Dressing for the Red Carpet

In the United States, we love our celebrities. The number of magazines covering every moment of celebrities’ lives continues to grow rapidly, and the hottest celebrities cannot dine out or even stroll to the grocery store without running into paparazzi.

Intrusions into personal lives aside, actors of both sexes should, and do, have a sense of obligation to appear at awards shows relating to their on-screen efforts, particularly when they have been nominated for awards. Indeed, this is their moment to shine and to accept public acknowledgement of their talent. They have months to plan their red carpet image, deciding upon how to style their hair, makeup, apparel and accessories. They don’t need to tackle this project alone—there are plenty of designers and stylists eager to help. And we, the public, take this all in and decide what we think is fashionable based upon the choices made by our favorite celebrities.

How truly wonderful is that the percentage of full-figured women represented at awards shows continues to grow. Talented curvy women are making inroads into theater, film and television as never before. These celebrities can help set the trends that we can translate into fashions for our own bodies.

What is not so wonderful is that too many of our curvy celebrities are ignored by the cameras when they’re not in front of the camera playing a character.

In some cases, the celebrities are ironically but genuinely camera-shy. For example, Tyne Daly is a well-loved full-figured actress who eschews the camera when she’s off-screen. Although nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Judging Amy, and present at the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards show on September 18th, she was nowhere to be seen in any of the numerous collections of published photos taken at the show this year. Last year, I happened into a boutique displaying in its front window an ensemble I liked very much that I recalled Ms. Daly wore to the 2004 Emmys. I wandered into the shop and confirmed that indeed, that was identical to the outfit she wore. However, I was instructed not to disclose the identity of the shop or the brand of the apparel. What a loss, not only to the designer and the shop, but also to all of us who want to be able to emulate celebrity looks we love.

Happily, not all curvy celebrities are so camera-shy, either by choice or by circumstance, and they do give us an opportunity to evaluate what works, what doesn’t, and why.

At the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards, Camryn Manheim, who had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Elvis,looked beautiful in an off-the-shoulder dress of rich burgundy silk with a deep vee neckline and sleeves that ended just below her elbows, emphasizing her waist. The dress, created by Daniela Kurrle Couture, beautifully flattered her figure and gave her a sexy hourglass shape. Note that shorter, bracelet-length sleeves are promising to be an important trend for the spring. Camryn wore her long hair in loose curls, and she accessorized her gown perfectly with a vintage diamond pendant necklace and bracelet from Frances Klein Estate Jewels.

Redcarpet personality Star Jones Reynolds, still apparently shrinking in size, but unmistakably curvy in a fitted violet velvet shirred gown by Marc Bauer, looked lovely.  She could have worn this style at any weight, because the dress was cut for her body. However, the dress had a front seam, to which the shirring was directed. The dress was perfection from the back but had the unfortunate effect of drawing the eye right to her middle. Worse yet, Star apparently continues to find it irresistible to pile one just one more piece of jewelry. This year, she wore a gorgeous and substantial diamond necklace with pendant and diamond earrings.  Had she stopped there, I would have almost been convinced that she has finally started heeding The Jewelry Counselor’s fashion advice.  However, the offending piece added on this time was a diamond lariat necklace, which ended with a heavy amethyst drop that had the unfortunate effect of bouncing against her tummy—a no-no for anyone without washboard abs.

Another full-figured celebrity in the spotlight was Kathryn Joosten, who took home an Emmy for her guest role on Desperate Housewives.   Kathryn has fine, thin hair, which looked pretty but decidedly not very festive. I would have loved to see her dial up the volume with extensions or falls.  Kathryn chose black slacks with a glitzy metallic gold and black print top in an enormous pattern that completely overwhelmed her body and her delicate facial features. With this beautiful yellow gold color in her apparel, Kathryn should have chosen some stunning yellow gold jewelry.  Unfortunately, instead she chose a thin necklace, which appeared to consist of diamonds set in white metal, which necklace was wrong in color and in scale.  What appeared to be doorknocker style earrings, again set in white metal, looked dated and didn’t coordinate in style with her ensemble or her necklace, although I did like the fact that they didn’t dangle below her jawline. 

One of my personal favorites, Doris Roberts, accepted her fifth(!) Emmy, this one her fourth for Best Supporting Actress in Everybody Loves Raymond, in a shaped black satin skirt and a black matte top decorated around the neckline with ecru lace and what appeared to be golden topaz stones that framed her face and complemented her soft blonde coloring. Instead of picking up the warm golden theme in her jewelry, however, she chose to wear large diamond chandelier earrings set in white metal.  Her ensemble would have been dynamite accessorized instead with yellow or champagne-colored diamond earrings set in yellow gold. 

Curiously, Kathy Bates, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Warm Springs, was nowhere to be seen in the major press coverage. I scoured the celebrity fashion websites and magazines for photos of her, and could find none at all. She consistently dresses impeccably and has amazing taste in jewelry (recall her triumph at the 2003 Academy Awards in a red silk evening dress and coat ensemble, wearing the most magnificent diamonds at the event), and I am beyond disappointed when the general public cannot learn from her superior wardrobe choices. After all, far more of us resemble her in physique than we do any of the Desperate Housewives.

I had heard through the grapevine that Ms. Bates, who famously bared all for About Schmidt, is very shy when it comes to being scrutinized on the red carpet, and deliberately makes it difficult for interviewers or photographers to allow her a moment in the spotlight. 

