Decoder Ring

Why Stylists Rule the Red Carpet

Avery Trufelman and Melissa Rivers on what the fashion police hath wrought.

Episode Notes

Like a manager or an agent or a publicist, a stylist has become a kind of must-have accessory for well-dressed, A-list celebrities. It’s just expected that they will have hired someone to select the clothes they’ll wear at public appearances. But this was not always the case.

In today’s episode, Avery Trufelman, host of Articles of Interest, will guide us through the collapse of a certain kind of Hollywood glamour to the rise of a growing, financially rewarding relationship between fashion designers and celebrity culture, and then on to the explosion in red carpet events patrolled by fashion police that helped create this new occupation.

This episode was produced by Avery Trufelman and Evan Chung, who produces Decoder Ring with Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

You’ll hear from Teri Agins, Dana Thomas, Melissa Rivers, and Jeanne Yang.

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About the Show

In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.

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