Dolled up for Oscars
Join actress Ashley Greene as she is fitted for a dress for a star-studded viewing party
1 IT’S A LENGTHY SEARCH FOR YOUR ‘HEROES.’
Greene, who first had access to designer clothing during the Twi
light years for premieres, says she was a jean shorts-and-T-shirt gal growing up in Jacksonville, Fla. “I still like to keep things simple,” she says about her style. “You should wear what makes you most comfortable. Fashion should be fun.” But finding that perfect piece of clothing is a lengthy process.
Greene starts the selection by, in this case, going to a hotel room and sorting through a rack of dozens of outfits (worth thousands of dollars) that are handpicked by her stylist, Cristina Ehrlich (who also dresses Brie Larson and Tina Fey). Ehrlich helps Greene choose about 10 “heroes” — which are the dresses that imme- diately excite both of them — before Greene goes through rounds and rounds of trying on the garments, examining them in a mirror, eliminating options, taking photos and looking at those pictures again on the computer. The rounds of deliberation all take place before there’s any discussion about hair, makeup, accessories and shoes.
2 CONSIDER EVERYTHING, INCLUDING CARPET COLOR.
Not only does Greene plan outfits for specific events, but she and her stylist think about carpet color (the Elton John party has had a white carpet in the past), backdrop (for photos) and event space, so Greene can wear the appropriate, complementary colors and cuts for her environment. Here are just a few of the many questions Greene and Ehrlich tried answering during their fitting: Did Greene wear something by that designer recently? Did she wear something similar to the same party last year? Should she wear something sexy now, be- cause she’s at the right age (29) to do it? Should she wear a tealength dress, because that cut is “having a moment,” as Ehrlich says? (They wouldn’t have the answers by the end of the fitting.)
3 THINK ABOUT TOMORROW’S HEADLINES.
Years ago, Greene took media critiques of her outfits into account “a lot,” but “at this point it’s become easier not to (care),” she says. However, Greene says, she does try to avoid participating in “Who wore it best?” contests by trying not to wear the same thing another actress has worn. And she’s thinking twice about wearing a purple Amanda Wakeley number with plunging neckline Sunday after a recent Daily Mail story said she “flaunted her assets” at another party.
4 ALTERATIONS AREN’T ALWAYS POSSIBLE.
Even with tailor Pasha (he goes by one name) on hand to sew up the winning picks, Greene wasn’t confident that all of her “heroes” would be ready by party time for two main reasons: One, not all designers allow alterations to their clothing, which Greene will return after she borrows the dress for a night, and two, not all dresses allow for easy resizing. In Greene’s case, one hero, a beaded Naeem Khan gown, was potentially too complicated to have altered. (By the end of the fitting, she was still deciding between wearing that Naeem Khan, the Amanda Wakeley dress and a red off-shoulder Safiyaa gown.)
5 PARTIES, YES THEY CAN BE EXHAUSTING.
After a hike with her dogs (Greene has four), brunch, hair and makeup, going to the event, running into “a thousand people” she rarely sees, going to an afterparty, and spending “six hours at a time in 5-inch heels,” Greene, who’s going to the Elton John party solo, is spent by the time she gets home, which might be 12 hours after the makeup was first applied. “I walk in and immediately take off the dress, take off the shoes, and the sweatpants go right on.”