Kathy Bates shy? “Not so!” says her stylist, Susan Moses, who is responsible for keeping not only Kathy Bates, but also Queen Latifah, among other clients of all ages and figure types, looking consistently fabulous. Susan attributes the lack of photographs of Ms. Bates not to any shyness on her part, but to the bias of the press toward photographing the young. I had the opportunity to talk with Susan about the process for dressing her celebrity clients for the awards shows.

“It’s all about enhancing curves,” Susan told me. She believes in dressing her full-figured clients to accentuate their curves with form-fitting gowns, not to cover them up. Surprisingly, she has found that her full-figured clients are morecomfortable with their bodies than everyone else. They are healthy and vibrant women, she told me, and they shouldcelebrate their curves. They don’t buy into the “ridiculous obsession with body image” that bedevils the vast majority of celebrities.

The process of dressing for the red carpet starts with two questions directed to her client: First, do you have any particular color in mind? She urges her clients to go with color rather than basic black. Second, is there any part of your body that you’re concerned with at this time? The fashion choices will address this concern.

Next, Susan sifts through color swatches with her client and selects several designers to produce sketches of possible dresses. Although Susan uses a range of top couturier designers, including Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Bill Blass and Zac Posen to dress her curvy clients, Susan prefers to use designers such as Carmen Marc Volvo because he specifically designs for the full-figured woman. His collections span the entire size range from 2 through 24, unlike those of most of the couture designers. On a hopeful note, Susan mentioned that some of the other designers are starting to extend their lines up through a size 14, an indication of some progress.

Time is a major issue in preparing for a red carpet event. The selected designer needs to be able to produce and fit a muslin of the dress design on the client, before producing the actual dress, which itself will require at least one or two more fittings before it is ready for its debut. The process takes two to four weeks.

While the dress is in production, Susan starts focusing on the accessories. For shoes, “comfort is most important,” she notes, since a red carpet event means being on one’s feet for upwards of two to three hours. She shops boutiques and Saks Fifth Avenue for possible choices. Stuart Weitzman shoes are a particular favorite.

For handbags, the process is different. Based upon look books of current collections, Susan calls a number of handbag designers, such as Judith Lieber and MooRoo, and describes the color and style of the dress. The designers send in samples, and the selection is made based upon what looks best with the dress and what works best for the actress, taking into consideration, for example, which bag is easiest to hold.

With jewelry, Susan told me, she takes her time in the selection process because jewelry “can make or break an outfit.” Sometimes the outfit calls for an unadorned neck; other gowns call for relatively simple earrings and a fabulous necklace. Susan visits various jewelry salons, and many designers also send jewels, accompanied of course by security guards, for a try-on session in the comfort of the celebrity’s hotel suite. Among the jewelry designers whose designs have been selected for her celebrity clientele are Harry Winston, Chopard, DeBeers and Erica Courtney. Susan confirmed that jewelry choices are affected by issues of size. Most high-end necklaces, for example, are produced in a 16-inch length, and the limited amount of time available before an awards show means that the designer has no time to modify the necklace or create a matching extender.

I queried Susan about some of the ill-fitting choices in fashion seen on the red carpet. “Some actresses and singers think they know more [about fashion] than their stylists and designers,” Susan told me. “I choose not to work with them.” However, she had nothing but the highest compliments for both Kathy Bates and Queen Latifah as clients who are easy to work with, funny, and delightful to be around.

So what did Kathy Bates wear to the Emmys? She wore a beautiful strapless dress of iridescent blue silk in a color chosen to match her eyes, topped with a sheer chiffon shrug, made for her by Carmen Marc Volvo. Kathy accessorized her dress with Chopard earrings of sapphires encircled by diamonds, Stuart Weitzman sandals and a MooRoo handbag of fluffy ostrich feathers in shades of blue and white.

Today, as Andre Leon Tally from Vogue magazine recently pointed out on Oprah, celebrities routinely use stylists these days to help them navigate through fashion choices in order to put together stylish fashion ensembles.  Some celebrity stylists, like Susan Moses, are terrific and really understand principles of design, keeping their clients looking elegant, chic and perfectly accessorized. Other celebrity stylists, sadly, pay more heed to what’s hot in fashion rather than what looks best on the woman. However, a good stylist can coax the style out of the woman and enhance her natural assets. A good stylist will make sure that the color and the lines of the apparel are flattering; that the celebrity can walk, sit and breathe in her dress; that her foundations are appropriately supportive, and that her jewelry and accessories, hair and makeup are impeccably put together so that she looks great from head to toe. After all, her fans expect nothing less.

For us non-celebrities, the equivalent of a celebrity stylist is an image consultant, who can help us learn what colors, proportions and styles are most flattering to each of us,  provide advice on hairstyles and makeup, review the content of our closets to determine what works and what doesn’t, and even help us shop to find clothing and accessories to build a flattering wardrobe. This assistance is readily available and surprisingly affordable. Having the opinion of a professional can be a major comfort, especially in advance of any type of high-pressure appearance, even if the event doesn’t involve a red carpet. For more information, contact the Association of Image Consultants International, which has associates located across the country www.aici.org.

Let me end with a note to all our talented full-figured celebrities: Please know that we, your fans, adore you. We want to see you looking drop-dead gorgeous, dressed and adorned with the same attention to detail as the most egotistical young slip of an actress on the red carpet. We want to know what you’re wearing and who you’re wearing. We want to see you decked out in fabulous jewelry. Please don’t be shrinking violets. Seize the moment. Engage stylists and image consultants to assist you so that you wow us all. You’re earned that right. By looking gorgeous and amazing, you help us visualize and internalize that we can look gorgeous and amazing too.

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