Brad Goreski on His Instagram Obsession and a Last-Minute Emmys Dress Fix
Brad Goreski rose to fame working for Rachel Zoe as her styling assistant and reality TV sidekick on Bravo’s “The Rachel Zoe Project.” Three years ago, he broke out on his own—starting his own styling business, writing a tell-all book, and even starring in his own Bravo show, “It’s a Brad, Brad World.” While Goreski has been in the news as of late for losing Jessica Alba as a client, something tells us this dapper stylist (who also happens to be one of the nicest guys in fashion) won’t be kept down for long.
We caught up Goreski, who most recently has partnered with eyewear retailer glasses.com to curate a selection of his top picks for both women and men. “Picking out glasses is a very personal choice,” says Goreski. “Glasses very much identify my personal style, and have become identifiable with who I am. Glasses wearers want something that speaks to who they are.”
Goreski chatted with us about what it really takes to put a red carpet look together, his love of selfies, and why he’s grateful to his mom for teaching him to sew.
StyleCaster: We have a feeling a lot more goes into creating a red carpet look than what we end up seeing. Tell us about the process.
Brad Goreski: From getting hired for the job to spending lots of time on Style.com looking for the perfect gown for your client to the preparation—three to five days, sometimes a week goes into actually getting the gowns—then fitting the gowns, then the alterations, then the second fitting, then a final fitting with jewelry, bags, shoes, then the final day talking with hair and makeup, and then of course all of the press that happens afterwards. It is a lot!
Any nail-biting moments behind the scenes moments recently?
I had to use my sewing skills during the Emmys [working with Laura Dern]. We had a piece added to the back of her dress so that it wouldn’t be too tight around her neck and I ended up having to take that piece out and hand sew it back on. So I thanked my mother very loudly to the stars for teaching me how to sew when I was younger because I do have to say it was a beautiful stitch.
A lot of critics have been complaining that they think celebrity red carpet fashion has become pretty boring. Thoughts?
I think there has been a push to more newness and to more minimal silhouettes. As a stylist, I try to sell glamour as a job and to help feed into the fantasy that everyone wants to see on the red carpet.
Do you think that is has become harder to be a celebrity stylist since the big fashion brands seem to be wielding so much power in terms of what stars wear?
I don’t know if it’s more difficult—the best dressed always wins. It doesn’t matter if there is a huge designer knocking on your door. For me it is always the dress that works the best that is the dress that wins out.
We’ve always wondered what stylists do when a client completely disagrees with them.
That doesn’t happen to me! You know I hope that people come to me and trust that I am going to guide them in the right direction. Hopefully you have relationships with people where they trust you whole-heartedly—and I think that happens with me and my clients. When that trust is broken and they aren’t feeling what you are doing, you hope that they move on and go and work with other people.
You are very active on social media! How important do you think that has been to your overall success?
Well my whole life is on Instagram, just go back a month and you’ll see everything. What I eat, my dogs, my friends, what I’m wearing, what I look like when I wake up, all of that is on Instagram, so you are seeing it! I don’t really show my styling, it’s really about showing another side of myself.
Who are your favorite people to follow on Instagram?
I love watching people take photos of themselves. I love selfies and the preparation that goes into them now. Before it just used to be a smile, and now girls love to tilt their heads, let all of their hair fall, then brush it over their shoulder, then the hand goes on the hip, and then they smile. We’ve all become such masters of how we look. It really is an indispensable tool in anything—whether you are trying to get a boyfriend out of it, whether you are looking for a new job, there are so many ways that it can work for you. I do enjoy using it to see how other stylists are working, how their fittings are set up, how much stuff they are pulling. I think it’s fun to see the behind-the-scenes view of whatever it might be.
It seems like being a celebrity stylist is the dream job du jour. Any words of wisdom?
The world of fashion can be as glamorous as people think it is, but it takes a lot of hard work. This is my third year doing this on my own and the work never ends. You have to constantly be putting the best work out there that you can. My words of wisdom are to allow yourself to start at the bottom and work your way to the top. All of the things that I’ve learned along the way—from interning at Vogue to interning at W to working for Cristina Ehrlich and Estee Stanley to working at Vogue to working for Rachel [Zoe] to going out on my own—it has all been an incredible learning process.
