Men’s style, if you haven’t noticed, has made a quantum leap in recent years. That has been especially true on the red carpet, where guys have gone from wearing generic tuxedos to dressing like Timothée Chalamet, who at the Golden Globes in January wore a Celine Homme sequin-studded blazer and a diamond necklace by Cartier.
Jeanne Yang and Ilaria Urbinati can take some credit for that shift. As celebrity stylists who specialize in men’s wear, both women have dressed Hollywood’s leading actors for awards shows, red carpet appearances and press junkets. Ms. Urbinati’s clients include Dwayne Johnson, Barry Keoghan and Ryan Reynolds; Ms. Yang’s, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves and Taika Waititi.
Last month The Times invited the women to talk about how watches figure into the scene. Ms. Yang joined the video call from her office in Culver City, part of Los Angeles County, and Ms. Urbinati from her (very large) closet, in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles (“My office doesn’t have great lighting,” she explained.)
They agreed that keeping their clients outfitted in wrist candy has become an integral part of their jobs over the last decade or so. It went from “‘you’re not going to see a watch’ to it’s a foregone conclusion that you wear one,” Ms. Yang said.
“The men’s game has come to the forefront in such a big way,” Ms. Urbinati said. “And our clients, they know this and they’re leaning into it. A lot of that has to do, obviously, with the clothes, but also, a watch completes a look in a way that nothing else really does.”
Their conversation has been edited and condensed.
How long have you both been styling?
JEANNE YANG I started almost three decades ago, doing music videos. And I worked on every boy band there was, from Blink-182 to Weezer. I got my 10,000 hours in working with guys.
Then I had the opportunity to do “Ocean’s Eleven,” working with the biggest movie stars in the world: Brad, Andy, Matt, George. I was used to having a $5,000 budget to dress 170 people. Now I had like a $150,000 budget to dress 11 people. Mind you, I didn’t sit down for four days, but it was totally worth it because I realized men’s styling was my jam.
ILARIA URBINATI I actually started out in retail. I was 17. My aunt had a store on Sunset Plaza, and I wanted a job there. And she said, “No, you have to do it on your own.” This was pre-nepo baby. So I went and worked at Fred Segal, and I became their No. 1 salesperson. I eventually opened my own store.
Along the way, I ended up getting a side gig as the head wardrobe stylist on “The L Word.” There were five main women on the show and one guy, Eric Lively, who is actually Blake Lively’s brother. And I remember him getting best-dressed man on television in TV Guide. And I realized, “Oh, I have a knack for men’s wear.”
I started dressing a lot of these young up-and-coming guys, like James McAvoy and Chris Evans, who was in “The Nanny Diaries” at the time, and suddenly became “Captain America.” And then I started working with Bradley Cooper and “The Hangover” happened. All these under-the-radar guys suddenly blew up. And I went on that ride.
When did you and your clients start to care about watches?
YANG I remember for the Globes in 2010, I told Robert Downey Jr. about how Gianni Agnelli [the Italian industrialist, politician and style icon] used to wear his watch over his sleeve. And he was like, “I’m doing that.” And he literally grabbed his watch and put it over everything. It was the punctuation mark on his outfit. And I realized how important it was. Short of wearing a 14-carat diamond, the watch becomes the way to flex.
URBINATI Now, I put a lot of guys in jewelry. But before that, watches were the most fun way to accessorize. Originally, I was into Panerai, IWC. And then I started going down the rabbit hole of how the watch industry works — like Rolex and Patek, and why are they so hard to get? My mother’s an art dealer, and if you dive in, you start to understand that certain types of watches are almost like the art dealing world, where they have a certain value because of what happens at auctions.
It’s interesting because Rolex and Patek don’t loan watches for the red carpet like the other brands do. All these brands — like Omega and IWC and TAG [Heuer] — will send me tons of watches and we’ll have them on hand for fittings. And we choose based on what works with the look and what’s the vibe. I’ll go through phases of trends that I’m into. Like right now, I’m into smaller watches, so we’re using a lot of Cartier.
