Stylists toil to give Vietnam A-list celebs their gloss

Kye Nguyen, a stylist for big Vietnamese celebrities like singer Ho Ngoc Ha, actress Nha Phuong and Miss Vietnam Do My Linh says it takes him and his team three full days to complete all the steps including the smallest details for the stars to look their best on the red carpet.

The styling process for a celeb is not as simple as people might think, he says.

“Styling is not just picking an outfit and putting it on clients. There has to be a discussion and agreement between the stylist and the celeb. Based on that, I will give a suitable direction for what to wear for the event.”

In particular, the stylist needs to know what kind of event the client is going to and who else will be there before choosing an outfit appropriate for the occasion that still stands out. Once the choice is made, Nguyen gets his team to make a photo report, looking for the latest and unworn designs by directly visiting stores. This takes about half a day.

Stylist Kye Nguyen. Photo courtesy by Kye Nguyen

“I don’t just give one single outfit to a client. I give them the best options to choose from. That’s why they choose me.”

Typically, Nguyen gives three to five options that he thinks are the best and discusses them with the celebs. It usually takes them about half a day to make up their mind. After that, the team will spend two hours picking up the outfit from the specified store.

The celebs will then try the outfit on and if it doesn’t fit, the team will have to fix it. If time is ticking, another outfit will be chosen. The team takes three to five hours to fix an outfit.

At the same time, another staff member will spend two to three hours finding a layout for makeup, hairdressing, nails and accessories. After Nguyen approves and confirms the layout with the client, it will take two hours for the makeup and three hours to get the nails done.

The last step is dry cleaning the outfit after the event and returning it to the store, which can take three to four hours.

“A poor result to me is an unspoken pain; so, to reduce the pain, I have to refuse clients if there’s not enough preparation time. The money cannot compare to the happiness of being recognized for doing a good job.”