The red carpet might last an hour before an awards show, but those perfectly done-up, put-together looks are the result of weeks, sometimes months, of preparation. The day of an event, a celebrity and her glam team might spend hours making sure every eyelash, zipper, and button is where it’s supposed to be. You see some of it on the ‘gram: of celebrities idly waiting in their cars for their turn on the red carpet, lying fully horizontal to not crease their clothes (Naomi Harris at the 2017 Golden Globes); of them arriving in large vans to accommodate chiffon trains (J.Lo at the premiere of Second Act); of them carefully layering shapewear underneath it all (Rachel Bloom and her "Sexy Golden Globey Song.") A lot of these moments are specific to the red carpet, but there are plenty of hacks that Hollywood stylists employ to get celebrities ready for any big event: A special lotion to make heels less uncomfortable, on-the-fly solutions to zippers that will not budge…. They’ve got all the answers.
“I like to MacGyver a situation,” says stylist Erica Cloud, whose clients include Sophia Bush, Kacey Musgraves, and Christina Ricci. “You’ve gotta Project Runway it—'I have A, B, and C, let’s figure out how it will be good.'”
“Most people will have two or three hours [getting ready]—that’s the hair, makeup, manicure, everything,” says Sophie Lopez, Kate Hudson’s longtime stylist who’s now working with Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, the stars of Roma. “That always runs late, and the stylist gets 15 minutes.”
Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira
Sure, these professionals come prepared. They’ll prespray the chiffon and silk with Static Guard, or bring invisible thread in case a zipper malfunction requires them to sew someone into a dress (that’s happened to Lopez). But even so, they have to be ready for a wrench to be thrown into the plan.
PHOTO: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Allison Janey
Tara Swennen styles Allison Janney, whom she describes as “almost six feet one inch—she’s a very, very tall drink of water.” For high-profile events, they lean on custom garments, like the off-the-shoulder Christian Siriano gown Janney wore to the Golden Globes. “Christian posted it on his Instagram—I literally sent the screenshot to him and his team and was like, ‘What is this? I’m done. Hold it for me,’” she remembers.
For the accessories, “I wanted a little something unique,” especially given the turquoise shade of the fabric. “We found that David Webb piece and just thought it was divine—but then I was on vacation with my family and David Webb called me and was like, ‘We hate to do this but we sold the necklace.’ I asked kindly, because obviously this was a very expensive piece, if, you know, that person would want [their necklace] to be worn by the current Oscar holder. And she replied, so it was really, really nice.”
PHOTO: VALERIE MACON
D'arcy Carden
Sometimes, these decisions happen mere hours before celebrities are set to walk a carpet. Cloud didn’t finalize D’Arcy Carden’s Golden Globes look until 1:00 A.M. the day of the event, after a flight delay pushed their final fitting: “I had prepulled jewelry because I knew it was going to be a tight turnaround—and of course it was a Sunday and nobody is open on Sunday. I just had to guesstimate.”
It was The Good Place star’s first Globes, and she walked the carpet in a bold tiered Rosie Assoulin gown, an Edie Parker box clutch in a matching shade of orange, and contrasting green hoop earrings from Irene Neuwirth. “To me, it felt really fresh and different,” says Cloud. “On the whole, I think we all are kind of looking to be inspired.”
These might be #HollywoodProblems, but there are certain issues that come up simply because you’re a person wearing a piece of clothing: The neckline is slipping, the strap sits uncomfortably, that sweat stain under your arm only keeps growing…. Over time, a lot of the insider must-haves in case of an emergency—like the fashion tape and sweat protectors that stylists carry in their kits—have become available to the public, thanks to brands like Hollywood Fashion Secrets. But stylists have a few more tricks to solve common fashion woes.
Kristen Stewart and Allison Janney
Cloud, Lopez, and Swennen shared the secrets that can make getting dressed that much easier—whether you have the golden ticket to the Oscars or not.
Try CBD to ease the pain of uncomfortable shoes. The CBD beauty trend might be the best thing that’s ever happened to red-carpet dressing. Cloud always brings Lord Jones’ High CBD Formula body lotion when she’s getting a client ready for an event, specifically for their feet.
“It’s a great thing to put on the ball of your foot or even your heel or the tops of your toes, [as] kind of numbing agent,” she says. “I usually do it about five minutes before we put the shoes on—not too early, so that it has the most lasting effect.” (Actress Laura Harrier swears by this one. “It works,” she told Glamour at the Critics’ Choice Awards. “And CBD won’t get you high just from your feet—can I say that?”)
A brand called PreHeels also makes a blister-prevention spray that serves the same purpose. Swennen’s a fan: “It’s almost like a Band-Aid, before even putting on the shoe. If you think it’s going to rub or it’s going to irritate you in any way, shape, or form, you literally have this clear film on your foot or ankle.”
