The Connection Between Celebrities and Fashion

You are sitting at home in your comfortably flannel pajama pants and a pizza stained t-shirt. With a bag of potato chips in one hand and the remote in the other, you excitedly switch on the tube to watch the event of the year… well, at least of the week … the Academy Awards.

Which films have been nominated? You are not sure. Who is the Oscar favorite for “Best Cinematography?” You do not care.

What will Halle be wearing?
How many diamonds will fit around Nicole’s thin little wrist?
Yes! Those are the questions!

And thus we see the reason for the relationship between fashion designers and our favorite A-list celebrities. Calvin, Donatella, Marc, and the rest of the gang are certainly not fools! Fashion designers are aesthetically driven – they seek to create physical beauty inspired by their thoughts, ideas, and visions. This physical beauty is known to us as clothing. And how beautiful it truly is!

And what can be better than a meticulously constructed and designed floor length Vera Wang gown? A meticulously constructed and designed floor length Vera Wang gown on Julia Roberts! Fuse the most beautiful fashion designs with some of the most beautiful faces, bodies and people and the result borders on sublime – a sensory delight that keeps us tuned in and left wanting to emulate.

Flashback to the months leading up to my senior prom…just weeks after Gwenyth Paltrow won her Academy Award for “Best Actress,” the racks of Macy’s were overflowing with replicas of Paltrow’s bubblegum pink ball gown. As much as we value our individual tastes and fashion sense, there is at least a part of us (no matter how small), that emulates the beauty we find in the world. This is natural, right?

I have heard that a celebrity wearing your gown/tux/creation to a red carpet event is worth over a million dollars in advertising. Further, they tell me that slipping a gorgeous frock onto an Academy Award winner is worth tens of millions of dollars in advertising. This does not seem to be much of a stretch. Beauty sells – making the relationship between fashion and celebrity brilliant….

The Mystery of Fashion Trends

This summer it is “boho” chic. Last summer, it was preppy sailor simplicity. In the late 90’s it was the grunge look. Yellow is the new black. Jeans are the new business casual. Yes, I am writing of fashion trends.

The latest look, style, and color floods the covers of magazines, the shelves of retailers from Saks to H & M, the bodies of celebrities and television characters and, undoubtedly, is able to get enough of us to buy into it (literally and figuratively) to validate the whole cycle.

So, while most of us are easily able to grasp this continuously perpetuating cycle of saturating the public with the latest, greatest duds, questions remain: how does a trend start? Who makes this decision? Why does it work?

Well, to be perfectly honest, there is no definitive answer to the myth that is a fashion trend. But, while the exact formula is beyond the consumer, we can be sure that it takes the work of several different interdependent fashion industry professions to convince us that espadrilles, suspenders, and terry-cloth suits are worthy of our dollars and donning.

Fashion designers gather their inspiration, whether it comes from popular culture, music, politics, a celebrity muse, or something else entirely. Then, they design – usually a spring and fall collection. With a slew of inspired, perfectly crafted designs ready to hit the runway, they show their collections.

It could possibly be said that the trend begins at the fashion show. Fashion writers, buyers, photographers and celebrities line the runways, waiting to take in, criticize and praise the designer’s work.

Writers go back to their offices and verbally comment on the design they have seen. If a collection is deemed great, the editor may be persuaded to feature the clothing on the cover of the month’s issue. This is also influenced by fashion publicists - professionals who are paid to get the designer’s duds in front of larger audiences. Thus, we read about the latest fashion trend.

Photographers snap photos as the models parade down the runway and sell them to parties interested in the designer’s work. The photos show up in newspapers, industry magazines, fashion magazines and various other media outlets. Thus, we see the latest fashion trend.

Buyers, if impressed, order pieces that their clientele will be willing to pay hundreds or thousands to own. Other designers, those focused on mass production of more affordable versions of the latest trend, gather their inspiration here too. Thus, we can purchase the latest fashion trend.

So, as you can see, it is impossible to pinpoint exactly how a fashion becomes a trend. What you can know, with certainty, is that it took many professionals in the fashion industry to get you to the cash register with your bohemian-inspired peasant blouse.

Updating Last Years Boring Black Dress!

Take a timeless tip from the past and update your plain black dress from last year with accessories. Not only will it save time (searching) and money (could be spent on manicures) but, it will put the glam back into your special evening. Audrey Hepburn gives us millennia gals an example of how it can be done right. Just take a look at how she puts it together with an up-do, gloves, and sparkle.

… And always remember if you look like a Bombshell no one cares if you are wearing diamonds or rhinestones….