THR on Hollywood Stylists

Behind Every Celeb’s Red Carpet Triumph Is a Great Stylist

By Suzan Clarke

Mar 19, 2012 7:10am

Getty Images

Angelina Jolie. Charlize Theron. Michelle Williams. From the gowns, jewels, and all-over glamor, these Hollywood A-listers are picture perfect. But the red-carpet-perfect looks don’t come naturally.
“Anyone who thinks these girls are dressing themselves is seriously deluded. The truth about Hollywood is that you can buy taste,” Janice Min, editor of The Hollywood Reporter, told “Good Morning America.”
Celebrities are paying big bucks to stylist to have a camera-ready look that will be buzzed about long after it’s shown on the red carpet.
“I dare you to name any friend of yours who saw ‘My Week With Marilyn’, the movie Michelle Williams was nominated for the Oscars, but every single one of your friends knows exactly what she was wearing at the Oscars, that it was that gorgeous coral gown by Louis Vuitton,” Min said. “It was a big style moment. That’s what got her in the weekly magazines, that what got her on TV shows, that’s what got her more air time in the pre-show before the Oscars, that’s where the fashion completely trumped the acting.”
Kate Young, the stylist responsible for Williams’ stunning Oscar look, nabbed the top spot in the Reporter’s list of the 25 most powerful stylists in Hollywood. Young also dressed a pregnant Natalie Portman for last year’s Oscars.
The other stylists on the Reporter’s list have dressed some of Hollywood’s hottest actresses, including Sofia Vergara, Rooney Mara, Octavia Butler and, yes, Angelina Jolie. Remember that black velvet dress with the thigh-high split that stole the show and spawned a Twitter feed for Jolie’s right leg?
That stylist, Jen Rade is number six on the list.
“I wouldn’t say they can make or break a career, but they almost can,” Min said of a stylist’s importance. “A stylist, some people think it’s frivolous … but if you are an actress, it’s the best investment you can make here. You know you can get a lot of critical attention for a great acting role, but where are you really going to get your attention? You’re going to get it on the red carpet.”
Of course, not all of that attention is good. Some stars make headlines for all the wrong reasons. A stylist faces the challenge of being daring enough to get attention without going so far that the client ends up a fashion disaster.
“If you are a stylist you want your clients to be talked about – in all the right ways. And my God, you will be fired the next day if your client is being talked about in the wrong way,” Min said.
Stylists perform a valuable service. Theron appreciates her stylist, Leslie Fremar.
“Leslie knows my body. I have big shoulders, I don’t have a small waist, so we stay clean and classic and not very fussy,” Theron told the Reporter about her stylist, who is number two on the list.
Min said Fremar put Theron in “an unbelievable” pink Dior gown at the Golden Globes.
“You know, Charlize kind of has this very classy princess thing going on the red carpet and that is because of her stylist,” Min said.
She added that “every memorable look that you have seen in this past red carpet season” was created by a stylist.
Here’s the complete list of the Hollywood Reporter’s second annual ranking of the most powerful stylists:

1. Kate Young
2. Leslie Fremar
3. Petra Flannery
4. Elizabeth Stewart
5. Kemal Harris and Karla Welch
6. Jen Rade
7. Ryan Hastings
8. Samantha McMillen
9. Deb Waknin
10. Christina Ehrlich
11. Jeanne Yang
12. L’Wren Scott
13. Ron Zangardi and Mariel Haenn
14. Elizabeth Saltzman
15. Cher Coulter
16. Leith Clark
17. Jessica Paster
18. Penny Lovell
19. Wendi and Nicole Ferreira
20. Brad Goreski
21. Nicole Chavez
22. Johnny Wujek
23. George Kotsiopoulos
24. Arianne Phillips
25. Ilaria Urbanti

Hollywood Reporter Features Four Covers of Stylists and Their A-List Stars

10:31 AM PDT 3/14/2012 by THR Staff

The Hollywood Reporter honors Hollywood style and the industry's top tastemakers with a special four-cover Style Issue that hits stands today.

The covers of the second annual Style Issue -- which reveals this year's 25 Most Powerful Stylists -- feature Charlize Theron and her stylist Leslie Fremar, who comes in at No. 2 on the list; Emma Stone, along with her stylist, Petra Flannery (No. 3); Katie Holmes and stylist Jeanne Yang (No. 11); and Jessica Chastain with stylist Elizabeth Stewart (No. 4).

