The book by Donnell Baldwin '01 and his wife, Courtney Arrington Baldwin, comes after Baldwin transformed his love of fashion into a career.
Style was a part of Donnell Baldwin’s life even as a young college student strutting around Elon’s campus in the late 1990s.
Through hard work and making the right connections, Baldwin has been able to transform his sense of style into a career, and has now become a published author. “Grooms,” a book he created with his wife, Courtney Arrington Baldwin, now offers wedding day style advice to a broad range of husbands-to-be by tapping into the expertise Baldwin has built during his years in the fashion industry.
The book, published by Sutton Place Press, builds upon Baldwin’s portfolio first as a styling manager and brand ambassador for Ralph Lauren and now as deputy styling editor for MR PORTER, an online luxury menswear retailer. Baldwin’s in charge of the visual presentation of the wide range of menswear items available through the retailer to customers, whether its a picture of the item itself, or the item being worn by a model or mannequin.
Baldwin studied broadcasting and corporate communications at Elon, and left the university looking for a way to pair what he’d learned earning a degree with his lifelong love of fashion. The Graham native took a break from North Carolina to move to Hawaii to earn a master’s degree in communications, but was unable to find a way to break into the fashion world.
That changed when he moved to Washington, D.C., to live with three fellow Elon grads and try to break into fashion. It was there he started at the ground level as a stock associate in a Banana Republic store. A subsequent move to a Ralph Lauren retail location provided the entry he was looking for, as his hard work and networking skills helped him move up the ladder.
Baldwin’s work as a stylist led him to more niche work styling models for wedding attire photo shoots, and then helping style grooms for their own wedding shoots. Baldwin said his work with grooms made him realize that he could take what he had learned and share it with a broader audience by producing a book.
After a styled wedding shoot in Brooklyn, Baldwin said he and his wife began talking about the potential to take what he was doing and create a business helping style grooms, but realizing that wouldn’t allow them to reach as many people as a book. “We’re not going to be able to get to the guy in Wyoming, or the guy in North Carolina,” Baldwin said, but with a book, he could.
The end result was “Grooms,” an attractive 180-page book that offers multiple styling options for grooms to consider for their wedding day. It’s filled with large photos featuring a variety of styles captured during a three-day photos shoot, and caters to grooms of different stripes, from the “chic” groom to the “island” groom. Baldwin said it’s designed for the groom who wants to do more than just rent a tuxedo for his wedding.
“I wanted to show guys how to operate in excellence as they embark on this new journey as a husband,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin credits his wife for her major role in conceiving of the book and helping produce it. They had initially thought it would be a process taking just a few months, but it stretched out to close to a year. So far the response has been positive, and Baldwin anticipates it being the first of many books on styling.
“It’s really good to see that we’ve gotten such a positive response,” Baldwin said. “It’s one of those things where it’s starting the conversation. A lot of guys now are taking more care in how they look and how they present themselves.”