Editor’s Note: CNN’s Jacque Wilson is in Los Angeles for the first time to cover the Academy Awards. Follow her blog updates from the event Sunday right here at CNN.com/marquee.
No girl can turn down jewelry. So when accessory style expert Michael O’Connor invited me to observe several of his Oscar appointments, I jumped at the chance - if for nothing else than to be in a room with $30 million worth of “ooooh.”
O’Connor is a liaison of sorts between celebrity stylists and accessory designers. He gathers jewels he thinks his clients will like so that the stylists don’t have to run to a bunch of different designers. In return, they take $34,000 watches off his hands.
In this economy the celebrities are cutting back, O’Connor said. He expects red-carpet walkers to veer away from bling and head toward classic pieces that "can stand the test of time."
That, of course, means platinum.
For fabric, O’Connor sees less red, more black, white and dark blues. But simple colors don’t mean the process is any easier. Stylists take weeks putting together the perfect outfit for their client. The neckline affects the hairdo, which affects the necklace, which affects the earrings, which affect, again, the hairdo. And then when the celebrity changes his or her mind the day before the event, O’Connor gets a call at midnight.
"Celebrities are just like you and I," he told me. "They wake up in the morning and say, 'what was I thinking when I bought this outfit? It makes my butt look fat.' Or gives me no chest, or height or whatever."
Funny, I say that about every outfit I wear.
And just when I was about to head out the door, my head spinning from the sparkle, in walked the stylist for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. She knew what she wanted and it didn’t include anything that dangled, had rubies or was too white-diamond. "Angie," she said, wouldn’t/couldn’t/shouldn’t wear that.
Thousand-dollar baubles aside, I’m still shocked that I was in a room with someone who could call Angelina Jolie "Angie." Can the Oscars on Sunday really top that?
- Jacque Wilson, CNN.com Associate Producer