CORBIN* GETS OUR VOTE!
* No, not THAT one – but the stylist whose secret tricks are transforming the A-list
FLESH is never flashed gratuitously, but revealed judiciously. Silhouettes are sleekly sculpted. Ballgowns are deployed as readily as mini-dresses — indeed, anything goes, as long as it makes the women shine. All in all, it makes for a distinctly feminine, polished style — currently being worn, albeit in different guises, by a transformed group of female stars, from Downton’s Laura Carmichael to Billie Piper, Victoria’s Jenna Coleman to Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson. Oh, how they suit their newfound sophistication.
And behind each enviable ensemble? One fashion mastermind, the hottest property in red-carpet dressing: London-born stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray. So effortless is her elegance, and so finely tuned her eye for a flattering look, little wonder the women she dresses have been dubbed The Corbin-istas. Indeed, she has transformed many of her celebrity clients, negotiating the tricky politics of red carpet dressing, taking them from jobbing actresses to leading ladies with just a few carefully curated outfits.
This week, it was the turn of Laura Carmichael, who plays the dowdy Lady Edith in Downton Abbey, to ditch her usually safe pastels for a darkly dramatic evening gown, slashed to the thigh.
Last week, it was Billie Piper who marked her transition to a serious player behind, as well as in front of, the camera, in a striking molten pewter gown — complete with power shoulder pads and heart-shaped cut-outs around her midriff — at the Venice Film Festival.
So what’s Corbin-Murray’s secret? The 37-year-old former Vogue magazine fashion assistant starts every outfit by selecting the right undergarments: ‘I buy Spanx, Spanx and more Spanx,’ she has said.
‘I buy everyone I work with a range of pieces of different lengths and heights. It’s not about being smaller. It just makes for better lines and it makes a dress look so much better.’
She orders clients never to wear heels they can’t walk in — and insists on buying garments bigger and have a dressmaker alter them to fit so they work perfectly for your body shape.
Refreshingly, she’s not constantly searching out the latest trends and believes our obsession with ‘new’ distracts women from being confident in long-cherished, feelgood clothes.
And she’s as ruthlessly organised and detailed as any accountant. Armed with thoroughly researched mood boards, spread sheets outlining her clients’ schedule of public appearances and PowerPoint presentations detailing every look from head to toe, she is scrupulously strategic. Indeed, she should be — a winning look can put stars on front pages across the globe and and impacts enormously on their bankability. And Emma Watson, Lily James, Florence Pugh and hosts of others have
benefited. Corbin-Murray knows building a polished personal brand can catapult her clients into their next big contract — whether that’s top billing in a Hollywood production or a lucrative deal as the new face for a big fashion or cosmetics house. Billie Piper — perhaps best known as Rose Tyler in Dr Who and who, it’s fair to say, has not troubled the best-dressed lists until now — has, under Corbin-Murray’s tutelage, discarded the shapeless styles that swamped her diminutive frame for sleek looks that define her curves. Promoting her latest release, Rare Beasts, which she wrote, stars in and makes her directorial debut, Billie, 36, wanted the world to know she is to be taken seriously. Corbin-Murray works closely with each client cultivating an individual signature look. This year, she was ranked No 3 in the Hollywood Reporter’s Power Stylists list. While many stylists simply pick the designer dress of the season to pour their clients in to — which leads to some rather uncomfortable looking A-listers on the red carpet — Corbin-Murray makes her women look wonderfully at ease. Her attention to detail even sees her working an actress through the strongest poses for each outfit, pointing out their most flattering angles. So it’s no wonder celebrities are queuing up to join the effortlessly glamorous ranks of the Corbin-istas.