NEWSOK! Interview: Robert Verdi
Jan. 9 2008, Published 8:00 a.m. ET
Celebrity stylist Robert Verdi is telling Mr. Blackwell that there's a new fashion critic in town. The NYC-based stylist has compiled his own list of fashionable ladies on what he calls the Fabulist, some of which like Posh and Fergie have been called out by Blackwell for being fashionably challenged. But, Verdi notes that it's only because he's out of touch with the way women look at fashion today.
He told OK!, "My whole idea was that somebody needed to step up and realize that fashion isn’t as polished as it was in his heyday. A lot of the people he discriminates against are great fashion role models for today's woman."
Compiling it down from a list of 84, Verdi picked the top 15 that he felt had that certain "it" factor. They were, as he says, evolvers and risk-takers. "I love anyone that recognizes that fashion and beauty are mutable forces. These women are changing fairly regularly. That's just a part of being in the public eye."
So just who are Robert's evolvers? They include the Olsen twins who Robert said, "are turned out every time."
Eva Longoria is also on there. He said she made the cut because "she loves fashion. And that’s why she’s great because she's still excited by it."
And what about the newcomers? Well, Gossip Girl's Blake Lively seems to have a bright fashion future. "I love her and how she's bringing in a girl who's dressed up who doesn't show up disheveled. She’s thinking about it." Also making the list are fashion icons like Iman and Jennifer Lopez as well as Hollywood legend Helen Mirren.
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But really a fashion icon is someone who puts thought into their look. It's someone who always consistently looks right for whatever it is she's doing. "Fashion is a language that speaks to people."
And Verdi was willing to weigh in on bewildered pop star Britney's fashion sense. It really boils down to his philosophy about dressing: the way you look speaks volumes about the way people see you emotionally. "Britney is spiraling out of control. The chipped nail polish and how she presents herself, what she says without opening her mouth is 'I don’t care.' If you’re in the public eye you have to respect the people who adore you."
He continues, "The metaphor I like is, if you go to a wedding are you gonna show up like a crackhead or are you going to get dressed, and that’s a metaphor for how you live in the world. What are you going to say? And are you gonna say I don’t give or are you gonna say thank you. That’s why visual images matter."
By Jocelyn Vena
