Rebecca Grice is the humorous girl’s stylist

Of all of the locations an individual may really feel at dwelling in her garments, the Academy Awards present doesn’t instantly come to thoughts. The Oscars are the top of celeb theater, with attendees buffed to superhuman ranges of glamour and sheathed in couture robes.

However Maya Rudolph wasn’t dressed like most attendees on the awards present in 2018. In a sea of sequins and flowing trains, the actress and “Saturday Night time Stay” alumna stood out in a vibrant crimson Valentino turtleneck jumpsuit with vast legs and unfastened sleeves that tapered on the wrist, her hair parted down the center and slicked right into a low bun, with a pair of dangly Irene Neuwirth earrings framing her face. She appeared daring and glamorous, but additionally comfy.

It was, Rudolph stated, the primary time she felt like herself on the crimson carpet. Not coincidentally, it additionally was her first time working with stylist Rebecca Grice, who has dressed her for public appearances ever since.

“The stuff we join on is often the stuff that we’re each sort of wincing at with one eye, going, ‘That’s sick,’” Rudolph stated in a cellphone interview. Phrases like “twisted” and “witchy” additionally have a tendency to come back up of their periods. They go for seems to be which have a wink to them — outfits that, Rudolph stated, are “not sometimes what you count on to see, and but so extremely stunning.”

For the higher a part of a decade, Grice, 39, has been cultivating a clientele that leans noticeably towards ladies who, like Rudolph, are professionally humorous. Her roster contains a number of “SNL” gamers previous and current — Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer — in addition to the Haim sisters Este, Danielle and Alana (greatest recognized for his or her music but additionally notably hilarious). Every has a definite fashion, however Grice, throughout her physique of labor, appears inclined to make an announcement in essentially the most low-key method potential, a welcome retreat, maybe, from the wigs, goofy costumes and stage make-up of a sketch comedian’s work life.

“Rebecca has a relaxed high quality to all her styling,” Bryant stated. “There’s sort of a ‘What’s the large deal?’ feeling about all of her outfits, even when it’s what’s on paper sort of a frilly gown.”

Since she began working with Grice, Bryant typically wears what may very well be described as frilly attire, notably ones by Simone Rocha, an Irish designer whose voluminous, ruffled silhouettes evoke a subversive sort of femininity. A floaty pink gown with cartoon-princess sleeves and a dainty floral sample is a head-turning look, nevertheless it’s additionally the sort of gown that accommodates reclining on Seth Meyers’ sofa (or desk). Bryant values a way of normalcy in dressing for appearances. “I prefer to really feel like I’m one step away from my on a regular basis self,” she stated.

Grice doesn’t have a tidy philosophy about styling professionally humorous ladies. However talking over Zoom in January from her dwelling in Los Angeles, she famous one tenet: “Consolation is vital, and luxury is confidence.”

Like so many, Grice had grow to be accustomed to conducting enterprise by video. That week, she had carried out a FaceTime becoming with Bryant for “Late Night time With Seth Meyers” (ensuing within the aforementioned floaty pink gown); dropped off some choices for Rudolph, who was doing a digital press day for the animated film “Luca,” then mentioned them remotely; and held an in-person becoming with Alana Haim to determine her search for Pharrell Williams’ podcast, which was filmed along with being recorded on audio. (Grice stated that she and Haim reside close to one another and are in the identical “bubble.”)

Grice a lot prefers to be in the identical room as her shoppers: Good stylists know how you can learn a shopper’s vitality and vibe, intuiting when to push them towards a extra daring look and when to ease off, and it’s simpler to do in particular person.

However having the ability to adapt to new circumstances can also be a prerequisite of the career, she stated. “You simply have to regulate, or else you’ll drive your self nuts,” Grice stated. “It’s by no means sufficient time, it’s by no means sufficient cash, there’s by no means sufficient assist.” When the pandemic slowed down her workload and scrambled her schedule, she rolled with it.

