They have dressed Lindsay and Nicole, Gwen Stefani and the Olsen twins. And now they want to dress you too.
Celebrity stylists, once relegated to entourage status, are stepping out from behind their famous clients with licensing deals, clothing and jewelry lines. They’re consulting for fashion mega-brands, appearing on TV shows, even posing for pictures on the red carpet.
It makes sense when you consider their influence. The past decade in fashion might best be described as the era of the celebrity stylist. As the liasons between designers and their red carpet mannequins, stylists are the ones who create and validate trends, which then trickle down to the public through paparazzi photographs.
Stylists may agonize for weeks over a single celebrity outfit, but the result, that elusive thrown-together chic, has helped usher in the latest layering trend, which will be dictating the way we all dress come fall.
Rachel Zoe created the now ubiquitous 1970s glamazon style for Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie last summer. The look–bronzed bod and long blond tresses, slinky jersey dresses and messes of gold necklaces–circled back and turned up on the Gucci runway for fall.
Andrea Lieberman’s multicultural sensibility has guided Gwen Stefani’s stage costumes, as well as the singer’s popular L.A.M.B. clothing line. And as arbiters of the classic Hollywood look, Estee Stanley and Cristina Ehrlich transformed Mandy Moore and the Olsen twins from ‘tween tarts into polished cover girls.
Zoe now is the biggest star stylist, photographed almost as often as her clients and repped by Creative Artists Agency. She has a coffee-table book in the works, TV offers on the table and a new line of luxury handbags in collaboration with Judith Leiber. Stanley and Ehrlich are designing a new collection of suck-it-in or push-it-out undergarments for Frederick’s of Hollywood, following the launch of their own clothing label last year. And Lieberman is crafting fine jewelry for Mouawad.
“It’s very awkward when people are screaming my name on the red carpet,” Zoe said by cell phone recently, in between fittings with Kate Beckinsale for the MTV Movie Awards. “I like the focus to be on the girls. But that said, I have to keep myself challenged and interested.”
Though stylists really are only famous by proxy, the public is becoming more aware of them every day, according to Frederick’s spokeswoman Yolanda Dunbar, who said Ehrlich and Stanley will have a role in marketing the still unnamed line when it hits stores for the holiday season.
“People are realizing the support celebrities have in presenting themselves,” Dunbar said. “It’s far beyond hair and makeup.”
Rachel Zoe (above left)
Clients: Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie (above right), Jessica Simpson, Mischa Barton
Look: 1970s glamazon
Signatures: Long blond hair, long jersey goddess gowns, bronzed face, gold necklaces, saucer-size sunglasses and armloads of bangles.
Projects: The Rachel Zoe for Judith Leiber collection is a luxury line of handbags (right) priced between $2,000 to $10,000 that comes out this fall. It includes minaudires and satchels in exotic alligator and python, with snakelike medallions inspired by an 18th Century doorknocker from a building in Paris.
Andrea Lieberman (above)
Clients: Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Eve
Look: Rock star bohemian
Signatures: Rastafarian colors, African jewelry, Vivienne Westwood femme and Japanese Harajuku street style.
Projects: The Designs by Andrea Lieberman jewelry collection with jewelry company Mouawad, which she is wearing above, is sold at stores such as Maxfield and Bergdorf Goodman. Priced from $500 to $25,000, the designs are inspired by nature.
Estee Stanley (standing)and Cristina Ehrlich
Clients: Mandy Moore, Demi Moore, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (below), Penelope Cruz
Look: Classic Hollywood
Signatures: Natural makeup, silk blouses, simple shift dresses (seen below on the Olsen twins).
Projects: The Miss Davenporte clothing line debuted last year with heart print silk shirtdresses, trumpet skirts and vintage-looking coats running $200 to $1,000. Now designing undergarments for Frederick’s of Hollywood.
