Jennifer Lopez: Actress, Singer...Wireless Store Entrepreneur?

She's a singer, actress, dancer and all-around entrepreneur. With her new network NUVOtv already launched, what's someone like Jennifer Lopez to do?

Well, J.Lo isn't one to just sit around, she's one to take action. On Friday, she launched her new retail store Viva Móvil in Brooklyn with partner Verizon Wireless.

Lopez shared, “There was no better place to debut Viva Móvil than right here in my home city of New York. We have found the best and the brightest to create a convenient and comfortable shopping experience where customers will really feel the spirit of the community.”

The native New Yorker is definitely giving back to the Latino community as of late. This store will offer a fully bilingual staff to assist customers in Spanish or English. All of the employees were outfitted in fashionable uniforms that were selected by Lopez. The best part is the unique scent that the entertainer selected for a pleasant shopping environment.

Families will love the Kids Zone with comfy seating and the opportunity to play with Samsung tablets and kid-friendly apps. Adults can shop from a plethora of electronics or pick out their favorite JLo-designed Smartphone case.

More stores with the J.Lo signature shopping experience are expected to open around the country.

For more information: Viva Móvil 

Photo Credit: Wireimage

The Stylist Edition

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Update:  To read the 2012 Stylist edition, click here.  

During Awards Season, I was commenting about the importance of a stylist and how they were critical in organizing an overall look for the celebrity based on their shape, personality, coloring, etc.  While some stylists are uber-high profile like Rachel Zoe, other stylists remain in the background doing all of the legwork for the big march down the red carpet.  It can be challenging to find out who is dressing the stars.  Well, my questions were answered by this week's shiny new Hollywood Reporter magazine that came in the mail.  Remember when I was questioning Amy Adams stylist?  Well, I am going to share some of the highlights from The Hollywood Reporter's Top 25 Stylists and I think some of the stylist/celeb pairings are going to surprise you.  (Because there are 25 stylists to go through, I will comment on certain ones and the others I will just list who they dress.)

Photo Courtesy of Amanda Lyons

1. Rachel Zoe:  Duh, of course. She put together 8 divine outfits for Anne Hathaway at The 83rd Annual Academy Awards.  That tux was the piece de resistance, in my opinion.  Also dresses: Jennifer Garner, Eva Mendes, Liv Tyler, Demi Moore (Although recent rumors have her defecting to former Zoe assistant, Brad Goreski.)

2. Kate Young:  Natalie Portman's stylist all season long.  I am not sure I agree with this because of the misguided Golden Globes dress, but the Rodarte dress at the Oscars was a winner.  Also dresses:  Alicia Keyes.

Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images

3. Petra Flannery:  Petra would have been number 2 in my book because made Mila Kunis into a red carpet movie star this year.  Mila did not have a single fashion misstep all season. Her other client, Hailee Steinfeld, was dressed age appropriately and simply looked fresh and lovely at the Oscars in Marchesa. Also dresses:  Zoe Saldana.

4. Jen Rade:  Another controversial one in my book because she has big hits like Angelina Jolie, but big misses like The Office's Jenna Fischer.  I love Jenna, but she never looks styled at any red carpet.  In fact, I was surprised to hear she used a stylist, that's how ill-fitting her dresses look.  I think this stylist/celeb pairing needs rethinking because Jenna deserves to shine like the beauty that she is.  Also dresses:  Pink, Cher.

5. Anna Bingemann:  Dresses Claire Danes, Naomi Watts, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Tina Fey.

6. Cristina Ehrlich:  Okay, we finally have the answer!!  This is who dresses Amy Adams. This is another pairing that isn't working. Amy is stunning and I always feel like her dresses miss the mark or they are styled with the wrong jewelry like at the Oscars this year.  Also dresses:  Penelope Cruz, Julianne Hough, Kyra Sedgwick, Ashley Green, Julianna Margulies.

7. Deborah Waknin:  Dresses Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock.  (That's some A-list star wattage!)

8. Elizabeth Stewart:  This one may be controversial for some of you, but Cate Blanchett looked amazing in person.  The fault of the stylist on the Givenchy Couture dress is that it did not photograph well. That is also a part of their job to make sure it translates well live and on camera.  Also dresses:  Jennifer Lawrence, Amanda Seyfried, Kristin Davis, Viola Davis.

9. Leslie Fremar: Dresses Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore, Charlize Theron.

10. Jeanne Yang:  Dresses Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, Christian Bale, and Melissa Leo (That Marc Bower dress at the Oscars was terrible and she will forever be the 2011 Oscar winner in that dress!)

11. Leith Clark:  Dresses Michelle Williams, Keira Knightley.

12. Estee Stanley:  Dresses Jessica Biel, Lea Michele.  This is a good stylist for young Hollywood as she has done a great job with putting Lea on the fashion map.

Nicole Kidman at the 2011 Grammys.

