The Art of Style: Brad Goreski

Brad Goreski has worked hard to become a successful stylist. And he remains chic, even under pressure.

Case in point: During the first season of It’s a Brad, Brad World — the 2012 Bravo reality television series that chronicled the launch of Goreski’s styling business — there is an emotional moment captured on camera when Goreski confides in his then-boyfriend (now fiancé), writer Gary Janetti, about just how challenging his new venture is.

“I’m getting to do the thing that I’ve always wanted to do, and it’s just overwhelming sometimes,” Goreski admits. Even amid tears, Goreski appears stylish, wearing a short-sleeve magenta button-down shirt and horn-rimmed glasses.

Goreski was no stranger to baring his soul on reality television as he aspired to make a name for himself as a stylist. Audiences became familiar with Goreski’s sparkling personality and vibrant fashion sense — he often wears sharp suits in a lively color accentuated with a bow tie — on another Bravo series, The Rachel Zoe Project. That show followed well-known stylist Zoe as she prepped celebrities for the red carpet and other fashionable events. Goreski worked as a fashion assistant for Zoe from 2008 until he decided to forge his own styling career in 2010.

“When the cameras are on you, you end up playing the best and worst versions of yourself,” said Goreski who earned his bachelor’s degree in art history from USC Dornsife in 2007.

“On It’s a Brad, Brad World, people were genuinely watching me start my business and go through the ups and downs,” he said. “I was getting jobs and losing jobs. It was an emotional roller coaster for me, and to have it all filmed, too. That was an added pressure.”

Those days of uncertainty are behind him now. As a stylist, Goreski, 38, has a growing client list of glamorous celebrities including Demi Moore, Rashida Jones, Lea Michele and Sarah Hyland. This year, he joined E! Entertainment Television’s Fashion Police as a co-host, and signed on as creative director of the retail clothing brand C. Wonder. He has also worked as the exclusive brand stylist for Kate Spade New York.

Goreski cut his teeth in the fashion world interning in the New York offices of Vogue and W magazines. Those experiences inspired him to study art history at USC Dornsife.

“At Vogue I saw all of the fashion editors with stacks and stacks of books on painting and photography,” Goreski said. “They were all marked and tagged, and the editors all knew so much about different periods of costume design and sculpture. It influenced the way that they would construct their photoshoots. I thought, ‘Well, I better get a hold on this.’ ”

“Being an art history major really helped to fine tune the way that I see things, and obviously that’s a skill that’s useful when I’m dressing a client for the Oscars,” Goreski said.

He chose USC because of its reputation for small classes and one-on-one time with professors, and for turning out successful alumni.

“That was really appealing to me,” said Goreski, who grew up in the small town of Port Perry in Ontario, Canada. “Coming from Canada and living in L.A., I thought that USC would be the quintessential California and university experience, which it was.”

At USC Dornsife, Goreski found inspiration in the opulence of Rococo style and, in particular, the grandeur of Madame de Pompadour, a longtime mistress of King Louis XV who influenced French culture and arts.

“I loved the idea of court life and everything that was associated with it, especially the way that everyone dressed,” Goreski said.

He also fell in love with works by the contemporary photographer Nikki S. Lee. In her photo series “Projects,” Lee adopts the style of different social groups — skateboarders, hip hop musicians, young urban professionals — and poses alongside them in photographs.

“I’m so fascinated by the way that she approaches photography and documents cultures in America,” Goreski said.

One of the highlights of his time at USC Dornsife was a course that took place at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, which is modeled after a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy.

“We got to spend the entire afternoon learning about the art and construction of villas in an actual villa in California,” Goreski said. “It was a really incredible experience, and a way to live the class that we were taking. I think that the exposure to so much art in Los Angeles really helped to influence the things that we were taught.”

Goreski sees his training in art history come into play in his work as a stylist.

“One of the main ways is knowing how things are composed and how colors go together — what’s appealing to the eye,” he said. “Being an art history major really helped to fine tune the way that I see things, and obviously that’s a skill that’s useful when I’m dressing a client for the Oscars.

“I also think in terms of putting together a concept for a photoshoot or a mood board or any of those things that we use in styling all the time, having a database of visual references is incredibly useful. Whether it’s color blocking or the graphics of Mondrian, you’re always seeing artistic influences in whatever you’re doing.”

Now that he is five years into running his own styling business, Goreski said that he is grateful to work with so many incredible people and to get to do so many different things within his field.

“I get to work in a business that I only dreamed of,” he said. “I had no idea how I was going to go from a small town in Canada to having my hands on trays of Harry Winston diamonds that I’m taking to some of the most beautiful women in the world to get them ready for the most glamorous night in Hollywood. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t shake my head and say, ‘How did this happen?’

“I’m just incredibly thankful. I was prepped and educated really well as a Trojan.”

Read more stories from USC Dornsife Magazine‘s Fall 2015-Winter 2016 issue >>