What it takes to be a star’s stylist – and it ain’t pretty
Because behind every stunning star, there’s a superstressed out somebody
When you see a show-stopper like Beyoncé’s 2016 Met Gala Latex gown, you know it hasn’t just been picked up on a whim at Topshop the day before. But do you realise how much blood, sweat and tears – nay, guttural sobs – have gone into getting that dress on her?
The road from intern to celebrity stylist is a long and scrappy one that involves networking and pretending you don’t care when someone calls you “Thingy” all day. As one stylist’s assistant put it, “When working under a notso-popular stylist, I was banned from using my name, and was known only as The Assistant.”
And once you’ve made it, the hard work doesn’t stop there. Back in the old days, celebs had no need for stylists. Nowadays, a quick trip to the supermarket warrants a full glam squad. Beyoncé and Kendall Jenner’s stylist Marni Senofonte says, “It’s relentless. If I style a great outfit for a client these days, we don’t save it for a big event. We put it on Instagram right away and then I go figure out another one.”
Keep your hands to yourself
Being an A-list stylist can almost make someone a celebrity in their own right, with opportunities aplenty for lucrative #sponsored posts. However, blurring the lines between friend and employee can lead to disaster – just ask Monica Rose. She worked for the Kardashian sisters for almost ten years, amassing 1.2million followers on Instagram, before being unceremoniously dumped by the family – including them unfollowing her on Instagram, a fate worse than death for an influencer – amid reports of a falling out and alleged stealing.
When Kim was forced to respond to the scandal, she replied, “I haven’t worked with her in maybe four years, so my reason is not connected to [the recent rumours].” Speaking about why her sisters decided to ditch Monica, she very pointedly added, “You’d have to ask Khloé…”
At the time, the rumours were that clothes that had been charged to the sisters’ credit cards had never turned up in their wardrobes. Khloé stirred the pot even further when she tweeted, “What would you do if you found out a friend was stealing from you?” It’s stylist 101 – don’t pilfer the designer threads or your name is mud.
Have a sit down with your ego
It’s not just the stars who have fragile egos and an inflated sense of self importance. Even if you reach the dizzy heights of celeb styling, it doesn’t mean designers will deign to dress your client.
Tara Swennen – who’s worked with the likes of Gwen Stefani and Emily Ratajkowski – says she was calling designer brand Lanvin for seven years to try to get them to agree to dress Kristen Stewart, who was in her early twenties when she started working with Tara. She tells us, “They told me, ‘Our demographic to sell these clothes is closer to their thirties, so Kristen’s not what we want quite yet.’ Every two months, I called and said, ‘Are we ready yet?’ Finally, it was like the clouds opened up, and we got the outfit, and Kristen was like, ‘Nah.’”
But for Jason Bolden – whose clients include Empire actress Taraji P Henson and A Wrinkle In Time director Ava Duvernay – it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy. “If a brand says “no” to me at the beginning, then “no” is forever for me. I am notorious for using the exact same response email, “Unfortunately we would like to pass.’” What was that we said about egos?
Law Roach – who describes himself as an “image architect” – thinks women should “give a big ‘f**k you’ to whoever tells them they can’t wear certain things” and undeniably practises what he preaches. He tells us, “I built my career and [The Greatest Showman actress] Zendaya’s career on not using any big brands at all, because in the beginning, they wouldn’t touch her. Zendaya made it to the cover of Vogue and has never worn Valentino, Gucci or Chanel. She only wore Dolce & Gabbana when she got a Dolce campaign. We built her career and my career using smaller brands and emerging designers to prove a point. Now that the big fashion houses want to dress her, I say no. We go to Paris, you see designers and they say, ‘I love her, how come I’ve never dressed her?’” But even if the designer does agree to dress your celeb, and the dress you want is available, arrives on time, and by some miracle the minuscule sample size (usually between a UK size 4-8) fits perfectly – you might still end up at square one thanks to an unprecedented global movement.
Back to black
Last year’s Time’s Up movement – which began in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal – sent shockwaves through Hollywood, and while the
decision taken by actors to wear all-black at awards ceremonies resulted in a powerful aesthetic statement, boy, was it a bitch for the stylists. Tara admits, “We were all in panic mode,” and that she and her client, I Tonya’s Oscar-winning Allison Janney, were forced to have a crisis meeting over a few white beads. “Allison’s Golden Globes dress had a little white beading, and she was very fearful [people might think she didn’t take the movement seriously]. In the end, I said I didn’t want that to impede our creativity. So we did it, and it was the thing that set her apart.”
Hollywood’s stylists – usually in fierce competition with each other – banded together and created emergency messaging groups in order to help each other source black clothing. It is commonplace for stylists to have back-up dresses for their back-up dresses, but when it came to Time’s Up, Jason adds, “It was more like, could you even get another black dress?”
No money, mo’ problems
‘We lose money during awards season’ Jeanne Yang
Still, at least stylists can cash in during awards season, right? Nope. Top menswear stylist Jeanne Yang says, “When we do the awards shows, we typically get paid about $1,000 per look. Then we deduct our expenses: shipping costs, paying assistants and tailoring, and it costs up to $2,000 per look. I remember talking to a huge stylist who said, ‘I am in a hole – $25k from the last three months.’ You lose money during awards season.”
So, amid the glamour of the gowns, the clinking of Champagne glasses and the majesty of a freshly-laid red carpet, you’re likely to find a slightly sweaty, frazzled stylist in the background, desperately trying to sew up the back of a vintage Dior gown.
The next time you’re bitching about a celeb’s shoddy outfit over coffee in the morning, just spare a thought for the poor stylists.