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 raveling,
attending Oscar de la Renta fashion show, on
call 24 hours a day, and managing more than one
A-list client; that's the life of celebrity
stylist, Nicole Chavez.
Last night was the 56th Tony
Awards. Nicole dressed the gorgeous Catherine
Zeta Jones, (wearing a red beaded gown by
designer Elie Sabb) who is one of her regular
clients.
Courtesy: Getty Images
Nicole has such an amazing story of how her
career began.
She has been interviewed numerous times
about her first celebrity client and dear friend
Rachel Bilson.
Reading her previous interviews, I wanted
to make sure that I found out, not only how she
started her career, but how she maintained and
built her clientele.
On April 28th Nicole called me
(we made previous arrangements for our phone
interview) and we engaged in a lovely chat.
She was an open book and I made sure that
I asked all the questions that I knew the
aspiring were dying to know.
BECOMING RACHEL BILSON'S STYLIST ON THE SET
“My background is television and film.
I started working in movies back in 2001.
Through that, that's where I learned
about costume design, costuming, and working on
set.
I learned a lot of the tricks of the
trade.
From that experience at that time I
didn't really know that kind of job existed.
I always loved fashion and I always loved
design.”
Working with a Costume Designer and in
the wardrobe department was Nicole's training
ground.
“So
excited about having that opportunity and
experience I worked really hard and obviously
really long hours.
I guess the turning point for me was when
I went to go to work on a TV Pilot called The
O.C. (in 2003). I went to work on that show,
which is like no other show that I worked on in
the past.
There was something that was magical
about the whole production; it was a really fun
fashion forward production to be working with. I
loved the cast, and I, at that time, was
assigned as the “set costumer”, being with them
everyday maintaining their wardrobe for the
show. As
a set costumer, you're kind of a Jack of all
trades, you're there to maintain the wardrobe,
but you are also there to make sure, if anything
happens or any emergency, you are there to fix
it. Your eye is definitely trained; nick picking
every little thing, analyzing every little
detail.”
“In doing that and
being there every day, I became really close
with a lot of the cast members, but one in
particular, Rachel Bilson.
We just
really sort of discovered, through just looking
through magazines, becoming friends, that we
really loved the same things.
We had
the same fashion style, same fashion taste. We
just really liked the same things, so it was
kind of natural after hours she started to ask
me if I could help her.
I would call different designers; I'd
find clothes for her to wear to some of the red
carpet stuff she had to do. So it was really
very organic.
It was our first big red carpet venture
together (Teen Choice Awards) and from that
point on, I was completely hooked.
I love
the creative process, of sort of figuring things
out, like having someone doing something
costumie for us, looking for new trends, coming
up with our own style, and then having her
wearing them on the red carpet.”
Nicole balanced working on the O.C. and styling
Rachel Bilson.
Thereafter, Nicole's side job, as a
stylist, became a full-time gig.
She left the O.C. after season one and
dedicated her time and energy focusing on
styling. Nicole says that it was definitely a
leap of faith, “because at that time I had no
real experience.
Even though I had worked in costume, I
had never been a stylist nor assisted a stylist.
So it was like starting my career over,
basically. I
was self-taught; I had to figure things out.
I didn't have an agent, I did all my own
invoicing, my own billing, my own promoting, and
everything was all on me.
It was
like that for about three years.”
CATHERINE ZETA JONES AND SCARLETT JOHANSSON
“It's weird, she
says; I've always loved fashion, I would always
watch the red carpet, I always watched the
Oscars; it's like my Super Bowl.
When I stop and I think about being a
little girl watching, even like watching at that
time, Catherine Zeta Jones on the red carpet;
she's like the most beautiful woman I have ever
seen in my life, and now she's like one of my
clients, yeah that's weird.
It's only weird when I think about it in
that context.
It's such an honor to work with her; we
have such a great working relationship.
It's kind of like a fairy tale.
For me to have gotten the opportunity to
work with someone who is so incredibly talented,
someone so incredibly beautiful and poised and
professional, and Scarlet Johansson, all of my
clients.
I'm so, so blessed and amazed, so yes
it's kind of bazaar.”
