StylesHiddenPersuaders.doc

Styles Hidden Persuaders Behind the lights of TV, movies and ads, costumers and stylists shop till they drop to soft-sell charming looks we want to watch and wear.Patrick Norris is a costume supervisor for the yuppie TV programme Thirtysomething. Norris is a member of an unseen but powerful elite who influence how we dress, what we buy, and how we feel about the faces we see on the screen, the page, or in ad campaigns. They set the tone of the times though we never even know they are there.If youve ever wondered why movie stars always look so great, the answer is its no accident. Stylists, wardrobe supervisors and image consultants get paid anywhere from $150 an hour to $1,200 a day to perfect that high-powered look, onstage and off. When actress Demi Moore appeared in public for the first time after the birth of her baby sporting a whole new wardrobe, it was the work of stylist Jane Ross. And when Jodie Foster turns up on TV promoting her latest movie, her classic elegance isnt entirely homegrown. In fact, before this, Fosters mother called the famous stylist Sharon Simonaire and asked her to please find Jodie something to wear on interviews besides her customary gym clothes.If stylists have our universal complaint, its that people never really appreciate what it is they do. For Norris, who spends 60 hours a week trying to give the thirty something characters that label-conscious suburban look, the reward comes from the hundreds of letters he gets from viewers who are convinced the actors are actually wearing their own clothes. “I get all these letters asking, Where does Nancy buy her sweaters? ” he says. “Because the show is more realistic, they dont think I do anything. But making things look real is much harder.”Simonaire,33 , says she learned all about the power of clothing when she was in sixth grade. Growing up in Baltimore , daughter of a nurse and an engineer, style meant little to her until a doctors wife she baby-sat for gave her some expensive castoffsa white minidress and matching go-go boots. “I wrote them to school the next day, and as I climbed the steps , every head turned,” Simonaire recalls. “It created this charm and mystique. In the moment, I realized the psychological importance of dressing.”Graduating from high school at 15, she immediately started working as a clerk in boutiques, later moving on to styling for magazines and fashion ads. As it happens, her latest passion isnt clothes at all: its home furnishing .In her spare time, Simonaire has opened an antique shop in L.A. called Oddiyana , Tibetan for “beyond imagination”.When the final image reaches the public, no one person can take full credit for it. Movies and television are ultimately collaborative efforts, the wardrobe supervisor working closely with the director, producers and actors to create just the right visual cues. Unlike, say, the lightning, on which the technicians are deferred to, when it comes to clothes, everyone has an opinion. “The more contemporary the script, the more people think they know what you should be doing ,” says Gresham. Ive practically gotten input from the doorkeeper.”Nowhere is this more evident than in commercials, where millions of dollars in sales are riding on the ads ability to create an irresistible images for the product. Stylists and costumers wouldnt disagree. “In a music video, I can say, This is what youre all going to wear, because I like it. says Fucile , “ in a commercial ,you have a lot of people with different ideas and very little time. I have to present five outfits, and the director and ad agency will agree on one. If there are 30 principal players, thats 150 outfits. And I have one week to get them together.”For the Levis 501 campaign last year, Fucile worked with 600 pairs of jeans, jackets and shirts , tearing, dyeing, fading and washing them until they conveyed a certain lived-in indifference. “ Everything in those Levi ads looks real,” explains Fucile, “But actually, its created.” Those kids dont just show up in that stuff.”Fucile,31, studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles and at UCLA film school before becoming a stylist. Most of the accounts he works on are geared Avenue and look at what the kids are wearing on the street. Its amazing how you can show something on TV in an and then see it duplicated everywhere a few weeks later.”Like most stylists, Fucile is keenly-aware of how influential his craft can be. “Television is so powerful ,” he marvels. “People are so easily influenced by what they see. They dont realize whats going on. It makes you want to take that power and use it to send kids a message about drug abuse, alcoholism or AIDS, instead of just selling a product.”Because stylists spend their days realizing other peoples visions, its particularly important to them that they do something that expresses their own values on their own time. For Norris, that means spending Monday nights working with teenagers with drug problems. “Its a commitment that matters to me.,” he says. “The kids are so interested in Hollywood, and I try to show them it can be real. For me, thats as important as anything I get out of this business.”Norris and Fucile believe there is growing interest in the industry i