Celebrity Stylist Molly Dickson on Dressing the New Elle Woods

0:10Hillary Kerr:Welcome to the Who Outwear podcast. I'm your host Hillary Kerr and today I'm sitting down with celebrity stylist, Molly Dickson. Molly works with the likes of Sydney Sweeney, Lana Del Rey and Sadie Sink and you can hear all about her earlier career in our 2024 episode, which is linked in this episode description. But today we're talking about her newest client, Lexi Minitri, aka the new Elle Woods. We're chatting all about styling Lexi's Elle press tour from channeling early 2000s Reese Witherspoon to paying homage to the iconic style inspiration that is Legally Blonde. It's all coming up on Who What Wear.

1:01Hillary Kerr:Molly, are you ready to do this again? I am. I'm so excited to be back. Since we spoke the last time, we have so many things to catch up on. You have done numerous press tours for Sydney Sweeney. You've dressed Lana Del Rey for Coachella and Stagecoach. You have worked with Kiki Palmer, survived three Met galas, and most recently styled Lexi Minitri for the Elle Press Tour. When you look back over the last year and a half, are there anything, any moments that really excite you or stand out? Doing Lana for stagecoach, just because I am a country girl at heart, like I grew up at a farm. And like I pretty much only listened to country or like 90s hip hop.

1:41Being in that environment with like cowboys and all the country singers, it was like a pinch me moment. She wore, we worked with Valentino. She wore a custom Valentino white. It was like an off-white lace dress. And actually, there was a little bit of a hiccup. Tell me. We were at rehearsals the night before her performance. And I'm like, can you please just try the dress on for the rehearsals? I want to make sure everything's perfect on stage. So she tried it on while the zipper was getting stuck in the back. So I go to my tailor. I'm like, can we, we need to replace the zipper. And I'm like, it can't, the dress fit perfect.

2:20I'm like, it needs to be back in the exact same condition. like the exact same size and everything well it wasn't so she's out of here and makeup this is like probably 30 minutes before she has to go on stage and she puts it on and she's like molly i it's too tight i can't breathe and i'm like oh my singers need to be able to breathe and i'm like oh my god oh my god and we had a backup dress but she's like no i really want to wear the valentino know can we like figure out a way to make it work and thank god my taylor her name is sugar she was there she comes in and she looks at me and she's like i don't i don't know molly i don't think i can fix it i'm like sugar you got five minutes good luck she i don't know what she did she on did seams sewed it all while on it still she's still wearing it and lana's like oh my god it's great i can breathe and then she goes on stage i'm like i almost peed my pants it was probably one of the most stressful 10, 15 minutes of my career.

3:19Hillary Kerr:It just really reminds me that like the unsung heroes of the fashion industry, of every red carpet, of every major performance, it really comes down to tailoring. If I would not have had sugar there, I don't know what would have happened. Okay. So I feel like it would take like 10 episodes to cover all of the things that you've been working on. But one thing I really wanted to cover today is your work with Lexi, because she is playing the new young Elle Woods in the new Legally Blonde prequel, Elle, as I mentioned earlier. And it's interesting because you've really developed a reputation as the go-to stylist for young stars, whether it's Sadie or Ariana.

3:59Hillary Kerr:Like, how did you and Lexi get connected? And why do you think that you work so well with these really like rising stars who are such powerhouses? She, I think, took meetings with a few stylists. And so I had a Zoom meeting with her probably like three months ago. I feel like the initial meeting with a client is more about personalities and how well your energies mesh. At this point in my career now, my one big thing is I only want to work with nice people. And Lexi is literally the biggest sweetheart. And so our Zoom was like an hour and a half, which is really, really long for like an initial interview.

4:40And we were talking about boys and like, it was just, it was like two girlfriends catching up. I think we literally talked about fashion for maybe five, 10 minutes.

4:49Hillary Kerr:How do you know, okay, I have enough time to take on a new client or, you know, a new project or whatever it may be. How do you look at sort of the framework of your schedule and say, you know what? Yes, I am open to taking on someone like Lexi. I think I have surrounded myself with a really, really good team. time like my agent they'll be like you know what molly you might get overwhelmed if you take this like maybe we pause it and say you want to work with her later in the future or whatever but i also am very transparent with my assistants i always ask them if there's a a potential new client i first ask my agents and my assistants and i'm like what do you guys think to be honest the assistants are the ones essentially running the ship regardless even if i was so so so busy there was no way I was not going to work with the new Elwoods.

5:39Hillary Kerr:I mean, I get it. I watched Legally Blonde like every single night when I was a teenager. Reese did some of her background research at my sorority at USC when she was prepping for it. And I met her when she was going through it, which I almost fell over. She was so cool then. She's still so cool. Like it was, but we had no idea what it was going to be. I read that she went to a sorority. I didn't know it was your, that is so cool. Kappa Kappa Gamma at USC. She came and did research. One thing I think is so interesting is this is Lexi, as you mentioned, with one of her first like really big gigs.

6:17Hillary Kerr:She was basically an unknown before getting this role. Does that impact or change in any way how you work or how you work together? Because, you know, I would assume that there is an education process that's going along with like, this is how some of this works, or this is why we're doing certain things, or this is why we're planning things out. Or is it the same when you're working with someone who has already had a couple of big projects? It being her first big tour, she was looking at me to help guide her. And she kind of like came to the fitting and we, oh my gosh, we were having so much fun in the fitting.

6:56The fitting was like six the first fitting six seven hours oh lana del rey came to say hi like it was it was literally there was like seven girls and we were just like we got mcdonald's and i'm like this is how it should be like it girls are playing dress up it should be fun and we shouldn't take it too seriously yeah lexi and i and her pr we had had several conversations before the fitting about what direction we were gonna go we knew we wanted to honor reese and elwoods the og elwoods when I was an assistant for Leslie Fremart during that time, she styled Reese Witherspoon. Stop it.

7:34Hillary Kerr:So you had a front row to all of the Legally Blonde fittings originally. I wasn't assisting when she did the Legally Blonde press tour, but I've known Reese for, oh my God, like over 15 years. So when I got Lexi, the first thing I did was I contacted Reese and I'm like, I am so excited to be working with the new Elwoods. Amazing. And I'm like, if you are up for it, like no pressure whatsoever. But like, I would love to like, if we can tap into, you know, some of your closet. And she was like, whatever you want. Yes, like done. I'm so happy she's working with you. And she sent me the, it's the Marc Jacobs dress that Reese wore to the Legally Brom premiere in 2001.

8:18Hillary Kerr:I want to talk about one of the first press events that happened in May when Lexi wore a hot pink Versace spring 2004 dress. We had the Elle costume designer on the show a couple of weeks ago, and she talked about storytelling through different shades of pink. And I noticed that Elle wears a very similar shade of pink in the opening scene of the show. Was that on purpose or is that just like kismet how it happened. I had not seen the costumes from the new L until like the third fitting that we did with Lexi in New York. It was more inspired by the Reese Lee Glyblonde. And we didn't know what the backdrop for that event was going to look like.

9:01So we fit her. We had a couple options. And then I'm like, I feel like the silhouette is very Elle Woods. And her PR literally texted me as soon as they got to the event. He's like, I feel like you like knew what the backdrop was. And I'm like, honestly, that's just good karma.

9:17Hillary Kerr:Why did you want that dress in particular? Was it just like the energy of it feeling so Legally Blonde? I feel like it was a good kickoff point to introduce her as Elle. In Legally Blonde, Reese did wear a lot of like V-neck dresses with the Tiffany's necklace. So it was kind of just like a cute little introduction to the new Elle. I love it. Let's talk about that. Marc Jacobs dress. So for Jimmy Fallon, she wore the hot pink and black mesh early 2000s Marc Jacobs look that Reese wore to the premiere in 2001. Why did you choose that dress for that press moment? Lexi had told me for Elle, it's when she's in high school and they're in Seattle and it has kind of like a punk rock vibe to it.

10:09So that's why I think because the black mesh on it is a little

10:13Hillary Kerr:grunky yeah it's grunge do you think about styling like what are there certain considerations because she's gonna have to sit right if it's for jimmy fallon we do a sit test we make sure it's good from all angles we knew for the premiere she had two premieres one in london and one in new york betsy johnson had sent us sketches and she fell in love with them and so we knew we had the betsy johnson gown that they custom made for her and then i remember when i was an assistant for leslie Reese wore the hot pink custom Stella McCartney gown to the Met Gala. When I was doing my research, I was looking at Legally Blonde.

10:48And then I'm like, I really want her in a hot pink gown for the premiere that's tied to Elle or Reese. And then I'm like, oh my God, the Stella McCartney one. Reese's team, they were like, she doesn't have it. So I contacted Stella McCartney and they're like, we think it's in our archive warehouse. And I'm like, please, please, please find it.