Topping this year’s THR list is Kate Young, stylist to Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz. A former assistant to Vogue’s Anna Wintour and the only stylist represented by CAA, Young created Portman’s awards-season look in the run-up to the actress’ Oscar victory for Black Swan last year. Young takes the THR top spot from last year’s most powerful stylist, Rachel Zoe.

PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes at THR's 25 Most Powerful Stylists Photoshoot
Because her success has been so beyond what anyone thought a stylist could achieve, THR excused Zoe from this year’s list, but she is represented in the issue. In a special Style Issue feature story titled The Graduate, Zoe, a new mom, opens up about her life today.

“Things that used to get me down don’t stress me out anymore," she says. "Instead of being terrified at 40, it’s like my life is complete.”

Zoe also tells THR that she doesn’t know if there will be a fifth season of Bravo's The Rachel Zoe Project and admits to thinking: “Are people sick of it? Is it time to do something new?”

PHOTOS: Best Awards Season Looks by THR's 25 Most Powerful Stylists of 2012
The 25 Most Powerful Stylists will be honored today during a luncheon hosted by THR and Jimmy Choo at Soho House in West Hollywood. The list was curated by THR's style team led by Style Editor Carol McColgin and Senior Writer Merle Ginsberg.

The Style Issue also includes a finance-meets-fashion analysis in "How a Bad Economy Killed Office Casual"; a look at red-carpet glamour in "5 Awards Beauty Trends"; a lush piece-by-fabulous-piece retrospective of the costumes in the Julia Roberts-Lily Collins upcoming Snow White fantasy "Mirror Mirror"; rare photos of Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn; and an awards-season insider's tale of sharp elbows and withering looks in Ginsberg's "My Red Carpet War Stories."

6

Jen Rade

Clients: Angelina Jolie, Pink, Katharine McPhee 

Of course there was the leg, but Jolie’s black Oscar gown with the high slit by Atelier Versace on its own epitomized smokin’ hot. In fact, any time the female half of Hollywood’s hottest couple graces the red carpet, it’s a fashion moment. That’s partly because of Rade’s dramatically glamorous taste.
PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes at THR's 25 Most Powerful Stylists Photoshoot
Witness Jolie’s Globes gown — an ice-white satin column, also Atelier Versace, with a slash of red matching her lips, and nothing else except Lorraine Schwartz’s 25-carat diamond studs.
PHOTOS: Best Awards Season Looks by THR's 25 Most Powerful Stylists of 2012
“Stylists without great dresses have nothing,” says Rade, who chooses to stay mum on leg-gate. “This whole business is about having good relationships, being respectful — I do returns quickly.”
Rade cut her teeth styling videos for Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, then commercials like the first iPod TV ad. She also has been a Project Runway guest judge. Her latest gigs: styling Smash’s McPhee, whom she put in a strapless nude Donna Karan for the Globes, and continuing to consult on designer Rena Lange’s collection.


1 Kate Young Clients: Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz  read more




2 Leslie Fremar Clients: Charlize Theron, Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett...read more





3 Petra Flannery Clients: Emma Stone, Claire Danes, Zoe Saldana, Mila Kunis, Megan Fox...read more

4 Elizabeth Stewart Clients: Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Freida Pinto, Jennifer Lawren...read more

5 Kemal Harris and Karla Welch Clients: Olivia Wilde, Hailee Steinfeld, Zooey Deschanel, Stacy Keibl...read more

6 Jen Rade Clients: Angelina Jolie, Pink, Katharine McPhee read more

7 Ryan Hastings Clients: Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson  read more


8 Samantha McMillen Clients: Carey Mulligan, Evan Rachel Wood, Dakota and Elle Fanning, D...read more

9 Deb Waknin Clients: Sofia Vergara, Sandra Bullock, Diane Keaton, Halle Berry  read more

10 Christina Ehrlich Clients: Penelope Cruz, Amy Adams, Amber Heard, Tina Fey, Julianna Ma...read more

11 Jeanne Yang Clients: Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, Andrew Garfield, Christian Bale, M...read more

12 L’Wren Scott Clients: Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker read more

13 Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn Clients: Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Rachel McAdams, Lily Collins  read more

14 Elizabeth Saltzman Client: Gwyneth Paltrow  read more

15 Cher Coulter Clients: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Kate Bosworth, Elizabeth Olsen, S...read more

16 Leith Clark Clients: Keira Knightley, Kirsten Dunst read more

17 Jessica Paster Clients: Emily Blunt, Felicity Jones, Andrea Riseborough, Ellie Kempe...read more





18 Penny Lovell Clients: Rose Byrne, Ginnifer Goodwin read more

19 Wendi and Nicole Ferreira Clients: Octavia Spencer, Elizabeth Banks, Channing Tatum, Josh Hutch...read more


20 Brad Goreski Clients: Jessica Alba, Rashida Jones, Maya Rudolph, Demi Moore, Noomi...read more

21 Nicole Chavez Clients: Rachel Bilson, Kristen Bell, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Katherine...read more

22 Johnny Wujek Clients: Katy Perry, Kate Mara, Nicki Minaj read more

23 George Kotsiopoulos Clients: Janet McTeer, Alice Eve  read more

24 Arianne Phillips Client: Madonna  read more

25 Ilaria Urbanti Clients: Nina Dobrev, Krysten Ritter, Bradley Cooper, Armie Hammer, C...read more

More Fuss over the pose

James Rocchi ‏ @jamesrocchi

#DOAOL MT @DamonLindelof AOL's front page has a pic of Angelina Jolie; headline, "The Slit Everyone's Talking About." #StayClassyAOL

Andrew Wallenstein ‏ @awallenstein

Jennifer Lopez nip-slip was Oscar's most Tivo-ed moment last night, according to the company. Angelina Jolie leg show finished fifth.

Defamer.com ‏ @defamer

Angelina Jolie's Right Leg Poised to Supplant All Creative Arts Forever gaw.kr/Gzye

Retweeted by ThePlaylist

Angelina’s Right Leg Poised to Supplant All Creative Arts Forever

A study in speed meme-ing: In under 24 hours, Angelina Jolie's dramatic right leg has taken over the internet. As we speak, America's most powerful meme factories are pumping their pistons as fast as they can: What if Angelina's leg had a Twitter feed? What if it got peppersprayed? What if she showed both her legs? What should we call it? Jolie-ing? Angelegging? What if Al Roker did this pose?
What if Angelina's leg wore bread on its knee? What if it knelt and prayed after touchdowns? What if we put funny captions on it? What if it made friends with a cat? What if a comedian threw Kim Jong-Il's ashes on it? What if it went to the moon? What if it had sex with J.Lo's left nipple, and gave birth to a horrible nipple-kneed monster, which then drunk texted Paris Hilton?
In the future, memes won't even need predicating events. One human will do one thing in front of a camera, once per year, and the memes will snowball onwards, forever. All creative conceits will be the products of repetition with variation, as in a Bach fugue. [images via Getty]

Angelina Jolie Right Leg At 2012 Oscars Takes Over The Internet (PHOTOS)

The Huffington Post   Ellie Krupnick First Posted: 02/27/2012 10:23 am Updated: 02/27/2012 11:09 am

It was the pose seen 'round the world: Angelina Jolie stepped onto the Oscars red carpet, planting her hands on her hips and forcefully jutted her right leg out in front of her, like she was George Washington crossing the Delaware River.
For a woman who typically eschews red carpets altogether and likes to keep a low-profile, Angie's bold right leg took plenty of people by surprise. Poking out from a heavy, dark Versace dress, the slender right leg seemed to have a life of its own.
Soon enough, it did. By the time Angie took hundreds of red carpet shots with her leg permanently extended and then presented an award in the same exposed position, the limb had its own Twitter account, @AngiesRightLeg, with thousands of followers.
Buzzfeed had a photo album of Angelina's right leg, dubbing it "the breakout star of this year's Academy Awards."
When "The Descendants" screenwriters Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash accepted their award for Best Adapted Screenplay, they struck the "hip out, leg extended" -- heretofore known as "The Angelina" -- pose.
When the "Today" show recounted the Oscars on Monday morning, Ann Curry and Al Roker did their best "Angelina."
We even got to Angelegging (it's a word, y'all) in the HuffPost newsroom.
In short, the 2012 Oscars was Angelina Jolie's right leg's coming out party. The leg had been creeping farther and farther out for several years, as you can see in the photos below... but Angie must have decided that 2012 was the year she'd truly put her best foot forward (yeah, we said it).
Check out Angie's right leg last night and her long history of leg-jutting (both the right and the left) over the past decade.