13. L'Wren Scott:  She's a designer and a stylist, but whoa--she was all over the map with her client, Nicole Kidman, this season.  Nicole has always been a fashion icon, but I don't think her fashion choices this year hit the mark except for the dress she wore to the Grammys.

14. Jessica Paster:  She used to be THE stylist to go to before the Top 10 crop of stylists came forward and made their fashion mark.  Dresses:  Annette Bening, Emily Blunt.

15. Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn:  Dresses Jennifer Lopez, Rachel McAdams, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, and Rihanna.  They've done a great job with J Lo's "comeback" on American Idol and giving her short dresses to showcase those Venus razor sponsored legs.  She looks fabulous.

16. Maryam Malakpour:  Dresses Heidi Klum, Courtney Cox, The Rolling Stones. (Yep, even old rock stars have a stylist.)

17.  Tanya Gill:  I was surprised to see Tanya this far down the list.  She dressed a very polished Hillary Swank this year.  Hillary's looks at the Oscars and the SAG Awards really hit the mark.  They weren't fashion game changers, but they offered up a softer side of the perennially buff Swank.  Also dresses:  Jane Fonda, Kate Winslet.

18. Tiina Laakonen:  Dresses Carey Mulligan.  I think we will all be hearing more from this stylist in the next few years with a high profile client like Carey.  She's definitely one to watch.

19. George Kotsiopoulos: You know him from E!'s Fashion Police.  He dresses Freida Pinto, Kristen Stewart, Kerry Washington, Katy Perry, and Kathryn Bigelow.  I expect him to be more of a TV personality versus a stylist with his new found TV fame.

20. Nicole Chavez:  Yikes, she dressed Scarlett Johansson this year.  That outfit was on trend with the lace, but it fit snugly in all of the wrong places.  I was about two feet away from Scarlett on the red carpet at the Oscars and this beautiful actress with an incredible body did not look her best.  Also dresses:  Rachel Bilson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Katherine Heigel.

21. Annabel Tollman:  Dresses Jessica Simpson, Cynthia Nixon, and formerly, Scarlett Johansson. (Go back to her, Scarlett!)

22. Brad Goreski:  One of my personal faves from Bravo's The Rachel Zoe Project, but he's now on his own dressing Jessica Alba.  Truth be told,  I want the real skinny:  Did Demi Moore defect to Brad?

23. June Ambrose:  Dresses Diddy, Jay Z, Kelly Ripa, and Mariah Carey.  (Eh.  Do any of these celebs make an impressive fashion mark?)

24. Samantha McMillen:  Dresses Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Nicole Richie at the 2010 Oscars.

25. Simone Harouche:  I cannot believe she is only number 25.  She is one of my favorites for creating Nicole Richie's current look after Nicole parted ways with Rachel Zoe.  On the flip side, she is also dressed Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus, so maybe that is why she is stuck in the number 25 position.

Well, there you have it, a fashion stylist bible all thanks to The Hollywood Reporter and a few added comments from me.  I also tried to link as many of the stylists' websites for you to peruse, it is surprising how many stylists hide behind their agency's websites versus becoming a brand like Rachel Zoe. (But that is another topic for another day!) The Style Issue is dated March 18, 2011 if you want to pick up a copy of this week's edition with Rachel Zoe on the cover.  I am keeping this one handy because we are going to need it with the next award season beginning in only 5 months.  Yep, Emmys season is just around the corner.  Be sure to comment below because I would love to hear your thoughts on some of these stylists and see if you agree with me or not.

To view my 2012 Top 25 Stylists article, click here.

January Wrap-Up

View from the back of Angie Harmon's Monique Lhuillier dress. Photo from Go Fug Yourself.

I don't think I ever gave much thought to Angie Harmon, but apparently, many others do.  In fact, she has her own fan club on Twitter called the Twangels.  I am not making this stuff up, kids.  They came out in full force emailing me, commenting on the blog, and Tweeting me about how I was wrong about the dress.  I figured the two final judges on fashion, Go Fug Yourself and Joan Rivers from E!'s Fashion Police, would be the final word as to whether I was completely wrong or whether my comments had a bit of validity to them.  Joan called the dress a "gay Swiffer" and the Fug Girls?  Well, they said it was "Fug, not Fab".  The bottom line, it's just an opinion and I really think Angie felt beautiful because she was beaming in all of her red carpet photos.  At the end of the day, that's all that really matters, isn't it?

Now that we have reached the end of the month.  Here are the absurd searches that drew many readers to Red Carpet Closet.  I love these because some are so wacky and I always wonder how Google's algorithm determines that they should stop here.

1.  "Sandra Bullock Botox Golden Globes":  Okay, I didn't write about Sandra's Botox at the Golden Globes, yet HUNDREDS of you were sent here to read about it.  I did write about Jennifer Lopez's Botox which left her frozen in time and unable to move.  Does Sandy do Botox?  Yep.  Does it look unnatural?  Nope.  Remember the next time you are at the dermatologist, "a little dab will do ya".  Don't over-Botox, ladies, it gives you butter face.  You can find the Golden Globes article here. 

