Celebrity Stylist Brad Goreski on Dressing Hollywood, Growing Up in Canada
Brad Goreski has worked with celebrities in their most vulnerable moments.
Aug. 15, 2012— -- Celebrity stylist Brad Goreski gets paid to make his famous clients red carpet-ready, but all the work that goes into creating a flawless look isn't easy.
Goreski has worked with numerous celebrities -- Demi Moore, Rashida Jones, Christina Ricci, just to name a few -- and he often sees them in their most vulnerable moments.
"I want my clients to trust me," he said. "I mean, they're naked in front of you when they feel skinny. They are naked in front of you when they are bloated off of a plane. They are pregnant in front of you."
Recently, he dressed Jessica Alba in a Grecian-inspired Michael Kors gown for the esteemed Met Ball -- often referred to as the Super Bowl of the fashion world.
It seems Goreski has already lived a full life, and he is just getting started. In his new memoir, "Born to Be Brad," released in May, Goreski detailed the struggles he faced growing up gay in Ontario, Canada, his battles with drug addiction, and going from being the right-hand man to Rachel Zoe, the renowned stylist to the stars, to breaking out on his own.
"I'm not even 35 yet and to write a memoir is a little aggressive, some might say," he told 'Nightline.' "But I really felt like, after I left my job at Rachel Zoe, that a huge chapter in my life had closed and I was on to new beginnings."
Get Brad Goreski Tips for Looking Trendy
The Canadian native grew up in Port Perry, Ontario, a city with a "non-existent" fashion scene, Goreski said. His family was never interested in trends and he didn't dream of becoming a stylist.
"I went to school to be an actor in Canada and realized I hated auditions once I left, which is a huge problem if you want to get a part," he said.
Goreski said the turning point came when he moved to Los Angeles nine years ago and his boyfriend encouraged him to look into fashion. Even then, the celebrity stylist said he didn't think he wanted to do it.
"I wanted to be a fashion journalist, so I started to study English, and then I did an internship at Vogue and everything changed for me," he said. "I saw what editors did, and I knew I wanted to be around clothes and I didn't want to be writing about it. I wanted to be producing it."
Eventually, Goreski landed a job that would catapult his career into the A-list ring of Hollywood's elite. In 2008, he was hired as the style director for Rachel Zoe, who became a household name after her Bravo reality TV show, "The Rachel Zoe Project," took off.
Goreski left Zoe's company in 2010 to fly solo and now is the star of his own Bravo reality show, "It's a Brad, Brad World." Now a sought-after celebrity stylist in his own right, Goreski said he tries not to be seen in the same outfit twice and jovially admitted that some of his looks have ended up on "worst dressed" lists.
"I've been on it a couple of times and I think it's hilarious," he said.
Goreski said he got a good laugh out of it when he went to visit his grandmother in Port Perry and she had tacked a photo of him from Star Magazine's worst dressed list.
"I was like, 'Grandma, you do realize that picture you have on your wall is of them saying I look terrible, right?' And she said, 'I think you look cute,'" Goreski said. "I said, 'if grandma approves, then I don't really care what they have to say.'"
Related Stories
ABC News Live