How do I get celebrities to wear my jewelry?

Getting your work into the hands of celebrities
a) You can use a service like contact any celebrity to find celebity addresses for agents and managers. You can to send your work directly to the agent for the celebrity you are interested in contacting. These are not home addresses for the celebrities. That would just be kinda creepy in a stalker kinda way. If the celebrity is nice they might even send a Thank you note. I have been amazed by some of the thank you notes that I have received.
b) You can send your work to costume designers for televisions shows. Then, hope that they use the desgins on the show.
c) You can get lucky and just see someone wearing your work in a magazine or on tv.
d) If you have any friends in the entertainment industry, ask them if they have any connections with celebrities that could wear your work.
e)Put your designs into gift bags. This can get really expensive! There is usually a fee for placement into the really big gift bags. You just have to consider if the payoff will be worth the expense.
f) Donate your work to high profile charities that have celebrity ties. I actually get requests for donations on a regular basis for this now. But, I pick and choose only charities that I would normally support with cash donation. The causes that I support are: Cancer support centers, Ovarian Cancer, Parkinson's disease, Art in Schools, Science in Schools. All of these causes are near and dear to my heart, so in lieu of volunteering time (which I don't have extra of...) I donate my jewelry. And for many of the donations I also get some PR...this makes it possilbe for me to donate more, since I can write it off in both the donation and PR columns of my Profit and Loss statements.
g) You can send it to stylists that dress the celebrities.
h) You can host a promo party during awards season and invite celebrities and the press hoping that they will come and fall in love with your designs.

I have done or had almost all of these happen with my designs. However you get your work into the hands of the celebrities isn't as important as what you do after it is in their hands. No one is going to come knocking down your door after they see your work on TV or in a magazine on a celebrity....You have to promote it and make sure that everyone knows it was yours! Put the thank you notes on your site, put up pictures of them wearing it on your website and at trade shows and send out press releases to anyone that will listen...and hopefully publish an article about your successes. I just recently had my jewlery on 4 episodes of "the OC" and now I have had multiple articles written about it....But it doesn't just come easy it takes work!

A note on celebrity gift bags.

You have to decide if it will bring you as much PR as it is going to cost you to do the event. Say if it costs you $3000, is it going to translate into the same amount of PR as if you sent out $3000 worth of samples to magazines. Probably not. So I recommend not all eggs in one basket. If this is the avenue you want to persue...then go for it. It can be good and heck also lots of fun especially if you get invited to attend the events. But make it part of your PR campaign not the entire PR campaign or you will be disappointed. Every once in a while a designer will hit it big from one event or one great placement...But there are hundreds of events out there with celebrities....I get about 1-2 a week in my email box.

Visit my celebrity pages now

Comments

[Kerry Herbert]

Hi Amy,

I spoke with you several months back on the phone to pick your brain about the biz and how I should handle my first upcoming CGS show. I am so glad I have access to this info. It is stuff I have mulled around and gotten in bits and pieces here and there, but I really appreciate the time you have taken to help me and I'm sure countless others to get where you are now. I remember you saying "Be careful what you wish for". I'm still wishing for it and being scared shitless at the same time. The money and turn around time will take some maneuvering but I can handle it. Three years so far. Anyway I wanted to say thanks for you work. It takes a hell of a lot or work to do this as I am finding out. I will come visit you at the CGS (I'm in Fashion Accessories #6719.