Clothes Horse

A Detroit-born fashion consultant pulls together the outfits for a TV pilot.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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eston was to be Michele We-

instock's stage name. In-
stead, it has turned into her
backstage name.
When the former Detroi-
ter embarked on a perfor-
mance career that took her
to repertory theaters during the early 1980s,
she learned that Actors Equity Association
listed another Michelle Weinstock, so she
changed her surname.
Soon after moving to New York eight years
ago, the then-actress landed temporary work
with a sportswear designer, realized the world
of high fashion really suited her and changed
her profession.
Now a fashion consultant, Ms. Weston is

Michelle Weston: Dress for success.

laboring behind the scenes, selecting the out-
fits worn by the cast of "On Seventh Avenue,"
a 20th Century Fox pilot about the garment
industry.
"My job is to pull the looks together for some
of the principals and also deal with two fash-
ion shows that are in the program, one at the
beginning and another at the end of the show,"
said Ms. Weston, who does other consulting
work such as planning the styles for adver-
tising campaigns and magazine photo shoots.
"I have to read the script, talk about my vi-
sion with the actors and get feedback from
them. I have to find looks consistent with the
characters."
Ms. Weston's foray into fashion came with
her training in costume design, early on at In-
terlochen and later as an art history/theater
arts student at Western Michigan Universi-
ty.
"I fell in love with drama, and I fell in love
with costume design," she said.
Her double interest motivated her to work
as either a costume designer or design shop
assistant for various stage companies — in
Michigan at both the Laura V. Shaw and
Black Box Arena theaters, in Wisconsin at
the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, in Mass-
achusetts at the Williamstown Theatre Fes-
tival and in England at the Drama Studio.
Settled in New York in 1987 and on a
three-day stint as a receptionist for Perry El-
lis Sportswear, Ms. Weston volunteered to
help with one of the designer's fashion shows
and was quickly hired as an executive-team
design assistant.
To her, outfitting models for a runway pa-
rade of haute couture is pretty much the same
as getting a cast dressed appropriately for
the stage.
"I've always loved clothes, and I've always
loved shopping," said the 33-year-old con-
sultant. "Clothing for fashion daywear is just
a development of costume. When I'm plan-
ning for a particular show, I do research, and
my research for On Seventh Avenue' has de-
pended on what I previewed for the season."
Ms. Weston is carrying out her first TV re-
sponsibilities by also building on a series of
employment experiences as an executive de-
sign assistant at Anne Klein & Co., assistant
department manager at Bloomingdale's and
senior accessories editor and senior market
editor at Mademoiselle, where she worked
for nearly four years.
By establishing her reputation through
professional contacts, she was tapped for TV.
"Because of the nature of `On Seventh Av-
enue,' I was able to do what I did as a fash-
ion editor, and that is to access designers on
a public-relations level," explained Ms. We-
ston, who dresses the cast with outfits and
accessories that are bought, borrowed or cus-
tom-made.
"Normally I buy things wholesale or
through a studio service, which all the de-

partment stores have. I had to buy clothing
for one actress simply because she is a size
2; I had wanted to put her in outfits borrowed
from designers, but samples I borrow from
the designers are size 6 or 8, and nothing
would fit.
Besides using items from big-name de-
signers, such as Calvin Klein and Donna
Karan, for the show, Ms. Weston has used
clothing from Michigan-bred artisans Anna
Sui, Tracy Reese and Kenneth Cole.

"I fell in love with
costume design."
— Michelle Weston

"What I like about the stage and what I
like about fashion is that I have an effect,"
said the consultant, who sticks to classics
in her own dressing — black and navy suits,
satin scarves, neutral separates to mix and
match.
She tries to set examples for consumers by -
combining new with old and expensive with
cut-rate.
"I have the opportunity to teach on a vi-
sual plane, and that's a very big high for me,"
she said. "When I see a new young talent like
Tracy Reese take off for herself, it's a great
rush. Seeing her succeed means I've suc-
ceeded in doing my job.
"I want people to pick up on new names.
It gives me a chance to open up doors and av-
enues not only to designers but also to con-
sumers."
Ms. Weston, who returns to Michigan for
the Jewish holidays, attributes her interest
in collaborative projects to the closeness of
family and friends as she was growing up as
well as the activities that drew her to Tem-
ple Israel, where she sang at services and
even contemplated becoming a cantor.
"Temple Israel is very group-oriented, and
I was very active with the youth group," she
said. "It gave me a solid base of experiencing
how people working together can be a means
toward an end."
Ms. Weston recently worked with a group
of people from Vanity Fair to dress up the
Hollywood issue in April, and she was among
the planners arranging shoots for upcoming,
editions ofHarper's Bazaar and Cosmopoli-
tan.
"Because I spent years in costume design,
I understand what an actor needs, and be-
cause I spent years doing retail, I understand
what the camera needs," said Ms. Weston.
To keep current with style, the consultant
from Michigan travels to Europe twice a year
to view the collections. She enjoys fashion so
much that she often uses her free time to
browse through the best stores and observe
what impresses customers. ❑