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How jewelry lands on the red carpet
A behind-the-scenes look at how jewelry lands on the red carpet
By Catherine Dayrit
October 08, 2009
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| At the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, Breaking Bad actress Anna Gunn wore Martin Katz's Everlon diamond knot earrings, four-row bracelet and marquise diamond ring (Photo: Getty Images/Jason Merritt), while Wizards of Waverly Place actress Selena Gomez stepped out at the 61st Creative Primetime Emmy Awards in green tourmaline earrings from Sutra. (Photo: Courtesy of D'Orazio and Associates) |
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Los Angeles--When twice-nominated actress Chandra Wilson arrived at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, it might have seemed the star--known for her role as the no-nonsense director of interns on Grey's Anatomy--simply traded her scrubs for haute couture and hit the red carpet.
Far from it.
The gown, the jewelry, everything that she wore on the evening of Sept. 20, was the product of months of intense planning.
"Once I found out she was nominated, I started literally, that day, making phone calls, and I already had an idea of who I wanted her to wear," says Sharon Gary, Wilson's stylist for the past five years.
Two months, one Pamela Rolland gown and a suite of Chopard jewelry later, Wilson appeared on television screens across the nation, glowing and carefree.
But this seemingly seamless and momentous red-carpet moment and others like it are the result of an intricate web of relationship building between the stylists, public relations reps and designers who help shape the Hollywood apparel and jewelry trends that often resurface, in some manner, on Main Street.
To decipher the world of red-carpet placements, National Jeweler visited Los Angeles a week before the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards for a behind-the-scenes look at the celebrity placement game for jewelry. (To check out photos, jump to our 10X blog.)
While such placements clearly mean big bucks--and big exposure--for the designers whose loaned-out pieces land on the ears and necks of a Demi Moore or an Anne Hathaway, they need not be the only beneficiaries. With a little bit of initiative, insiders say, retailers and other designers can jump in.
While some retailers claim customers pay no mind to celebrity culture, others are as plugged in as their customers.
As Ann Mangini, owner of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Rafinity puts it, "We are an Entertainment Tonight-driven society, we are an Access Hollywood society."
Jen Cullen of Luxury Brand Group, a marketing and branding agency based in Newport Beach, Calif., points to the popularity of magazine titles, such as US Weekly.
"Clearly, the celebrity culture has an influence when you think about the popularity of [the tabloid magazines]," Cullen says. "People are obsessed with what celebrities are doing, what's going on with them."
A start in the showroom
Celebrity looks often begin with companies such as D'Orazio and Associates, a public relations firm with a sleek, Zen-like showroom where stylists and celebrities peruse vitrines full of jewelry, set beside floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Beverly Hills, far below.
The 4,000-square-foot office plays host to a cadre of top Hollywood stylists, including influential trendsetters such as Jennifer Rade, a stylist for Angelina Jolie who was behind her 2009 Academy Awards look, among others. (Remember the massive emerald drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz that Jolie wore with a strapless black gown? That was Rade.)
Such possibilities kept company owner Ginnina D'Orazio buzzing: One week before the Primetime Emmy Awards, she handled back-to-back appointments with stylists and editors seeking jewelry for events or photo shoots.
Lately, the top choices have been large cocktail rings; delicate, stacking bangle bracelets; airy cuff bracelets featuring openwork; small drop earrings; and pieces featuring geometric motifs. Preferred metals are those of a pewter or gunmetal hue, she adds, a trend that has also proliferated on the Fashion Week runways for spring and fall.
D'Orazio's list of designer clients include red-carpet darling Amrapali, German brand Hellmuth, Le Vian, Siera, Yvel, Paolo Costagli, Sutra and Carrera y Carrera.
Another client is Zorab, a Paris-based company with jewelry manufacturing facilities in Thailand, which found breaking into the U.S. market challenging until it discovered the power of celebrity, says Lisa Istanboulian, the company's marketing manager.
"We used to do a lot of advertising, but we never got the same feedback as with our PR placements," Istanboulian says. "The rest of the world, they are not into names and branding as much as in the U.S. In the U.S., once you're a brand, everyone wants you and wants what the celebrity is wearing. It took us a while to grasp."
One of Zorab's biggest "gets" occurred when pop singer Katy Perry wore an 80-carat kunzite and diamond cocktail ring, which sold soon after its red-carpet debut.
But according to Istanboulian, the real win is not in the placement but in the brand exposure.
"Six months ago, only 1 percent of jewelers in North America knew us," she says. "Now, we have at least 25 percent of jewelers who know us. People are interested in what we do, they want e-mails every couple of months. The value of that for us is much more than selling the piece that's on placement."
