The Oscars: And the nominees for best dressed are...

By RUTH WALKER
Published on Tuesday 21 February 2012 00:00

SO you’re an A-lister headed for the Oscars, now you just need the outfit. Who you gonna call? Your stylist, of course, who can get anything – usually for free

E VERY awards season it's the same. The (virtual) stiffies start dropping into my inbox: the MTV Movie Awards. The Emmys. The Golden Globes. Grammys. Somehow – don't ask me how – I've managed to get myself on the guest list for the Secret Room gifting suite. Next week it's the big one. Sunday 26 February. Oscars night. Every other event up until this moment has been a dress rehearsal – this baby is the real thing.

Showcasing “an array of luxurious products and services", the Secret Room is one of many similar events that provide celebrities and carefully chosen media representatives (that's me!) with “all-inclusive trips, shoes, handbags, diamonds, gowns, tuxedos, hair-styling, facials, manicures ..." Basically, anything you need to be seen on the red carpet, you can get it at an invitation-only event held in a private suite in an exclusive Beverly Hills hotel.

So don't for a minute be fooled into thinking the red carpet is an opportunity for stars to meet and greet their fans or to be recognised for their tireless work on the silver screen. This is really just the biggest billboard known to man. Everyone on it has something to sell. The films? They are merely the bit players.

Don't think, either, that the most coveted awards are the gold statuettes and busts being handed out and wept over by the gushy recipients on stage; the only victories worth winning are the ones fought over on the red carpet. “Your brand can gain instant popularity, credibility, notoriety and attention that only personal celebrity endorsement can achieve," goes the Secret Room mantra. And getting a star in your designer frock, glittering jewels or sky-high heels is worth more than any fashion spread in a glossy magazine or standalone store on Bond Street.

And while we're at it, can we clear one more thing up: this is all about the ladies. So what if Brad wore Gucci to the Baftas? John Hamm wore Tom Ford? Colin Firth's Armani jacket was made from plastic bottles? Meh. The only tux worth watching was the one worn by Firth's gorgeous wife Livia, looking sexy and chic in black Paul Smith.

But nor is this a simple case of celeb goes shopping, celeb likes the look of a frock, celeb buys said frock, wears it to event and feels like a million dollars. Like the film productions the awards ceremonies are set up to celebrate, each red carpet appearance involves a cast of backroom bodies, and at its core is the most intimate relationship of all: that of star and stylist. This is the person who knows when Angelina is having a fat day. Or if Meryl hates her upper arms. They're first to know if a celeb is pregnant. Or has her period. Or has simply visited the Magnolia bakery once too often lately.

The price for this kind of intimacy runs at anywhere between $1,500 and $10,000 a day. The job? Shameless and endless blagging of free frocks, jewels, bags and shoes – all so their astonishingly generously paid client (or the studio that employs them) doesn't have to put their perfectly manicured hand in their pocket.

And since this is an ever more competitive industry, often the stylist will work for free too – especially if they think it will earn them valuable exposure, à la Rachel Zoe, who is now almost as famous as the skinny little bods she has styled.

One celebrity stylist says ‘donating' your time is widespread, even when it comes to working with some of the most high-profile clients. “Honestly," he says, “Salma [Hayek] never paid a dollar, I don’t think, in all the years I’ve worked for her." He adds, mournfully: “She and I were best friends.”

In fact, very little cold, hard cash changes hands at these glittering affairs. Jewellery – the Cartier diamonds, the Chopard pearls, all of it worth tens of thousands of pounds – is almost always on loan, and carefully inventoried, should a stray rock find its way into a satin clutch bag by mistake.

Hair and make-up might be donated by a brand that wants to be associated with a certain star. So, for instance, Dior keeps Charlize Theron looking glowingly gorgeous while Givenchy might maintain Liv Tyler's effortless good looks.

Dresses, too, are generally borrowed then returned to the designer – perhaps a little more sweaty around the armpits and frayed around the hem than they were when they left the showroom, but benefiting from the kind of publicity no amount of money can buy.

Of course, not everyone has the kind of close, “Get Karl on speed-dial right now!" relationship lucky Blake Lively has with Chanel. So, while the big couture labels – the likes of Westwood and Valentino – will always have a special spot reserved for them on the world's red carpets, lesser-known designers have to fight a little harder for their moment in the spotlight.

Which is where the rising stars of cinema come in. Take a brave fashion choice, the theory goes, and both celeb and designer win big. Michelle Obama chose a white, one-shoulder gown by the young Jason Wu for the inaugural ball in 2009, and since then Wu's career has gone stellar, while Obama is feted as a fashion goddess.

New York-based Jay Godfrey may not ring style bells for most of us, but he has dressed the likes of Eva Mendes, Blake Lively and Halle Berry for the red carpet, mainly thanks to the close links he fosters with stylists. And at the Hollywood Film Awards in October, three British designers almost unknown in LA made headlines when they dressed A-listers Anne Hathaway (Erdem), Emma Stone (Jonathan Saunders) and Amber Heard (Roksanda Illincic).

At the time, it was said three little-known British designers hitting the Hollywood awards season was about as likely as H&M appearing on the red carpet. How ironic, then, that Michelle Williams – star of My Week With Marilyn – wore a custom-made, floor-length strapless gown by the high-street giant at last week's Baftas. So maybe Sunday will bring some surprises after all.

• The 84th Annual Academy Awards take place on 26 February, with live red carpet coverage on Sky Living HD, 11.30pm-1.30am; awards on Sky Movies Premiere HD from 1.30am

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