What We Really Want to Know: What Will They Wear?
Hollywood fashion stylist Jessica Paster woke up at 5 a.m. Tuesday to watch the Oscar nominations on TV and cheer for “her girl”--first-time Oscar nominee Hilary Swank. Then she spoke by telephone with several European designers, all before 9 a.m.
That’s because the star of “Boys Don’t Cry” is the fashion “It” girl this season--the one designers want to dress as she walks down the red carpet. Who can resist taking a woman most famously known for looking like a boy and turning her into a glamorous princess?
But Swank isn’t alone. This year is shaping up as a plum year for designers who will have their pick of “It” girls. Nominations include such consistently stylish women as Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Angelina Jolie. Even more fun will be to dress the relatively unknown but beautiful supporting actress nominees like Catherine Keener, Chloe Sevigny and Toni Collette.
The dress-up contest begins, and everyone in the tight circle of fashion and entertainment knows the first phone call to make is to a stylist like Paster. She’s the one who dressed Cate Blanchett in the John Galliano butterfly gown at last year’s Oscars, and put Minnie Driver in the drop-dead red Halston gown two Oscars ago.
Paster and Phillip Bloch are among a small cadre of fashion power brokers who shape and create star images and style. Bloch is generally credited with vaulting Hollywood stylists to their level of importance today. Bloch put up-and-comer Salma Hayek in a tiara a la Audrey Hepburn for the 1997 Oscars. And he gave Halle Berry a refined, ladylike silhouette with a red and white Valentino for the most recent Golden Globes.
Stylists like Tod Hallman, Ricci DeMartino and Liz Cowan may not be household names, but they are the gatekeepers between celebrities and designers. They are the ones who plow through hundreds of packages from designers and manufacturers beseeching stars to wear their bras, sunglasses, shoes, their diamonds and gowns.
In the last four to five years, celebrities--even men such as Jim Carrey--have come to rely heavily on stylists to dress them from head to toe. Design houses now call upon stylists instead of publicists to court stars.
“We consider [stylists] taste makers that we rely on,” said Amy Rosi, spokeswoman for the German evening-wear house Escada.
And each stylist has a signature look. “A Jessica girl is glamour to the nth degree. And a Phillip Bloch woman is all about ladylike beauty. Their women look very different,” said Carol Brodie Gelles, spokeswoman for the House of Harry Winston--the jeweler and Oscar fashion player.
The Oscar fashion derby is well-documented--designers get stars to wear their gowns at the awards show, which is watched by some 50 million households worldwide. The gowns of exclusive designers, such as Valentino, Versace and John Galliano get huge TV exposure. Later, the stars and their gowns appear in magazines with breathless captions about who was wearing which designer.
The Oscars draw the most coverage, but the fashion courting goes on year-round for movie premieres, the Golden Globes and, increasingly, nonmovie events such as the Grammys and TV appearances.
“You create an image for a person for a particular night,” said DeMartino, who works with Lisa Kudrow of the TV show “Friends.” “It’s an all-year thing. There are always premieres and photo shoots.”
Dressing for the Academy Awards can also be a chance to change the reputation of a star or a designer. Take Driver two years ago. She had just broken up with co-star wunderkind Matt Damon. Wrap her in a hot red, tight Halston complete with fox stole, pull down her smashing curls and you’ve got Minnie Driver, not the victim, but a fashion queen and glamorous actress. The night also brought almost equal attention to designer Randolph Duke at Halston and Paster as her stylist.
Last year Lynn Redgrave received a supporting actress nomination for “Gods and Monsters” but had just publicly dumped her husband of nearly 32 years, who had had a child with their daughter-in-law. Hollywood stylist Tod Hallman chose for Redgrave an Amasale gown that was so sophisticated it was copied by A.B.S., a line for much younger customers who usually want to look like Cameron Diaz.
Even fashion rebel Courtney Love has her own stylist--six-year-veteran Liz Cowan, who’s been with her for almost a year. “Designers court her,” said Cowan of her client. “She has some long-standing relationships” with designers.
This year, Love drew plenty of attention at the Golden Globes in her strategically slashed, form-fitting John Galliano couture gown. While she may not be an “A list” actress like Julia Roberts or Michelle Pfeiffer, Love is on the “A list” for fashion designers as someone the public loves to watch and copy, especially younger music fans.
In the next few weeks, Escada and many other design houses will set up camp in swank Beverly Hills hotels to show their collections to stylists, who sometimes snag clients as few as four days before the big night.
In spite of the wooing and dining and access, a good stylist will keep an independent mind, said Rosi. “They very much have the celebrity’s interest at heart.”
