Friday, June 22, 2007

The Rise of The Celebrity Stylist

The likes of Rachel Zoe have raised the profile of the celebrity stylist, and these days it's assumed that pretty much everyone in the spotlight, with a shred of common sense will have hired help in the wardrobe department. Even celebrities deemed as "Style Icons" have people behind the scenes organising a look for them. Is it fair that anybody with a big paycheck can buy themselves a name as a style icon? Everyone knows in her pre Rachel Zoe days, Nicole Richie's dress sense was.. questionable, and look at her now.

Stylists are now just as important, if not more, than publicists, so what would happen if a star's ultimate tool was taken away? Would Gwen Stefani still be assosiated with individuality and quirkiness? Or would she revert to a disguise of hide-behind shades and sweats?

Meet the teams of stylists behind the A list stars...

Estee Stanley has styled Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and along with her partner Cristina Ehrlich, she now styles Nicole Richie, post Rachel Z.
Jessica Pasteur is a favourite of Kate Bosworth and Jessica Simpson. She has transformed Kate's look from preppy jean and polo combos and boring premiere looks in her Blue Crush days to showstopping dresses and casual-cool street looks.
Surely Scarlett Johansson would rather forget her Horse Whisperer days, and thanks to Anabell Tollman, she can. Annabell is behind Scarlett's 1950's sex siren trademark, which has catapaulted her into best dressed lists.
Many people love Rachel Bilson's cute style which mixes berets, flea market finds and Chanel handbags with up and coming designers like Brian Reyes. Her close friend Nicole Chavez is also her stylist.

Kate Hudson's boho look is her trademark and is still standing strong after the Sienna Era. Her stylist is Britt Bardo. Britt defended herself when questioned about the state of ex-client Britney Spear's wardrobe by saying "Don't blame me...I make her up and she just takes everything off and does her own thing!"


But has the raised profile of the stylist become a threat to the clients? We all know the reason Rachel Zoe and Nicole Richie parted on not so friendly terms..

Even celebrity hairstylists like James Brown and Kev Paves have made names for themselves. It seems that members of celebrity entourages are taking advantage of their bosses status. Is this OK?

17 comments:

Siru said...

I love this whole stylist thing! being one might be fun

Anonymous said...

i love the idea of being a stylist, but really... it kind of takes the bewilderment out of celebrity style? doesn't it?

Mrs Fashion said...

What a fab post - now, I'm biased but I think these stylists totally deserve their money. And as long as the majority keep their focus on the star (which Jessica Paster does brilliantly) and don't go getting themselves publicists (hi, Rachel) there's a healthy creative collaboration goin' on. Which is a good thing.
Mrs F x

Ella Gregory said...

oooo two new posts at once!!
i kept meaning to do a post like this but i could never find pictures of the sylists
points to you, there pretty hard to track down
im desperate to be a celeb stylist, it looks like so much fun!
i have to say im not keen on Jessica Pasteur's styling of jessica simpson
and whatever people say about rachel zoe i do think she is talented, jennifer garner and cameron diaz both look great under her styling
and i had no idea britney and kate hudson had shared the same stylist
as you can tell i loved this post!
xx

Ella Gregory said...

yeah i agree kate bosworth dresses nicely, but the actual stylist dresses really dull i think, i saw her in Elle magazine
i hope you have a great time on holiday
i am like you too, i always feel a bit lost when i cant post things
you could maybe create the perfect selection of clothes and the perfect suitcase for different types of holidays
i was going to do that but i never have enough time
xx

Anja said...

I think as long as the stylist doesn't take over completely it's a good thing.. as you said, look at Nicole Riche pre- and post-Rachel Zoe! Great post :)

Emily said...

i think celebrities should choose their chlothes themselves and not rely on stylists everyone else has to do why shouldn't they? And i think if stylists want to be in the spotlight then let them i mean it is their doing that the client is in the best dressed lists and so is more popular with fashion critics. Which doesn't do their job any harm
x xx

Laura Emily Dunn said...

Some fab outfits that these stylists have created!
I have only just discovered your blog- it is so great, and I will be a regular visitor!

L. x

Unknown said...

hmm, and that is the reason why I always think twice before giving a celebrity credit for their style.

oh but what an awesome job that sounds like.
Im kinda of disappointed though because I thought some of these celebs dressed themselves.
Is a stylist really necessary when you have all the options of apparel and accesories in the world?! I guess that just makes it harder to decide what to wear. maybe.

p.s. I posted!

Diana Coronado said...

Sometimes the marykate style is not so pretty

Style Spot said...

I had no idea that most of these stars have stylists..haha I desperately need an update! I have always given MK and Ash Olsen credit for their style, and thought: "Wow, how is it possible to be so young, have their own company, play in heaps of movies...aaaaand look so darn good?!" But now I know it's quite easy when you have a person choosing every single outfit they are wearing. Ah well...

But seriously..even though it must be great to have a stylist at times, you loose the opportunity to create "your own" style. I mean they do get their signature style..but someone else has created it for them..I have would just have found that a bit weird if that happened to me. But I would probably not say no if a talented stylist came knocking on my door!

The Hills is such an addiction...and it gets so much better with ice cream, doesn't it?! It's great to find someone who shares my passion. You and I can be The Hills + ice cream pals =D

xoxo

MK said...

hmm, would a stylist change what i would wear? hmm.. maybe. they might get in the way of my other stylists marc jacobs, donatella versace, and karl lagerfeld. :D
P.S. You are a really good writer, when I was 15, I was boarding on illiterate, let alone had a blog.

blushing apples said...

i think the most best dressed women are the one that are dressed by themselves not the dressed by their stylist (celebrities). i credit the sartorialist for transmiting that to cyberspace!

Anonymous said...

So informative. I love seeing this just even to know that 1) it's not all innate and 2) Rachel Zoe isn't the only one. Thank God.

Diana @ So Fash'on said...

It's so great to see the stylists behind all these looks...I thought the Olsens dressed on their own. I guess i was wrong:)

Stylist said...

COOL :))!!! This is great article. Thank you for sharing.

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