Dress Code

Image credit: Kidman: Frank Trapper/Corbis Sygma

A-DIOR-ATION Self-styling Kidman (in 1997) frequently collaborates with designer Galliano

So what exactly does a stylist do? Bloch sees himself as the producer of an awards night image. ''We did Lauren Holly for the 1997 Oscars and she wore this Valentino dress with flowers on it, and my whole thing was she should look like the White Rock nymphet,'' he recalls. ''It's always a team effort between the celebrities, the hair and makeup, the designers, and myself -- anybody that thinks it's not, that's where they go wrong. They do things like, 'Darling, it's gotta be Gucci,' as opposed to 'Darling, it's gotta be the White Rock nymphet.'''

Whatever the fashion emergency, with scores of aspiring dressers competing for the same pool of hot celebs, customer service is key. Says Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig, whose clients include the Backstreet Boys and Jada Pinkett Smith: ''The day of the Oscars the celebrity needs to be catered to. Everything from making sure everything's buttoned right, to de-linting them, to cutting seams if they ate too much. The stylist really needs to be there to buckle their shoe.'' And if that service happens to involve some crafty maneuvering, stylists say it comes with the sartorial territory.

And what about avoiding -- quelle horreur! -- two stars showing up to a soiree in the same frock? Shouldn't happen, says Rosenzweig, because the designers' ''PR people -- they will make sure, come hell or high water, that nobody else could possibly be in that outfit.'' However, she adds, ''When you're dressing someone for awards, never put them in anything you buy in a store because you run the risk of someone showing up in it.'' But double vision still happens, as it did with Brenda Blethyn and Lisa Nicole Carson, who appeared at the Globes in the same pastel Escada gown. ''Maybe they both bought it retail because neither are a sample size exactly,'' muses Boucher.

Catty clothing catfights aside, stylists' duties involve a lot more than shopping. ''A celebrity really has to feel good about what they're wearing, otherwise they won't wear it well,'' says Rosenzweig, who dressed Toni Collette for last year's Oscars. ''Everybody has insecurities about their body -- and anybody who says they don't is lying.'' Stylists have their own insecurities too. ''My nightmare would be when a client is on the worst dressed list,'' says Rosenzweig. ''I have nightmares about that day, if it ever comes.'' (Additional reporting by Tricia Johnson)

Read All About Oscar 2001 for EW.com's comprehensive Academy Awards coverage.

Or see photos from the nominated movies at People.com