Tarang Arora, owner of red-carpet regular Amrapali, says it's difficult to quantify the sales that directly result from its celebrity placements, but the positioning does help with brand recognition.
"Customers don't always come to us for the same piece a particular celebrity was wearing, but often they will see our name attached to the image and then that will drive them into the store to buy something else," he says.
The stylist connection
At the heart of top placements are deep-seated relationships, and few know this as well as longtime jeweler to the stars Neil Lane.
"I have been gifted, like from the heavens, to have that assortment and roster of girls and guys that have just been loyal, faithful, there for me," Lane says. "I do not solicit, we don't set up a jewelry suite, we don't pay people. I'm there 52 weeks a year and I'm working with celebrities on minor events I never get credit with, in magazines I never get credit with, on charity events. My presence is there all the time and I think it's kind of just natural."
Aside from the personal relationships Lane has forged with clients who have turned to him for engagement rings and wedding bands over the years, he's also amassed a network of stylist contacts--a crucial cog in the wheel of publicity--the pros who actually put the jewelry and apparel on stars.
"People think it's all about the red carpet and getting their name out there, and that's probably the icing on the cake, but there were ingredients to make that cake," Lane says. "We just don't pop on top of that cake and we're Neil Lane--it's years and years."
Lane has dedicated staffers who work with stylists to choose jewelry for their celebrity clients. It's a delicate balance of give and take, as well as trust, because loaner pieces could potentially be lost, stolen or broken.
"With every bright light, there's a few bulbs that go black," Lane says.
For their part, stylists know their reputations are on the line.
"When I say I need something, and especially when it's awards season, I have first dibs," says Gary, Chandra Wilson's stylist. "And that's because of the kind of relationship I have with the people I deal with. They get the jewelry back in a very timely manner. It's a very honest relationship. If I say I'm putting a client in that jewelry, I do."
And back on Lane's end, in addition to red-carpet placements that land the brand's name in the photo captions of InStyle or Us Weekly, there are quieter agreements, such as when top-shelf Neil Lane jewels appear, uncredited, in ads for big-name companies such as Revlon. The hope is that the stylists working with the cosmetics company might turn to the jeweler for big events.
"Stylists are an amazing tool for me," Lane says. "We work with them for hours, over grueling shoots and layouts where we help the stylists look good. These are relationships that have been developed over years."
And it seems for every star, there's a relationship.
"It's a rare celebrity walking the red carpet that doesn't have a stylist," says Kit Scarbo, the personal stylist to Dancing with the Stars host Samantha Harris.
While it might seem like a near-impossible feat to get Beyonce or Tina Fey to wear one's brand, it just takes a few key contacts, Scarbo says.
"A good way a lot of jewelers have been able to get in touch with me is through the celebrities' publicists," Scarbo says. "It really is kind of inside and kind of hard to crack without a publicist or PR contact."
And while the big names such as Neil Lane, Harry Winston and Chopard are among the go-to designers for major events, it doesn't mean the field is shut out to newer names.
"Stylists are pretty savvy, and we're always looking for new companies," Scarbo says. "Jewelry doesn't always change from year to year, so I do a lot of my own research, looking for new, smaller companies."
For events, Scarbo turns to her list of PR contacts and designers to determine which might be best suited for her client and event. The gown often dictates the choice of jewelry. While a stylist might seek out a client's gown weeks or even months before a major event, the jewelry might be added just days before, or even the same day as the event.
The trickle-down effect
"Sometimes the best looks, the most important looks I've gotten come in an instant," says Lane, recalling the time when Catherine Zeta-Jones' team needed jewelry for the star's appearance at the premiere of her film The Terminal.
"Her team had called up weeks before and sent images of a yellow gown she would wear," he says. "We had a whole collection made up, and a day before, they called and said she's not going to wear yellow--she's wearing black."
Lane got off the phone and hightailed it over to the Beverly Hills Hotel.
"So I went there with my little bag of tricks," he says. "'How about a diamond chain?' I said. 'Sure,' she said. 'Let's do another one.' 'Sure,' she said. Five minutes later, she had a gazillion chains. It got more looks than anything I've ever done."
But what do moments like this mean to the retailers? And to the consumer?
"[Catherine] said to me she had never gotten so much attention," Lane says. "And why was it good? It was over the top, it was elegant. There was a sense of an iconic fashion moment. And when you do an iconic moment in jewelry, it transfers to the fashion world and you see derivatives of that."
Derivatives are something that Jamie Cadwell, director of the Diamond Information Center, has seen plenty of.
