“In L.A. right now, if your house didn’t burn down, you are helping those whose houses did burn down,” said celebrity stylist Elizabeth Stewart, accurately capturing the mood of Angelenos continuing to grapple with the deadly wildfires that have destroyed more than 12,000 homes, businesses and schools, and displaced 88,000 people as of Tuesday.
Although Stewart — whose clients include Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain and Julia Roberts — lives in Santa Monica, her kids went to school in the Pacific Palisades, which was destroyed by the blazes, and she considers the people there “her family.”
So last week, when she started packing a bag of clothing and supplies from her fashion studio to give to a friend in need, she realized she could do a lot more for a lot more people.
She and stylist Jordan Grossman started a document, sending it out through friends, to tally up requests for help. “I was getting tons of texts describing people who lost everything and didn’t have a lot of money to replace it. There’s a public perception that everyone is rich and there are no problems for anyone, but that’s decidedly not the case,” Stewart said.
The list has grown to 160. “The emails are heartbreaking. It’s disproportionately Altadenans, it’s Palisadean single moms, Palisadean Hollywood crew members and teachers from my kids’ elementary school that burned down,” she said.
Stewart and Grossman have been reaching out to clothing brands and receiving a good response, but the need is urgent since they have organized an in-person event on Friday and many donations are taking longer to arrive.
“I’ve talked to so many people. One woman left her house and didn’t even have a bag; she was just wearing her exercise wear,” Stewart said.
Brands with basics that ideally can be delivered to Santa Monica by Friday, can email [email protected].
“Our focus is the people with immediate need who left their houses with nothing,” Stewart said of the event being staged in an office space in Santa Monica on Friday, where she and other volunteers will work in-person with fire victims. “And beyond that, our focus is to connect everybody helping.”
On Saturday, her team will move into a warehouse, continue working with brands, sending care packages and redirecting aid to who needs it most.
While Stewart is looking for new things, she’s also passionate about reusing and rewearing, as seen through her styling work with Blanchett, who rewore a custom gold sequin Louis Vuitton gown to the Golden Globes earlier this month, after wearing it at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
“What we need is for people to go through their closets and give something they would give to their best friend,” she said of also accepting gently used donations. “People are rallied in L.A. to do whatever they can. They are sending texts asking if they can buy something and send it to someone in need. So we’re also trying to compile that and put a wish list on Amazon. People have lost everything, they need everything.”
