Stars cash in on the Oscars
2005-02-24 13:05
Los Angeles - With the Oscar red carpet serving as the world's top fashion
runway, designers aren't leaving who wears what to chance.
It's a given nowadays that stars get to keep the outfits they
wear - some worth thousands of dollars.
But the new buzz is that
some companies, especially those late to the celebrity dressing
game, will offer cash to ensure that stars wear their label.
And
others are linking Oscar clothes to modelling gigs, luxury travel or
complete wardrobes.
"Organic" fashion moments, like when Uma Thurman wore a loose
lilac Prada gown to the 1995 Oscars or Gwyneth Paltrow's 1999
princess like pink Ralph Lauren, would be unlikely to happen now,
said one celebrity liaison.
All about the money
"It has become about money," said the liaison, who lines up
boldface names to wear top designers.
"Stars might intend to be
loyal to a designer at first, when they are so excited to be
offered such beautiful clothes, but after you've been dressed in
beautiful dresses often enough, you look for some other incentive."
Added the liaison, who didn't want his name used because he
needs to maintain relations with stars and stylists: "Celebrities
make their big money in Japanese Pepsi commercials and fragrance
contracts, not from independent movies."
Nicole Kidman, for example, models for a Chanel fragrance and
Charlize Theron is the face of Christian Dior's J'adore perfume.
No surprises
Hilary Swank is a Calvin Klein lingerie model - and guess which
fashion house designed the dress she wore earlier this year when
she picked up her Golden Globe?
At least her chocolate brown Calvin tank gown was sleek and
sophisticated, the right look for Swank.
There was one gown that
did not win rave reviews at the Globes - and the liaison said the
star was forced to wear it.
The liaison said his employer won't pay cash but will "wardrobe"
celebrities for lesser occasions, expecting them to choose the
label when it comes to the big awards shows.
Robert Triefus, Armani's executive vice president of
communications, said Armani relies on personal relationships - a
luxury it can afford because Giorgio Armani himself has enjoyed a
long history with the entertainment industry, with movie credits
ranging from "American Gigolo" to "De-Lovely."
"When Mr. Armani works with someone in Hollywood, it's because
he enjoys what they do as an actor or director and they enjoy what
he does as a designer," he said.
Armani can afford to pay a star to don one of his signature
looks, but Triefus said that's too high a price to pay for
compromising the company's integrity.
Same goes for the celebrity liaison's employer, he said. But the
designer does indeed pay the liaison, who doesn't work cheap.
An up-and-coming designer like Roland Mouret, who designed
Scarlett Johansson's architectural coral taffeta Golden Globes
gown, couldn't afford a wrangler or to cut a check, so he has to
simply hope that his clothes will catch the eye of stars or
stylists.
The right dress counts
But just as a new designer can benefit from clothing the right
star, a starlet can get a lot of mileage from the right dress: Emmy
Rossum gained more exposure from her flawless Globes appearance in
a Ralph Lauren gown and Harry Winston diamonds than from her film
The Phantom of the Opera.
Carol Brodie, Winston's global director of communications, said
she expects the jeweller to dress Rossum, who is also a paying
client, for many years to come.
"She believes in her heart that
Harry Winston has the most beautiful jewellery in the world. Some
stars that we previously dressed now have agreements with somebody
else. That's okay. There's a lot of stars, a lot of jewellery and a lot
of clothes out there."
At some point, Brodie acknowledged, Winston might have to
reconsider its policy of not compensating stars or letting them
keep red carpet jewellery.
"Ultimately the celebrity factor has so much power in the world
of publishing, internet and the broadcast media," she said, "that
at some point every brand will be associated with a celebrity via a
contractual agreement."
- SAPA