"I definitely think there's a trickle-down effect," she says. "It might not mean people are running out and buying huge pieces of jewelry, but they're buying pave jewelry, chains, little diamond accents. I think that's happening with bracelets too--more metal with diamond accents, and then rings--it's not a literal translation, but there's an interpretive influence."
Over the years, many of the stars who have worn Neil Lane designs have purchased the pieces themselves, while others have been snapped up by consumers who fell in love after spotting the jewels on TV or in magazines.
"The exposure today is vast," Lane says, recalling a phone call from a customer in Wisconsin who wanted to buy a piece worn by Gwenyth Paltrow. "Now it's Dubai, Abu Dhabi, it's instantaneous."
So sure, pieces are bought, brands profit. But they need not be the only ones.
Los Angeles retailer Ann Mangini has a deep Rolodex of celebrity clients herself, with Sharon Osborne, Kobe Bryant and Mariah Carey among the bold-faced names who have frequented her store.
Mangini sends out mass e-mails to her press connections and clients, revealing which celebrity client wore a piece from her store, or telling them "Don't forget to watch America's Got Talent or Dancing With the Stars," if a contestant might be wearing jewelry from her store.
"It's a very fun and casual store, so the e-mails I send out are super flip," Mangini says. "It's just a good way to remind people we're there."
And therein lies a jewel: whichever method a designer or retailer uses to stay in touch with customers, the pieces worn on the red carpet offer an opportunity to get customers talking.
Mangini, for example, says retailers can send out e-mails to clients linking to an image of a star wearing drop earrings or bangles, and then juxtapose those images with similar pieces from their own store. Thousand dollar diamond drops on January Jones at the Emmys? Well, how about this pearl style retailing for $200?
"It's just touching base with them, and it gives you an excuse," Mangini says.
'Iconic Hollywood'
In early September, Los Angeles brand Tacori invited a select group of 35 "Passion Partner" retailers to a three-day Club Tacori event themed "Iconic Hollywood."
Retailers from New York to Honolulu took part, sitting in on small group seminars, touring the manufacturer's newly expanded facilities and jumping aboard a Hollywood bus to see the sights.
The event culminated with a Sept. 15 party at the Sunset Tower Hotel for the debut of Tacori's new "18K925" collection of sterling and gold jewelry, for which Tacori staff hinted a few celebrities would appear.
Tacori's guests walked a blue carpet (a nod to the brand's signature hue) complete with a step and repeat manned on one side by a bevy of photographers present to capture several surprise celebrities, including Mad Men actress Christina Hendricks and Heroes star Ali Larter.
"We're in Hollywood and we thought there are so many things we could do," says Paul Tacorian, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "Many of our retailers have never been here and we were determined to give them the blue-carpet treatment."
And retailers were quick to keep their customers in the loop.
Within 24 hours of the party, Little Rock, Ark.-based retailer Jones and Son had already posted an item about the Tacori event on its blog, detailing the specific Tacori pieces Larter wore that night and offering up info about The Art of Elysium, the charity to which profits from an auction of the pieces would be donated.
Oklahoma City-based Samuel Gordon Jewelers' blog was updated too with photos of Larter and Hendricks, as well as poolside atmosphere shots and close-ups of the jewelry.
The way Tacorian puts it, the sun doesn't rise or fall when a celebrity wears the brand's jewelry, but it sure doesn't hurt.
"Celebrities obviously have everything in the world thrown at them," Tacorian says. "Since they have so much at their fingertips, and for them to say 'I would like to request this,' it's a compliment to our taste. The celebrity side helps, but it's somebody deciding to talk about it."
'PR the PR'
Getting that talk started is crucial.
"I always say, 'PR the PR,'" says Cullen of Luxury Brand Group. "It's great that you got the placement into W magazine, but no one knows about it except that audience."
Cullen advises designers to put together a quarterly newsletter documenting the latest happenings with their brand, and suggests they keep the press section of their Web sites updated or use blogs for quick updates.
"You've got to have strong communications throughout: PR, marketing, social marketing, a Web site," Cullen says. "It's like a foundation. If you don't have all the blocks of the foundation, the structure will fall. The longevity of the success isn't there--it comes from having all the elements."
A designer also needs to make sure each of the elements in the structure are in sync.
["A designer] might have a PR firm that gets great placements, but they don't let their retailers know," Cullen says.
And every little bit that the retailer knows adds up to more reason to get in touch with the customer and get them excited about jewelry. It's a little bit of initiative that can go a long way.
Mangini tells a story about an old friend who used to call her up regularly.
"What do you think the trends should be this week?" she would ask.
"The trend has to start somewhere, so why not with you?" Mangini says.
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