Whitney Houston was not only an amazing singer, but her legacy has superseded even the biggest musical icons of our time. Since her death in 2012, she is the most awarded female in history. Now that was something I didn’t know until I saw the movie Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody. I had attended a very special screening on December 19, 2022 (offical theatrical release December 23, 2022). It was a wonderful holiday treat put on by the Black Design Collective and the African American Film Critics Association, followed by a Q&A with Kevan Hall and Timothy Snell (Whitney Houston’s stylist). Aside from the engaging reception, prior to the movie, attendees were treated with a drink and popcorn. And to everyone’s surprise, immediately after the screening, we were each given an “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” t-shirt! The screening was held at AMC Grove in Los Angeles.
Without any spoilers, we learn about Whitney’s musical beginnings and the role her famous mom Cissy Houston played in helping to develop her daughter’s career. There are a few surprises in this very engaging biographical movie. The film is beautifully directed by Kasi Lemmons with screenplay by Anthony McCarten—a musical masterpiece based on the life and career of the pop singer and actress. It stars Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams, and Clarke Peters. I just want to point out about Naomi Ackie who plays Whitney. The British actress looks nothing like her. And at first, I did take issue with that, but I am not sure when I actually forgot she wasn’t really Whitney. Her role was played so well that by the end of the movie, I actually thought I was watching Whitney Houston. Ackie is a brilliant actress and managed to convince me! If you want to be wowed by incredible musical performances, great cinematography and art direction, and get the backstory on some of the most important moments in Whitney Houston’s career, you will absolutely enjoy every moment of this film!
- Kevan Hall interviews stylist Timothy Snell.
The Q&A
Kevan Hall: [Regarding working with Whitney Houston] so tell me about when you got that call, who you got that call from, and how did you have a start with her?
Timothy Snell: Well, first of all, when I got that call, I almost went to the bathroom and threw up (they laugh) because I never thought that I would ever work with such a great talent, but they were looking for people to work with. My book was sent to her. I had a lot of the top actresses at that time and had done photo shoots with Halle Berry, and others. What made it so interesting for me was that at 19 years old, Whitney Houston was my first concert.
Kevan Hall: Wow, that was an impact.
Timothy Snell: You never know the six degrees of separation of where your life will end up or where you will go. It’s so weird, the fact that I’m sitting there at The Ford Theater, seeing Whitney Houston in concert and many, many years later I get a call that I’m going to be up close and personal with her.
Kevan Hall: Beautiful. So, you eventually meet her. Did you have to go into her closet? Did you have to see what kinds of things she wore?
Timothy Snell: They flew me to Atlanta to work with her for the first time. I showed up with three racks of clothes and I’ll never forget it. She couldn’t have been sweeter. She had on a t-shirt and some jeans. That was kind of her love . . . t-shirts, jeans, and a white shirt. That’s how she liked to dress. She walked in the room, looked through the rack, came over and gave me a big hug and whispered to me, “I trust you baby, just take the rack down to one rack. If you want to make it a half of a rack, it’s okay. I trust you.” She was a simple woman., but she also loved and liked luxury. She appreciated the finer things in life.
Kevan Hall: And your relationship, what was it like working with her?”
Timothy Snell: Well, I always said to her that God put us together because there were so many similarities about Whitney that were crazy. Her favorite number was 7. I grew up at 421 which equals 7. Her middle name was Elizabeth. I grew up on Elizabeth street. And there were so many parallels with our lives [and the fact that she was] raised in the church, our likes, the way we spoke to each other, and how I speak to people. She used to say to me, “I don’t need you to say anything. Your face tells me everything. She had that way about her too. I always felt like she was the other sister that I never had. The relationship was very sweet, very special, and she was herself in front of me. And I think that’s kind of easy because you get naked in front of people all the time. You know, you’re handing her her underwear, stockings, etc. you’re so vulnerable, so exposed in that moment. But I always made her feel comfortable and told her how beautiful and how special she was. And no matter how big you get; we all need to hear that.
Kevan Hall: The first time that I met Whitney, she was going to be performing at the Grammy’s, and so I got a call to take some things over to her to see her. I walked into the Beverly Hills Hotel, The Bungalow, that was her hotel. They put me at the table to wait, and I’m sitting and I’m waiting and waiting and waiting, and then finally she comes out. And speaking of the white t-shirt, Whitney finally comes out wearing a crisp white cotton shirt, diamond earrings, beautiful makeup, and those beautiful long golden legs, spiked heels and strappy sandals. I almost keeled over.
Timothy Snell: Either a tank top or a crisp white shirt in her spare time—buttoned down white shirt and a pair of jeans. One of the things that I loved about Whitney is she knew exactly who she was, she knew her body, she knew what worked on her body, and I think she liked to wear really tight fitted silhouettes that made her look even more statuesque, more beautiful, and even more striking because it pays homage to the look of the Diana Rosses back in the day . . . and Dionne Warwick was her cousin who she really loved and respected. She really wanted to create iconic looks for herself. Looks that wouldn’t be dated.
Kevan Hall: So what do you think were some of those iconic looks? If we were to go back tonight and go to Google or YouTube, what kinds of looks are we looking for?
Timothy Snell: Well, I think anything that is related to Mark Bower, because he set the tone with turtle neck dresses, long silhouettes, long lines, velvet. Whitney loved anything that was shoulder to shoulder; it’s what I call “kiss the shoulder.” She liked to décolletage. If you notice one thing about Whitney, she didn’t wear a lot of jewelry.
Kevan Hall: She was all about the body.
Timothy Snell: It was really hard for me sometimes to even get her in a stud earring. But she just liked her voice to be more of the presence as opposed to the shine and the bling. Her voice was the bling. When you work with people, you try to get into their head.
Kevan Hall: So looking back, do you think there was a faux pas? A look that maybe she came back and said, “you know that really didn’t work out too well.”
Timothy Snell: I think there are a lot of those in people’s lives. The one that she probably would have thought was a bit interesting might have been in the early years. I may have mentioned the dress she wore when she won her first Grammy. I call it the Barbie dress. She didn’t care for that kind of silhouette with puffy sleeves. She didn’t like that kind of thing.
Kevan Hall: Maybe they were going for a different kind of image for her. Maybe they were trying to mold something that she wasn’t really feeling.
Timothy Snell: I think so, but I also think at that time, her mom had a lot to do with how she looked and how she presented herself. But she was still beautiful. She set the tone. By today’s standards, girls are wearing the look of Whitney Houston right now—that whole look [with] the big curly hair, the bows tied at the top of the head, the bodycon dress—all of that stuff is popular today.
Kevan Hall: So, Clive [Davis] signed her at 19. Now we’ve seen her progress. She’s become a movie star, an icon. How did she feel about aging? Where did she want to take this look now?
Timothy Snell: She always used to say to me, “You know what I really want to do? I just want to get older, buy a big house with a big spread.” She had had many big homes. She would say, “I’ve done everything! I’ve been given everything. I have experienced everything. I just want to sit in a rocking chair and just rock.” Before she passed, we had talked about it. Do you remember the L’Oréal commercials with Diane Keaton with the suits and the easiness of it all with the long jackets, pants, etc.? She wanted to go more in that direction and introduce her white shirts to her black tie. I think a lot of the iconic women like Dianne Carroll went that way as well toward her later years.
Kevan Hall: Best video moments.
Timothy Snell: “I’m Every Woman.” I think she was pregnant in that video and she was absolutely striking, she was beautiful; “All the Man I Need”; and she was gorgeous in “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?”—she looked like a classic movie star back in the day. The last major music video I worked on with her was “Million Dollar Bill.” She just looked so fresh and so beautiful and happy.
Kevan Hall: Best film moments. You didn’t really work with her on the films, but what do you like?
Timothy Snell: You’ve got to give it up for The Bodyguard. How glamorous was The Bodyguard? (Audience applause.) The preacher’s Wife was good, but The Bodyguard gave us glam, gave us girl from home, gave us attitude, and it gave us great big clothing. The costume designer was brilliant on it, and it felt real.
Kevan Hall: So, she had all these iconic moments, videos, she’s done all these movies, a big star now. Where are all those fabulous clothes?
Timothy Snell: They’re in archive. There is so much stuff it’s ridiculous. One day it’s going to be presented to the world. There are so many, many, many iconic pieces. One tour she did with Dolce & Gabbana. There are so many iconic pieces just waiting for the world to see.
Kevan Hall: And I understand that you worked on a hologram. What was that about?
Timothy Snell: Well, people were asking me about the hologram, and the first thing I like to say to people is, “you know damn well that’s not Whitney. Now come on! It’s not her. It’s not about that.” But when you see it, you see a silhouette. You see the idea, but what you hear is that voice. It’s out of this world. You get the live performance. It’s all live performance. And Mark Bower worked along with me and he designed most of the items that she wears in that hologram.
Kevan Hall: So, we just saw Naomi Ackie, this incredible film. What are your thoughts?
Timothy Snell: It was hard for me initially to get with the different actress playing Whitney because when you’re so close to somebody, you look for those attributes. And I will say there were a lot of isms that I felt like I was looking at Whitney from time to time.
She sounded like Whitney.
Timothy Snell: Well, she had a vocal coach that she worked with. They would talk with her and work with her before she would go sit and act and perform and do things. I think it’s hard to portray somebody that’s so iconic; it’s just hard to do. She did a great job. It takes a lot. You’ve got to have a lot of nerve to take on Whitney Houston. (Laughter and applause.) Whitney’s not a circle, she’s a square. You never could roll it. She was just totally different. It took a lot, but there was something about the actress’ attitude that they liked. That was who Whitney was. She was a strong woman with a very sensitive heart. And she’s a great lesson to all of us. If we don’t put ourselves first, we will lose. You have to put yourself first. I think that’s the lesson I took away most from the movie. Also thinking about how some of those moments I had a window’s view. So, I knew how tough it could be and how challenging it was. She did a good job.
Kevan: You mentioned about being like a therapist.
Timothy Snell: Well, you are a therapist when you’re dressing people. (Audience murmurs and laughs). It’s more than just the clothes! You have to work on the inside with people to even get them to the point where they want to take a chance. You have to imagine for them. You have to bring the spirit of “yes you can” when you show up, so they can see themselves that way so you can help them be at their best.
Kevan: Waiting to Exhale. What were your thoughts about her in that role? That was an early film for Whitney. Was that her second film?
Timothy Snell: Yes. I think that movie’s character was really a lot like her. There’s that one scene where she’s looking in the mirror, wearing the brown dress and said, “you know if I had enough nerve, I’d get me some boobs?” Well, she got some! (Laughter). I think there was so much parallel to her life. I think she really enjoyed playing a role where she was in an ensemble cast with other women, because she was a strong advocate of strength in black women and women in general just being strong for themselves.
Kevan Hall: I know you’re still in contact with the family. How does the family feel? I know they were part of the production and development of this film. What’s the feedback there?
I think a lot of things they loved. I think a lot of things they probably wished they could change. The family is like this, if we didn’t take on keeping her legacy alive and protecting her legacy, somebody else was going to come along and do it. And they might not do it the right way. So it was important for them to take this on. The partners they have is a big company that is helping to keep her legacy alive. Let’s face it, Whitney is as important as the Elvis’s and the Prince’s, the Marilyn Monroe’s, Elizabeth Taylor’s, she would be remembered years after we’re gone. There will be billboards that Whitney will be on amongst the greats. Whitney did what no other woman could do. She was the most awarded female of all time for many years. I think she has something like 700 awards. She even got awards for the best smile, some of everything you could think of. She was really humble about it, and I think people noticed that. And when you are a person who carries a load, we all look for an escape from something, and it’s important like I said before, you have to put yourself first because you’ve got to have some way of getting rid of the unnecessary things. The way she gave, she gave to the world. I used to stand backstage when I worked with her, and to see her back (she had a swimmer’s back) and to see her back this tight . . . When she would hit those notes, her back would just open up, it’s so amazing that she could have that much power in her voice to push that out night after night after night. You know it’s a lot to give. That’s why I understand why artists are saying, “I’m going to give you all the love I’ve got but I need you to give me some of that back,” because they need that energy so they can feed the people.
Kevan Hall: Tim, are you doing anything that has to do with Whitney Houston moving forward?
Timothy Snell: There’s something coming up with the family and with the partnership that they have. I know that the public is going to be very excited about it. To even just still be a part of Whitney, to be close to her, the day that she died, Whitney never called me too often, she called me when she needed help with something particular. But this was a gift that I got from her. She called me on my way to the hotel, a couple of hours before she passed away. I really haven’t shared this story with a lot of people, but I’m going to share it tonight. Whitney called me and said she misplaced a certain earring that she loved that I had gotten her. “Do you think you could find me another pair?” Obviously, I knew that I could. But she said to me on the phone, just before we hung up, she said that I love you very much. And I said I love you back, you know just talking. And that was God’s gift to me to know that she loved me. And that’s something that I carry. I know that I did the best that I could for her. I know I contributed to her iconic style, her iconic smile because I made her happy and brought joy to her life. I respected her, appreciated her, I didn’t judge her. I let her be Whitney and we had a good time.
About Timothy Snell:
Timothy Snell is an award-winning television host, fashion designer, and celebrity stylist who is an image-maker and therapist, and brand ambassador. He was on The Queen Latifah Talk Show as a regular on air style expert, as well as head costumer, Style Watch, The Steve Harvey Talk Show. Snell has hosted on BET Network a hit series “Curvey Style with Timothy Snell.” Timothy’s client roster has included Queen Latifah, Angela Bassett, Tisha Campbell, and the late Whitney Houston Among a number of high-profile individuals. He has also been featured in national brands including Cover Girl, Oil of Olay, L’Oréal; editorial work with Vogue, Vogue Italia, Slink, Essence, In Style, Glamour; and the campaigns Pantene, Macy’s, Ford, Album Covers and Tours. Timothy recently was the creative directed and designed the looks for the Whitney Houston Hologram. “Over the years It has become clear to me that clothes tell a story about a person, and fashion provides a common meeting ground. It’s a universal language.” –Timothy Snell
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