Sporty Dresser

You may not pay much attention to what sports commentators and analysts are wearing during a broadcast, but Charisse Bruin gives it a lot of thought. She has to—as an assistant wardrobe stylist for Fox Sports NASCAR, Bruin’s job means making sure last-minute coffee stains on white shirts, missing buttons, and clashing colors are all but a distant memory by the time the “On Air” sign lights up.

Through her website, CharisseStyles.com, the Charlotte-based, fashion-forward 33-year-old, once known for her “Savannah street style” (where she is from), also provides personal and corporate clients such services as wardrobe planning, photo shoot styling for magazines (sometimes she even models for them), and personal shopping. You don’t even have to be a Daytona 500 winner to work with her.

I stumbled into styling by happenstance. It was a hobby, and people wanted to pay me to do it. Before the pandemic, I had some really good contracts lined up until the end of the year and then, of course, events got canceled. Like most people who were home and especially unemployed, I fell into a state of depression, and I was like, ‘I have got to get up out of here and find something to do.’ I applied for probably 150 jobs across the country when I got a job at a shipping company here in Charlotte.

Back in 2018, I was styling on the side. I was trying to become this big blogger, and there was a conference called the Southern Coterie I wanted to attend. Julia Berolzheimer from Gal Meets Glam was going to be there. I met her, and she put me in contact with a stylist that was here in Charlotte. I introduced myself to her via email and said, ‘If you need an assistant or anything, I’m available.’ I would just kind of pop in every few months, and I started following her on social media and when I finally moved to Charlotte, I sent her a message on Instagram. So I get here and she’s hardly doing any styling. She’s doing something else!

I messaged her again and she messaged back: ‘Actually I’m leaving my job at Fox Sports if you want me to toss your name in.’ So I assisted her on a NASCAR commercial for the Super Bowl with Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon, and it had 40 million viewers. That was my first national commercial. I had never done anything of that size before.

I did the commercial with her as her assistant. I think that was like a ‘Let’s see how well you do with working around some celebrity talent’ . . . and that went well, and then she gave Fox Sports NASCAR my name.

There are four us on the styling team, and we pretty much work on Race Hub and Race Day shows for NASCAR, and we are tasked with just making everyone look great and presentable on television. You have to things on standby. You have to document things like primary colors that were worn, so that if one of the guys wore an all-black look on Tuesday, then no one else can wear all black that week. And that particular person can’t wear that black suit next week. Or for example, we are doing bow ties this week. Someone wants to wear a bow tie, so we are all learning how to tie bow ties.

Yes, I definitely freelance. I receive most of my clients through referrals and repeat clients. New clients may find me via social media. I establish the type of project and scope of work. First, I speak with my client about what we can accomplish. I create a mood board for personal styling and commercial projects based on the brand’s marketing. Then I shop based on the mood board. For personal clients, it’s usually a wardrobe, or items they would never pick for themselves. Recently, I had some work back in Savannah where I styled an entire office of lawyers for their media day.

I cannot knock the sweats! I fell into it myself because I was home. But what I think has happened is that people have learned to make leisurewear stylish. There are ways that you can elevate it. I love the look where people wear hoodies with a suit. For women, that’s seen as maybe more androgynous—some days I can lean very androgynous or some days I can lean high-fashion glam. I love when women wear sweats with heels and a crop top—now that may speak to a certain age demographic, but anybody can throw a blazer on there, and a nice leather bag or satchel, and it’s a look.

Although I like to step out of the box a lot, I do tend to like classic fall things: I love gemstone colors and darker colors. But I love, love, love—and I don’t think I’m the only one—leopard! I would be that person in the Shania Twain video in head-to-toe leopard. I would absolutely do it. Trends that I like in addition to chic loungewear are neon and pastel prints for fall, and denim on denim. I’m very nostalgic.