{"id":720970,"date":"2026-04-10T16:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-the-global-agency-that-turns-stylists-into-stars\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:50:15","slug":"inside-the-global-agency-that-turns-stylists-into-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-the-global-agency-that-turns-stylists-into-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Global Agency That Turns Stylists Into Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tOnce upon a time in Hollywood \u2014 before 1990, in the dark days before the dawn of celebrity stylists \u2014 watching an awards show red carpet was akin to fashion-crime rubber-necking: \u201c<\/em>Is that gorgeous movie star really wearing that??\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>The style mishaps kept piling up as cracking wise about wardrobe and hair malfunctions became both a media<\/a> and national pastime. Remember Jack Nicholson playing The Joker in Tim Burton\u2019s 1989 Batman<\/em>, a villain who laced all beauty and grooming products with deadly chemicals, resulting in Gotham\u2019s on-air news<\/a>casters being exposed sans<\/em> hair and makeup? That was an early pop-culture peek behind the glam-squad curtain. All it took to be a stunner was the right touch and lighting. And hours upon hours of prep.<\/p>\n

\n\tWardrobe malfunctions of the past are too numerous to mention. I\u2019m not just talking about Barbra Streisand in see-through Arnold Scaasi bellbottoms, Kim Cattrall\u2019s sunlamp Golden Globes disaster \u2014 toasted skin, not a good look (unless you\u2019re George Hamilton) \u2014 or Cher\u2019s intentionally over-the-top fashion debacles across decades (\u201cThey call it drama for a reason<\/em>!\u201d she once defended in THR<\/em>).\u00a0Demi Moore in bike shorts. Jodie Foster in a baggy off-the-rack prom gown for her first Oscar. In 1990, Kim Basinger designed her own white pouf gown (it looked helium-injected). Blake Lively once posed in Forever 21, Zendaya blithely donned Target to her first movie premiere. The red carpet was almost more gauche than a Miss America pageant. But the tacky parade was finally eclipsed by Giorgio Armani\u2019s early \u201890s reinvention of good taste; on WWD<\/em>\u2019s first Oscars fashion cover, the headline read: \u201cThe Armani Awards.\u201d What followed was \u201ccelebrity stylist\u201d becoming a job.<\/p>\n

\n\tToday\u2019s red carpet, with its perfectly fitted couture gowns (the result of many stylists, fittings, structured corsets \u2014 and, pre-Ozempic, double Spanx), with its Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton custom tuxes strewn with thousand dollar brooches, might have continued being that tacky mish mash if<\/em> fashion and entertainment hadn\u2019t gotten into bed together in the nineties. But they did, and it was a precipitous and lucrative marriage for all: stylists, their agents, fashion designers, luxury brands, celebrities. When the \u201990s weeklies \u2014 Us<\/em>, People<\/em>, Entertainment<\/em> Weekly<\/em> \u2014 started printing best and worst dressed lists, stars and their reps knew they had to take matters into someone else\u2019s hands. <\/p>\n

\n\tNo one had really heard the term \u201cstylist\u201d before then. In the biz, \u201cstylist\u201d was short for wardrobe stylist, someone people who worked on commercials or music videos, procuring wardrobe for casts.<\/p>\n

