Special Episode! Stylists Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald Put Their Partnership to the Test and Share Met Gala BTS

0:10Hillary Kerr:Welcome to the Who What Wear podcast. I'm your host Hillary Kerr and today I'm joined by celebrity styling duo Wayman and Micah who style the likes of Coleman Domingo and Chase Infinity amongst many others. But today, we're doing things a little differently. We're going to explore the fabulous world of Wayman and Micah through some games. We're testing how well Wayman and Micah know each other, revisiting some of their past looks, and they even brought some original designer sketches from their most iconic custom looks for show and tell. This episode was so fun, and to get the full experience, which I recommend, check out the full-length video on our YouTube channel.

0:55Hillary Kerr:The link is in the description. It's all coming up on Who What Where.

1:06Hillary Kerr:Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming back to the pod after all this time. I just have to say for the record, did you know that you are the guests that have been on the podcast the most? This is your third time. I did not know that. I love that for us. It feels like home, so that makes sense. But no. Oh, my gosh. Well, thank you. I mean, it makes me so excited. It's obviously a testament to your incredible work. And the last time that you were here, you actually spoke with my colleague Mackenzie about the Met Gala. It was the 2025 Met Gala with nine clients that you dressed. How does one survive nine clients at the Met Gala?

1:44You know, nine clients is never a number we need again.

1:48Hillary Kerr:Fair. Fair. Start there. Is the PTSD so real I should stop asking? It's better now. Okay, okay. You know months of past. You know what's interesting? It honestly, because, okay, to answer your question about my clients, we are just such planners. Like we will plan even like Google Map out, hey, just so you know, this is a seven-minute walk next to this person's hotel. Hey, just take the stairs from this person's room to this person at the same hotel because you can't wait on the elevator. No, I've heard that. We will map all of that out. We'll map all of that out. One thing we just can't map out is the torrential downpour.

2:28Hillary Kerr:Right. That it was that day. Where was your Etsy witch? Did you miss out? Did you not contact her? Lateral. She was on Do Not Disturb. Lateral. She was booked up. I mean, everything. It ended up being great. Ended up being a great met. It's just the rain. like, sis, today, you got to do all this. You got to go to the mat as well. And one thing for me I would just sort of take away from that was I could do nine again, but I just need to be a nice, sunny, easy, breezy day. And I also truly don't ever have to do. Okay, okay. That's fair. But if I had to, the sun could shine. I think the saving grace was that it was a thing that we were all very passionate about.

3:09Yes. Celebratory of our heritage and our culture as well. So, you know, next time it comes back around, let it be five.

3:18Hillary Kerr:Fair. Fair. Love five is my favorite. Love five. This year was two. Two. Okay, perfect. So you had Chase Infinity, who we're going to talk about a little bit later, what the two of you have been doing with that young woman on the red carpet and her looks. I mean, you give all of us at Who What Wear Life on a regular basis. It's literally like the Slack channel lights up. You also since then have been named to the Hollywood Reporters Power Stylist list yet again. Thank you. When you look back on the past year, what really makes your heart sing? Outside of producing and creating incredible work, I think personally we've reached milestones that we really kind of understand where work-life balance lives.

4:00Hillary Kerr:Oh, speak on that. Say more, please. It's internal, and it's an internal feeling that we've kind of created for ourselves that now we understand how to balance life and be successful and be creative. And just the internal joy that we have lifted and built and put intention behind is really prominent in the work we're delivering now as well. I remember a few years ago, I wrote down in my journal, I know that my life will change as soon as I start to treat myself like I treat my clients. Oh. And having that litmus test for how bad I want somebody's next future self for them or how I want my work and what I put my heart into to propel them.

4:41I had an understanding for what that could look like. And I just knew that as soon as I decided to do that for myself, my life would change. Really making sure that we went back inside and were able to produce the best Wayman and Micah for Wayman and Micah's sake. That's Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald. Not Wayman and Micah. those individuals, really making sure that they were at such a place that us, along with our team and our business and everyone that supports us, could all up-level together.

