Selena Gomez, Sienna Miller & More of Kate Young’s Red Carpet Transformations
Before Kate Young hit the red carpet at InStyle’s Awards in Los Angeles last week, she was FaceTiming with just one of her many A-list clients. “The James Bond premiere was today in London and Rachel [Weisz] went to that and I was like, ‘Oh that looks good. I like the bag. OK. Good.’”
Of all the jobs the iPhone’s made easier, that of a celebrity stylist might be #1. “If they are on a press tour and they are in Russia, I can see them before,” says Young, the 39-year-old platinum blonde responsible for such impeccably pulled together women as Selena Gomez, Dakota Johnson, and Sienna Miller. “Literally they call me and I’m like ‘Oh you look good. You should wear more lipstick.’ I see them all before they go out, which is amazing.”
Between blogs breathlessly documenting every dress, shoe, and lipstick an actress wears, and the nonstop stream of social media, celebrities have started wearing five, 10 or even 15 outfits in the 24 hours they spend promoting their latest project in New York or London. That means Young, whose clients collectively gather more attention than any other stylist’s, is responsible for a staggering number of never-before-seen looks. “She’s such a powerful stylist that she gets the best stuff,” Miller told us while promoting her new film, Burnt. “And I really understand the value of having someone who can pull the stuff before anyone else.”
In the past year alone, Young has turned an ex-Disney star into a Vuitton-wearing cool kid, an awkward Hollywood heiress who starred in the cheesiest movie of the year (century?) into a couture-wearing covergirl, and a boho-loving Brit into a polished Oscar nominee. "I like doing all different people,” she says when asked if she has any favorites. “It’s more about the women for me. I get really into figuring out who they are and what their style is going to be. One isn’t better than the other; I get more Instagram followers for the younger ones.”
Speaking of Instagram, Young has nearly 50K followers, each of whom tune in daily to see who she’s dressed in which just-off-the runway look. She was the first stylist to score a collaboration with Target, one of the first to dress her client’s in Monse (fall’s most talked about label), and might be single-handedly credited for shaping what a best dressed actress looks like in 2015.
So what goes into building the perfect outfit? Right now, Young’s feeling pale colors for fall. “I usually gravitate towards navy and charcoal and black, but I’m really into cream and camel for fall,” she says. “And I really love knits—knit dresses and knit skirts, brown suede, which is something I never thought I would say, but I really like it.” The one thing she won’t touch? Turquoise.
For further proof of Young’s genius, here are her clients, before and after Kate.
Additional reporting by Nicole Pajer
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