How the Hollywood strike is affecting celebrity-styling jobs: with no premieres, press junkets or promos, US costume designers and red carpet stylists say they have been ‘out of work’ for months

Sep 4 , 2023

Hollywood’s writers’ strike has affected thousands of people in ancillary jobs, like costume designers and make-up artists, such as those who got Stephanie Hsu glammed up for the Oscars in March. Photo: Reuters

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers refused their demands for better wages and more job security

Sag-Aftra joined the WGA in July, putting costume designers like Charlese Antoinette Jones, who worked on Air about Nike’s Air Jordans with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, in a ‘challenging’ position

Hollywood has been largely shut down for coming onto five months now, and the end seems nowhere in sight. In May, the Writers Guild of America went on strike after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents 350 major studios and streamers, refused their demands for better wages and more job security, Forbes reported.

In July, actors’ union Sag-Aftra joined the WGA in solidarity. That’s more than 160,000 entertainment industry professionals comprising screenwriters and actors who are now not working, per CNN. And negotiations have stalled.

Given the intersection of Hollywood and fashion, that means that thousands of people in ancillary jobs are also out of work, from red carpet stylists (no premieres, press junkets or promotional appearances), to costume designers and wardrobe stylists who all suddenly find themselves without gigs they once relied on, states AP.

Actors Brendan Fraser, Christine Baranski and F. Murray Abraham during a Screen Actors Guild rally in Times Square in New York, US, on July 25. Photo: Bloomberg

“All work has stopped for me and nobody I know is working,” says costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones, who most recently worked on Air, the film about how Nike’s Air Jordans came into being, starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. “Everything is really challenging right now because even if the strike is over in September or October, then the holidays are coming, so more than likely we won’t start prepping or shooting till next year. It’s a really weird time.”

All work has stopped for me and nobody I know is working. Everything is really challenging right now

Charlese Antoinette Jones, costume designer

Jones explains that her career took off over the last few years, and costume designing for films became her primary source of income. She worked on the 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah, which was nominated for six Oscars and won two. She also styled the 2022 film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.

Last year, she had an inkling it was time to diversify, so she began designing costumes for the Los Angeles Opera, which is helping to sustain her. She also works with Artists Equity, a studio led by Affleck and Damon. She says she gets a pay cheque from them, but the company is not allowed to produce anything under the strike rules.

Ben Affleck as Phil Knight in Air. Photo: Amazon Studios

“I’m looking for another career outside of entertainment,” she says. “I know people who are on the verge of losing their homes.”