5:12Hillary Kerr:Speaking of taking things to the next level, can we speak about your girl, Chase, for a moment? Absolutely. Because everyone is so delighted whenever she steps onto a red carpet because we know the eyes will be fed, everyone will be thrilled. How did you guys start working together? How did the relationship happen? How did you learn to all trust each other? We knew that she was new, and we wanted to make sure that she was going to feel taken care of and looked after versus just styled and explaining the industry from a place of compassion and excitement versus these existential, this is what you need to do.

5:45This is how this is going to need to go. And if you don't go with us, you're just going to go into oblivion. You know, it's just like, no, like this is what things can It was so Dr. Seuss on the places you'll go. That was it. The meeting was great. It was a Saturday afternoon. But later that day, we just got a call back from her. She said, she has never made a decision this easy. Wow. She got off the phone and she said, I'm not meeting with anyone else. It's absolutely them.

6:10Hillary Kerr:Oh, my God. It gives me chills. That's amazing. I was like, oh, God. You're going to call me Monday. I'll take it. I want news fast. Good news, bad news. Give it to me fast. I'll take it. Give it to me fast. And I was like, if this meeting goes well, I will go to Vegas. Because we were going to go to Vegas that night, potentially. But we hadn't booked flights. We hadn't booked concert tickets. It was Beyonce's final show. Oh, my gosh. It was Beyonce's final show. That's right. Wait, I didn't know it was contentioned on that. Because I had already booked the tickets. I was like, if the meeting goes well, I'll go to Vegas.

6:41If not, I'm staying home. Oh, no, you've gone to Vegas because I booked the ticket. And I'm just finding this out now. Well. I don't care what client you didn't get. You better nothing really ask. No, you were absolutely getting your cowboy hat. I'm going to say something about if it doesn't go well, I will be on the couch. Oh, my gosh. Stomach blue. Get that cowboy hat and get on this plane. We are going to Vegas. Mind you, I did have my cowboy hat already. I had two. Ready. Ready. And I lost. He had a really, really nice one that I lost at the club at the after party. Uh-uh. But then he got a new client.

7:19Hillary Kerr:There we go. Never replaced a hat. I was just getting ready to say he's about to say I've never replaced a hat. You know, gain a client, lose a hat. Right, that's fine. So it goes. It happens. Get some more diamonds. Like, she wears everything so beautifully, and it never feels like the look is wearing her. It feels like she's wearing the look. How quickly do doors open? Because with someone who's new, even though they're talented, even though they're in a hot project, that doesn't necessarily mean that those PR doors are flying open. She's just such a beautiful spirit to work with and talk to.

7:49Even outside of fashion, we got to know her. And that's what we like to do. We get to know them as individuals first. That was really helpful for us because we always say when you trust us, things can go a long way. So just trust us and trust me, we won't leave you to the side. We won't stray you away from anything that's going to be pivotal to your career. And then the relationships that we built in our career were so helpful. and they've always been so supportive of us and we're really thankful for each and every one of those relationships that have really trusted us when we bring on a new face, a new client, that really invests in us and invests in them as well.

8:24And then there's that duality that comes. We always stress this. Build relationships and maintain relationships. We have someone say that, you know, around this industry, we just kind of consider you two the gentlemen of fashion, like you're kind, you're nice, you're endearing, and really, truly, genuinely being excited to see our fellow cohorts in the fashion industry and just maintain these good relationships where you can call them up and say, you don't know them, but you know me.

8:50Hillary Kerr:Yeah. And trust me, this is going to be the one. With building new clients, it's just get in there and try and just learn and experiment through a trust in the patients. We really start to build a narrative and tell a story. And I think when it's done right, it has the ability to strike gold and catch on like wildfire. This doesn't happen a lot. And Chase is quite an exception to a rule that takes a longer amount of time. But just our consistency and I think how destined we were, you know, us and Beyonce and the pool and the cowboy hat. I guess the things that were meant to be, it then just translated into everything we hoped it could be.

