But in an industry that trades on appearances, they’re awfully powerful schleppers. Now that celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Kidman have eclipsed supermodels to become the style icons of the world, the men and women who dress them have gotten a promotion, too. How much influence do the stylists have? “Huge! Huge!” says Carol Brodie-Gelles, who campaigns every year to get Harry Winston diamonds on Oscar nominees. And as the Oscars morph into a fashion show, the stylists themselves are turning into celebrities. “I’m internationally known. They call me from Peru! I can’t go out in public,” says Phillip Bloch, who put Halle Berry in the jaw-dropping, see-through Elie Saab in which she accepted her best-actress Oscar last year. Asked if he were serious, Bloch said yes.
Now even the traditionally unstyled are signing up. Stylist Alexander Allen put the rapper Eve in elegant designer clothes this past year. Softening and mainstreaming her image made her a megastar. Bates hired a stylist for the first time when she saw how fine Moses made Latifah look at the Golden Globes. “It takes more than a little pluck to waltz down those red carpets,” says Bates in an e-mail. “But it takes a different kind of courage afterward to face the comments on the Internet.” Moses, a former plus-size model, gets that even women with unconventional looks can be glamorous. “You should celebrate the curve,” she says. “My girls are going to rule that red carpet.” Moses says the fitted Pamela Dennis dress she found for Bates’s Directors Guild Awards appearance made the actress dance around. “She’s a glorious stylist, but she’s a divine human being,” says Bates. “I call her my fairy G.”
Designers know that an Oscar appearance is the jackpot, so they court the stylists all year long. The number of callers begging “Please put my stuff on somebody,” escalates every day, says Bloch. Some designers try bribery, offering stylists whole wardrobes and first-class tickets to Europe. Harry Winston dispatches diamonds with bodyguards to the stars’ homes for viewings. “When I’m at the Vanity Fair party, watching the women come in dripping in Harry Winston jewelry, I feel like I gave birth,” says Brodie-Gelles.
Of course, the stylists’ new power threatens to damage Hollywood’s delicate ecosystem. And of course, publicists and designers snipe about the stylists. “Their egos are bigger than the stars they work with,” says one source. And even the stylists’ agents say their clients are sometimes too much to handle. “They should be beaten for what they get paid and for how little they do,” says Frank Moore of the Celestine Agency.
Bloch, doubtless, would not agree. “Our soldiers are out there fighting so we can have the Oscars,” he says. “Find me an Iraqi designer, I’ll put it on Halle and I’ll solve the whole thing.” The good thing is that Hollywood keeps it all in perspective.