Image of the Day: The Best Shot of Angelina Jolie's Leg from Last Night's Oscar Ceremony
By Erik Davis Feb 27, 2012

 

In case you weren't aware of how big a deal the internet is making out of Angelina Jolie showing off a little leg during last night's Oscar ceremony, look no further than the leg's own Twitter account. All day we've seen various Angelina Jolie memes floating around, including a really fun photoshopped image of what it would look like if both of Jolie's legs were bare, not to mention a fake movie poster for a film starring Jolie's leg called The Leg. But this one below is our favorite, if only because we're wicked fans of A Christmas Story, as well as images that make a mockery out of our ridiculous obsession with the little tricks celebs pull to get us all worked up in a tizzy. Bet you'd like to put that in your front window ...

angelina jolie

By Tracie Egan Morrissey

Feb 28, 2012 11:20 AM

Bill O’Reilly Concern-Trolls Angelina Jolie’s Figure

Last night on The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly decided to give a "reality check" about Angelina Jolie's "emaciated" figure to the media, whom he thinks "largely ignores Ms. Jolie's physical profile." Oh really, O'Reilly? Have you even ever seen a tabloid cover in the past two years? Everyone is very aware of Angelina's arms (and now, her leg). You're a little late to the game on this one, but we're sure you're genuinely worried about whether or not she has an eating disorder, so much so, in fact, that you'd be willing to call out how gross you find her, physically, on TV because we all know how women respond so well to having their bodies scrutinized. I'm sure she's stepped up her caloric intake all because of last night's broadcast. Good work, pal!

Angelina on the Red Carpet: 7 Sensational Style Strategies That Make Her Shine

Posted: 02/27/12 10:40 AM ET

It's telling that so many at Wednesday night's QVC's pre-Oscar 'The Buzz Event' -- including Kim Kardashian and Molly Sims -- chose Angelina Jolie as the celebrity they most wanted to watch at the Academy Awards.
Earlier yesterday -- hours before the red carpet walk -- E! hosts were entreating, "Where's Angelina?" Kelly Osborne calls her "Queen Angelina." Lives of Style unofficially polled some "noteworthies" for their #1 pick -- and it's Angelina again.
Thespian and directorial talents notwithstanding, Jolie in recent years has proven to be a leading light in the style arena. She's almost singlehandedly -- along with a small cadre of others -- brought back old-time, glamorous, enthralling, bigger-than-life star-wattage to Hollywood "style-dom."
It's an anomaly since Jolie often chooses long-sleeved, even conservative, dresses -- although she rocked Atelier Versace at the Golden Globes, stole the show in Romona Keveza at the premier of In The Land of Blood and Honey and shone twice in Jenny Packham -- but it works in that she walks, talks, stands, smiles, speaks and frankly, just "presents" like a big-time movie star. Did you see Brad Pitt grin and nod when his partner sailed onto the proscenium at the Golden Globes? She "owned the stage."
Jolie has an "It" factor that has been passed down from style-divas like Elizabeth Taylor -- who certainly knew how to make an entrance in her day -- and before that Greta Garbo -- nicknamed "the face." In fact, old-time movie stars were well aware that they had an impact by their very persona, and cultivated more distant, distinct, unknowable, elusive public encounters than approachable stars of today.
Jolie -- one of the most physically beautiful women in the world -- has wrapped up mesmeric attention, but it's her style standard -- her decisions about hair, make-up, gowns, accessories and how to make an entrance -- that has made acolytes of a number of Hollywood's famous names.
Here are 7 of Jolie's sensational style strategies that, if other celebrities would follow her lead, would rev up the glamour and elegance of the Oscars:
1. Get the framing right. Big, luxurious hair or "pulled-back-for-drama" upsweep -- make it fit with the silhouette of the dress.
2. You CAN play up both eyes and lips -- Angelina's gone for both smoky eyes and bright lips.
3. Less is more. Let star-wattage speak. Angelina never piles on extraneous jewelry.
4. Always stand up straight -- posture dips not allowed; head and chin elevated-look slightly down for pics; walk regally -- pace it. Move like a star -- even climbing stairs.
5. Look composed. Smile serenely at the crowd -- and hold up a hand to wave; smile only at key moments during an interview.
6. Be elusive -- don't reveal too much. Keep conversations warm and succinct. Every interviewer wants a scoop -- it's not your job to give it to them.
7. Own -- don't "vamp on" -- the red carpet. Don't do the "starlet-two-hands-on-the-hips" red-carpet move. Keep hands near hips with palms turned softly inward.
Finally -- only Angelina can be Angelina -- and she does it well. Celebs would do best to be themselves and know that a great look is only half of a winning appearance -- you have to know how to work it.