9:26Hillary Kerr:Did you go in thinking like, we would like you to be a friend of the house here or have a relationship with this brand here or be in a campaign here? How do you think about that piece of it strategically? Because contracts are obviously part of a goal. They also can limit you in other ways. How did you think about that with Chase? We do like to make it organic where we call in a numerous of brands. What do we think silhouette-wise? What do we think collection-wise is speaking to her and what's speaking to us as well? And then from there, we kind of do a process of narrowing it down a bit. We look at collections very differently, as opposed to just seeing it on the runway.

10:02For customs, we're looking at textiles, we're looking at fabrics, we're looking at color, we're looking at silhouettes, not necessarily looking at the collection itself. We're dissecting the collection. That's so true. I think in those first few fittings, we were just coming up with all these looks that we loved, and everything was just coming up LV. And that was nice because they're just like the most incredible partners. You know, we've seen a collar on a jacket go down a runway, and we said, that's a gown. And we've turned a collar into a gown. Wow. Just the detailing around the brim of a collar and the color and the structure and the way the collar moved.

10:36We said, no, no, that's actually a gown.

10:38Hillary Kerr:Like that speaks to your relationship with the brand that you can take that spark and that there's enough of a collaboration that then you can co-create in that way. It does. And you have to have a level of eloquence in presenting it. Everyone wants to think it's their own idea. Right. Right. Respectfully. And we're like, oh, my God. Oh, gosh. I love that you said that. I love that you said it and it didn't have to be me to introduce it. because we love the idea. We are just really, really good at slap and tickle. We're really good at it. We love a slap and tickle. And slap and tickle is like just when a British person says, fuck you.

11:11Oh, that's so chic. Like, give me more. Oh, what else? What about my mother? Oh, you're so coy. So delivery is key to all those components. And then also everything we do, We do it with true heart and endearing motion in mind. But getting things organically, seeing what brands really just keep coming up ahead, knowing brands capacity to understand what's coming ahead and what we can require of the brands. Because we knew this is a fall film that was inevitably going all the way to March. You know, you don't want to wear a brand out to where they're exhausted and their bandwidth is questioned. You have to keep that strategy in mind and who can take us all the way to the end.

11:56Hillary Kerr:Yeah. And that's something we keep in mind. Brands have their lanes. They have their specialties. They have the things that they do best. And that's one of the biggest compliments brands have ever given us. They say, we just really love that when you come to us with custom ideas, you've honored our brand. You're not asking for a Valentino look from Celine. No, and we're very keen, especially with creative directors playing, you know, Win, Lose, Draw, Rush and Roulette, that we pull from their version of the collection or even past creative directors that we really noticed that they are really keen on.

12:26We'll watch interviews and see which past designers they've liked. And, you know, just, you know, we're doing our tickle. That when we get that first round of sketches, we might slap.

12:36Hillary Kerr:Yep. So, you know, you like me, though. I get it. But we're already there. I mean, but it's important because it's like matching language. It's matching intent. If someone is like doesn't want anything to do with the Tom Ford era of Gucci, Like, let's not reference Tom Ford era Gucci because they're not going to be thrilled. And they will send you exactly what you didn't ask for and say, thank you so much. This is already being made. See you in a week. And again, that's on homework. Yeah. Okay. Speaking of which, get your pencils and papers out, gentlemen. We're about to play a game. So since this is your third time on the pod and because your work never ceases to amaze, I'd like to do something a little different this time.

13:20Hillary Kerr:We are going to do a game specifically called How Well Do You Know Your Styling Partner? So I'm going to ask you. Yes, it's like the newlyweds, but fashion. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so I'm going to ask you both a question, and you're going to write down your answers without showing each other. This is so fun. No eyes on your own paper. I like to cheat. And then I'll tell you when. I love to cheat. Oh, my God, we're so far in life. Okay, and then you guys will do a reveal when I tell you, and we'll see if you wrote down the same answer. Okay, we'll start easy. How long have the two of you been working together?

