How Amelia Gray Hamlin’s Stylist Turned The Model Into A Fashion Star

“We got a call from Vogue, and Anna wanted her to wear this dress,” Danyul Brown, the stylist for 23-year-old model Amelia Gray Hamlin, tells me over the phone about her viral Met Gala 2024 fashion moment. However, they were notified about the number — a light-up terrarium dress from Undercover’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection — just days before fashion’s biggest night of the year. “It was literally a case of, let’s get it on. And if it works, we’ll go,” he explains about the stressful situation, considering that wearing the dress was her ticket into the prestigious invite-only event. But if the countless headlines about the show-stopping number were any indication, they pulled it off without a hitch — a testament to the dream team that is Hamlin and Brown.

The duo has been making sartorial magic since they teamed up in early 2023. As it turns out, Hamlin and Brown were first friends after the British stylist met the model through her mother, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Lisa Rinna, who he’s been dressing the past few years. “Amelia was like, ‘Mom, can I use Danyul too?’” Brown recalls during our chat. “It turned into a working relationship, which is so beautiful because it means that when we travel and work, it’s two best friends on the road together,” adds the expert, who kicked off his career in the print design department at Alexander McQueen before pivoting to styling musicians like Demi Lovato and Bebe Rexha.

And though hardly a major runway show goes by these days without a Hamlin sighting (think Chanel, Miu Miu, and Balenciaga), when Brown began styling her two years ago, she was still getting her foot in the door and even standing in line for castings. “She was very much a well-known model, but she was still solidifying her place and status,” Brown says on our call. “I just helped from there onwards, really.”

With Brown by her side, the seasoned runway pro has carved out a reputation for herself off the catwalks, too. Hamlin has shown off her style prowess by fronting buzzy campaigns for a range of labels, including H&M, FRAME, and Givenchy. The “Bravo baby,” as she’s often dubbed, has shed her reality TV persona and is now a firm fashion fixture, frequently gracing red carpets for industry events like the CFDA Fashion Awards and Vanity Fair’s star-studded Oscars after-parties.

Brown says Hamlin is more of a risk-taker now than ever before. “I think that as her status and image grows, there’s an expectation to keep delivering,” he explains about her style choices. Together, they like to pick something that allows the model to step into character — such as, of course, her garden-looking number at last year’s Met Gala, where the theme was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” He adds that for the aforementioned Vanity Fair bash in 2024, she mirrored an Oscar award in a gold Balenciaga Couture gown.

Much to his advantage, Brown isn’t limited in options when it comes to sourcing specific pieces for Hamlin. “Sometimes with clients, it can be tricky to pull certain brands,” he explains. “But with Amelia, we have an open window to work with all of the great designers that she has relationships with.” And the power duo has the styling process down pat. “After every fashion week, Amelia and I screenshot all of the looks we like from the runway,” he explains. “Typically, at the end of each season, we have a projection of what looks we want to wear throughout the year.”

Thanks to Hamlin’s effortlessly cool model-off-duty style, which Brown describes as laid-back and a bit tomboyish, she’s now a paparazzi magnet on the streets as well. A winning sartorial recipe they rely on? Reverting back to bygone eras. “It might be the early ‘90s or the early 2000s, and we like to mix that with some modern form of style.” During Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2025 last month, for instance, she stepped out in a pink Chanel crop top from 1995 — before Hamlin was even born — alongside an of-the-moment fur coat and dark-wash jeans.

And though the team flocks to luxury designers for said outfits, they make sure to highlight the industry’s smaller labels, too. “There are underrated and unheard-of designers that we love to collaborate with, like college students or European designers that aren’t necessarily on the schedule for fashion week,” explains Brown. He points to London-based label Ashley Williams, which is also loved by Dua Lipa, as one of their favorites. “What I really love to do, especially with Amelia because everyone’s looking at what she’s wearing, is to give those brands a platform as well.”

With Fall/Winter 2025 fashion month in full swing, expect to spot the it girl owning the catwalks and sidewalks in the coming weeks.