Who’s in which Hollywood style tribe?
A powerful group of stylists is dictating what the A-list wears, says this ex-Vogue editor. So...
STARS are like the rest of us. They make mistakes with their wardrobe; they experiment with personal expression and sometimes send a message through what they wear. But unlike us, they do so on a worldwide stage: the red carpet.
And in 2022, celebrities made sure there was no shortage of viral fashion moments to go round.
Dress codes were torn up and flesh was revealed in abundance, as Lily James’s gleaming, toned legs in her bronze Versace dress at the Emmys attested — not to mention the smorgasbord of knicker-flashing throughout the year (yes, Jennifer Lawrence and Dakota Johnson, we mean you). But it was sheer class more than anything else that drew gasps of admiration in 2022.
Take Elizabeth Debicki’s classic black Dior haute couture gown, worn to the premiere of The Crown Season 5. Elegance personified, it drew as much attention as others’ more eye-opening looks.
How do celebrities decide on their personal style formula? Often, they don’t — but an increasingly influential band of celebrity stylists do. Every A-lister worth her (or his) salt has a stylist, who in turn has the world’s top designers on speed dial.
Last year especially, stylists attracted their own loyal bands of celebrities. And once you know who is behind each red-carpet look, you can start to pick out which celebrities are in each stylist’s tribe.
Take Florence Pugh, whose see-through fuchsia gown, worn at Valentino’s haute couture autumn/winter show in Rome, sparked a media storm and a defiant riposte from Pugh: ‘All because of two cute nipples’.
It was all thanks to British stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray. Baring the flesh is a big theme with her tribe, as both Pugh and Lily James prove.
Inspiring, emboldening and feminine, her Britpack of celebrities — which also includes Laura Carmichael, Jenna Coleman and Gabriella Wilde — tend to favour ruffles. Often her looks have a nod to a 1950s silhouette, with a bare midriff and a cropped top.
Perhaps Cate Blanchett looking like a glorious floral offering at the Venice Film Festival made you smile this year.
Styled by A-list superstylist Elizabeth Stewart — who also dresses Julia Roberts and Jessica Chastain — Blanchett stunned in a Schiaparelli black velvet corset embroidered with a mass of magnificent multicoloured, hand-painted flowers.
THE outfit had the classic tailored look Stewart is known for but with a playful, chic, colour-popping twist. Almost certainly you’ll have seen a band of Hollywood royals who look cool, classic but never as if they tried too hard: Sienna Miller, Rachel Weisz, Sophie Turner, Dakota Johnson. How do they do it? It’s down to Kate Young, another A-list stylist
whose vibe is sleek yet edgy and, yes, sometimes knicker-flashing — for it was Young who oversaw Dakota Johnson’s sizzling Gucci number at last year’s Met Gala and Jennifer Lawrence’s first post-baby appearance wearing sheer Dior haute couture.
Young also dresses Margot Robbie, whom she put in a fabulous cutaway slinky green number from Bottega Veneta at the postOscars Governors Ball.
The fresh twist on classic chic worn by Euphoria star Zendaya at the Oscars, which I adored, was down to her stylist — or ‘image architect’, as he likes to be known — Law Roach. He also dresses Emma Watson, Ariana Grande and Kerry Washington, who similarly shimmers in sparkles and cut-out backs.
It wasn’t all leftfield in 2022, though. As well as the chic look of The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki, actress Julia Garner drew admiration with her covetable Prada mini. Both work with London-based American stylist Elizabeth Saltzman, whose other clients include Gwyneth Paltrow and Jodie Comer.
Thanks to their stylists, celebrities have become models showcasing the latest trends. The red carpet is no longer just about promoting a film or an event — it’s effectively a full- on fashion show, and a lucrative one at that.
Because that exquisite tailoring and those attention-grabbing statements are big business. The stylists help show film studios how popular and bankable their stars are — and attract the attention of big fashion and beauty brands, waving lucrative contracts.
The stylist/star relationship has evolved into a collaboration that can be extremely rewarding for all concerned. And it’s not just women — Harry Styles, for example, who is styled by the Brit Harry Lambert — outshone all his rivals at the Venice Film Festival in big collars, oddly knotted ties and head-totoe Gucci.
OF COURSE, much of this change reflects the growing influence of social media. In the age of Instagram, how superstylists work with celebrity clients has become far more important. It’s not just what the stars are wearing that counts — for they are no longer mere mannequins for the big fashion houses.
These days it’s much more about what the clothes they wear say about them as individuals. About their ‘look’. And as a former Vogue editor, I, for one, enjoy that. I think the best thing about 2022’s red carpet has been the surge of individuality.
The younger stars were at the forefront, naturally, but more established names began following the trend, too. Would Cate Blanchett have been so playful with that bodice full of blooms if she hadn’t spotted the playfulness of the younger generation?
This year, no doubt, there will be further rule-breaking. Inspired by Harry Styles’s feather boas, for example, and Rihanna’s fearless approach to ripping up the maternity fashion rulebook, I predict we will see others defying red- carpet tradition.
Whether it was baring bottoms or creating a cornucopia of colour, 2022 was brimful of entertainment. So if 2023 is going to beat that, it has its work cut out.