Amongst her shoppers, she is thought for having a grounded, unflappable demeanor and for being, as Bayer put it, “extraordinarily cool.” (Not in a method that makes you’re feeling intimidated, she added, however in a method that makes you need to emulate her.) However even cool individuals have their cool individuals: Throughout one Zoom name, Grice despatched me some temper boards she had created for a shopper — she declined to provide a reputation — that featured archival pictures of Lauren Hutton in breezy, low-cut blouses and Kate Moss in undone suiting.

“Kate Moss is the end-all, be-all reference; she’s simply the good,” Grice stated. “After which Lauren Hutton simply smoking a cig in a printed shirt and a leather-based jacket is fairly cool.”

The capability to stay calm by means of style hiccups and world lockdowns could also be innate for Grice, nevertheless it has additionally been honed over a few years within the style trade. After graduating from Elon College in North Carolina, Grice moved to New York and landed at InStyle journal, the place she struggled to churn out 25-word blurbs on issues like day-to-night outfit transitions however realized what she considers foundational skilled expertise: hitting deadlines, speaking with PR individuals at labels and managing editors’ schedules.

She ultimately left magazines and started to work for stylist Lori Goldstein. “I really feel like I’m classically skilled by one of many greats,” Grice stated. Below Goldstein, she realized how you can grind by means of grueling picture shoots and labored with Steven Meisel, Mario Sorrenti, and Inez and Vinoodh.

Grice’s introduction to celeb styling got here by means of Mel Ottenberg, with whom Grice linked after leaving Goldstein’s workforce and who had not too long ago began working with Rihanna. (He’s now the editor-in-chief of Interview journal.)

“Working for Mel uncovered me to music movies, to crimson carpets, to advert campaigns,” Grice stated. It additionally led to a solo gig styling Haim, then an rising band.

Grice’s first shoot with Haim in 2013 was meant to supply the duvet artwork of their debut album, “Days Are Gone.” Although they didn’t wind up utilizing any of the photographs, the connection caught. “I simply actually, actually genuinely vibe with them on a deep degree,” Grice stated.

The Haim sisters are central figures in Grice’s world. They linked her with Bayer, whom they befriended after they have been the musical company on “SNL,” and Bayer in flip recommended Grice to Bryant.

Rudolph met Grice in 2017, whereas her associate, Paul Thomas Anderson, was directing a brief movie for Haim; he wrote the lead function in his most up-to-date movie, “Licorice Pizza,” for Alana. Maya Erskine, of the painfully reasonable middle-school comedy “PEN15,” additionally linked with Grice by means of the Haim sisters. They went to the identical highschool in Los Angeles.

Haim’s seems to be are inclined to have a unfastened ease that comes off as each very Californian — they grew up within the San Fernando Valley — and really rock ’n’ roll. In addition they present a eager appreciation for style. For his or her efficiency on the Grammys in 2021, Grice pulled classic Prada and Helmut Lang seems to be. Danielle Haim particularly is a strolling encyclopedia of style references and leads lots of the band’s artistic choices, Grice famous. “In one other life she would — or nonetheless will be — an incredible artwork director or artistic director,” she stated.

In public appearances, the sisters categorical their individuality whereas dressing cohesively, typically in the identical model or with rhyming textures and colour palettes. “She has an unimaginable eye for understanding what matches in our world,” they wrote of Grice in a joint electronic mail. “We’re a band with three individuals with three totally different types and he or she someway matches us three puzzle items collectively to make one thing nice.”

When Alana Haim began her press tour for “Licorice Pizza,” her debut movie, Grice averted seems to be that appeared typical of a bright-eyed ingénue. “Sporting robes and attire is new for me, however we each wished to guarantee that I used to be nonetheless me, simply with a gown prepare,” Haim wrote in an electronic mail.

They went for Louis Vuitton trousers beneath a clear skirt; draped, long-sleeve Loewe; a cutout lime inexperienced and grey ensemble by Nina Ricci; and, for “The Tonight Present With Jimmy Fallon,” a dishevelled camel swimsuit from the Row with a turtleneck beneath. That final look, which Grice stated reminded her of Katharine Hepburn, appeared notably emblematic of the stylist’s strategy: comfy, cool and designed primarily for the lady carrying it.

“I don’t know if everybody understood it,” Grice stated. “However I cherished it.”

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