Today, entertainment rag The Hollywood Reporter released their second annual style issue and accompanying list of the 25 most powerful stylists in the biz and they’ve named Kate Young the most powerful of them all. As you may recall, Rachel Zoe–not surprisingly–topped last year’s list and covered the issue while pregnant. This year, Zoe isn’t Read more →
Ever wonder what it’s like to be a professional stylist, a powerful editor or a Hollywood heavyweight? Every Friday Sunday [fashion week exception], Fashionista will ask an inspirational industry professional to fill in the blanks with their own words and photos.
Is there a career more dynamic than Kate Young‘s? From styling Teen Vogue‘s very first cover (a young Jessica Simpson cradled in the arms of then-boyfriend Nick Lachey) to dressing A-listers including Michelle Williams and Natalie Portman, the Brooklyn-based stylist has seen it all.
When I checked in with Kate early last Friday morning, our chat was nearly thwarted by my long distance phone number. “Sorry,” she apologized airily when we finally connected. “I thought you were calling from the Democratic Party to collect money.” Remind me to ditch those DC digits ASAP.
From behind the scenes as Macy’s INC’s Editor at Large to receiving personal tokens from Giambattista Valli himself, Kate filled us in on a typical week spent in her industrial Givenchy boots.
Click through to check out her candids:
Kate Young was recently named one of “Hollywood’s Most Powerful Stylists” by the Hollywood Reporter and after one look at her celebrity clientele, it’s easy to see why. She dresses Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, to name a few, all people on whom we’ve come to rely for spot-on perfect red carpet looks. This also means that, considering it’s awards season and two of her clients are very much a part of that, Kate is super busy. Still, she found time for another new project.
She’s the latest INC Editor at Large for Spring/Summer 2012 at Macy’s. She follows inaugural INC Editor at Large Anna Dello Russo and her duties are a bit vague, as those of an ‘Editor at Large’ tend to be. What we know for sure is that they include styling the new INC collection, which you can peruse below, and a hip party thrown in her honor, which took place yesterday evening at Le Bain. We stopped by to chat with the super stylist about that gig, plus the attention celebrity stylists have been getting lately, dressing Natalie and Michelle for the Oscars and other upcoming projects, like Natalie’s next Dior campaign (!).
Kate Young lives a bit of a charmed life. The stylist–who does everything from dressing Natalie Portman for the red carpet to envisioning editorials for Lula–also manages to find time to work on fun design projects, including her recent collaboration with Cardigan’s Lynne Hiriak. The friends met while they were both working for Derek Lam (Young styling, Hiriak designing) and have finally teamed up on another project. The results include a perfect cropped sweatshirt and sweatpants, as well as the most adorable little kiddie onesie. (Get yours here.)
Jealous, much? Well, Young may have your dream job, but she’s worked her you-know-what off for it. The Brooklyn-based mom recently took time out of her incredibly busy schedule to chat with us about Cardigan, Natalie, and working for Anna Wintour. We heart her even more now.
We’ve become huge fans of the Hollywood Reporter over the last few months, mostly due to Janice Min’s excellent makeover of the trade publication. Staffer Merle Ginsberg navigates the LA fashion scene with an entertaining mix of gossip, insider news, and general knowledge that is not only rare for the West Coast, but rare for fashion writing in general.
So we were thrilled to see Ginsberg’s list of the 25 most powerful stylists in Hollywood covering this week’s issue. Rachel Zoe obviously ranks number one, with names like Nicole Chavez, Annabel Tollman, Brad Goreski, Leslie Fremar, and Kate Young rounding it out. See the full list below, and read the Zoe cover story here.
Oscar de la Renta loves his themes, and this season it was all about the uptown nomad, clad in Beukhara embroidered Ottoman jackets, Chintamani patchwork, and Moroccan Beni embroidered melton wool.
These were all ideas taken from Eastern and Middle Eastern culture, brought to de la Renta’s customer with silver fox fur, velvet shoes, and ivory alpaca. It was a seamless collection that will work as well for the ladies who lunch as it will the red carpet ingenues.
Biggest news: Kate Young, Natalie Portman’s stylist, sat front row…. Could this mean an Oscar for Natalie? (Pun intended, obviously.)
Click through to see who made our list–and why.
How do you measure influence?
Is it through website hits? Or sales? Through ad dollars? Or the number of mass retailers who’ve knocked off your work?
The answer is all of the above and none of the above. Influence is an intangible thing that just happens when you know your craft and you work hard at it.
To determine who belongs in the Fashionista 50–our list of the most influential people working in New York fashion–we used our own knowledge of the industry, combined with advice from industry sources. We also considered each candidate’s consumer reach–through sales, media, etc.
To be considered, candidates had to live and work in New York for most of the year.
What’s Fashionista’s definition of influential? It describes people who are shaping the direction of the New York fashion industry, both aesthetically and in terms of how the business works.
You’ll find the entire Fashionista 50 list after the jump. Click on the person’s name to read a full bio. And if you really want to click through the whole slideshow, you can do so here.
Gareth Pugh’s BF Poses In Nothing But His Boots for Nick Knight: Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio released this stunning portrait of Gareth Pugh and his boyfriend Carson McColl today. {SHOWstudio}
Michael Kors’ Dream Collab: In Booth Moore’s recent Michael Kors profile Kors told her, “I want a deal with In-N-Out Burger — to do a special sauce or a wrapper. I’m horseradish-obsessed!” Fair enough. Horseradish is delicious. {LA Times}
The Man Repeller Does Kimberly Taylor’s Fall Look Book: Last season Andrew Mukamal styled Kimberly Taylor’s spring look book. This season, Taylor’s enlisted the Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine to style and star in her fall 2011 look book in two parts: “Man Getting” and “Man Repelling.” Medine will also host Taylor’s presentation during fashion week. {Refinery 29}
It’s impossible to ignore the stellar names listed in bold on Theory’s store window’s right now: Andrea Lieberman, Tina Chai, Leslie Fremar, Kate Young, Annabel Tollman, etc. They’re part of Theory’s “Fashion Insider” initiative, in which they’ve hired 17 stylists (including, inexplicably, Derek Blasberg) to take their classic SS10 collection and make it look both Read more →
