Celebrity Stylist Phillip Bloch on Charities, Fall Fashion, and the Trick to Making it Big in Hollywood
BOYT: Please tell us what you have been up to, both personally and/or professionally.
Phillip Bloch: I’ve been signed on with ABC World News Now and I’m a contributing correspondent. I’m doing a series of celebrity interviews about celebrities and their charities. It’s called “Cause Celebs with Phillip Bloch.” It’s basically interviewing my celebrity friends about their charities, careers, and lives.
Fran Drescher was my first interviewee. She got ovarian cancer and she formed Cancer Schmancer. She’s very involved within the organization because she got cancer herself. Cee Lo Green is my next interview. His mother was a volunteered firewoman. When he was 16 years old, his mother got into a devastating car crash. She was paralyzed for two years. During the accident, a volunteer fireman pulled her out of the car and saved her life. One of his charities is working with volunteer firemen. He also has a big campaign with Duracell to help with volunteering firefighters. These volunteers are real people. They work a 9 to 5 job and during their free time, they come and save people’s lives.
I think it’s interesting that the reason most celebrities are involved in charities comes from something that happened in their lives and that became their life’s passions.
BOYT: We have seen an increase in celebrities being involved in charities. What do you think is the cause of this?
Phillip Bloch: I believe that they realize that they have all of this power and want to use it for good. They realize that they have been given a lot in the past. They want to use their voices, ideas and powers to give back. They realize that their fans made them who they are today. They’re reaching out to charities to touch people. It created a chain of reaction, where larger companies are getting involved. For example, Cee Lo Green is partnering up with Duracell. Celebrities are getting companies involved because they have this relationship with them. Companies are using the opportunities as marketing tools.
BOYT: Is there a website where people can look into getting involved into a charity?
Phillip Bloch: There is a website that lists all the celebrities and what charity they are involved in. It’s called Look to the Stars.
BOYT: Is there a charity that you’re personally involved in?
Phillip Bloch: I’m very involved with breast cancer organizations because my mother died of breast cancer.
I’m very involved in the Creative Coalition, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that lobbied for the arts in front of the Congress and Senate. It’s important for me because it goes right to the roots. We get an audience of people who are making the laws. Politicians love celebrities. We have a voice and we want others to know what we are thinking. When we go each year, they listen to us.
I was able to learn what it’s like to be visually impaired as an actor, so that got me involved in those areas. As someone who is in the fashion industry, I’m so visual with everything surrounding me. To be able to play a blind person, it really touched me. Even if it’s volunteering for an hour, it can change someone’s life.
BOYT: We had the opportunity to read an interview you did recently discussing the struggle of many freelance professionals with the current economy. How have you managed to make your mark? What advice do you have for someone in a creative industry interested in freelancing?
Phillip Bloch: Don’t be interested in the money. Don’t ever do anything for the money. Do it because it speaks to you. I never do it for the money or fame or press. I do it because it speaks to me. I think if you always follow your heart it will lead you right to what you should be doing. My next goal is to be a responsible journalist and to be able to retell these stories. I also want the UN to appoint me as their ambassador. I want to be a global ambassador somewhere along the way. I’m not sure where my place will fall in exactly, but that is my next goal.
BOYT: Please let our audience know where they can look for your work.
Phillip Bloch: It varies. Huffington post asked me to contribute an article for them recently, so make sure to look on there to see my work.
BOYT: Fall is approaching much sooner than we are prepared for. What should we start introducing to our wardrobe now that’s trend worthy in the fall?
Phillip Bloch: I always try look and see how I can take trends and transform them for the next season. For my next segment on ABC World News Now, I’m taking summer trends and transforming them so they can work for fall. For example, floral was very big for summer. For fall, celebrities and designers are mixing floral with dark backgrounds and dark accessories. John Gautier paired floral with white pants for the summer, but mixed it with a grey suit for the fall. You can look at style.com or other style websites to look at current trends.
BOYT: Here’s a last word from Phillip Bloch!
Phillip Bloch: “You can’t be timeless unless you know timeless and can recognize timeless.”
About Phillip Bloch
Widely considered to be Hollywood’s premier fashion stylist, Philip Bloch has arguably become one of the world’s most well-known fashion figures, playing the role of style ambassador at Fashion Weeks in the United States and across the globe. Bloch has worked with countless celebrities, and his photo credits have graced the covers of magazines such as Vogue, InStyle, and Vanity Fair.