Photo credit: courtesy of Phillip Bloch
“She has a real artistic sense of style, even more so in her personal life than on the red carpet,” said stylist to the stars Phillip Bloch when referring to Halle Berry. “She has an interesting style and doesn’t always like the same things. I’ve worked with her for many many years and I’ve been very fortunate to work with her through a lot – winning her Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy. I’ve really had quite an exciting life with her as far as the business goes. She’s a kind, very sweet woman and she really looks great in anything.”
Phillip Bloch is a lifestyle guru, stylist, author, designer, writer, fashion correspondent and TV talk show host, among other things if that doesn’t cover it all.
In an interview with Hollywood on the Potomac, Bloch outlined his beginnings, the ad interim and where he is headed today. “I started as a model and basically I wanted to find a job that I thought was interesting, had to do with fashion, travel, interesting people and where I got to be around the finer things in life,” he said.
“Some of the editors that I worked with as a model suggested that I try styling. I was always one of those models that kind of had a good style and didn’t just show up at the job. I thought there was more to it. I just think that fashion is one of those extraordinary careers where you start out in one place and you can do a million other things and I’m living proof of it.”
His first celebrity gig was with Maureen McGovern who sang the song from The Poseidon Adventure – The Morning After. “That was the very first styling assignment and I remember being at her apartment in New York. It was years ago and she had the gold record on the wall. I just thought that was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen in my entire life. I don’t even remember how she found me, I can’t honestly remember since it was so far back. Today, of course, it is different since I have a pretty big reputation so people go through my agent or somebody who knows somebody.”
As for his celebrity clients he finds all of them be be very unique people. “I’ve had extraordinary experiences with all of them. I got to work with Jennifer Lopez very early in her career and style her for the premiere of Selena. I styled for her first wedding, the first Oscar she ever went to, all her first movies – Blood And Wine and U Turn – and like I said – Selena, which was a very interesting experience because that was the movie that turned her from just another actress into a star. I got to dress her for all of that. That was very exciting.”
Since then, he has gone on to style over 100 prestigious magazine covers including Spin, Marabella, US Weekly, Ebony, Jet, Los Angeles, Buzz and shoots in Vogue, ELLE and Vanity Fair, to mention a few.
“Michael Jackson – I styled him for his last photo shoot. It was this historic kind of thing that people will always remember. He was very sweet, gentle. I think the thing that stuck out the most to me about him was that he asked a lot of questions. He let you do your job and didn’t tell you what to do. I think he was someone who liked to learn from people that are the best at what they do. That’s what made him the best, that he was secure enough with his own creativity and his own greatness that he didn’t micro-manage you. He asked me questions about a lot of different people, like ‘What was it like to work with Halle?’
He knew who I was when we arrived. It doesn’t just happen that you show up at a shoot. It’s all choreographed and planned and they have to approve it. He respected me as much as I respected him. It’s a very nice place to be. A lot of the times, you will work with people of that stature and they’re just ‘I don’t wear this. I don’t like that’ and they don’t let you do your job.
“I have a couple of favorites, but I think the Michael Jackson is tops. The last 2 covers from Michael were really kind of historic and everybody remembers those. Those are the most known covers I would have to say. It was the cover of Ebony and the cover of Jet.
I did River Phoenix’s last photo shoot too. We did a cover of Detour and a cover of Spin and they were his last photo shoots also. Those are the most memorable because they are kind of historic and the pictures run a lot because they were the last covers that they did.
On the Oscars: Sometimes he has a client that will be walking the Red Carpet at the Oscars and sometimes he doesn’t. Bloch explains it this way: “It depends on the year because when somebody gets nominated they just don’t call you out of the blue. It’s not like Cate Blanchett is going to suddenly call me. They have to be working with you. They’re not suddenly cruising along and then they get nominated and they say ‘Oh, let’s call Philip Bloch.’ The whole process has started earlier on in the movie really. Before the movie even comes out, you’re usually working with them on other stuff. Right now we are waiting on a client of mine that will be presenting but hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
On the Fashion Police: “I love John Rivers. I’ve known Joan for years and years. I think George Kotsiopoulos knows his business because he’s a stylist and think he gets it right a lot of the time. Kelly Osbourne – I don’t think she gets it right all the time, but she does provide a young voice to the show which I think the show needs. You know, that young kind of cool funky girl, so she provides that voice.