YANG The thing that I love, like Ilaria was talking about with Chris Evans, is that you get to work with these people when they’re starting to blow up. So it’s like their first watch purchase. They’ll go for maybe the obvious flashy watch. But as they get to know watches, it’s like, “I would love to get a Portugieser by IWC. Or I’m going to get the Patek Philippe.” They want that whole story. And it’s nice to be able to be the person who introduces somebody to the aesthetic, but then also tells them the story behind it.
URBINATI As stylists, we are introducing a lot of these guys to watches for the first time. And I think we do, in that sense, have a lot of influence on which brands they like. I don’t think I was the one who introduced James Marsden to watches, but James Marsden is a huge watch nerd. And he tells me which watches are the cool watches.
YANG And the history. The history is really crazy. Guys really want to know. I remember watching the most outrageous “Antiques Roadshow” story you’ve ever seen about a guy who bought a Rolex and kept it in the box, and it’s now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I think it was the same watch that Steve McQueen or Paul Newman wore.
When I went to boarding school, my mother gave me a Rolex. I didn’t know what it was, but the coolest girl in school wore one. I took it off because I was playing volleyball. And I remember her giving it to me and saying, “I have one. You shouldn’t leave that out.”
You have your phone, but the watch confers something different. It confers acceptance. It confirms a certain amount of accomplishment. And it’s very symbolic.
URBINATI Early on, I associated watches with family heirlooms because my grandma and my grandfather, who were really important in my life, she had a Bulgari and he had a Cartier Tank. And we always thought of them as these things that would eventually get passed down.
Changing the subject a little bit, but Jeanne brought up the whole Steve McQueen, Paul Newman thing. Watch wise, it’s always McQueen and Newman are the two gods.
YANG If you can touch a little bit of that — “OK, I may not have been the badass that Paul Newman was or the accomplished entrepreneur who’s created this, but guess what? I can get his watch.”
When you’re borrowing watches for the red carpet, how does that process work? Do you have to return them right away?
URBINATI It goes back pretty quick, to be honest. I mean, it depends on the guy. It depends on the deal. A lot of the guys I dress have contracts with these brands, and they’re basically contracted to wear just that brand for, let’s say, all of awards season or for the year or whatever it is.
Almost all my guys at this point have some kind of watch deal, and the ones who don’t want one. And part of the stylist’s job is to breed those relationships and try and make that contract happen for them. So in that sense, it’s a little looser, but otherwise, they wear the watch and the next day we give it back.
YANG You don’t want to carry a half-million dollar watch with you, ever. You have it dropped off. I don’t like to keep anything at my house. You’re carrying a condominium on your wrist. Who wants that stress?
Has anything weird or wild ever happened with a watch that was lent to you?
URBINATI Watches have gone missing. It’s very stressful. And you learn the hard way. Now we’re really anal retentive — everybody has to sign a responsibility waiver.
A lot of these actors are young, they don’t have an assistant and they don’t know how to keep track of all the stuff. And it’s very overwhelming for them. If they’re traveling on a junket worldwide, I’ll usually assign one watch. Put it on your wrist. Don’t take it off. Sleep with it. This is the watch you’re wearing for everything.
YANG Jason Momoa, on his recent “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” tour, he really loved this rose gold watch [an IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar] with a gorgeous chocolate-colored band. He wore it for “S.N.L.” And then it would be his watch for the entire tour. It’s easier when it is that one look.
URBINATI Sometimes they’ll fall in love with the watch. Recently, Barry Keoghan wore this sparkly rose gold Omega that he was obsessed with and wants to wear with everything. He has a relationship with Omega, this is the second year in a row now. One of the best parts of having a relationship with a brand is you get a different watch all the time. But he was like, “No, this is the one.”
He likes a really bold watch more than others. And he’s young and can get away with all sorts of stuff. But he wore that sparkly Omega and hasn’t looked back.