THE PROCESS OF DRESSING YOUR CLIENTS
“You have to be so incredibly
organized. I
think that's the number one thing that people
have a misconception about styling; 'oh pretty
dress throw it on and go', it's not that, you
have to be very organized and have a good
relationship with everybody.
For example; I did have an idea that,
possibly Catherine would be attending the 2011
Golden Globe Awards around Christmas (2010), and
I actually didn't know about Scarlett for about
a week before the Golden Globes.
It can be that last minute, or I could
have a little bit of time to prep.”
The second that Nicole hears that one of
her clients will be attending a big red carpet
event, she immediately starts to contact people
that she loves to work with; 'is there anything
that you have that is amazing that's not on the
runway or wasn't in any shows,' she asks.
“I
usually gather all of those images and then I
look online and look at style.com, that's kind
of our reference book”, says Nicole. “I would
contact the designers and give them the look
numbers that I'm interested in and they will let
me know if it's available.
A lot of times they have been worn, even
if it hadn't been worn here in the states, they
have been worn overseas, and if it's couture it
couldn't be bought.
It's a
lot of moving parts behind the scene, as far as
just getting the dress that you want and at the
same time, there are all these other actresses
that are asking for the same gowns.”
Nicole says that it really all depends on
your relationships with the designers.” She
continues; “I would have the gowns sent to me
and I would schedule a fitting. Time is of the
essence; some of my clients are shooting a movie
or
 working on a project out of town.
So sometimes I'll get an half an hour to
forty-five minutes to fit them for something
like this.
I use my time wisely.
The dress to me is the main focus.
Usually, on the day of, I'll do jewelry
and bags.”
Nicole usually has a seamstress with her,
with rebuilding, reworking, restructuring, when
it comes to gowns. You want to make sure that
it fits and it stays exactly the way it should
be for the eight hours that they will be out.
That's really a huge part
of what I do,” she says.
Nicole points out, “it's important that you know
fabric, it's important that you know tearing and
pattern making.
It's really valuable, because a lot of
the time you will end up redesigning or
co-designing. My
clients are so incredibly beautiful, but they’re
usually not 6'0 foot models. They are actresses
and they have personality, so for each one you
kind of have to custom fit the gowns to them.
There's a lot of tweaking and you need to
know what needs to happen.
I'm
really big on undergarments. I like to
restructure the body so to speak, so that
everything is all there and stays in place.” Nicole says that it's also
important to work closely with a seamstress.
“I think that's really the key.”
MORE THAN ONE DEFINING MOMENT
“It's hard because every time I have a
moment, I think that, that's it, it's the
pinnacle and then something else happens.
So it keeps growing, which I think it's amazing
because it makes me grow as a stylist, it
challenges me to keep pushing. When I
first started, when it was just Rachel Bilson
and I in the early days, it was a simple thing.
It was when I attended an Oscar de la Renta
fashion show and my name was on the seat; to me,
it was like 'oh my gosh'. I thought like,
I just won the lottery, it was the most amazing
thing.” Nicole says that she grew up
watching fashion TV. “I dreamed about going to
a fashion show my whole life, and to get to go,
to see my name on the seat and they spelled my
name correctly, and I had a great view; to me
that was amazing. That would be my first
defining moment.”
“Another defining moment for me was
when Rachel recommended Kristen Bell to me.
When we started working together, Nicole says to
herself, 'we don't know each other; she wants to
work with me'? This is crazy'.”
Soon to follow were actresses, Scarlett
Johansson and Catherine Zeta Jones. Nicole
mentions another defining moment in her career.
“I dressed actress Katherine Heigl for the 59th
Emmy Awards (wearing
 white denim Zac Posen
dress). That was a real defining moment. I have
never dressed a nominee and then she won.
Nicole says that she watched the Emmys with her
parents and she cried. “That was a big
deal. I have these moments all the time, I'm so
blessed. I can't believe it, I still pinch
myself, 'I'm like, what am I doing?” We
laughed. I just really stick to what I
love and I believe that what I do is really like
a service in a sense. I really want to
make their lives easier. I treat every job
and every client like they’re my family. It's
not just about throwing a pair of shoes and a
dress on; it's really a process for me.