11:06Hillary Kerr:And they found it the next day. That is such an interesting thing. and also I think interesting for our audience that there are certain pieces that live with Reese in her archive. And then there are certain pieces that, and I think this is pretty indicative of the level of the event. Oftentimes, from my understanding, Met Gala dresses go back to the archives. Some of my clients can keep their gowns. Some of them, they have to go back to archive because a lot of the times the designers might want to like have it in a museum or something. Were there any other looks from Reese herself that you were dying to use but didn't have a chance to for whatever reason.

11:44I knew I wanted Lexi to wear the sequin Dolce strapless one. Yes.

11:51Hillary Kerr:Just for anyone who doesn't necessarily know off the top of their head, Lexi wore a pink sequin archival Dolce & Gabbana dress, which is a nod to what Reese wore in the film. Reese wore a blue version of it when she famously outsmarts the sales associate. So how did you track this down? And why pink instead of blue? Tell me everything. Well, we contacted Dolce and they were like, we don't have the dress. So we contacted like every single vintage house. And there was a blue one, but it was sold and we couldn't figure out who bought it to stock them. But then I found the pink one and I'm like, actually, that works.

12:31The pink's kind of iconic. Like it's a nod to Elle, but it's like Lexi's version of it.

12:37Hillary Kerr:There are obviously great archivists and great vintage dealers around the world. How do you have those relationships and what does that process look like? It's becoming, I would say, a little bit more competitive because so many people now are wanting vintage and the prices are going up. And I mean, this would be a larger conversation for a later time, but the studios now, they don't give us any budget for vintage rentals or vintage purchases. The stylist and the actress kind of need to decide like, OK, is this something that we're willing to go out of pocket on? And I knew this was going to be an iconic moment.

13:13So I'm like, I'm willing to invest in this look. You need to make sure when you get their clothes, if you're going to return it, you need to pack it carefully. You need to have full inventory. because these vintage dealers, if you return something and not the exact same way it came, they won't work with you again. Oh, also the Versace hot pink look that she wore in May. I didn't even realize it, but Madonna had worn it, that dress before. Lexi sent it to me. She's like, oh my God, Madonna wore it because there was a side-by-side picture of Lexi and Madonna. And I'm like, I didn't even know that.

13:44Hillary Kerr:She also had a couple of other really great blue moments. There was another archival Dolce look that was paired with a blue fur stole and a super fun skirt with a matching scarf. Like was the idea always to stick to the pinks and blues in the color palette or is that just what Lexi was drawn to? Like what was the backstory on that? We mainly wanted it to be blues and pinks and Lexi looks so good in both colors. But on her mood board, she had a lot of like the Y2K scarves and a lot of like sequins and bling. She loved, loved, loved this blue sequin look with the neck scar. And then the blue Dolce with the little diamonds on them.

14:27I forget what event she wore that to. But it looked a little bare. So I'm like, oh, let's put a little blue vintage fur over it to make it not so sexy. It was more fun and cute and colorful and happy.

14:41Hillary Kerr:I also want to talk about the Tiffany & Co. silver heart necklace, which is seen throughout the press tour and is obviously a nod to Reese's character in the original film. And it's something I literally talked to her about when she came to USC. You talked to Reese about the Tiffany necklace? Yes. So we were chit-chatting after it was like chapter dinner and she came. I was a senior. She asked me if we could chat after I said, yes. And we started talking about like, what are some of the things that like all the girls have? I said, well, it's like the square Gucci sunglass and, you know, these diesel jeans and Tiffany necklace and, you know, this chunky chain.

15:21Hillary Kerr:And I like the one that's like this or the heart one. Anyway. So it's like, I have some of them, like I have multiple of these necklaces from my gosh, I think that would have been in. Yeah. Like 2000. I knew I wanted the first event she went to. I knew I wanted her in the Tiffany necklace. Wait, do they still make it? Is it new? Well, I reached out to their PR and they were like, we can't, we're only loaning gold. And I'm like, no, I need, but I like need this necklace. It's like the statement of the whole press tour. So I ended up finding it on RealReal and I bought it. You could have just called me.

15:55Hillary Kerr:I know. Somebody was like, can't you call your friends? I'm like, we grew up on a farm like we were not wearing Tiffany jewelry back in the early 2000s like we weren't wearing any jewelry I don't even think I showed it to her until we got her in the pink dress for the first event and I'm like oh you need to wear this you're Elle you Elle wears the Tiffany's necklace yeah she's like okay I want to go back to the premier dress so Betsy Johnson was always I mean Betsy is an icon herself she was a really important brand in that era. I remember like my fancy friend had a Betsy Johnson prom dress and I, that I was extremely envious of, like it was the coolest of the cool.

