During awards seasons, fashion know-it-alls debate the best and worst fashions of the night. Most think the fashion disasters of the night are accidents and unforeseen. But have you ever really wondered why a celebrity – who has access to stylists and fashion experts - would make such huge fashion mistakes?
Any publicity is good publicity
So the saying goes in the world of celebrity. Every move a celebrity makes is precisely calculated by PR pros to keep their client in the headlines. Their objective is to keep the public talking about them, and they view any kind of exposure is as good exposure. Because exposure is what gets celebrities the big money.
Accident or strategy?
Any good PR pro will tell you to always go back to your strategy. Unfortunately, in the celebrity world, it isn’t always a good strategy – i.e. putting your client in a hideous outfit on the biggest night of the celebrity year. But it definitely gets results. I mean looking like a nut job in a swan outfit is a fast and easy way to make headlines. And people are still talking about that outfit today. Thank goodness the rest of the business world doesn’t follow the rules of the celebrity world.
The Point
Celebrities (most of the time) don’t do things on a whim, and their fashion choices aren’t accidents. Their publicists always go back to the objective (get exposure) and strategy (hideous outfit + photo-op) - even though they aren’t always a good idea. So here’s another Fashion PRinciple: Always go back to objectives and strategies - it’s how you get results even in La-La land.
Creative topic, Katelyn. And the sad part is, you’re right. The stunts pulled on the red carpet never cease to amaze me. I appreciate the spin you took to incorporate PR.
Your comments are timely…Mr. Blackwell (of Worst-Dressed List fame) passed away recently
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/fashion/21blackwell.html
Thanks, Brittany. It’s unfortunate that celebrities feel they have to pull these kinds of stunts to get noticed. But in today’s society it’s all about the look at me! look at me! and no one notices the things that really matter. Fashion is a great tool and in the right circumstances can really boost your image, but like all good things, going too over the top can end in distaster.
Great post, Katelyn! The topic is very appropriate with this excessive obsession with fashion in the media lately. I don’t know why some of these celebs think any exposure is good exposure?! A real fashionisa would get the look right and get the good publicity
Love the post! Being a fashion student at Kent State University it caught my attention. You are right about celebraties and fashion. They will wear whatever they want just to get noticed, no matter how hideous it looks. Its kinda pathetic! Celebraties influence most people in today’s society too which sucks because some people may feel these hideous outifts are “in”. I believe fashion makes someone the person that they are. Apparently celebraties do not care about their image they show to the rest of the world. Someone who truly cares about fashion and their appearance would want the best look to receive the best publicity!