Hollywood's Stylists

The Power Stylists of Hollywood

By RUTH LA FERLA

Published: January 13, 2012

EVERY red carpet has its head-turners, dresses that captivate, spark style trends, and celebrate turning points in a star’s career. Much the same can be expected when the Golden Globes unfurls its crimson runner on NBC on Sunday night. In past seasons the looks on parade at this annual glam fest helped cement reputations and jump-start careers.

When Reese Witherspoon stepped out in 2007, after her breakup with Ryan Phillippe, her tight yellow Nina Ricci dress lent her an unaccustomed oomph. She was sexier than ever, so it seemed.

Two years ago, Maggie Gyllenhaal injected spirit into her modest indie profile with a peach-tone mermaid silhouette by Roland Mouret. The following year, at the Oscars, Katherine Heigl worked her curves, her formfitting scarlet gown transforming her from a daffy approachable girl-next-door into a pneumatically contoured cinema diva.

“That dress was a game-changer,” said Nicole Chavez, who coaxed Ms. Heigl into her one-shoulder sizzler. Such moments can be transformative, said Ms. Chavez, a stylist who has worked with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Scarlett Johansson. “People — casting agents, studio executives — stop and take notice,” she said. “They are suddenly interested in working with you.”

Such image-shaping clout, long concentrated in the hands of agents and publicists, has been ceded in part to a coterie of influential stylists, Hollywood tastemakers like Annabel Tollman, Petra Flannery, Estee Stanley and Deborah Waknin, and household names like Rachel Zoe, whose fame matches, even eclipses, that of the women they dress.

Most subscribe to the axiom that red-carpet exposure can serve as a billboard for designers, who reap hundreds of thousands of dollars in free advertising, and turn unfamiliar names like Elie Saab and Naeem Khan into covetable luxury brands. Less often acknowledged is that such exposure showcases the stylists’ talents as well, elevating once lowly shleppers, the haulers of garments and pinners of hems, into formidable power brokers capable of swaying the trajectory of a star’s career.

Who wields that kind of power now? A list compiled last spring by The Hollywood Reporter identified stars like Elizabeth Stewart, Leith Clark, Anna Bingemann and Jessica Paster. That roster, by no means exhaustive, also included Jennifer Rade, who works with Angelina Jolie, and Tiina Laakkonen, whose reputation rests on her work with Carey Mulligan, the young star most stylists only dream of working with. In a red-carpet season, you are who you dress.

When the 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld snared the spotlight, appearing at the Golden Globes last year in a shimmering white column by Prabal Gurung, her stylists, Karla Welch and Kemal Harris, shared the glow. When Natalie Portman drew raves at the Globes last year for her pink satin Viktor & Rolf gown, the consensus among insiders at least was that her dresser, Kate Young, reaped laurels as well. That promise of recognition helps explain why high-octane stylists would choose to work punishing hours, flexing fashion muscle, but just as often subjugating their own tastes and instincts to those of their charges.

Still, as veterans of the trade point out, it takes more than a killer eye, a Calvinist work ethic and a capacity for self-effacement to rise to the rank of power stylist. These days that distinction is awarded to stylists who see to it that their clients alight on the carpet in a dress riveting enough to secure not just plum parts, but the magazine covers and lucrative fragrance and cosmetics contracts that stars now view as their entitlement.

“Dressing for a major red carpet isn’t simply getting ready for a big party and looking pretty,” said George Kotsiopoulos, a stylist and a former editor at T: The New York Times Style Magazine who is now a host on “Fashion Police” on the E! network. In recent years, he said, “it’s been about selling yourself as a brand.”

 The pale lavender Reem Acra gown that Olivia Wilde wore at the 2008 Emmy Awards lent her A-list impact, arguably attracting the attention of the film executives who cast her, a featured player in “House,” in commercial films like “Tron: Legacy” and “Cowboys & Aliens.” As her stylist, Ms. Welch, observed, “Good clothes can open doors.”

