A Different Kind of Gift Guide
When gifting free sh*t to celebs became "a thing"
1999 was peak Gwyneth. While she’s had significant eras since (we’ve all been Gooped for years now), 1999 was the moment she transcended A-list actress status—winning the Oscar for Shakespeare in Love—to become a bona fide style icon. It was truly her time, and coincidentally, it was also the moment when “gifting” became a verb.
At the time, I was working for one of Hollywood’s most powerful PR agencies, BWR, in their New York office. My boss and I were tasked with launching a beauty and fashion division to complement the agency’s star-studded celebrity roster (think Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon at their Good Will Hunting peak, and Sarah Michelle Gellar in her Buffy prime). You get the picture.
Looking back, I realize this was the precise moment Hollywood collided with the beauty and fashion worlds. It was the dawn of the celebrity stylist, the celebrity makeup artist, and the celebrity hairstylist. And there were no rules. I had a list of every star in Hollywood and their respective publicist, which I’d routinely cold-call to ask if they wanted free makeup for an awards show or jewelry for a late-night TV appearance. It was a wild, heady time full of improvisation and experimentation—a “throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks” era.
That spirit is how I landed my client Trish McEvoy as Angelina Jolie’s makeup artist for her first Golden Globe win in 1998 for Gia. I cold-called her manager (she didn’t even have a publicist!) and arranged for Trish to jet out to LA. She ended up at Angelina’s Hollywood home, doing her makeup while sipping champagne with Angie’s mom.
The point is, it was the perfect storm: celebrity PR agencies branching into beauty and fashion, combined with a media landscape hungry for these stories. InStyle Magazine was the biggest influence of all. “Gifting” celebrities became our go-to strategy for getting press for our clients. Back then, we’d send them jewelry, makeup, clothes—and they were thrilled to play along. They’d wear the items for coordinated paparazzi shoots or on talk shows, happy just to be “gifted.” As publicists, we were happy to keep our clients satisfied. There were no multi-million-dollar contracts, no non-compete clauses—oh, how times have changed!
Anyway, I came across these photos from some of the client placements we worked on back then. As you unwrap your own Christmas and Hanukkah gifts today, let’s take a trip back in time to appreciate the innocent days of 1999, when “gifting” first became a thing.
Enjoy!
Notice the Stella McCartney sunglasses with the little rhinestone heart, and the strapless tube top, no doubt Calvin Klein
Who remembers when Gwyneth dated Ben?? They apparently dated on and off between 1997 to 2000. This was post Brad breakup. Many years later Gwyneth went on to say that Affleck was “technically excellent” in bed but Brad was more romantic. Ha!
The magazine that started it all! For your product to appear in the pages of In Style, you had to give them at least two celebrity names that you had to “swear” used the product. They never fact-checked though.
An example of the start of the “gifting” craze in the pages if In Style. Our clients were Penny Preville jewelry, Trish McEvoy and Salon AKS.
Another BWR client at the time, Salma Hayek. Now married to Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of Kering, Salma doesn’t need to be gifted anyone else’s jewelry ever again!
Brooke was so sweet to work with. She sent the jewelry back to me even though it was a present.
