“So Many People, So Few Looks”: The Frenzied Life of Today’s Celebrity Stylist

Social Media Scrutiny

Now, stylists also have to contend with the magnifying glass of social media. “Even five years ago, the red carpet social media thing was not as crazy as it is now,” says Ilaria Urbinati, the stylist behind Donald Glover’s ever-evolving red carpet ensembles. A few weeks out, #Oscars23 has 1.2 billion views on TikTok, with a striking proportion of the videos focusing explicitly on red carpet fits. The upside for a celebrity who can make a clear and ambitious red carpet statementâ€"Timothée Chalamet’s shirtless Louis Vuitton getup at last year’s Oscars, for instanceâ€"has never been greater. An enormous fit can turn you into a fashion darling and front row regular overnight. But a bricked fit will be mocked mercilessly, and last online forever. 

Some stylists, caught in the middle, are now being told to dial back their ambitions. “I've been on the phone with publicists and they're like, We want a Timothée Chalamet-level look,” says fashion editor and red carpet veteran Ian Bradley, referencing the daring, skin-baring fits worn by the young heartthrob and style eccentric. But when push comes to shove, Bradley says, the publicists “don’t actually want their client to do something they perceive as risky.” Clients are, somewhat understandably, also skittish, especially today, when celebrities often find themselves on the wrong side of debates and controversies raging online. “There are people who are just unsure how to present themselves in complex landscapes,” says Julie Ragolia, the stylist and consultant who collaborated with Pedro Pascal on the Mandalorian press tour that turned the actor into an unlikely style icon. “We're not in a wonderful time in the world. We’re not i n a time of prosperity. We're not in a time of peace. We're on edge.”

Demand Outstrips Supply

Meanwhile, as the pandemic has eased, big events have boomed, and an industry-wide shift to more casual clothing (accelerated by the pandemic) has left stylists scrambling to fill their racks. â€œCommercially, brands aren't making as many gowns and evening suits and all that stuff as they were 10 years ago,” says Bradley. Stylist Karla Welch, who dressed no fewer than 11 people on Oscars weekend (including Justin and Hailey Bieber, Tracee Ellis Ross, Olivia Wilde, and Sarah Polley) says, “I think the biggest challenge is so many people, so few looks.” 

Almost every stylist I spoke with said their timelines are getting shorter and shorter, tooâ€"Welch thought she was having a light Oscars, until she wasn’t. “That snuck up on me,” she says. “The stylist is always like the last to know of the talent schedule,” adds Bradley.

It can be hard to get clothes even when they’re available. Jyotisha “Joy” Bridges styles Lil Nas X, whose immense celebrity makes him something of a dream client. For Nas’s appearance at this month’s Versace show in LA, Bridges worked with Versace’s Milan atelier to create him a custom tank top and skirt, dipped in glittering jewels. By the standards of couture tailoring, the look came together at warp speed: just a week-and-a-half, according to Bridges. But for her clients who don’t have 12 million followers on Instagram, the process of getting any shred of clothing can take even longer. “People don’t understand, if your client is smaller, the way you have to beg and squeeze and offer your first child to get some clothes is insane,” she says.