\n\tAround the time of Hollywood glam explosion, Brooke Wall began to pursue jobs in the hairstyling jungle of New York. She wound up working for the masters: Oribe, John Frieda, etc. \u201cOne day,\u201d she told us at The Wall Group\u2019s 25th<\/sup> anniversary party last month, \u201cout of nowhere, John Frieda came to me and said, \u2018I\u2019m going to give you the money to start your own agency.\u2019 He saw something in me I didn\u2019t see in myself.\u2019 It was 2000. I thought I should set up in Paris, but people started telling me: \u2018You should go to L.A. So many shoots are happ<\/a>ening there now. You can shoot all year round.\u2019\u201d For fifteen years, her agency ruled the red carpet, meaning, so did she. \u201cShe\u2019s a visionary,\u201d says her longest employee Ali Bird.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a sale to WME in 2015, Wall\u2019s well-trained deputies \u2014 Kate Stirling in L.A., Ali Bird in N.Y. \u2014 became co-heads of The Wall Group. \u201cBrooke had the vision to start in L.A.,\u201d recalls Bird. \u201cShe could see it was about to become the center of our business.\u201d Adds Stirling, \u201cWhen I started at The Wall Group twenty three years ago, I had no idea what a hair and makeup and styling agency was. Few others did either. I\u2019d been working as Ashton Kutcher\u2019s assistant. Brooke and I had a mutual friends. She said, \u2018I\u2019ll teach you the ropes.\u2019 The timing was right: celebrities were starting to take over magazine covers and ad campaigns from models.\u201d This was before the explosion of Instagram (2000) and TikTok (2016).<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2011, The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> printed its first annual Power Stylists Issue, capping off the stardom of many of the Wall Groups stylists. \u201cIt kicked them into the stratosphere,\u201d notes Stirling. \u201cLucrative brand deals came calling.\u201d Those included mega brands, cosmetics, hair products, commercials and shoots.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur real first star stylist was Deb Waknin,\u201d explains Bird. \u201cShe was our first client, ahead of her time, with clients like Halle Berry. She marched in and said, \u2018You should represent me. [Deborah Waknin passed away from cancer in 2020.] Brooke\u2019s greatest talent is her eye for talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGiven the magnitude of celebs The Wall Group, which has expanded to offices in New York and London, works with today \u2014 Keanu Reeves, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Renate Reinsve, Jessie Buckley, Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Michelle Williams, Bradley Cooper, Charlize Theron, Julianne Moore, Dakota Johnson, Natalie Portman, Elle Fanning, Robert Downey Jr., Kim Kardashian, Demi Moore, Jennifer Lopez, Paul Rudd, Gwen Stefani, etc. \u2014 it\u2019s not surprising that WME\/IMG and Ari Emanuel paid an undisclosed sum to acquire it. \u201cIn 2000, we repped forty artists\u2019 says Stirling. \u201cToday. it\u2019s 250 of the top wardrobe, hair and makeup stylists in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne example: Stylist Brad Goreski, former assistant to Rachel Zoe, has been working with Demi Moore since 2008; Moore considers him, she said at this year\u2019s WWD Style Awards. \u201cmy partner in style.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s decades of iconic roles, an iconic red carpet presence,\u201d describes Goreski, who outfitted Moore for her brilliant 2025 campaign for The Substance<\/em>. \u00a0\u201cI think for her, she\u2019s always going to be the best representative for designers she can possibly be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKate Young, signed in 2012, was truly one of Wall Group\u2019s superstar clients, dressing Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams early on, going on to style Dakota Johnson, Margot Robbie, Rachel Weisz and Arianna Grande. This season, she replaced Rose Byrne\u2019s longtime stylist to help the nominee shine during the awards season and at the Oscars. Like Leslie Fremar, Young came from Vogue<\/em> where she assisted Anna Wintour (\u201cone of the best credentials you can have,\u201d notes Stirling), after which she styled editorials for Harper\u2019s Bazaar<\/em>, Vanity Fair<\/em>, InStyle<\/em>, Elle<\/em>, etc.\u00a0\u201cWith each one my clients,\u201d Young explains about her approach, \u201cI think about their body, their style. Their style is both their taste and my version of them, combined.\u201d She has made THR<\/em>\u2019s no. 1 Power Stylists three times since inception.<\/p>\n

