I’m a Fashion Designer – Whitney Houston Helped Me Pay My Rent When I Started My Line, But Influencers Are Now Key

FROM Angelina Jolie to Beyoncé, famous stylist Marc Bouwer knows the stars’ style for red carpet events.

But her own star quality was realized early in her couture career by one icon in particular.

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I WILL ALWAYS DESIGN FOR YOU

Bouwer, who founded her own fashion line in the early ’80s and currently has her own boutique in downtown New York, revealed that she had a very special benefactor in those early days.

After he decided to go solo with his design venture, Whitney Houston paid South African-born Bouwer a visit while looking for a dress for her Coca-Cola commercial.

Whitney was so impressed with everything that she returned home with the entire collection, which included 45 fully paid for pieces.

“Having her as a client allowed me to continue paying my rent and work on my own,” he told The US Sun.

“I was working on the floor of my apartment, sewing all the clothes on one machine,” he added.

“Whitney fell in love with everything,” he continued.

It turns out that she really would always love – or at least support – Marc and his work.

He went on to design everything from her music videos to world tours, as well as her wedding dress for her 1992 wedding to Bobby Brown.

He also designed the mother of the bride and bridesmaid’s dresses for the occasion.

Marc, former winner of the first South American Vogue Young Designers Award, explained how a friend’s mother originally decided to invest in the budding designer.

He ended up separating from her two years later.

Being alone gave him more freedom – but he needed a way to pay for it.

Whitney saved the day, as well as her design career.

SOCIAL MEDIA STARS

To appeal to a younger audience, many shows now also invite social media stars to walk the red carpet — and Bouwer knows how dressing these influencers can make a style impact.

That’s why his Oscar and People’s Choice Awards dresses for YouTube megastar Haley Kalil gave him more “social status” than dressing a celebrity ever could.

“They breathe new life into these shows,” he said.

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“It’s about engaging a new demographic to watch these events,” he added.

One thing these social media stars have in common with Hollywood’s top players is their glam game.

For the Oscars, Kalil wore a long, strapless red dress by Bouwer.

And his followers certainly noticed.

“The amount of likes and attention you get is explosive,” he said.

The social media sensation also has Marc’s couture designs to thank for some of her own snaps.

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Kalil, who has more than five million followers, wore a Bouwer creation in his first truly viral video that garnered seven million views in one day.

While he knows the impact an influencer has, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still see other stars — almost all of them, in fact.

Most recently, he outfitted Queen Latifah in a one-of-a-kind creation for her appearance at a New York Democratic fundraiser for President Biden.

STAR STYLE

Bouwer, who has dressed everyone from Charlize Theron to Toni Braxton, previously spoke with The US Sun about some of her other transformative career highlights.

One of those “pinch me” moments was when he dressed Angelina Jolie in a glamorous white dress in 2004.

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According to Bouwer, wearing the classic design during that year’s Oscar performance was “really a turning point in her career.”

“She was filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith at the time, but before that, she was always seen more as a goth girl in black dresses,” he said.

“Suddenly, she appeared like an angelic beauty in an old Hollywood dress inspired by the 1930s,” he added.

“She really became a philanthropic meme after that,” he continued.

The dress even came out of the vault for this year’s Vanity Fair Oscar party, where ‘it’ girl Sydney Sweeney donned the dress again.

If you’ve seen Shania Twain’s iconic music video for That Don’t Impress Me Much, you’re already familiar with one of Bouwer’s previous designs — her head-to-toe cheetah print outfit.

The look became so famous that today it is commonly copied and transformed into Halloween costumes.

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