Are stylists the new celebrities?

Style icons are not born, they become. The passion for fashion, the courage to combine garments with your own criteria, the uniqueness of what you wear and how you wear it are of course indispensable elements. But let us face it, behind the best outfits of our favourite celebrities there is always an impeccable personal stylist. A celebrity's image is the sum of an endless array of outfit elements; make-up and hair are just the tip of the iceberg. When a celebrity has a well-differentiated and recognisable style, it works. Even at the cost of abandoning the surprise factor in favour of predictability, as with the long love affair between Kim Kardashian and Balenciaga. Her famous latex or velvet jumpsuits, which fit tightly and even prevent her from going to the bathroom, have become what we have come to expect at the star's most glamorous appearances. But when the collaboration works, recognisability and consistency are much more important than the surprise of novelty.

The opposite is true: when a showbiz personality has a style that does not suit her, it's the fans, not the haters, who bring this problem to light, as has been the case with Margot Robbie and her odyssey with Chanel for several years. The pastel looks, iconic tweed and numerous ruffles did not exactly catch the eye of the Australian actress. Many comments insisted that the 1990-born actress was showing more than her age with these looks and that such a classic style was at odds with Robbie's stunning beauty. It was not until she showed up at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles wearing a Bottega Veneta gown in a luxurious green satin that the difference became apparent. Fans went nuts, sharing memes depicting the actress' stylist Kate Young as a saboteur and comparing Robbie to a prisoner, albeit one whose prison is the aforementioned French fashion house. "Margot, baby, blink twice when you are in danger!" read one tweet after she was seen wearing another Chanel-branded dress at the Golden Globes in January. More than 750 hours of work went into the dress made of lace, silk tulle, numerous sequins, pearls and feathers in pastel pink, which is undoubtedly not one of the star's worst looks.

If a celebrity fails to make an impression within the fashion system, beware of putting him in the drawer forever, because at any moment the right stylist could turn up and turn his image upside down. Take Brad Pitt as an example. After being accused of child abuse and domestic violence by his wife Angelina Jolie and even filing for divorce, social media did not hesitate to brand the actor as #cancelled. After the recent Venice Film Festival, seeing him on the red carpet with a pair of trainers and sunglasses was enough to get people talking about him everywhere. The actor hired the same PR team that Johnny Depp had last year, but the real turning point came during the various Bullet Train premieres in 2022, where Pitt wore unique and unexpected outfits, colourful suits paired with flamboyant Adidas, flowing fabrics and real star glasses. Who is behind this change? Haans Nicholas Mott, a 44-year-old New York designer who only custom dresses those who have been previously styled by him. Very exclusive, very daring. His philosophy is to create a synergy between the garment and the person so that it best expresses their personality. This was also shown to us by the much-discussed suit that Pitt wore with a jacket and skirt, in the name of a more genderless idea of fashion that has been shaped in recent years by the likes of Harry Styles. There is no doubt that there is a huge study behind colours and their meanings. Not only do they lend a fresher and certainly more youthful look, it is no coincidence that Pitt has decided to change his style just after the serious allegations in the Brangelina household. The soft fabrics, bright colours and casual shoes convey a much less serious and also less rigid image of whoever is wearing them, a perfect example of the collaboration between PR and fashion.

Just recently, Brad was spotted on the set of the film Wolves wearing a look that is all about Generation Z and fits perfectly with the trends that put comfort before elegance. A furry white fisherman's hat paired with a suit of the same colour was perhaps the last thing we expected. The actor has found a winning strategy to get back on the crest of the wave and is certainly not ready to give it up anytime soon.

Let us move on to an actress who has literally stolen the show in recent months: Anne Hathaway has never looked so radiant. I wonder if she has finally given up the elegant, timeless style of Armani to follow more the latest trends? Erin Walsh is the woman we have to thank for all these crazy looks. The stylist receives millions of compliments from the actress' fans. "You are stunning," they write to her under the TikTok she recorded to show Hathaway's recent appearances in her clothes.

We like this new style so much because it reminds us of Andy Sachs, perhaps? The young protagonist in The Devil Wears Prada, who discovers the most luxurious fashion houses and falls head over heels in love with the way these sumptuous garments make her feel. Sequins, croc-patterned trench coats, oversized blazers and knee-high boots. Her looks seem to leave us no time to appreciate them as they get better every time we see them in paparazzi photos. They are daring, yet they do not overwhelm Hathaway's beauty by overpowering her; she is always the only one stealing the show, despite the strong colours or the complexity of the outfits. The figure of the stylist is now finally being noticed by the general public. Social media like TikTok have played a big role in making the stylist a role to follow, watch and emulate. To sum up, we can say that a stylist's work is really successful when the outfit they create is pinned on Pinterest over and over again. This can also be seen in the example of the most recently published series TV. On Twitter, there are so many comments on the outfits worn by Lily Collins and her colleagues in Emily in Paris, and not on the plot itself. And given the lack of plot this season, the production owes everything to Marylin Fitoussi, the expert behind every style decision. The web profiles of these experts are a godsend for those who want to try to better understand how to develop a particular and studied style for themselves. Just like the boom for celebrity make-up artists, it is now time for these figures who have long remained in the shadows: Fortunately, they are getting the success they deserve with a virtual standing ovation that starts on Instagram and ends on the red carpet.