`I arrived in JFK airport 10 years ago with two pairs of pants and a sweater. I certainly didn't own a Prada suit, and now look at me!" says Edward O'Sullivan. Look indeed - O'Sullivan is the personal shopper at Prada on Fifth Avenue in New York, a role that sees him dressing stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Leonardo di Caprio and Kevin Bacon. If you see paparazzi shots of Tom Cruise wearing a sharp Prada suit to a premiere, that's Edward's work. Catherine Zeta Jones at an award ceremony? Uma Thurman at the Oscars? They've all been to see Edward.
Such is his renown, the New York Times style section recently ran a piece describing Edward's own personal style, and the particular way he wears an Ascot tie. Not bad work for a boy from Castleisland, Co Kerry.
"When I tell people at home that I work in Prada, they think it's a bar," laughs O'Sullivan, chatting in between clients from New York. "People don't really understand exactly what I do. I think they think I work in the equivalent of Dunnes for $5 an hour." It's understandable, because there is no real equivalent to the New York-style personal shopper here in Ireland. Edward admits that it is hard to get an appointment with him - "they have to excite me" - he picks and chooses whom he wants to dress, and he has been head-hunted by other companies for his fabulous client list. When a lucky client does get an appointment they are whisked up a private elevator to three secluded dressing rooms, where they get Edward's undivided attention. "Well it's only practical really" says O'Sullivan. "We had Madonna come into the shop, and it caused mayhem with people following her in off the street." Instead O'Sullivan might have Jennifer Lopez in one dressing room, Brooke Shields in another, and a top New York socialite in the third: "I just put the three of them in together at the same time and they might become the best of friends or they might end up having a cat fight," he laughs.
So security aside, why do the stars actually need a personal shopper? "I can put together a look for them. They might be brilliant in their own fields, but a lot of them just can't dress themselves. I mean Tom Cruise might come into me and I'll put together some looks for him, because he doesn't know how to dress. But I might also recommend a hair dresser or where to get a facial." O'Sullivan believes that the nature of celebrity demands stars to look like stars at all times, whether it's at a movie premiere or popping out to get a pint of milk.
"They always have to look better than the rest of us so we buy into that idea of glamour. Money's no object, these people have to look good." Of course, this is all good news for Prada - when a star is snapped dressed head to toe in Prada, or even wearing one or two vital accessories, it can be enough to start a whole trend on the street. Letting the press know just who is going to be wearing Prada, and where, is another part of Edward's daily routine. "People definitely like to see a VIP wearing something and know that they can buy it too." So how on earth did a Kerry man end up dressing the stars? "I was always interested in fashion, even as a child. You don't get many young boys reading British Vogue in Castleisland, but that was me." He headed over to stay with an aunt in Queens, New York at the age of 18 - "so fast I left skids under me". A string of jobs followed, as a waiter, a busboy, and even briefly as a model with top agency Elite.
However, his introduction to fashion was working at a shirt shop called Addison & Madison, in their Trump Tower branch, which was followed by a stint at the Inwear/Matinique store. Like all good fairy stories, his big break came when he served the president of super-chic department store, Barneys and she liked his style. Within years he was the head sales person for Chanel women's wear at Barneys. "It was just when Chanel was getting very hot. I didn't have a clue but I learnt very quickly. I had a flair, I suppose."
When Connie Darrol moved from Barneys to head Prada, she soon made the call to O'Sullivan who followed her there as a sales person. It wasn't long before he was head-hunted by Helmut Lang, who promoted him to the position of director of special sales, "looking after press and celebrities and friends of Helmut's". He looks on the 10 years it took him to get where he is now as his "college years. People say to me did you not go to college and I say `I did my training, I learnt everything I know on the shop floor'. It was obviously a good education, because Prada soon came looking for O'Sullivan again and promoted him to personal shopper.
O'Sullivan is admirably unfazed by working with the rich and famous. "When you strip everything away, they're just normal people, and most of them are the nicest people. I always see myself as on their level - I'm not very pushy but I don't take their bullshit either." He remembers the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy as particularly beautiful and chic, while an "English band who were drunk" are the only incident he can remember of people really behaving badly. Nor is he particularly astonished by the amounts of money that changes hands for frocks and suits - "I had one lady come in and spend £40,000 on a Saturday afternoon".
He attributes much of his success to his strong Irish accent. "People say to me have you not lost your accent and I say are you joking, baby, it's worth a million dollars. People really relate to it. I make it even stronger if I'm trying to make a sale." The Irish connection helps to relax people, particularly members of the extended Kennedy clan like Maria Shriver and her husband Arnold Schwarzenegger, while the Irish abroad are astonished when their sleek personal shopper has a thicker accent than them. "The Cranberries were in shock, I think."
So which of the sexes does Edward like dressing best? "I love making women look beautiful, I really do. I mean, men are men. They're not so open to suggestion. If you suggest a pair of red pants they'll wait until they see 20 other people wearing red pants before they'll wear them. But really, I just love dressing people; it's my favourite thing."
