Agents of Change
In the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards presentation, the Celestine Agency in Santa Monica, Calif., was abuzz with busy people getting ready for the event. With a stable of hairstylists, makeup artists and wardrobe consultants, the agency has its hands full helping Hollywood’s celebrities look their best at the Oscar ceremony.
But the buzz didn’t start with the Academy Awards.
The frenzy for stylists commenced in January with the Golden Globe Awards and will peak when those shiny statuettes are handed out at the Academy Awards event in Hollywood.
“Those who are nominated for the Golden Globes follow the trail to the various awards presentations, such as the Screen Actors Guild, to the Oscars,” said Chip Adams, one of Celestine’s four agents. “If you can hop on board during the Golden Globes, then you’re working through the Academy Awards. It’s a package deal.”
Celestine is one of the top agencies in town, representing some of the city’s best hair, makeup and wardrobe stylists, who earn anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 a day.
In a business and town where image is everything, Celestine can be called on to find a hairstylist to fix Cameron Diaz’s tresses for the Academy Awards, as it did last year. Or to find a makeup artist who can make Julie Taymor, nominated for an Academy Award for best director for “Frida,” look stunning at the ceremony.
Celestine, like its rival, the Cloutier Agency, has been around since the 1980s. It was founded by Angelika Schubert, an Austrian clothing designer, boutique owner and model.
Schubert studied at the Hetzendorf Art and Fashion School in Vienna.
After marrying a fellow Austrian in the 1970s, she left her native country to explore Mexico, Guatemala and Southern California with her new husband. The travels were great. The marriage wasn’t.
“After our travels, I decided when we came back to Los Angeles that the marriage, which was two months old, wasn’t that good,” Schubert said from her New York office, where she has launched another agency called Arthouse Management. “But I really liked being in Los Angeles. I really liked the climate. It was intriguing, the possibilities and opportunities you have here, because Austria is so small and you can only do so much.”
So Schubert decided to stay. To make money, she started doing free-lance clothing design. Then she launched her own clothing line called Angelika Schubert Co., which she put out five times a year and sold to stores such as Macy’s and Maxfields.
It was successful. But when it came time to grow the line, Schubert got cold feet. “I didn’t want to get into financial trouble,” she said.
So, she made another career move. Linda Tollemache, who ran the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency in Los Angeles, convinced her Austrian friend to become a makeup and hair stylist. Schubert had done her own styling as a model in Europe.
Schubert put together a portfolio and took it to various agencies, many of which criticized it for being too European.
At the Pre-Production West Agency, Chantal Cloutier suggested Schubert show her portfolio to French photographer Dominick Guillemot.
Guillemot, who specialized in album covers, had a German client in town who loved the portfolio. Schubert got her first break.
Eventually Schubert went to work for Pre-Production West, which Cloutier later bought and changed to the Cloutier Agency, located in Santa Monica, Calif.
Schubert worked with Cloutier until 1986, when she decided to form her own agency.
“I was getting older and didn’t want to be struggling, trying to get bookings as a stylist,” she said. “I wanted to start an agency while I was still hot.”
Those first days were lean. Schubert continued working as a stylist while trying to generate business.
David Cox, a hairstylist who has been with Celestine almost since its inception, recalls those early days.
“When I started with her, we were working out of Angelika’s house in Laurel Canyon,” Cox remembered. “Over the years, the agency has grown to be one of the top agencies in town. But even though they have grown and have offices in Seattle and New York, they have kept that feeling of being a small agency.”
