The Rise & Influence of the Celebrity Stylist

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Not sure if this belongs in the right section but here it is. It's an article from guardian.co.uk which made me both v. sad and uneasy - the thought of someone like Rachel Zoe making and breaking trends and even.....influencing designers...

'And the award for best dress goes to ...'

On Sunday the film world will gather in Hollywood for the biggest party of the year, the Academy awards. But it's no longer just about winning an Oscar - what really matters is what you are wearing when your name is called out. Hadley Freeman on how the stylists took over the red carpet

Wednesday March 1, 2006
The Guardian

This week, all of them agree, is always just "insane". "Manic" is another frequently invoked adjective, though not as much as "mental" or, the favourite above all, "crazy". "The Grammys, the Brits, the Baftas, the fashion weeks ..." groans one celebrity stylist, reciting them like a rosary. "By the time we get to the Oscars, I'm like, 'Get me to a health spa, NOW.'"

Pity the celebrity stylist: every year, and increasingly every day, he or she is called upon to ensure their client gets on to those crucial Best Dressed lists in glossy magazines and doesn't turn up to a red-carpet event wearing a swan, as Björk did in 2001, or get caught walking their dogs looking anything less than model perfect. And nowhere else is it more important for a celebrity to look good than on the reddest carpet of them all, the Oscars.

It's hard to believe but once, not very long ago in fact, the Oscars were all about movies. Now the awards, taking place this Sunday, are just as much, if not more, about the clothes. Turn up in a good outfit, as Catherine Zeta-Jones did when she wore a Versace red dress in 2004, and your reputation as a style icon is made; turn up in a bad one, like Cher's impressive homage to Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1985, and the pictures will haunt you for ever. Joan Rivers' entire career has been resuscitated simply by becoming an Oscars fashion commentator; coverage of the event these days will almost always focus more closely on the most flattering frock than on the best supporting actor.

And just as those attending the awards have become fixated with fashion, so the fashion world is increasingly obsessed with award ceremonies - the Oscars in particular. "The red carpet is now more important than the catwalk as millions more people watch these kind of events than fashion shows, meaning millions more will imitate their clothes," says Fiona McIntosh, a columnist on the celebrity and fashion magazine Grazia. "Just a few years ago designers saw celebrities as low rent. But now that they dress better, designers have realised just how powerful they can be and are jumping into bed with them."

Amy Astley, the editor of the celebrity and fashion-orientated magazine Teen Vogue, says, "When I was young, you didn't watch the Oscars for fashion. Actresses wanted to be taken seriously so they didn't want to be known for their clothes. Now, whole movie campaigns are about actresses looking good on and off the red carpet."

"People look at celebrities who look good and they become fashion icons," says McIntosh, "whereas they look at models and think they just wear what they are told."

The irony, of course, is that every bit as much as Cindy Crawford, today's celebrities look good because they are told what to wear. And the person who started this off is a beret-wearing, moustachioed man who looks as if he should be strumming a mandolin in a Greek beach cafe, but who is sitting opposite me in a coffee shop during New York fashion week chomping down a hefty sandwich.

Philip Bloch (pronounced "Block") was the first modern-day celebrity stylist. He began his career as a male model (he was, he tells me, several times on the cover of Oh Boy! magazine) before coming to New York in 1993 and spotting the potential in allying celebrities with the fashion world. "No designers had thought of this before, other than Armani and Versace. For everyone else, though, it was a total novelty," he says.

Bloch's glamorous style and ability to choose the most flattering gowns for clients of all ages (Faye Dunaway and Jacqueline Bisset were among his older clients, though he concedes they could be "definitely temperamental") made him enormously popular; in his heyday of the late 90s, he was dressing at least 10 people for the Oscars: "Sandy! Jim! Gabriel! Jennifer! Salma!" he barks out, as if reciting a rosary (that's Bullock, Carrey, Byrne, Lopez and Hayek, by the way.) "They were my girls and I was their Miss Jean Brodie." Many of the above have since moved on but, he says, with a determinedly optimistic jut of his chin, "celebrities change - they change their husbands, they change their publicists, they change their stylists ..."