16:36Hillary Kerr:How did you guys decide to work together? Like how did that pairing happen? Because it was such a smart reference and not as obvious. And I just, I mean, it, it set my nostalgic heart aflutter. In the first fitting, we were just fitting her for some press looks. It wasn't the premiere stuff yet. Betsy Johnson's PR had a whole rack of archival pieces. And I pulled like almost the whole rack for the fitting. I'm like, oh my God, this is literally all Elle Woods. Lexi was really gravitating towards all these archival Betsy Johnson pieces. And I'm like, wait, why don't we ask? And I didn't even know if Betsy Johnson would be okay doing a custom look.

17:17I've never worked on a custom look with them before. We emailed them and right away they were like, oh my god, we would love to be included. They, the next day, had sent us all these sketches and I sent them to Lexi and she's like, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. And I'm like, okay, well we need to pick one. She's like, I love them all. A few days before the premiere, Reese texts me and she's like, guess who I just ran into? Betsy Johnson at the Beverly Hills Hotel. No way. She sent me a photo of her and Betsy and she's like, she's so excited for the premiere look. And I'm like, this is, it was just everywhere you looked.

17:50Feels like a lot of like connections smiling upon you.

17:54Hillary Kerr:How long does that process take when you're working on something custom for something special like this? That took probably like a month and a half. We sent them references of archival Betsy Johnson pieces. They then come back with the sketches. Then we send them the favorite sketch. And then they send me fabric swatches so I can like feel them and get we get the right fabric color and then they send me the embellishments and then I'm also communicating to Lexley and I'm like okay this is what I think but what do you think we did the first fitting I think we did maybe four fittings for that gown because it was such a big moment and we wanted it to be so perfect what an incredible run and what an incredible time to be a part of someone's like first major moment and to be able to have access to such wonderful things and such great storytelling and to have that level of care and investment from the brands and from Reese and from everyone coming together.

18:51Hillary Kerr:This industry can be complicated and competitive and come from a place of no and people don't always want to take chances on young folks or sort of unproven talent in certain ways. And it just feels really nice to hear a story about like everything coming together in such a positive way. I mean, don't get me wrong. It was a lot of work and, you know, time. But she is so special, Lexia, is that it made it fun for even all my girls on my team, like all my assistants. Like we all wanted her to like succeed and look great. And so that's what it comes down to is like having the client happy and feeling her best.

19:31And her, you know, she appreciated us and she kept saying thank you. And she's like, I've never looked so good. And like it makes us want to work harder for her. Yeah.

19:39Hillary Kerr:Is there anything that you can tell us about that's coming up for the rest of the year or things that you are excited about? Sadie Sink has Spider-Man coming out. Oh, yes. Yes. So I'm fitting her for that. We're we're waiting. I have to say like the Who, What, Wear editors are so obsessed with your work and the way what the two of you create. It is. She's just the coolest girl. Like she's so effortless. She just makes everything look cool and easy. And I fit her. I think it was like a year ago for Jimmy Fallon. You know, most girls on Jimmy Fallon want to be in like a cute little cocktail dress.

20:13So I actually wasn't there. I'd ship the clothes and a New York assistant did the fitting. But she called me after and was like, you know, I don't think I really want to wear like a cocktail dress. And she's like, how about we just do like jeans and a top? And I'm like, oh my God, I love you. Yes. Like, of course we can do jeans and a top. She's like, I just want to be like comfortable, you know? And I'm like, yeah, I mean, that's my personal vibe. And I'm like, great. And she looked beautiful.

20:38Hillary Kerr:I feel like there has been more now than ever, sort of like such a lens on the thematic dressing over the course of a press tour. Do you feel, and obviously like you just had an amazing version of that with Lexi, do you feel pressure to have that same level of storytelling across a project like Spider-Man or is it? Not with Sadie. I don't think it's her vibe to do like method dressing. I think she wants to just wear something that she thinks is herself and nothing too fussy. Like she just wants to be comfortable and cool. And I don't, we're not doing method dressing for Spider-Man. But I also do have McKenna Grace in Hunger Games coming up this winter.

21:24And that's all I can say.

21:26Hillary Kerr:Young Hollywood loves you, Molly. Before I let you go, you are also an editor in residence at Who What Wear? and I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about this. You wrote a story for us about the eight wardrobe basics you and your clients spend your own money on and the recommendations are fantastic for it. I have to say, especially if you're doing a lot of traveling, it is so amazing. So first of all, thank you for doing that. Oh my God, of course. Great story. But like inspired by that, I would love to do a little bit of a travel rapid fire and wondering if you could share your picks for the following categories.