Photograph yourself in the look ahead of time. When you put a lot of time and energy into planning an outfit, you don’t want to be surprised by how something looked after the fact when you check Instagram—or, in the case of celebrities, when a photo is published all over the Internet. That’s why stylists take photos of their clients fully dressed, from every angle, to make sure everything from the slouch of the sleeve to the fall of the skirt is how they pictured it (and that bright lights don't turn a garment suddenly sheer). Swennen does this process twice: “Before they leave, so that you can really gauge what it’s going to look like,” and again with a Polaroid or another type of strong flash, which “gives you the best idea of what the light is going to be.”
PHOTO: Steve Granitz
Yalitza Aparicio
Check the zipper before you get dressed. Usually stylists will have at least one fitting with a client ahead of a big event, where she'll try on the garment and assess whether alterations need to be made. This is the time to troubleshoot any potential problem areas.
Swennen always looks at the zippers, specifically ones at the seams. "They’re the first things to give," she says. “Our worst nightmare is someone sitting down and the zipper popping.” Once you’ve landed on what you’re wearing, check the zippers before putting it on, to avoid a rip or getting stuck. Speaking of…
Turn to soap to move a stubborn zipper. Normally the zippers on formal wear are extremely delicate (you don’t want a big plastic clasp visible on the back of a gown). The downside: That can make them hard to open and close. When they get stuck on a seam, the answer is never to pull harder. According to Lopez, this fix might be sitting by your sink. “When the zipper is really tight and you can’t get it over a seam, you can rub a bar of soap onto the area where the friction is,” she says. “It kind of lubricates it and then you can pull the zipper up.” Swennen notes that the wax of a crayon or a banana peel can help unjam a zipper too.
Remember, there’s no disaster a black bodysuit can’t fix. So you spilled something on yourself right before you have A Thing. It’s a situation that happens far too often—so much so that Swennen brings a plain black bodysuit in her kit, to swap for a blouse or use as a camisole when disaster strikes. “Those actually really come in handy,” she says. “God forbid there’s an accident, like they get some avocado on their shirt during a press day, it’s an easy, quick switch.” They’re so versatile, you don’t have to worry about your Plan B clashing with your original outfit—a telltale sign that something happened. Swennen is partial to Wolford’s styles.
PHOTO: Pacific Press
Kacey Musgraves
Don’t be afraid to improvise with scissors. Getting a celebrity dressed for a red carpet is normally a race against the clock, but it forces stylists to get creative with problem-solving. Often that leads to game-changing revelations, many of which are the direct result of having faith in your scissors-wielding skills. That’s how Cloud discovered that nipple covers make for good blister pads in a pinch.
“One time the moleskin [of the foot pad] was too thick, and I need to figure out what to do—I had nipple covers and was like, ‘I’m cutting these up right now.’ They’re really thin, made of fabric, and have little paddings. Stick it either on yourself or on the shoe. It’s a great buffer.”
This kind of on-the-fly thinking also led Cloud to find a solution when looking for something Mickey Sumner could wear underneath a sheer, netted Rachel Comey top for a Golden Globes after party.
“We tried it with a white bandeau, which seemed to break up the look too much, so we went with nude—but I looked at the camisoles, and they’re all so sheer, not tight or transparent enough,” she says. She did like the look of a Commando slip dress they had tried on earlier, “so I just cut the bottom and turned it into a camisole.”
Mickey Sumner
Swennen recalls once cutting up socks to fashion some sleeves for a client. “Let’s say a girl is wearing like a short-sleeve shirt and a jacket, but we wanted to sort of elongate the sleeve,” she says. “Maybe it was altered too short—we just cut the end of a sock and use it almost as if it were a sweater coming down.” Simple as that.
Use a scarf to avoid makeup stains—and for a satisfying reveal. Cloud keeps a scarf in her kit at all times, not for accessorizing, but to keep the garment makeup-stain-free. “I put it over the person’s head when they put their dress on, so they don’t get makeup on it,” she says. It’s a practical, for preserving the glam and the clothes. But it’s also one that adds an element of surprise to that final moment. Once the look’s been zipped and buttoned, Cloud will pull off the scarf. "It’s like a reveal,” she says.
Follow the two-tug rule. Lopez sees her clients off with a list of reminders (“They’re usually forgotten by the time they arrive,” she says)—one of which is applicable to anyone who might be sitting down in between getting dressed and arriving to their final destination: “When they get out of the car, I tell them to do two strong tugs down,” she explains. This will help move any fabric that’s moved upward in the seat back where it’s supposed to, which smooths out a skirt. Voilà.
Ana Colón is a fashion editor at Glamour. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @anavcolon.
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