Sometimes he would style couples together, such as Jim Carrey and Lauren Holly, or Will Smith and Jada Pinkett - "They had to match and complement each other" - but the most important thing was "to bring out their different personalities" and to dress to be a winner. One of Bloch's most famous sartorial triumphs was the dress Berry wore by the then little-known designer, Elie Saab, when she won the best actress Oscar in 2002. "I'd originally picked out that dress for another client to wear to the Emmys, but I knew she wouldn't win and that dress is a winner's dress," he says. Bloch made Saab's career - "and not just his! Dolce & Gabbana, too, really. I remember when I started they didn't care about celebrities at all. They were like, Gwyneth who?"

 

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Celebrities, however, were cottoning on quickly to the benefits of looking good in public - they noticed that it got them featured on TV and in magazines - and designers twigged soon after that these photos resulted in multiple mentions of their name. The most successful example of this is when Uma Thurman wore an ice-blue silk dress by the then relatively obscure label Prada to the 1995 Oscars, helping to make the label one of the most famous fashion brands in the world. "I didn't dress her in that," says Bloch regretfully. "But she did look fabulous." Bloch's success has made him a huge celebrity in his own right in America, with his own TV shows and several books; he even has a role in a forthcoming feature film, called The Unseen, as a blind, abused man, which, he admits, "was a bit of a stretch".

Many more have followed in his path. There's Jessica Paster, who styles Jennifer Aniston, Kim Cattrall and Naomi Watts. Andrea Lieberman is another popular name, dressing Drew Barrymore and Gwen Stefani. But the stylist of the moment, the one every aspiring young starlet wants to dress her, is Rachel Zoe.

The impressively hard to get hold of Zoe (rhymes with "low") is almost certainly one of the most influential people in the fashion industry today. She is the personal stylist to, among others, Keira Knightley, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Kate Beckinsale and The OC's Mischa Barton, all of whom are fashion trendsetters for the lucrative teenage market. Zoe's trademark style, which she refers to as "fallen 70s chick, a little boho glamour", consists of glamorous vintage tops and dresses, designer jeans and slightly messy hair - currently the most popular look among teenagers and, increasingly, older fashion-conscious women.

"Stylists are now critical to the fashion market and Rachel is incredibly important in the fashion industry," says Astley. "She has kickstarted many of the trends you see today. She, and others like her, have opened up the fashion industry so it's not just for insiders. Now everyone knows about labels because they read about their celebrities wearing them." Zoe was originally a fashion editor of YM magazine in the US before leaving and "making it my mission to bring the world of fashion to celebrity and the world of celebrity to fashion". At New York fashion week, she admits, she was primarily trying to find an Oscars dress for Knightley, who is nominated for best actress. Did she find something? A long laugh: "I'm not telling! But I will say there were one or two interesting pieces ..."

With their power to bring such fame to fashion labels, designers keenly woo stylists. Does Bloch accept bribes? "Not really." He hesitates for a momentary beat. "But I'm always happy to accept a glamorous thank-you. People send me clothes and, yeah, that's nice." He pauses again as he tries to find an anecdote that demonstrates his non-mercenary nature: "But you know, I've done a million things for Valentino and I've never had anything from them! Just, like, an orchid or whatever, here or there."

Zoe, however, has gone way past the point of merely being given orchids. Designers are now so keen to make clothes that she deems suitable for her influential clients that many now ask her to help them devise their collections. "Yeah, that happens a lot. Like that red strapless Calvin Klein dress Keira wore to the New York premiere of Pride and Prejudice - I co-designed that with Francisco [Costa, the creative director of Calvin Klein.]" So how much input did she have? "Not much. Just the fabric, the cut, the style ..."

Even when she doesn't literally put her hand to the collection, Zoe's touch is increasingly apparent in the clothes. Faux-vintage tops, babydoll dresses, enormous designer bags, bejewelled flip-flops, cropped jackets - all of these are now commonplace in designers' collections and all are trademark Zoe garments. Last year Glenda Bailey, the editor of US Harpers Bazaar, rushed up to Zoe in a restaurant and cried, "Look at the new collections! All the designers are inspired by you!" "And I think when someone you really respect says something like that," she muses, "you do listen."

