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

Hollywood Journal

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, how

00:49do 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'd done, like, she would end up in like Us Weekly and People Magazine as

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

01:12were noticing what we were doing was special. Later, we went to the MTV Awards. We went to

01:17like three racks of clothes, and we weren't finding anything that really matched, because

01:21she was getting older, so we were trying to figure out like, what direction are we going?

01:24And I remember we landed on a suit, placed it with a really, you know, tasteful black

01:28lace bra under, and I feel at that moment, I'm like, wow, she's an adult. And I remember

01:33getting some, you know, backlash on Instagram, but I'm like, she's not a kid anymore. You know,

01:38like, she's, she's a woman. And so I remember that. That was a, that was the pinnacle moment.

01:46It was Friday, like three days before the premiere, and I went and I was like, what, what, what dress is

01:54speak to me? Like what, what, what, what inspires me? And I'm a huge fan of Sex and the City and

01:59Carrie Bradshaw. And I just felt like she's such an iconic style reference, you know what I mean?

02:04And I was like, if I could get one dress, what would it be? It was two dresses actually that I

02:08loved. It was the naked dress, which she wears in the first episode of her meeting Mr. Big. And then

02:14there was a newspaper archival Dior Galliano dress. It was up until three hours before the premiere,

02:23where they finally got the okay. They drove the dress in to the city. We hadn't even tried the dress on.

02:32It comes in, it comes in a box. I open it up and I'm like, this is crazy that I even, it might not

02:40work. It might not fit her because we can't tailor it. It's an archival piece, private owner, $250,000

02:44dress. 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

04:03media and protect her when I see, you know, people attacking her because she's not any of those

04:07things. And to be working with her in the fashion space is such a blessing because she lets me have

04:12fun and we have fun together, but I'm glad I'm good to be with her because I can protect her as much as

04:20as I can, you know, there's no one else I'd rather be doing that with, you know, so I, I, I'm really

04:29blessed to be able to work with someone, not only who is, you know, as a friend, but family.

04:46Thank you so much,

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

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