13:52Hillary Kerr:Write down your answers. Don't show each other. Three, two, one. Twelve or 13. Which is it? I put 13. What month is it? What are you talking about? 13. Okay. All right. Next question. Who is most likely to want to change a look at the last second? three two one show us okay but with love okay times ten okay I'm like ooh but what if we did this I know we tailored that all last night but we could just get some pins and I'm a Sagittarius well there we go fire signs are gonna fire my favorite Chinese proverb is jump net will appear. And I'm like, oh. I'll play that. I think about the one that we sent in the PDF to the whole team and hair and makeup.

14:53Yeah, that's the one. Let's change it. Y 'all love it. We'll talk later.

14:58Hillary Kerr:Okay. Third question. Who is most likely to get in a fight with FedEx or WorldNet or name your messenger service about a missing piece? Three, two, one. True? Yeah, because I'm not calling. Because I'm calling to make sure they're not charging. Okay. And he just has this tone of voice. It's coming, right? Okay. Call this as Batman. Okay. The stern voice. He don't play. The stern voice. Okay. All right. This one is about Wayman. Okay. If Wayman's not looking the way a look is coming together, how does he express it?

15:41Hillary Kerr:Two, one. he is dead silent. A silent look!

15:51Hillary Kerr:So no news is bad news. I don't even have to look. Because we have this huge mirror in our studio. And I'll be like, well, you know what? It's not what it is right now, but I think if we can just... And then I'll be like... So yeah, it's a silent look. I said a silent look or I will say, can we move on? Yes! By the way, I love a silent look because some looks are loud. My looks are loud. If you don't get back in that dressing room. Right, right, right. And Wayne would just say. Silent look. Like, okay, moving on. This one is about Micah. Biggest fashion ick. See? Three, two, one. Oh, tailoring.

16:34Like, that is not her cup size.

16:36Hillary Kerr:Do you clock it when you see red carpet or people walking down the street and you're just like. All the time. Why do you think folks get that wrong? He has made me understand that I am the last person on earth to really care about it. And like, because I'm just loving like the double bubble. Yeah. I could usually get along with tacky, but that just won't. I just can't. Okay. Back to Wayman. If Wayman could only style clients in one designer for the rest of time, who would that be? And the designer could move houses. Or you could do brand if that's easier. Dead or alive. Fine. Oh, okay. That helps.

17:11does it

17:15one two three no I do not know Mr.

17:19Hillary Kerr:Lagerfeld was I right? yeah interesting why? so my introduction to fashion was looking at Carl Lagerfeld even his past collection his past heritage his past legacy and I was always had an affinity for it and I just always would reference that as I was matriculating through my fashion assisting days to building my career and every time I would kind of do the research or if there was an exhibit or something that I can actually see at an invisible moment, I would be there and I would want to participate in it. And I think it gave me inspiration. It gave me hope to really pursue fashion as a career for myself and just really gave me hope to understand that I can do this and that I can really go forth and have a voice in fashion.

17:59And every time I would have moments that I'm doubting myself, I would go back and look at Karl Lagerfeld's collection.

18:06Hillary Kerr:I love that. That was such a nice answer. So my answer was not remotely as sweet. Also, I was just going to say, he's so prolific. That man created more looks. Women is such a 90s hip-hop buff. Where people were, you know, appropriating so much that we were seeing Kim and Foxy doing at that time. Carl kind of acknowledged his inspiration of it. And I knew that always meant a lot to you. In a time when folks were not. And we were at Carl's Last Living Couture Show. Oh, stop. And that had meant a lot to us as well. Wow. Yeah, we both cried at that show. Okay. Who is Micah's top client that he hasn't worked with yet?

18:44Also dead or alive?