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"It fits me so well," says Clinton Kelly, smoothing his black pinstriped Armani jacket. "After three tailoring jobs, it fits perfectly. I feel so self-assured and powerful whenever I wear this." As his 37th birthday approaches, fashion journalist, magazine editor, and television co-hostKelly, BC '91, has more reasons than his jacket to feel confident and in control.
Growing up in the town of Port Jefferson on the North Shore of Long Island, Clinton Kelly is a self-proclaimed resident of "the home of the '80's mullet and the big White Snake hair." He describes his high school years as being "a preppy with a partial mullet." His honesty and ability to laugh at his own fashion faux pas is what he says got him into the business in the first place.
"It wasn't really a conscious choice," he says about entering fashion journalism. "I've always liked clothing and prided myself on being well-dressed. Many people label me as a fashionista - I abhor that term. It's not like I have an altar to Tom Ford or Coco Chanel in my living room."
Aside from abstaining from the term fashionista, Kelly can effectively and accurately critique the fashion and style that he comes in contact with. "BC from 1987-1991 was the pleated khakis capital of the world," he jokes.
During the Boston College Magazine "Master Class: Alumni in Residence" event, Kelly explains to BCM editor and moderator Ben Birnbaum, and a packed McGuinn 121 lecture hall, that while he may have spent his dining hall money on an expensive Neiman Marcus tie, he also grappled with changing majors multiple times.
"I was one class away from a B.A. in geosciences, but ended up graduating with a major in communication." While some would have been flustered by this indecision, Kelly embraced it. "I'm a big advocate of the liberal arts system here at BC. It helped me tremendously during my time as a freelance journalist and in life - I know a little about a lot of different things."
It was this ability to explore different options that gives Kelly such a wide range of topics to write about and knowledge to pull from. "The University Chorale was hands-down the best thing about BC. I was president, something of a full-time job. I lived on Lyons fourth floor." Before making his way to his alma mater, Kelly spent the weekend visiting friends from Chorale still living in Boston.
After graduating from BC, Kelly was accepted to the Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, where he received his Masters in journalism in 1992. Kelly was fortunate enough to get a job right out of school at a trade magazine in New York City, Sports Style, where he worked for a year.
He continued his journalism career in New York, working as a freelance writer and editor.
His status as a freelancer changed the day he spotted an issue of Marie Claire on a friend's coffee table. "This is absolutely ridiculous," he recalls saying as he skimmed the pages, "And I love it. This magazine would be so much fun to work for." Promising the editors of Marie Claire 100 new story ideas if they would give him a chance, he worked his way up to contributing editor.
Even though distanced from his position there, Kelly still remembers working on "the idea and editing behind the Marie Claire article 'What Makes Me Different Makes Me Beautiful.' It was about five women, each with uncharacteristically beautiful features, like freckles or a gap between her front teeth." He recalls how, while traveling on a bus in downtown New York, one afternoon he overheard a woman reading this story out loud, gushing over every word. "I was so proud. I wanted to shout out 'That's from Marie Claire! I wrote that!'"
He went on to do a stint at Q2, an offshoot of the QVC home shopping network for a young, urban market. He would eventually be hired as women's magazine Mademoiselle's advice columnist, Joe L'Amour.
It seems that luck has always been on Kelly's side. Just when he was itching for a change from penning the Mademoiselle advice column, his friend became part of the re-launch of men's magazine DNR, offering Kelly the position of executive editor at a men's magazine.
Two and a half years ago, Clinton decided to make another change to the world of reality television, horrific clothing combinations, and Stacey London.
The Learning Channel's What Not To Wear offered Kelly a co-host position directing women in choosing flattering clothing and giving them a $5,000 shopping spree to enhance their current wardrobe.
Even with his background in fashion journalism, Kelly "literally didn't know how to make normal people look great after working at photo shoots with models. Models are the freaks of nature, a small minority of people who were lucky and hit the genetic jackpot. Learning how to dress real people in flattering outfits is something that comes out of experience."
TLC's hit makeover show reaches over eight million viewers per week, with co-hosts Kelly and London filming 50 shows per year.
Even now, Kelly recognizes that style and appearance has been a journey.
"At BC, a friend and I would sit around McElroy and rip apart what people were wearing. We thought everyone else was doing it, and it was something we should be doing, too. It ended up turning me into a very negative person, and since then I've vowed never to be like that again," he says. It's a philosophy that Kelly brings to the set of his show.
From What Not To Wear, Kelly and co-host London felt the growing need for a style guide. "Actually, the reason that Stacey [London] and I decided to write Dress Your Best was because people ask us for advice all the time. When I walk through the streets, I have people asking me the same questions a hundred times, 'How does this look? What do you think of this outfit?' Now, we can just say 'read the book.'"
At the end of the day, Kelly considers clothing a reflection of self: "How you dress and carry yourself tells the rest of the world how you deserve to be treated, and judging and criticizing your body is a waste of time.
"If J. Lo sat around obsessing about the size of her ass, she would be wasting her energy and certainly wouldn't be where she is today."
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