(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Style icon Marlin Monore, once said, 'Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.' Shoes might not be your thing but bags might be or blazers or hats or accessories or ball gowns. How we dress says something about how we see ourselves and how we want the world to see us. Whether we like it or not, we are often judged by how we dress and if we are being honest, we can't help but judge others on what they are wearing. Especially celebrities. We want to know their secrets to looking chic, modern and put together effortlessly. Well, most of the time we probably shouldn't be asking the celebrities, we should be asking their stylists.
Behind every well-dressed celebrity is the brilliant and creative eye of a seasoned stylist. One of the most successful of those is Anita Patrickson who landed in Dubai over the weekend as an invited guest speaker at Fashion Forward (FFWD) to reveal the secrets she's learnt from dressing some of the most famous women in the world.
"There are a lot of secrets - that's one of the secrets,' Anita revealed with a smile to a hall full of eager designers, stylists and fashion enthusiasts.
Originally raised in South Africa and educated in London, Anita now has two offices, one in Los Angeles and the other in New York, from which she dresses some of the youngest and hottest celebrities on the red carpet.
Chrissy Teigen, Portia de rossi, Ellen DeGeneres, Michelle Rodriguez, Julianne Hough, Rachel Bilson, Nina Dobrev - the glittery list doesn't seem to end for Anita.
There is a common misconception out there that dealing with clothes and fashion, beauty and glamour, being up close and personal with celebrities and stars means that you have to maintain some kind of attitude. Air kisses, high heels and being outlandishly out of touch with reality is not what Anita is about. After talking individually to fashion fans and budding young designers she dedicated her time to sit down with City Times to discuss why fashion is important, looking at the bigger picture and who she would love to style in the future.
The importance of platforms like FFWD . . .
...Why I started this is because I loved learning about new brands and learning about new designers.
It's one of those funny things - the further along you get in your career, you stop doing the things you love the most. You get bogged down with running a business and all the things that go along with that.
I feel like these two days (at FFWD) I get to play and do what I started doing in the beginning which I love, discovering new talent and putting my feelers out there and exploring everything Dubai has to offer and FFWD.
Fashion is . . .
...about being creative, it's about having fun, it's about exploring. I think it's also about being brave. I've definitely had moments where I feel like I've played it very safe.
We all get into those spaces where you do what you know and you don't really push the boundaries either because you're too busy or you've taken on too much or you're afraid of being on the worst dressed list or whatever it might be. I think that's when you lose the point of what we are doing.
It's OK when you make a mistake and it's OK to do something that somebody else might not like which probably means that somebody else might absolutely love it. I think that's what fashion is about. Having fun and feeling like you're expressing and telling a story through clothes.
Labels such as worst and best dressed mean . . .
...really nothing. Quite honestly. I have one client who loves being on the worst dressed list in the tabloid magazines because she's always like, 'well then I'm going to be best dressed in Vogue!' And nine out of ten times that's exactly right.
It's art, it's subjective. I think it's really about a different eye and everybody has a different aesthetic and obviously there is good taste and bad taste but within the realm of good taste, it's a very varied scale.
Developing your own style
... just find what you're comfortable with. Like trying to step away from all the trends; the trends are going to come organically with whatever you buy - that's already infused into that. I think just little things like, I don't like wearing heels, I'm not good in them, so you know what? Take them out of my wardrobe. It makes me miserable, so I've stopped trying to wear them. So it's about finding things that work in your lifestyle and within the way you live.
Know yourself
... yes, knowing yourself is important and I think it's about feeling like the best version of yourself in that.
Dressing for your body type as well. I think a lot of girls make that mistake. Girls think they are a size two but they are a size six and it makes them look bigger.
Dress for your size, own your body, own your look, have confidence. At the end of the day when you walk out of the door, go and enjoy the day. Who cares what you're wearing?
Clothes are important because . . .
...they give you the confidence. I know some girls who will walk out of the door and feel fabulous and ask a guy out on a date who then becomes her husband. That's an extreme example.
But if you're confident and you feel good, you're going to be happier and kinder and nicer. You might get that job, you might have the confidence to do something that you otherwise wouldn't have.
People do judge you within the first few seconds of meeting you just based on your clothes, wrongly or rightly, it's just a reality. So why not put your best foot forward and give yourself that extra boost if you can?
Craziest Red Carpet Experience:
I had sewn somebody up once in dental floss, in the car outside the Oscar red carpet. So that was an experience. You have to think on your feet, you have to be chilled, you have to be calm, it's clothes. It's fun, we are here to have a good time, we get to play dress up everyday, I mean how lucky are we? I mean it's not rocket science we aren't curing cancer, but you know it is very important, but it's good to have a little perspective.
Anita's big break with Emma watson
Working with Emma Watson on Harry Potter. That was my first big press tour. It was really random how it all happened. I had done a very weird, simple campaign and I was just starting out and the make up artist from that campaign put my name in the ring with someone at Warner Brothers who then called me and asked would I like to work with Emma on Harry Potter? And it was as simple as that.
Celebrities Anita would love to get her stylist hands on:
Marion Cotillard. I love her. I've never worked with her. Marion doesn't need anything from me, so I'd just keep doing whatever she's doing. I think it's just fun. It's surprising, sometimes I'll take on a new client and it will be nothing like what I expected. Sometimes you want to work with someone that you feel should have a change of direction like Britney Spears. I feel like there are so many cool things I could do there. So sometimes it's just about trying to do something a bit different.
Anita's favourite designers
I love what Peter Dundas has done at Cavalli. I think that the new collection is pretty stunning.
Ungaro also. I just went to the show and it was beautiful. That was very cool to see.
The term style icon is a very loaded one. Who would you give that to?
Diane Kruger because she kind of dresses herself. She doesn't use a stylist. I would say that she's pretty up there. She really has a vision and she really just wears what she wants to wear. I was actually in a showroom the other day pulling some jewellery for a client and she was in there and she was very specific, 'I'm looking for a vintage looking ruby earring with like a feather' and I was like 'wow!' (laughs). She knows exactly what she wants.
Anita's dress of the moment
I think the one dress that's making headlines is the Gucci collection with all the birds and all the ruffles and the bows. I feel that's one of the iconic looks of this last season. It's so recognisable, it's so different, it's so unique. And I think that's going to be one of the looks that we take away from the season.
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