On Monday, the CFDA held its second networking event in partnership with The Wall Group, this time at the W Hollywood and featuring celebrity stylists Karla Welch, Elizabeth Stewart and Ilaria Urbinati. Like last week’s New York counterpart, the topic was Today’s Image Makers: The Relationship between Stylist and Designer. Moderated by Melissa Magsaysay, our three hosts shared insights and best practices for how designers can work best with a celebrity stylist. These included: reaching out via Instagram Direct Messenger; producing samples for a stylist to hold onto until they are placed with a celebrity, and, for accessory designers, working with a sales showroom in Los Angeles so stylists can easily pull for last-minute fittings.
“As luxury and fashion forges forward in this very competitive and unstable global market, it is advantageous to utilize the expertise that many stylists bring to the table,” Welch told CFDA. “The CFDA can help strengthen the American fashion industry by embracing us. Stronger Together!”
Urbinati expressed her admiration for American fashion. “Some of my biggest styling red carpet moments were in collaboration with brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Donna Karan,” she said. “All brands I really looked up to growing up and as a teenager after I had moved to the U.S., so it’s always such an honor.”
The evening came to a close with each stylist talking about what they are most excited about in fashion right now. Here, their answers:
Karla Welch: “We are at a crossroads in fashion, I’m not necessarily excited. We are entering a great unknown, especially with the collapse of magazines. I’m excited for the unknown. There is a shift in power, and an unstable economy where people are unsure of what luxury really means. It’s going to be interesting to see what we hang on to. I love the diversity and all of that, but where is the industry really going? Men’s street wear and men’s fashion is where the money is being spent.”
Elizabeth Stewart: “I’m excited to keep up with the changes! I want to know who the next marketer of taste is. That keeps changing!”
Ilaria Urbinati: “I am so happy people care about what men wear now. Even on social media, I have more interest and level of enthusiasm for menswear that never happened before. There is so much more rule breaking in menswear because dress codes just keep changing.”
