In 2007 when Maggie Rodriguez was just being considered to serve as the anchor of The Early show on CBS from her co-anchor position of the Saturday edition of The Early Show , a CBS stylist at the time visited Bluesuits showroom in desperation as he could not find business attire for her client with the right look, quality, fit and price anywhere, including “The Avenue designers” (that is Madison Avenue). Maggie is short waisted and well endowed in the bust and he was having problems finding off the rack suits that would fit her. He pulled out more than he could carry with him and walked out with a rolling rack of several suits. Luckily we had several jacket bodies that fit Maggie and the stylist came back, ordered several more custom suits with bright camera friendly colors and some shift dresses. Later in an e-mail he communicated that CBS executives thought he achieved “visual perfection”.
In another e-mail he wrote: “Take note that you will need to utilize the P.R. factor to your cause. e.g. “communicate to the world of whom you are dressing”. Celebrity of any stature brings notice and credibility.”
while I couldn’t be happier about providing yet another professional woman with the right wardrobe, I didn’t let the world know. Dressing Maggie Rodriquez was no different than dressing any other client who walks into our showroom.
In fact it took me another year to even mention it somewhere on our website.
Similarly when I visited Evelyn Foster, Jodi Foster’s mother and was asked to make several garments for her, I didn’t make any big deal of that either, I thought I needed to keep a secret and be respectful. Specially since like normal women celebrities have their own wardrobe problems. Evelyn Foster has what I would call an apple shape and I was excited to make garments that would make her look and feel like she did in her younger years. I then spent the next 4 hours seeing everything in her closet ( a huge room impeccably designed and organized), from Chanel suits of the 60’s, to Hermes handbags and scarves that she wanted to wear with garments I would make for her. I ended up spending a good part of that season and many resources working on Evelyn Foster’s wardrobe and traveled to Los Angeles twice for fitting sessions before making the final garments.
Last October when I was asked by Deborah Duncan, the host of Great Day Houston, to be a guest on her show, I was delighted but had no idea about what she was going to ask me or how I would use that opportunity. It turned out to be a really fun experience for me. I asked for a video tape of that appearance and after a few months decided to put it on YouTube, unedited. You can see it here
The fashion show segment has been viewed a few thousand times so I find that inspiring and we will be making many more videos as I can see that people like watching fashion shows.
However, as exciting as this may sound to a designer I am not entirely sure that I would rush to do another celebrity project. In all 3 cases there are untold stories which I would only tell if someone else wants to write about it.
What do you think? Why do fashion designers clamor to dress celebrities? Should fashion designers care about “who wears it”? Does the fact that a celeb wears a certain brand have an effect on your purchase decisions or do you make your decision based on what looks best on you and your own evaluation of quality and value of a brand? share your thoughts with us.