2.  "Are Charlie Bodin and Paula Rhodes a couple?":  I can answer this one.  Yes.  And they are engaged.  It's like my blog became Tiger Beat magazine.  I love it.   See their work in A Good Knight's Quest.  Check out my interview with them here.

3.  "Dad is Carpet Cleaning":  Hmmm, you stumped me on this one.  I don't ever offer cleaning tips because it is one of my least favorite things to do.   So, I hope you enjoyed my blog while you helped your dad clean the carpet.  To balance out my least favorite thing, this is my favorite event that I covered from the month of January:  The Academy Award Nominations.

4.  "Detroit Auto Show Carpet":  So many of you want the remnants of the auto show carpets from Detroit.  Believe it or not, the display companies DO sell off the carpet because they only use it for the run of the two week show.  I am not going to give out the names of the display companies since they will be bombarded with calls.  However, a word to the wise, this is the dirtiest carpet you could ever buy.  Over 700,000 attendees walked on your carpet and dragged in germs, salt, snow, and dirt from outside.  Is that the kind of carpet you want in your home?  See highlights from my time in Detroit at NAIAS 2011.

5.  "Olga Kay Sneakers":  I guess this has become the monthly "Ask an Olga Kay Question Center".  One month, her fans were worried about her.  I checked in on Olga and she is doing great!  The next month, they wanted to know how tall she was.  I asked her, she's 5'1".  Now you want to know what type of sneakers she wears.  Sigh, I'll go ask.  Check back later for the response.  In the meantime, check out my interview with her.  

Thanks for making January such a great month here at Red Carpet Closet. I know a lot of you stopped by for red carpet/awards show coverage.  I hope you come back in February because there will be an entire week of wall to wall Oscar coverage.  Yes, I will be there LIVE on February 27th.....and I am so excited!

                

You're Cold Then You're Hot, You're Cold, Cold, Cold And Then You Are Oprah!

Okay, we are going to get this one out of the way. Yes, I am clumsy. A nice little bump and a cut.......do you want to see what I collided with?

Fantastic! The corner of my cabinet in the kitchen. I will defend myself by saying it is the most bizarre construction for a corner cabinet. It hangs over the sink, so when I bent over to scrub a pot....Bump! And ouch!

The bananas continue to invade the State Fair of Texas! So, I have dedicated a whole section to the coveted Texas banana later in this blog.

Now, it's time to discuss the weather. I listen to NBC Dallas meteorologist, Jennifer Lopez (no relation to J.Lo), and she has lied to me every morning. She keeps promising me dry weather and warmer temperatures. Instead, we get this.......

......and this....yes, science experiments in the landscape. I know a little bit of fungi never hurt anyone, but the ground sure is squishy from all of the rain.

So, we need to dress like this........many, many layers.

I will say the little ones look much more fashionable in their winter wear. Jazz hands!

So, the next day at work, it is 94 F and hot........

And super windy!

Oh, and then the following day, it's wet and cold. I bring out the gloves for reinforcements.

But, the bananas are not deterred by the cold weather. They come to see the show and they look pretty happy.

They dance as a part of the opening show entertainment with my co-host, Matt Troyer.....

The banana and the co-host do a tribute to the Macarena.....

Nothing like a little banana background dancing while the ladies perform.

To reward the banana for his excellent movement skills, we gave him a yellow bandana for his head. Look closely.......

Time to dive into the fried food again with the legendary Fletcher's Corny Dog, but this one was special: jalapeño and cheese.

It was delicious........

I didn't like it AT ALL. It definitely rivals a Disneyland corn dog which is the most delicious corn dog in the land.

For dessert, we had a funnel cake. Not as delicious as the Corny Dog, I remember fried dough tasting better when I was younger. We didn't even finish it......so, is that a calorie and fried food point saved??

Don't worry, I am not getting too fat here. There is yoga in the conference room from time to time.

And then on Sunday, the Queen of America arrived with security, a police escort, and helicopters. May I introduce you to my best friend, Oprah?

Sitting next to her was her other BFF, Gayle and her makeup artist, Reggie Wells. Reggie ran around to the open window and performed makeup touch-ups so all of the "candid" photos would be picture perfect.

Suzy and Oprah hanging out at the Fair.......

Me and Oprah contemplating our next move......do we go to the fried butter booth or ride the Big Texas ferris wheel?

People are frantic to capture her photo....this is everyone running after her vehicle. Don't worry, she will be driving back THREE more times for a "spontaneous" visit all captured for Monday's show when Oprah visits the State Fair of Texas.

I am in the final leg of my trip here in Texas. It really has been such a fun month. I will post the final week's photos soon, so you can experience my taste of fried butter, a ride on Big Texas, and all of the fashions as the weather goes from cold to hot to rainy all over again.

Thanks, Y'all!
Make sure to check out the other State Fair Photos:

Part 1: Opening Day.
Part 2: Day 4.
Part 3: Days 5, 6, 7, 8!
Part 4: A Long, Wet Weekend.