“Last Friday, stylists-to-the-stars Elizabeth Stewart and Jordan Grossman — who founded the non-profit Chic Relief during the pandemic — were packing pieces for five personal friends who lost their homes in the fires. The idea was to help them rebuild their closets after they’d lost everything. “And we thought, ‘You know what? We think we can do this for a”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
In the days since, Stewart and Grossman have launched an ambitious effort to clothe and assist hundreds of families who lost everything in the Los Angeles fires. They’re not alone. A growing network of stylists, celebrities, Hollywood executives and creatives have joined in (or are working on their own) to extend the reach of relief efforts.
Jeanne Yang (who has dressed Keanu Reeves and Taika Waititi, among others), is one of them. “Maybe I have a pair of sneakers or boots from a music video that have been sitting here for years that will become the only pair of shoes that someone has now,” she says. “Clothing may seem insignificant, but you need it to live and to feel comfortable.”
Several long-term programs are in development, with a customized, by-appointment approach to help buffer the shock and overwhelm that many are experiencing. Many stylists, including Yang, are giving clothing or volunteering to support a large relief project on Civic Center Drive started by Ashlee Margolis, founder of brand-building business The A List. In the mix are fashion products and toiletries from over 100 brands. The center plans to stay open for at least five months and is currently partnering with the Los Angeles Unified School District Education Foundation to assist displaced families and employees.
“Jennifer Lopez was the first celebrity to reach out and she has sent us the most insane quantities of fashion donations; more are coming today,” says Margolis. Mark and Katie Duplass and Lucy Hale are among the volunteers.
“I think stylists sprang to action because we have the most access to clothes,” says Stewart, whose clients include Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis and Amanda Seyfried. “We have a big closet that we work with, plus our personal closets, so we’re in a unique position to help and we’re all talking to each other. It’s not about, ‘Oh, these families need socks and underwear to get through the next two weeks.’ We wanted to start their permanent wardrobe replacement and lift their spirits. The criteria is, ‘Would I give this to my best friend?’ So that’s how it started.”
Elizabeth Stewart with stylist Nina Corbett. Courtesy of A Frame Agency
After a detailed Chic Relief Google sign-up sheet for people in need of aid was extended to friends of friends, such as “teachers and single moms in Pasadena and Altadena, who were left with nothing,” says Stewart, the organization is now assisting 220 families. On Friday, Jan. 17, these families will be able to collect customized goods, packed in suitcases donated by Ricardo, Herschel and BÉIS. Tory Burch, Hugo Boss and Cult Gaia are a few of the brands that responded to a call for product donations. While this week’s event is at capacity, the team will continue to compile and deliver care packages, while coordinating with other area nonprofits to acquire and route needed items.
Stylists joining the Chic Relief effort include Wendi & Nicole (Miles Teller, Seth Rogen, Nicholas Hoult) who donated men’s suiting; Jamie Mizrahi (Adele, Mikey Madison, Jennifer Lawrence) who pulled from her personal stock; and Lauren Jeworski (film editor Jennifer Lame, Nina Dobrev) who partnered with friends in Santa Barbara to purchase an array of baby and children’s clothes. Chris Horan (Charli XCX, Christina Aguilera) and Tabitha Sanchez (Olivia Holt, Hannah Berner) have been volunteering.
Innovative Artists VP Maury Di Mauro (Seyfried’s brand endorsement agent) personally bought all the bins used to sort items and has been distributing a sign-up link to purchase wish list items on Amazon that families need. Wishlab talent manager Troy Nankin has sent “fabulous suits from his personal closet,” says Stewart, while photographer Robert Trachtenberg visited a mall in Palm Springs with his husband to buy items for the cause.
“I have a friend who went to a mall with her husband and they just started crying. They couldn’t handle it and didn’t even know where to begin,” says Stewart. Grossman chimes in: “A lawyer in the Palisades needed suits, because she lost everything and she’s in court every day, so she didn’t have time to get anything.”
Ilaria Urbinati (whose clients include Dwayne Johnson, Barry Keoghan, Ryan Reynolds, Rami Malek, Donald Glover and Chris Evans, as well as Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, who lost their Palisades home in the fires) likewise started by emptying her own closet and continuing to give in response to DMs on Instagram. She claims to have helped over 60 families to date, distributing over 200 pairs of men’s shoes, plus racks and trunks of clothing.
“Someone I know lost her home; it was her first home with everything she owns in there, and she doesn’t have money like some other bigger superstar-type actors,” Urbinati tells THR. “So I gave her clothes, furniture, shoes, bags, makeup, beauty products, everything. We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help at least one person.”
Urbinati was particularly touched when she reached out to John Varvatos about a man with little means who was a fan of the brand and had lost everything. The company immediately offered him a complimentary shopping spree at their store. “He cried three times out of joy!’ she says, adding that she has compiled a “fire resources” list on her Instagram Highlights. “Another guy needed a suit for work, so we got him three. Someone needed casual clothes, so we sent jeans, T-shirts and sneakers.”
Expanding Urbinati’s project are her friends, L.A.-based fashion fine art photographers Mario Kroes and Shaye Babb, whose clients include Vogue and LVMH. “Ilaria gave me a lot of clothes, so that’s really how it started; I don’t think people want to sift through piles of clothing when they’ve lost everything, so we want to service them,” says Kroes, who initially helped parents of his best friend Travis, who lost their home of 40 years in Altadena. Money raised through “Support Shaye & Mario’s Hand-Delivered Relief Efforts” GoFundMe supports basics like masks, water, fire extinguishers, grocery gift cards and IKEA bags to package items for families, including fashion donations from people such as stylist Sandra Amador (Lady Gaga, Sigourney Weaver). Lisa Rinna, Veronica Dash, and directors Andrew Sandler and Jason Bergh are among the volunteers.
Yang and Jessica Paster (Miranda Kerr, Emily Blunt) reveal that they are on a stylists’ text thread that includes Urbinati and the duo Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn (Jennifer Lopez, Kerry Washington, Gwen Stefani). The group pools information to spread the giving.
“We’re all giving whatever we can give to whoever we can give it to,” says Paster.
Yang sees the solidarity of the fashion community as a silver lining to the widespread disaster: “I’m overwhelmed by people immediately getting together and wanting to help,” she says. “Not only stylists, but the outpouring of designers, who aren’t getting any press out of this, is unbelievable. So I feel an incredible sense of hope.”
Yet the road isn’t easy. Yang recalls: “It was so hard to see my friend Chris Tragos show up at my house in pajamas he’d been wearing for three days with a pair of socks he received free from Alo, covered in blood, because he was in his father’s shoes that were two sizes too small. He was shell-shocked, so he didn’t even realize it. We got his feet washed and bandaged. His wife’s mother lost her house, as well. She’s a 75-year-old lawyer and was at her office, so she literally had nothing. I put together packages of clothing. Shortly after, he sent me a text, saying, ‘Things are just things — but when you lose all the pieces that you like to wear, it rips a little something away from your identity.’ I know it may seem silly or petty, but clothing has memories. Your clothing is part of who you are.”
For brand donations to Chic Relief, email donateclothingLA@gmail.com; make monetary contributions on the site or emailhelp@chic-relief.com. To help with the A List’s efforts, contact firerelief@thealist.us