But while stylists were once required just for big events such as the Oscars, now they are a daily part of their clients' lives. "When I was working, the icons were actresses such as Sandy or Salma, and I was friendly with them, but it was always a job," remembers Bloch. "Plus, they were always busy shooting movies. With Rachel, it's a different vibe. The girls today - Nicole, Mischa, the Olsens - they're not, and I'm not being rude, they're not career girls, they're party girls, so Rachel can be friends with them." Zoe herself says she spends "an abnormal amount of time" with some of her clients: she talks to Richie "every day" and describes her and Mischa Barton as "my closest friends".

We have now arrived at the situation where a young woman, who is not a model, can become very famous indeed simply with the help of a clever stylist. Before Zoe stepped in, Richie and Lohan in particular were far from fashion icons, wearing ill-fitting dresses and ripped leggings and fast in danger of becoming tabloid jokes. Since Zoe started putting them in Chanel and Missoni and took away their goth eyeliner, they have become celebrity princesses, their every outfit documented faithfully by the weekly glossy magazines.

This realisation that one can change one's celebrity status simply through fashion has been a remarkable boon to celebrities. One stylist, who wishes to remain anonymous, recently worked with a celebrity who'd had some trouble with the law. "So I made sure they always looked really clean-cut every time they stepped out of the house, and pretty soon the public forgot all about it." Looking good is, Zoe says, "a huge career booster for some people. But it does shock me sometimes, though, how image really is everything these days."

Bloch agrees: "All this celebrity stuff, I've created a monster! Yesterday, at the fashion shows, I was sitting next to some girl from [American TV show] Laguna Beach. I mean, who?"

The difficulty with having one major stylist working with so many celebrities is that many of them start to look the same. Despite all the hysterical secrecy surrounding who's wearing what this year, it is actually pretty easy to guess. Knightley's look will almost certainly come straight from last month's catwalks, probably one of the highest-end labels: "For red carpet I tend to go Chanel, Valentino, De la Renta, Dior, Chanel, YSL or Gucci. They usually design for Park Avenue women but I think it's cool for the girls to bring out the youthful elements," Zoe says. Alternatively there's always - "of course" - vintage. "Particularly Azzaro - it just works so well on my girls."

Unsurprisingly, both Zoe and Bloch insist that stylists have improved the Oscars: "We've made them more glamorous than ever," Bloch says through a mouthful of sandwich. "Now everyone looks good except those who deliberately don't, for the attention."

However significant their influence, stylists know better than anyone that the fashion world is fickle. Bloch's high glamour style is now seen as passé next to Zoe's younger look (she, too, admits, "At the moment, this whole situation is just a trend, my look is just a trend and all trends pass"). Bloch is not styling anyone for the Oscars this year because, he sniffs, "None of my clients is likely to win and unless you're doing someone who's nominated, well ..."

But no matter, he is keeping busy. During our lunch, various TV networks, including CNN, call to ask him to cover the event for them. "So, you know," he says, "I like to say I'm now the smallest star in the fashion galaxy, but I shine just as brightly." So does he think the point will come where people can become famous simply for their clothes? "It has to. I mean, Laguna Beach? Come on!"

Article from guardian.co.uk

Now for debate....isn't this just the saddest thing in the world...I know it's nothing we don't already know but this article really homed into me how influential these 'stylists' are and it just fills me with sadness.

 

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^I agree. However, I do question the extent to which Zoe's influence reaches

Faux-vintage tops, babydoll dresses, enormous designer bags, bejewelled flip-flops, cropped jackets - all of these are now commonplace in designers' collections and all are trademark Zoe garments.

These to me seem pretty general items...I'm not sure.

I think although the Oscars and the red carpet in general may now be easier on the eye, its a shame that any individual style has been ironed out so that we have a satin dress, tasteful diamond, updo mass of actresses. I mean, they pick on Bjork's swan dress in that article, I liked that.

Thanks for posting susie_bubble. I read the article in the newspaper but it makes a good topic.

 

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but she never worked with the olsen's right?..
and it seems that all those other celebs that zoe works with are just cheap imitations and wanabe olsens....

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i don't think she 'originates' any ideas of her own...
just helsp some celebs put together a 'look' that they have seen elsewhere...
usually on mk and ashley or kate moss ...

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