\n\tIlaria Urbinati, who joined The Wall Group in 2007, has built a stable of some of the top male stars in the business: Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, Rami Malek, Adam Brody, Chris Evans, Barry Keoghan, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Putting manly man Johnson in a pink satin Dolce & Gabbana tux at the 2023 Oscars resonated throughout the culture. \u201cI thought it was a fun idea to have this macho star wear pink,\u201d she laughs. \u201cHe was game<\/a>, so we went for it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBird says she met New York-based Fremar (she\u2019s been both Anna Wintour\u2019s assistant at Vogue<\/em> and head of VIP relations at Prada.)\u00a0when she was eight-months pregnant: \u201cI think it helped that Leslie\u2019s a mom. She wasn\u2019t sure she wanted to sign yet. But the rest is red carpet history.\u201d Fremar had begun to work with Charlize Theron in 2008. \u201cCharlize is a rebel in her craft,\u201d Fremar says. \u201cShe\u2019ll cut her hair off or gain 70 pounds \u2014 she really transforms for her work; I have to embrace whatever is happening with her aesthetic at the time. The clothes have to work with the look.\u201d When Theron\u2019s hair was shaved for Mad Max: Fury Road<\/em>, it meant smokier eyes and tighter dresses. Fremar herself, Stirling says: \u201cis the antithesis of how Rachel Zoe would show up in public in a gown and stilettos. Leslie prefers to wear Birkenstocks in the front row of a fashion show. You have to love someone being that down to earth doing such beautiful, sophisticated work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHow does TWG pick and choose clients? \u201cWhen we first interview stylists,\u201d Stirling explains, \u201cwe ask a lot of questions: What\u2019s your background? What photographers have you worked with? Some come from Vogue<\/em>, some from indie mags with more avant-garde tastes, some from assisting well-known stylists. We always try to match the stylist with the right client. After all, we want the collaboration to work. Many of our stylists have been with us for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWall recalls following stylist Karla Welch (signed in 2008, works with Justin Bieber, Ana de Armas, Reinsve, Greta Gerwig, Matt Damon) around Barney\u2019s when Welch was heading up their celebrity service department. \u201cI just loved her style. I told her I had <\/em>to sign her.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHairstylist-to-the-stars Cervando Maldonado signed early 2003. Having enjoyed an illustrious career styling Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus, Carey Mulligan, Naomi Watts, Sofia Coppola and Camilla Morone, he\u2019s still very much A-list, having cut Margot Robbie\u2019s recent bob and shaping Jessie Buckley\u2019s formerly wild hair into a carpet-appropriate chic chop.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not all glam \u2014 there\u2019s plenty of grunt work, too. After attending shows, stylists pour through new runway looks, fight for them, order them, steam them, have them tailored to the client\u2019s body (there can be a number of fittings, some on zoom), find appropriate jewelry, shoes, bag; then, when the music\u2019s over, pack it all up and ship it back. One dress or suit can mean a month of work. \u201cKate Young has two full-time assistants,\u201d describes Bird. \u201cBut sometimes more. It all depends on the job.\u201d Adds one superstylist, \u201cIf people knew the amount of prep, hours of tests and work it takes for actors to look that perfect, if fans could see some of these stars before their glam, they wouldn\u2019t recognize them. That\u2019s what keeps us employed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite all the heavy lifting, glam squadders \u201cget remunerated for all of that with one fee,\u201d says an anonymous stylist. \u201cThe money can be great or in a slump. When we got paid by movie studios, it could be very good. Then the streamers cut our fees. Now the brands pay us directly, so the amount is<\/em> fairly consistent. The bigger the brand, the bigger the check. Of course, it all depends on your clients having TV shows or films. The real money comes when they hire us for campaigns or we do collabs.\u201d The Wall Group negotiates all these deals with cosmetics ambassadorships, hair product lines, top luxury brands like Herm\u00e8s, Louis Vuitton and Prada, all while monitoring the work of stylists\u2019 assistants to see who\u2019s ready to ascend the ladder.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe amount of work is mind-boggling. \u201cThink twenty looks for awards season at least,\u201d the agent said. \u201cThey might go to the Oscars, then Vanity Fair, Madonna and Guy Oseary\u2019s party, Beyonce and Jay Z\u2019s.\u201d Given brand payments, they\u2019re limited to big brands with big bucks: Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Armani, Valentino, Balenciaga, the occasional Gucci or Prada. If an actress is a brand ambassado, like Nicole Kidman for Chanel and Emma Stone for Vuitton, you\u2019ll rarely see them in anything else. But loyal actors can demand their stylist do their brand campaign: Ka-ching!<\/em> (This is how non-Wall Group stylist Law Roach wound up with a house worthy of being featured in Architectural Digest<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\n\tVeteran Jeanne Yang has seen it all \u2014 she\u2019s worked with George Clooney, Tom Cruise \u2013\u2014 even styled the Oceans 12<\/em> campaign cover for Vanity Fair<\/em>. Now her stable includes Jason Momoa, Taika Waititi and Jamie Dornan. \u201cEven men can change looks in one night,\u201d she says. \u201cThat outfit swapping does not happen in some magically appearing fashion salon. It\u2019s either backstage at the Dolby theater bathroom, or in the back of the car.\u201d After all, the more looks posted online, the bigger the numbers.<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael Fisher has been dressing Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Sam Rockwell, Paul Rudd and more for two decades. He got particular kudos for Hawke\u2019s awards campaign, adding Western touches to classic looks with a twist.<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor McNeil (Timothee Chalamet, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Craig, Lorde), \u201cput Kendrick Lamar in those Celine jeans for his Superbowl show; it was a real culturally definingl moment,\u201d says Stirling.<\/p>\n

\n\tMakeup queen Ash K Holm\u2019s work with Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, plus Kris Jenner, has earned her 1.2 million Insta followers, another big revenue stream. That\u2019s a subdivision for some stylists; The Wall Group labels them stylist\/content creators. Chris Appleton has 4 million followers. Star makeup man Hung Vanngo [Julianne Moore, Scarlett Johannson], 4.1. Kate Young has almost one million; Brad Goreski, 892K.<\/p>\n