Are the Fashion Police mean? “Giuliana Rancic is anything but mean. She’s one of the sweetest people I know in the business and is genuine. I don’t think they’re mean, I think they’re just doing their job and everybody has an opinion and they just happen to have a platform to do it on, as I’ve done for many years too. People say ‘Oh, that’s mean’ but everybody has their own way of doing it. I always try and find the positive. I try and say ‘Oh, I love so and so.’ I’d probably just ask who she’s wearing and why did she pick it or something like that. You would never say to her ‘Oh my God, that’s ugly.’ If she said ‘Do you like my outfit?,’ and if I don’t I’d say ‘I love the color’ or ‘I love the fabric’ and you’d find the positive thing to say something because you wouldn’t want to be rude right to their face.”
On the best styled celebrities: “I really like Cate Blanchett. I think she’s incredibly stylish. Nicole Kidman, I think has a great sense of style. Of the new kids, I love Taylor Swift. I think Rihanna has a really interesting sense of style. I love Beyonce, I think her style and her stylist and her whole team is extraordinary. I like Selena Gomez of the new kids. Taylor Swift and she are 2 to watch. I’m a big fan of Rita Ora. I think she’s on the rise and about to be a big star. I like Miley Cyrus. I think she has her own individual style. It’s not my style, but I like her style for her. Every generation has that kind of girl. She’s like Pink or Cindy Lauper. Every 10 years you get somebody like that that’s a big star. Rihanna is kind of similar to her in that kind of rock and rolly Janis Joplin way. You need people like her to push the envelope that are a little funky and a little cool.
Who are you wearing? What’s up with that? “I find it very odd when people say ‘Who are you wearing?’ It’s an expression I’ve never liked. Sometimes it sounds awkward and sometimes it fits, it just depends on how the person delivers it I think. They mean ‘who is the designer that you are wearing’ but since we don’t speak good English any more, people don’t finish sentences. It’s uncomfortable sometimes. It’s sort of pretentious. I don’t know grammatically if is the wrong, but it just sounds awkward. It seems like they’re leaving out part of the sentence.
On People Magazine’s 50 Hottest Bachelors: “It was an honor. I think that’s one of the things I’m very proud of in my career. It’s nice to be validated for being one of the hottest bachelors and it happened at a time when I wasn’t in my 20s. It was really fun. I wish they gave me T-shirt that said ‘Hi, I’m one of the hottest bachelors.’ I think there’s a handful of high notes that happen in your career. It’s a very superficial one, but I take it as a compliment because they really do investigate you. They don’t just pick you because you’re cute. You have to be interesting and smart and not be a felon. It was an honor.”
On the current climate and future of Stylists: “Unfortunately, the business nowadays is filled with a lot of people that are looking for fame, glamour, prestige and notoriety and they don’t really know what they’re doing because they’re not skilled and they’re are ruining the industry. It’s made the whole business very very difficult. It’s no longer like I get to call Donna Karan myself and Donna says ‘Oh, just go in the store and pull something for Brooke Shields’ because it’s a bigger business now. They’re not hiring somebody because they’re good, they’re hiring them because they’re cheap. I think that quality has been lost along the way.
What’s next? “One of the things I have now is a TV show where I interview celebrities about their charities. It’s called Cause Celeb with Phillip Bloch. We have been on ABC News for 2 years now and we’ve done 30 episodes. I find that to be the most rewarding thing I’ve done. I have also been the creative style director for the apparel division of the NFL. It’s totally different taking what I’ve learned in Hollywood and bringing it into a new arena such as sports. I think sports has a very big future in popularity. I think athletes are about to be the new big celebrities. I think they’re bigger than movie stars. It’s a much bigger business. How many people watch the Super Bowl as compared to how many people watch the Oscars? The Super Bowl is like 10 times the numbers of the Oscars.”
“I’d also like to focus on more designing. I’d love to have my own collection. I’ve written 2 books, I’ve had TV shows, I’ve been on TV, I’ve done movies – all this is because of fashion. I think you should never limit yourself. I think nowadays you have to be open to doing lots of different things. We have a lot of variety in our lives now and I think that’s a great gift.”
Cause Celeb with Phillip Bloch:
