Anatomy of Design With Enrique Melendez: Styling Jenna Ortega, 'Sex and the City' Inspiration & More | THR Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

Fashion Designer Enrique Melendez sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and dishes on working with 'Wednesday' star Jenna Ortega, dating all the way back to 2016. He recalls Ortega being his first actor client, as he primarily focused on styling musicians, and the struggle to balance styling a 14 year old at the time...making sure she was age-appropriate yet still fashion forward. Melendez also touches on styling Ortega in the iconic Carrie Bradshaw newspaper Dior dress from 'Sex and the City,' finding her "goth glam" style and more.

Transcript

00:00Actually, we did a photo shoot one time, this is way before Wednesday, and one of

00:04the looks that we did was super Tim Burton, Colleen Atwood coated, and when I

00:09posted it on Instagram, I said, who else feels like Jenner should be in a Tim

00:12Burton project? And like a year later, she ended up booking that. My name is

00:17Enrique Melendez, and I'm a fashion stylist.

00:30Me and Jenner have been working together since 2016? Wow. She was my first actor client.

00:44I had come from music. Super interesting to kind of figure out, because I'm like,

00:48how do I style a 14-year-old, and how do I make it feel age-appropriate? Still have her feel

00:55passion-forward and still being part of the conversation. Honestly, the first couple of

01:00carpets that we've done, like, she would end up in, like, Us Weekly and People Magazine as, like,

01:06who wore it best at 14. I think that's where I kind of started noticing that people were noticing what

01:12we were doing was special. Later, we went to the MTV Awards. We went through, like, three racks of

01:18clothes, and we weren't finding anything that really matched, because she was getting older,

01:21so we were trying to figure out, like, what direction are we going? And I remember we

01:25landed on a suit, placed it with a really, you know, tasteful black lace bra under, and I feel

01:30at that moment, I'm like, wow, she's an adult. And I remember getting some, you know, backlash on

01:35Instagram, but I'm like, she's not a kid anymore, you know, like, she's a woman, and so I remembered

01:40that. That was the pinnacle moment. It was Friday, like, three days before the premiere, and I went,

01:50and I was like, what, what, what dresses speak to me? Like, what, what, what, what inspires me? And

01:56I'm a huge fan of Sex and the City and Carrie Bradshaw, and I just felt like she's such an iconic

02:02style reference, you know what I mean? And I was like, if I could get one dress, what would it be?

02:07It was two dresses, actually, that I loved. It was the naked dress, which she wears in the first episode

02:12of her meeting Mr. Big, and then there was the newspaper archival Dior Galliano dress. It was up

02:20until three hours before the premiere, where they finally got the okay. They drove the dress in to

02:28the city. We hadn't even tried the dress on. It comes in, it comes in a box. I open it up, and I'm like,

02:37this is crazy that I even, it might not work, it might not fit her, because we can't tailor it. It's

02:42an archival piece, private owner, $250,000 dress. She came out, and it was like, this was meant to be.

02:55Jenna's personal style is super, super simple, super streamlined. She would wear the same thing

03:00if she could every day. I tell her thank you, because I'm like, a lot of times it's just for me,

03:04you know, she'll be like, yeah, I'll do it. I would wear this. I would just wear jeans and a t-shirt,

03:09but I'll do it if you want me to do it. She's truly a dream client and friend. I think ultimately,

03:15Jenna, and I can say this, is just a lover of the art, the cinephile music. She appreciates fashion

03:22in the same way that I do. I think after Wednesday came out, it just became her thing, goth glam,

03:28but it wasn't something that we forced or we tried to do. It was just, it was natural. Actually,

03:33we did a photo shoot one time. This is way before Wednesday, and one of the looks that we did was

03:38super, super Tim Burton, Colleen Atwood coated. And if you look at the look, you'll be like, I,

03:45and when I posted it on Instagram, I said, who else? If you look at the caption, it said,

03:50who else feels like Jenna should be in a Tim Burton project? And like a year later, she ended up looking

03:56that Jenna is hands down the most like selfless person. And I always want to go on social media

04:03and text her when I see, you know, people attacking her because she's not any of those things. And to

04:08be working with her in the fashion space is such a blessing because she lets me have fun and we have

04:14fun together. But I'm glad I'm good to be with her because I can protect her as much as I can. You know,

04:22there's no one else I'd rather be doing that with, you know, so I, I, I'm really blessed to

04:30be able to work with someone, not only who is, you know, as a friend, but family.

04:52So

04:54I

04:56I

04:58I

05:00I

05:02I

05:04I

05:06I

05:08I

05:10I

05:12I

05:14I

05:16I

05:18I

Anatomy of Design With Enrique Melendez: Styling Jenna Ortega, 'Sex and the City' Inspiration & More | THR Video

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended