There are dozens of events that could mark the high points of Hollywood stylist David Thomas’s career – dressing A-list celebrities for the Grammys, helping Kylie’s transition from girl next door to the hottest thing in pop, or being the man who first put Boy George in a statement hat, but Prince Charles personally asking him to write a book about his journey has got to be among them.
Gloucester boy David started his working life as a plumber’s apprentice but with sheer bravado and a little help from The Prince’s Trust he is now one of Hollywood’s elite stylists. Chances are if you see a superchic gent on an American red carpet these days, David has dressed him from top to toe.
When he was a teenager growing up in Churchdown and experimenting with crimped orange hair and make-up, or white socks and Sta Prest trousers, he dreamed of living in California and meeting his idol Boy George.
Today George is a long-term client and close friend and David lives in LA in a house with a pool that sits in the highly-desirable Hollywood Hills area, just below the famous sign.
Not bad for a lad who was told he would never pass his exams and had better get himself a trade PDQ.
He bagged a job as an assistant working for Judy Blame – Boy George’s stylist and jewellery designer, before working as a freelance assistant to Tatler fashion editor and style guru Isabella Blow.
Soon he became Boy George’s number one man. “He still occasionally visits my family in Churchdown and sleeps on the sofa.” George was also friendly with David’s auntie, Sue Privett, who died at the family home in Gloucestershire in 2013, with support from Longfield’s hospice at home team.
The Minchinhampton-based charity held an auction and exhibition in late November – The Big Heart auction – and George donated a unique piece of his own artwork, dedicated to Sue.