding her style
After graduation from LISOF in 2013, Leibowitz worked as a fashion intern for a few fashion designers. However, while working as an intern she had come to the realisation that the fashion industry is a “privileged space”.
“Unless you get into an amazing graduate programme – which a lot of people do – how are you going to intern for literally zero [money] and you have nobody else to support you?” she said.
Leibowitz had some financial support and, with the help of a few bartending jobs, was “able to get by” as a fashion intern.
During her time as an intern, she also realised the importance of networking in the fashion industry.
“You get to work with people and then, if you do a good job […] that’s gonna get you more work, letting the work speak for itself,” she says. She recalls asking many people for career advice over a cup of coffee during that time.
After an internship with Elle Magazine, Leibowitz started assisting a freelance stylist in Johannesburg and became a full-time assistant at the age of 22. “That was a wild experience and very, very hardcore. [Work] hours [were] insane,” she says.
She moved to Cape Town, but struggled to find a job in the mother city, and moved back to Johannesburg.
That did not stop her from applying for jobs in Cape Town.
“I needed to be in Cape Town; my mom moved to Cape Town when she was young […] It is a necessary step as a young adult to move to a different city. I think that’s so important, and I was like, I just really wanted to do this,” Leibowitz says.
Eventually, Leibowitz found herself in Cape Town, and employed at the then start-up online fashion store, Superbalist.
She reminisces about the “second university experience” she had in moving to a new city, making new friends and working hard at work together at the company.
She remembers how she would take clothes from the fashion company’s wardrobe to do test shoots over the weekend – which the company encouraged her to do. “That kind of gave me the opportunity to find myself and what my style was in terms of styling [fashion],” she says.
Even though her job requires her to style other people, Mira Leibowitz jokes that she does not really have a style icon that she tries to emulate when styling herself. “I know what looks good on me and that’s kind of how I dress myself,” she says. Style is dictated by someone’s personality and how comfortable they feel in the clothing, explains Leibowitz. It is not necessarily determined by what the stylist wants. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
The “big step” to GQ and Glamour South Africa
Leibowitz became the fashion editor of GQ and Glamour South Africa in June 2018.
“It felt surreal,” Leibowitz says when describing her move to the publications as part of Condé Nast, a global publishing house that owns the licence to many brands including Vogue and Vanity Fair.
However, Leibowitz cautions against the “shinier” side of the job which makes it “seem more glamorous” than what it was. She confesses that there was a “darker side” to her role as a fashion editor and references “elitism within the industry”.
“There’s a lot of insanely talented people out there. But, because they don’t come from a certain angle or weren’t born in a certain background, they won’t be able to get this opportunity [in the fashion industry],” says Leibowitz.
Despite such realisations, Leibowitz was able to build invaluable connections during her time at GQ and Glamour. She also enjoyed her job there.
“I loved every minute of it. I loved writing articles, I loved doing the research [for the articles] and I loved doing the [fashion] shoots,” she says.
When asked about who inspires her in the fashion and styling world, Leibowitz says that someone she has always admired, who has “pushed boundaries and really affected the fashion industry and mainstream”, is Kanye West. “He has [always] moved to his own beat and created his own path,” she says. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
There’s a lot of insanely talented people out there. But, because they don’t come from a certain angle or weren’t born in a certain background, they won’t be able to get this opportunity.
This year, Leibowitz was at a crossroads with her career. After three years in her job, she started asking herself where her career was headed. She started thinking about where she wanted to be, and whether she wanted to stay in that role.
“So, I handed in my resignation [at GQ and Glamour South Africa].”
Now, Leibowitz works as a freelance stylist. She enjoys the “freedom” that comes with it.
“If you love working with this person… amazing, you’ll carry on working with these people. [But] if you find that [the project or client] is not serving you, or it’s not a good vibe, you can just never work with him again.”
Being a fashion stylist, Mira Leibowitz tries to make all the photoshoots an amazing experience for those involved. “Whether it’s the assistant, whether it is a photographer […] I am going to remember these moments, so you have to make sure that it’s a wonderful and memorable experience [for all],” she says. By creating this experience, she can make sure that everyone has also “bought into the vision” on the day of the fashion shoot, she explains. PHOTO: Instagram/miraleibowitz.official
Tough times and unforgettable moments
Looking back at her career so far, one of the lessons Leibowitz has learnt along the way is to accept the criticism and edits of others when it comes to her work. She speaks about her experience after a fashion shoot when specific images were chosen for a fashion spread or cover, and others were left out. “It’s a really tough pill to swallow [as a creative],” she says.
However, despite the hardships, Leibowitz sheds light on one the most unforgettable moments she has had as a fashion stylist so far – a shoot with South African rapper, Focalastic, in his hometown township in Pretoria.
“That was like the most unbelievable [experience] […] I just want to cry thinking about this. It was so wholesome and good, and everyone just had such a good time,” she says. “The article featured in all GQ publications around the world, which was an amazing experience as well.”
In her family, Leibowitz describes the fashion inspiration that her aunt gave. “[She wore] Gucci boots [and had a] crazy, crazy style. Just iconic,” she says. When describing her life outside of fashion, Leibowitz says she relaxes by running, hiking and reading. “Second, being out in nature,” she adds afterwards. PHOTO: Instagram/miraleibowitz.official