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While the Oscars remain a playground for fashion’s megabrands, other film and music awards are fair game for emerging brands and designers. This season has shone a spotlight on many smaller labels, from Pedro Pascal wearing Los Angeles-based indie brand Airei at the Sundance Film Festival to Greta Lee in Lii, the brand launched by FIT graduate Zane Li last year.
Stylists say using emerging designers can be a bigger lift than working with a large fashion house as they have tighter budgets and limited resources. But it’s worth it to find a standout look. “Sometimes emerging designers beat out a lot of options that are available [from the big names]. During awards season, there’s a lot of things that have already been worn or are on hold for top-tier talent or bigger awards shows,” explains Enrique Melendez, who styles some of young Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Jenna Ortega.
To pull back the curtain, Vogue Business spoke with the emerging brands that made waves on the red carpet this season, and the stylists that pulled them, about what goes into making the moment happen — and why it’s worth the scramble.
Pedro Pascal in Airei, Sundance Film Festival
… how it came to be: [Stylist] Julie Ragolia and I have known each other for some time and she reached out on a whim a day before the fitting, and said she wanted to make it an Airei moment.
I called her right away and we started going through all the looks I had in Los Angeles over the phone. Julie wanted to do something exciting and different. She wasn’t gravitating towards easy red carpet looks like a classic suit. She was picking crazy knitwear pieces, our more avant-garde suiting with raw hems and exposed shoulder pads. She loved the embroidered denim set and picked two of them. Pedro wore the natural-coloured set (which is embroidered by hand) with the Shelley Shirt for the red carpet, and ended up wearing the other embroidered Flame denim pants for a different shoot that same weekend.
… why this was the right moment to use a smaller label like Airei: Is it curt to say that I just felt like it? To elaborate, I appreciate what Drew does as a designer. His focus on craft is very attractive to me, and deserves to be seen by many. I am very aware of Pedro’s visibility, which helps to highlight brands that don’t have the marketing budgets to amplify their designs. But, also, Pedro has a strong willingness to play, and Airei just felt right.
… how the styling process differs with an emerging brand: When I work with an independent designer I’m aware that more expenses will fall on my shoulders, as they don’t have the support of shipping or tailoring budgets that a more established house might have. Studios have yet to recognise the amount of expenses stylists incur for their stars, and that’s not correct.
Christina Aguilera in Standing Ground, Grammys
… working with an emerging designer versus an established house: It’s not usually a definitive one or the other. I believe the best look should win — whether that’s a student from Central Saint Martins or a luxury house. I do love highlighting emerging designers where I can.
I knew I wanted to work with [Standing Ground designer Michael Stewart] on something, as I could feel the industry’s excitement growing around his brand. Christina has an edgy sense of style, but for her return to the Grammys I thought people would really be gagged if we did a soft colour that was strong but incredibly simple. Somewhat of a palette cleanser for the year to come.
… how the styling process differs with an emerging brand: We try to be overly communicative with emerging designers about what our needs and expectations will be — mostly regarding tailoring. Christina is quite petite and I knew we were going to need to shorten and tailor a bit. We try to be upfront about this as we know as an emerging brand samples are expensive and there aren’t usually duplicates.
Greta Lee in Lii, Independent Spirit Awards
… how it came to be: The look is from our first collection, which just debuted during NYFW a couple of weeks ago. Greta’s stylist Danielle Goldberg came across it on Instagram and we were shocked and honoured to get the request a few days before the awards show.
This is our first awards show and celebrity-dressing moment. This look is arguably quite casual for the red carpet. It’s made of a thick cotton twill. It’s white. It’s actually separates — a top and a skirt (not a gown), but Danielle was so sensitive to honouring the integrity of the design while elevating it (through hair, makeup and accessories) for the event.
… the biggest challenges: Definitely the initial waiting game after you’ve sent the look and have no idea whether the person likes it or if it fits. Celebrities have every look at their disposal, so to even be on their rack is quite a compliment; but ultimately you hope they wear yours.
… the impact of dressing Lee: Having Greta be the first celebrity to wear the collection was ideal. Past Lives is one of our [film] favourites of the year, and its story of feeling lost between two worlds is something so many of us can relate to. The kind of smart, funny, modest woman Greta portrayed in the film and in real life is exactly the kind of person we aspire to dress. We’ve been very fortunate to be featured on a few best-dressed lists, to have doubled our followers on social media and gotten several requests since.
Theo Iyer in Kwasi Paul, SAG Awards
… how it came to be: The Cowrie shell suit was a look that was part of our most recent collection, ‘Market Symphonies’. The suit happened to be part of some selections pulled for Theo by his stylist Enrique Melendez. The best part about all of this was how the suit ignited a connection between the both of us and started a conversation surrounding our upbringing in the world of duality that we both come from; him being born in South Africa, and raised in SoCal, and myself being first-born generation via Ghanaian parents.
… the impact of dressing talent for an awards show: It’s a moment that tends to be most memorable for a lot of people, and the simple fact the suit was selected as a choice to be part of someone’s memorable night made it not only different, but special. I was truly honoured. Being featured in so many accounts, not to mention Vogue, was huge. Countless people were tagging the brand and reaching out to work with us and give us our flowers. It’s a great feeling for me knowing that your body of art is not only seen, but appreciated.
… how the styling process differs: [The selected look] was a full suit, but the pants had sold to a client. There were little puka shells on them, and they had sold. When you run out of a pant that you need, I can’t just request, you know, ‘hey, can you make another pant and get some more shells and make this?’ I know that the budgets are not unlimited here. We had to find another pant with the same fabric that we used — it worked perfectly that way. Usually [clients] are like, ‘I want one of the largest, established houses.’ Theo was really open to wearing what looked and felt best.
… the perks of opting for an emerging brand: Since it’s a major carpet, there’s just a lot more excitement from the designer rather than stress, because it’s such a great opportunity. It also makes it more intriguing because we might not have seen [the look] on any of the runaways. So everyone wants to find out where this look came from. It can generate more buzz for the client and designer.
India Amarteifio in Ahluwalia, BAFTA Film Awards
… how the process differed from other celebrity dressing moments: As it was an awards show, we wanted to make sure that the look was beautiful and really striking on the carpet. But also, I wanted to make sure that India was comfortable when she was sitting down, because awards shows can be quite long and include a meal. I also wanted to make sure that she felt that she could dance in the outfit if she wanted to, so it needed to be practical in a sense.
… the impact of dressing Amarteifio: She’s got such an amazing and strong fan base from her incredible work. So much of her community was then introduced to us as a brand — and we received a lot of great press.
… why this was the moment to look to an emerging brand like Ahluwalia: India and I are particularly interested in working with brands that are sustainably minded, using India’s red carpet appearances as a way to showcase those designers making serious efforts to make change in our industry for the better. What Priya is doing at Ahluwalia — using recycled or natural fabrics, for example — felt like a wonderful alignment and we wanted to support and highlight her and what she is doing.
Behind the scenes
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