In red carpet circles, there’s an unwritten rule: criticise the outfit, not the woman. However, social media – and certain gossip websites – see to it that this convention is often ignored. And so, like it or not, stylist Lana Wilkinson’s work can receive some harsh scrutiny.
“It doesn’t feel great [to get bad reviews], but it doesn’t bother me like it used to,” she says. “Because as long as the client doesn’t feel that way, and I don’t feel that way ..
. that’s all that matters.” After 13 Brownlow Medals, including the two during the pandemic, Wilkinson, 42, has seen – and done – it all.
She’s deployed voluminous gowns to help women hide early pregnancies, scrambled for replacement dresses and shoes when clients gave her the wrong size, and once had a clothes steamer helicoptered to Flemington during the Melbourne Cup Carnival to fix a wrinkled dress on a visiting international celebrity. The Brownlow has been held at Crown Melbourne since 1997 (except for the virtual 2020-21 years, and 2002, when it was held at what’s now Marvel Stadium), so it’s fitting that Wilkinson and I are lunching at , the Japanese restaurant situated a few steps from where the AFL’s best players – and their partners – will walk the red carpet on Monday night. “I’ve had some of the biggest things in my career happen here [at Crown],” Wilkinson says.
Arguably though, the biggest had nothing to do with football. It was getting the opportunity to dress her .