\n\tThese days, \u201cthere\u2019s a real interest from athletes to work with stylists now,\u201d notes Stirling. \u201cMany have big brand deals; people really care what they\u2019re wearing.\u201d Examples: Tom Brady, Travis Kelce, Serena Williams, Angel Reese. \u201cWe\u2019re really exploring that arena.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSuperstar hairstylist Danilo (only one name needed; he styles the locks of Selena Gomez, Gwen Stefani, Naomi Watts, Lady Gaga, and is a global ambassador for Pantene) was one of the Wall Group\u2019s first signings.\u00a0 \u201cThe game\u2019s really<\/em> changed,\u201d he laughs. \u201cYour clients change, your earnings, the job itself. But I still love cutting hair and what it\u2019s brought me. I\u2019ve been all over the world, met amazing people. It\u2019s really hard to top that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo celebrate a quarter century of helping to create the Hollywood stylist system, The Wall Group pointed out their top 10 looks from over the years. (And let\u2019s not forget an iconic moment from Jeanne Yang, who has dressed many Hollywood superstars from Christian Bale to Tom Cruise \u2026 but not all at once! For a 2004 Ocean\u2019s Twelve<\/a><\/em><\/em> promo shot, she dressed not just George Clooney, but Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bernie Mac to look their absolute coolest criminal best.) More iconic Wall Group moments:<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tKate Young has styled Michelle Williams for over two decades, but this iconic Vera Wang saffron Grecian gown at the 2006 Oscars looked both retro and<\/em> modern: an old school train paired with ruffles and ruching on a sleek silhouette. The red lipstick contrast was also a moment. So was Michelle\u2019s arrival with Heath Ledger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrazer Harrison\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tLeslie Fremar and Charlize Theron go back a long way when it comes to wardrobe collaboration. But this both soft and sexy look for the 2012 Golden Globes, when Charlize was nominated for Young Adult, <\/em>is one of their best: a Dior couture gown both giving leg and<\/em> 1930s Old Hollywood movie star glamour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJason Merritt\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBlack Panther star Chadwick Boseman looked truly celestial in Atelier Versace, styled by Ashley Weston, at 2018\u2019s \u201cHeavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination\u201d Met Gala in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeilson Barnard\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMet Gala\u2019s 2019 co-chair Lady Gaga was styled by fashion designer Brandon Maxwell in a parachute-skirted ball gown with a 25-foot train to celebrate that year\u2019s theme, \u201cCelebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeilson Barnard\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tKim Kardashian\u2019s known for experimenting on any red carpet, but this look for The Met Ball in 2019 is all truly wet. To match her Mugler semi-naked wet-look gown, hairstylist Chris Appleton drenched her with product for a wet-look hair to match. Her face was glistened with oil to look like she ran out of the shower to get there. She didn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tLet\u2019s face it, everything Beyonce\u2019 does or wears is iconic. But stylist Shiona Turini took on her biggest task by styling Beyonce\u2019s 2023 Renaissance tour. Queen Bey wearing futuristic and glittery looks by Balenciaga, Loewe, Balmain, Gareth Pugh \u2014 so many looks, so many changes \u2014 it was like styling three runway shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Mazur\/WireImage<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tIn 2024 at the Met Gala, while still an up-and-comer, Tyla, in a Balmain dress made of sand styled by Katie Qian, was the biggest showstopper of the night. Talk about a fragile fabric! The dress lost grains of sand wherever she walked. Later on, Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing cut the dress down to a mini so Tyla could dance on the beach inside the Ball.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWe know Ariana Grande favored pink to reenact her Glinda character for Wicked\u2019s<\/em> 2025 Oscar campaign, but her strapless Schiaparelli couture gown with a molded 3-D peplum, chosen with her stylist Mimi Cuttrell, was one of designer Daniel Roseberry\u2019s true masterpieces. Grande thought so, too: She told Vogue<\/em>, it\u2019s her favorite red-carpet look of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJC Olivera\/WWD\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDemi Moore at the 98th Annual Oscars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLexie Moreland\/WWD\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWho can forget Lady Gaga\u2019s jailhouse rock in her 2009 video for Telephone?<\/em> Playing a punky princess behind bars, she was smart enough to partner with equally iconic hairstylist Danilo, who matched her edgy aesthetic as she prances with giant Diet Coke cans as rollers in her hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScreenshot\/YouTube<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tA version of this story appeared in the April 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n