Every Inch of a Celebrity’s Body Is for Sale When it Comes to Red Carpets
Photo: Getty Images, art: Sandie Burke
Ever wonder why that exact shade of Revlon lipstick never looks as good when you try it on at home as when Emma Stone wore it on the red carpet? Turns out, there’s a good reason—and it has nothing to do with your non-famous face.
Let us explain.
Beauty brands regularly pay top dollar for a red carpet mention—only they don’t always require artists and stylists to actually use the product. Stone’s elusively perfect $8 lipstick? It could very well be Nars or Tom Ford or, even more likely, a mix of products expertly blended by the makeup artist. It doesn’t matter, because the next day the press release will read Revlon, which will be widely reported by the fashion and beauty press.
Last month, stylist Jessica Paster revealed at Vulture Festival’s Hollywood Power Stylist Panel that brands pay certain celebrities up to $250,000 for wearing their designs on the red carpet. Stylists get a cut, too: Paster says she’s received up to $30,000 for putting a client in a particular gown. We decided to probe a little deeper, interviewing several well-placed sources who confirmed that such deals are common—though the payout is not always as big as Paster suggests. One source said, for instance, that a big-name stylist was paid just $5,000 to put her A-list client in Armani during the Cannes Film Festival, while the celebrity in question wasn’t paid anything at all.
But clothing brands aren’t the only ones schilling out. From eyelash to earlobe, every part of a celebrity’s appearance is up for grabs, with beauty brands and jewelry companies vying for a spot on the precious real estate. Our sources said that, while not every designer pays for play, nearly every jewelry company does. “All of that is sponsored,” said the source, adding that some jewelry companies pay up to $200,000 for a celebrity to wear their designs.
Like Stone, if you’re the face of a beauty brand, your loyalty is written into your contract. What if you’re not? Then brands can (and do) strike deals directly with hairstylists and makeup artists. The brand will pay the artist up to $30,000 to use only its products (or at least say so in the press). In some cases, beauty brands will sponsor artists for an entire awards season, spending up to $100K in return for the use of their products. And the celeb will never know. “This is where it gets touchy,” said one source. “Artists don’t always want celebrities to know deals happen like this because then it’s harder to negotiate a good day rate.” The glam squad (or their agents) might demand that celebrities pay up to $10,000 a day for their services, meaning they make a small fortune for each updo.
Not all celebrities are content to sit out on the gravy train. Kim Kardashian, unsurprisingly, leveraged the publicity surrounding her wedding to Kanye West for a hefty payout from a beauty brand. According to sources, the industrious reality TV star shopped around the contract for her wedding hair and makeup, eventually partnering with a big-name beauty brand (it’s pretty obvious which one) that paid her a cool $75K. The catch: Kardashian did so long after saying, “I do;” she’d already wiped her actual wedding makeup from her face.
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