Salma Hayek and Other Stars Who Stiff Their Stylists

Despite the millions of dollars they make from their movies, many celebrities cannot be bothered to pay the stylists who make them look like a million bucks on the red carpet.

New York magazine reports that stars pay very little to look perfect during awards season, borrowing their couture handbag from Dior and costly diamonds from Cartier.

Even their stylists -- the men and women who do all the dirty work, begging and borrowing to create the star's stunning image -- often perform their feats for free in return for "exposure." If a celeb's movie studio won't spring for her stylist, chances are she won't either, the magazine revealed.

"Honestly, Salma [Hayek] never paid a dollar, I don't think, in all the years I've worked for her," confided stylist Phillip Bloch, adding that many of his other "top-tier clients" never paid him either.

The Hollywood Reporter cited an industry insider who downplayed the four-figure daily rate some stylists are reputed to rake in. "Often we're expected to work for free," she said. "Anyone who says they don't is lying."

She explained the reason her colleagues are willing to work on the cheap is to retain access to celebrity clients. "If it's an existing client, you don't want to piss off their PR person because being friends with the PR people is how you get jobs. It's worth it to dress a hot 22-year-old actress."

Ironically, some of the top stylists like Rachel Zoe -- whose daily rate has three zeros - make it seems like stylists are always paid well for their work. The business savvy blonde has made a cottage industry of being a celebrity stylist, turning her name into both a brand and a company, Rachel Zoe, Inc., and starring in her own reality TV show on Bravo, "The Rachel Zoe Project."

Zoe and others have helped make it almost mandatory for movie studios to pay fat fees to stylists during awards season -- from the Golden Globes to the Oscars -- as well as for stars to look fabulous at film festivals, movie premieres and TV appearances to promote their films.

But if the studio won't pay, chances are the star won't either. That was the case for Nicole Kidman who asked for $100,000 to pay for her stylist and others in her beauty entourage to make her look ravishing at the Rome Film Festival to promote her low-budget indie film "Fur." The studio balked, and instead of coughing up the cash herself, Kidman refused to go to Rome. "It was cheaper for us if she didn't support the film," said a marketing exec for the movie.

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