Probably my favourite Hollywood Reporter issue of the year, first because it’s good gossip, not for us, but for celebrities, to see who among them, by the work of their stylists, made the list; and for those who didn’t, well, that’s work too – because now they have a whole new year to try to get on the list.
But also, the reason I love this issue is because celebrity participation in this issue makes it virtually impossible now for celebrities to F-CKING COMPLAIN about talking about clothes and being asked about clothes and getting indignant about the asking and answering about the clothes. If you are a regular visitor to this site, you know who I’m talking about. If you are a regular visitor of this site, you might be like, enough already Lainey, we get it, you’ve dragged Blake Lively too much for this. Right. I hear you. But you know what the problem is? The problem is that you might get it but you’re still the minority. I work on a daytime talk show in Canada. Every time we do a hot top discussion about clothes and style and whatever, here come the basics parroting people like Blake with their performative sanctimony about how it’s insulting to focus on fashion, ignoring the nuance of the larger conversation – which is that fashion now is a major part of the work, work that is celebrated every year in The Hollywood Reporter featuring the biggest stylists and their biggest clients. Like Julia Roberts on the goddamn cover. As noted in the introduction to the list, representation and inclusion is now, also, the work of fashion and styling. That’s why Sandra Oh wore only designs by women to host the Golden Globes and it’s why Gemma Chan chose Asian designers for award season and her stylist, Rebecca Corbin-Murray, is #3 on the list. When you go down the list, you’ll note that the list itself is becoming more diverse – there’s a lot of room for improvement, sure, but it’s great to see Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald here; they work with Regina King and Kiki Layne and Tessa Thompson, and you couldn’t ignore any of their style moments all year.
What’s also encouraging is the inclusion of stylists who work with men, like Ilaria Urbinati, who comes in at #2, second only to Lady Gaga’s stylists. Ilaria’s clients include Rami Malek, Bradley Cooper Donald Glover, Chris Evans, and The Rock. Not too long ago, stylists who work with men were thought to be on a lower tier – but since the men are moving away from boring dark suits and putting more flavour into their wardrobes, recognising fashion as a career asset, these stylists are becoming more influential. A great example of this would be Ashley Weston (#22), who I wrote about last year at this time because the best dressed man, always, whenever he shows up, is Chadwick Boseman. You would think that at some point he’d run out of ways to take our breath away with his steeze. Then he rolls up to the Oscars in this bomb ass jacket and you’re like…ASHLEY WESTON SHOWED HER WORK.
And where Ashley is concerned, we haven’t even gotten to Darren Criss yet. If Chadwick is the king of jackets, Darren is the crown prince.
But I do have a complaint. My complaint is that Law Roach is too low. He’s #19. I don’t get it. Here’s the man who’s responsible for all the times that Zendaya takes away the feelings in our legs. He’s why Anne Hathaway was my Best Dressed at the Golden Globes. Who was the biggest popstar of the last year? Ariana Grande. Who’s her stylist? Law Roach. And then there’s Law Roach + Celine Dion.
You know what’s weird though? Celine isn’t on his client list under his name in the THR feature. She’s mentioned, but she’s not listed. And… well… we saw how close she’s been with Pepe Munoz, most recently in Paris. So has Pepe replaced Law? I don’t want this to be true. And if it is true, I hope it’s not permanent. I don’t know that Pepe can bring the Celine Spectacular Spectacular to us the way Law did.
To see the full THR Power Stylists list for 2019, click here.
