Dear Gossips,

The Critics’ Choice television nominations yesterday reminded me that we should talk about styling. Though they used to not admit to this, it’s undeniable now that for celebrities, a lot of marketing and promotional work, as well as award season campaign work, is done on a red carpet and other appearances where fashion is planned and considered. There are no red carpets and premieres happening right now in Hollywood because of COVID which means that styling and the work of style teams is even more important – as showcased on Instagram and other social media platforms. Two weeks ago The Hollywood Reporter published an article specifically acknowledging this work.

Per Elizabeth Stewart, who styles Viola Davis and Amanda Seyfried, among others, "It's really fallen to the glam teams to create and disseminate red carpet moments for the world”. She recently put together Gal Gadot’s looks for the Wonder Woman: 1984 virtual press tour.

But all this really became a bigger movement around the time of the Emmys, when stylists Wayman + Micah put Regina King on a rooftop in a Schiaparelli dress for a stunning series of photos:

From there, celebrity after celebrity followed, collaborating with their stylists and photographers to create style-viral moments to promote their projects and/or to position themselves for awards consideration.

Most recently it was Anne Hathaway, ahead of the release of Locked Down, co-starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, which premiered on HBO Max last week. Annie posted a series of spectacular looks by the pool, with the movie tagged on each shot:

This was subsequently covered by fashion outlets, including Vogue and, of course, shared all over social media. By the way, Annie’s stylist is now Erin Walsh and not Law Roach. I wonder if it’s a matter of scheduling. Stylists right now are busier than ever because they’re actually producing a lot of these images – not only creating the looks and working with the designers and the brands to make it happen but also coordinating with the photographers and other artists. And if so many celebrities are working so much more extensively with their stylists, they’re probably busier than ever. Law is one of the most in-demand image architects; this is this is his own trademarked title, and I love it. Because that’s exactly what he’s building – an image, through clothing and accessories and hair and makeup and presentation. Image is essential to celebrity, so Law’s work is more than just pulling dresses. In many ways, the image architect is as vital a member of a celebrity’s team as an agent or a manager and works in collaboration with the celebrity’s agent and management to achieve career targets.

As we get deeper into award season, then, especially as Los Angeles COVID numbers are still so high, more and more celebrities will be increasing their presence on social media with the help of stylists who are being asked to be more and more creative. And of course while we’ll be watching all of it, celebrities themselves will be watching each other, seeing what their peers are doing, and in some cases, wanting the same. Or more and better. Pay attention to that part of the game too.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

About