Time's Up black dress movement put Hollywood stylists in 'panic mode'

Hollywood took a stand against the culture of sexual harassment and abuse in the entertainment industry this winter by wearing all black outfits on the red carpet.

At the Baftas and Golden Globes stars including Meryl Streep and Jessica Chastain wore black to show their allegiance with the Time's Up campaign – which is raising millions of dollars for legal aid for victims of sexual assault.

Now some of the most high-profile stylists in Hollywood have given an insider's view on the last-minute changes made to outfits that had been several months in the planning, describing the "pressure" the campaign put them under.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Ava DuVernay's stylist Jason Bolden, Allison Janney's stylist Tara Swennen and Jeanne Yang and Ilaria Urbinati, who dressed Armie Hammer, explained the unfolding crisis as Time's Up changed the award season dress code at the last minute.

"We were all in panic mode", said Swennan, while Yang admitted: "We were all on text chains". Bolden – who represented the situation by saying: "More like: could you get another black dress?" – added that the frenzy forced collaboration between the rival stylists: "It was the first time everyone banded together."

A bespoke tuxedo that Urbinati had made for one of her clients at the Baftas had to be abandoned after the new dress code came in, while Janney was "very fearful" about the "little white beading" on the Mario Dice dress she wore – and won Best Actress in – to the Golden Globes. 

The stylists also revealed the extent of confusion that Hollywood was in over the Golden Globes' unspecified dress code. "I had publicists calling me, 'Are the men wearing black? Do you have to wear a black tux shirt?'", said Urbinati.

By the sounds of things, though, such antics are all part of a stylist's daily grind. Bolden, for instance, had just two days to style Taranji P Henson after she was invited at the last minute to the Oscars. Swennan, meanwhile, spent seven years campaigning for Lanvin – a brand which usually targets women over 30 – to dress Kristen Stewart, only for the young Twilight star to turn down the French designer once she had become old enough for them to accept her. 

Yang believes the behind-the-scenes wrangling could easily inspire its own TV series: "It's interesting there's never been a styling competition reality show because 90 per cent of what we deal with are external factors – the manager, agent, boyfriend or designer."