Film executives tend to concur. “The studios take style heavily into account,” said Terry Press, an entertainment marketing consultant. Stylist fees are built into their budgets. “A stylist is now just another line item,” she said.

As insiders see it, that investment is worthwhile: the right red-carpet turnout can help a performer change lanes. “If your client plays nefarious characters,” said the stylist Jeanne Yang, you might dress them, say, in tulle, to demonstrate “that she’s really a fresh ingénue.”

Others strive for sartorial consistency. Indeed, a case could be made that Ms. Steinfeld’s reliably chic but youthful red-carpet looks inspired the fashion executives at Miu Miu to cast her in its advertising campaigns. Mila Kunis’s transformation, at the hands of Ms. Flannery, from ill-kempt hipster to regal sexpot doubtless helped secure her latest role, as the new “face” of Dior. A fashion or fragrance contract can earn an actress in the tens of millions.

Such potent stylist-star alliances were spawned well over a decade ago, when celebrity Web sites and supermarket tabloids competed to serve up candid shots of stars exiting Starbucks or the gym in a state of sorry dishevelment. Hoping to shore up their images, some were quick to enlist a fashion consultant.
Stylists at the time catered to stars’ insecurities. “The stylist is an outgrowth of the mean-girls culture,” Ms. Press observed. “Their very existence says of an actress, ‘I don’t trust my own instincts, or I have no instincts, or I can’t bear to read all the mean things people are going to say if my dress doesn’t deliver.’ ”
In an Internet era, when self-appointed critics could heap scorn on a star, “stylists began getting extraordinarily powerful,” said Melissa Rivers, executive producer of “Fashion Police.” It was also a time when style-savvy stars like Nicole Kidman, Sharon Stone and, later, Cate Blanchett made headlines with their sartorial picks. “In a lot of ways,” Ms. Rivers said, “it was the perfect storm.”

One that gave stylists new pull. “Many became power hungry,” Ms. Rivers said. “They were hoarding dresses, not releasing them until the night before awards shows. They were all trying to sabotage each other.”

And leaving a trail of disgruntled clients in their wake. Some tried to steal the thunder of established pros. One high-profile dresser showily rushed backstage at the Oscars to adjust the hem of a dress styled by a competitor.

These days, the most successful stylists are less inclined to commandeer the wares, or for that matter, the spotlight. “Your ego has to drop a little,” said Cher Coulter, who has dressed Kate Bosworth and Kirsten Dunst. Ms. Coulter and others have accordingly channeled their skills, and competitive drive, into a variety of potentially lucrative sidelines. Ms. Coulter recently unveiled a jewelry line with Ms. Bosworth. A denim collaboration is in the works.

Jeanne Yang joined forces with her client Katie Holmes on a fashion collection, now in its third year.
June Ambrose, who made her name shaping the images of pop artists like Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige and Sean Combs, is filming a reality television show, “Styled by June,” to be broadcast next month on VH1. “I see myself as a star in a roomful of stars,” said Ms. Ambrose, who routinely wears turbans and movie star shades.

Yet she, too, can retreat, Cinderella-like, when the occasion demands. “You have to find a balance,” she said. “There are times when I’m on my knees, pinning hems and putting on my clients’ shoes.”

The profession, for most, requires a surgeon’s incisiveness and an analyst’s sensitive radar. “I know when to stop pushing,” said Tara Swennen, whose clients include Kristen Stewart and Kate Beckinsale. “If I give them a dress and they look at me sideways, I understand, O.K., they don’t want to wear it, and that’s fine.”
Forming bonds is inevitable. “You’re in their bedrooms, after all, doing things you’d do only with your best friends,” said Leslie Fremar, who has been credited with raising the glamour quotient of clients like Charlize Theron and Julianne Moore.

She recalled the evening last year at Shutters, the celebrity haven in Santa Monica, Calif., when she prepared Ms. Gyllenhaal for her star turn at the Oscars. Dries Van Noten had sent two dresses, one darkly fetching, the other exuberantly patterned. “Everyone — the makeup artist, her mother, her friends — cast a vote,” Ms. Fremar recalled. “They were looking at me to make the decision.” She was reluctant. “Some of my clients are my best friends,” she said, “but at the end of the day I have to remember, they are my bosses, too.”

Ms. Gyllenhaal decided on the floral. “It makes me happy,” Ms. Fremar recalled her saying. “Let’s go with it.”