Sometimes it’s detrimental because I don't take
on has many clients as some other stylists. I'm
not constantly doing 10 jobs at once; I'm very
focused on what I'm doing. I like to start a
job and finish it. I like to be at their
fittings and I like to travel with my clients.
I like to share those moments with them, so
that's how I run my business.”
PROS AND CONS OF BEING A CELEBRITY
STYLIST
“Well, the business has changed a lot since I've
started.
I'm sure that it will continue to evolve
even faster.
I think that it's good to know that it's
not as glamorous as it seems.
The way that I do it is that my clients
are first and far most; their needs come before
mine. I'm on call 24hrs / 7days a week.
I'm organized so I don't get a lot of
emergencies, but they do happen so you have to
be prepared for them and ready to drop whatever
you're doing to take care of the project that
you are working on.
I enjoy it, so to me that's not a con.
But, I definitely think that people need to be
aware that the job is 24hrs, 7 days a week, 365
days a year.”
“There is so many different facet of styling,
one is you're solicited by designers constantly. Designers want to show you their work.
I wake up to probably four hundred
e-mails a day. You
have to be extremely current on what is
happening in fashion, on the business side, and
on the individual side.
It's important to know, not only what
your clients are wearing, but what everyone else
is wearing.
So I'm constantly looking at the blogs
just to know and to be aware.
You have to be in stores, you have people
asking you constantly, 'oh I'm looking for this,
can you buy me this', which gets me in trouble,
because whenever I'm in stores,” she
starts to laugh, and says; “that's definitely a
con, for sure.
But, the pro to that, you’ve seen
everything, when you do finally want to buy
something you know that it's something special.”
CELEBRITY STYLIST COMING FROM BEHIND
THE SCENES
“It's changed, to the sense now, a lot
of celebrity stylists are coming forward to the
face behind the name, that's a new spin on what
we do, not only are you just styling, but you
have to be on camera talking about your
business. There is definitely a sense of coming
out from behind the scenes, which is a different
element to your job, it's almost like you're
wearing two different hats at the same time.”
LOOKING FOR IN AN ASSISTANT
“I can't do my job without my
assistants. It's really important to learn
how to delegate. I look for someone who
has a really positive attitude and who wants to
be there.” The key is, it's about do you
want to learn. I'm going to teach you, but
you have to be ready and willing. You have to
take the ego out of it.”
“I'm looking for someone who can check
their ego at the door, wants to be there, is
excited to be there, have no expectations, just
wants to learn and I will teach you everything
you need to know. I learned a lot just
watching, being on set and studying under
different costume designers, it's a process of
work that you kind of develop.” Nicole
also says that it also develops confidence,
which is important. “You need to be confident,
but not arrogant; you also need to be humble
enough and not intimidated.”
NOT HUMBLE ENOUGH TO ASSIST
“At this point you can't
really go to school for what I do.
Everything is learned. It's a niche, it's
specific, it's personal, and you’re in a sense,
a service industry. So much of what you do
have to come from the heart, has to be about
passion. There is no ego at this job.
I think it's important if someone wants to
become a stylist, to intern and assist. My
stylist that I had, she came on as an intern and
I promoted her to my stylist. She worked
really hard, she had a great attitude, I say
like in 9 months I promoted her.” Nicole
says, it's not like you have to assist for
years, it depends.
Nicole adds; “Now it's even more
saturated. When I started there were a lot less
stylist. Now there are a lot more, the
competition is higher, we get hired by
publicists, we get hired by the client’s team. So you have to build relationships with those
people. You have to be out selling
yourself. You have to run a good business,
and you can't be a jerk. Everything that
you do, people know about it or hear about it.
It's a little small industry. If
you do not treat someone good, people are going
to know about it. It's important to be
professional, to be kind, we're in it together,
it is such a big deal, but we're not trying to
cure cancer;” Nicole says jokingly.
BECOME A SUCCESSFUL STYLIST WITH AN
A-LIST CLIENTELE
“Working hard and working on developing
good relationships with people, working and
assisting with someone else who is doing what
you want to do. It's all about
recommendations. Word of mouth is how you
will get those jobs. If you just want to
be a celebrity stylist you need to be in Los
Angeles and you need to work with a celebrity
stylist.”
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