What the grateful recipients don't realize is that the Hollywood honchos who gave these gifts didn't dream them up themselves. Instead, they turned to Cynde Cassel, 30, and Marnie Lerner, 27, partners in the three-year-old L.A. gift-buying company Star Treatment. "Other companies just do baskets of muffins and cookies," says USA Films publicist Sacha Hope, but Cassel and Lerner "are so creative and imaginative. I call them two or three times a week—they're the best in town."
Indeed, longtime pals Cassel, a onetime Bloomingdale's personal shopper, and Lerner, a former entertainment writer for one of her father's Spanish-language publications, have swiftly become Hollywood's hottest gift-givers to the stars. Last year, Star Treatment, which employs a receptionist and a fleet of temps, grossed a tidy $500,000 "gifting" a Who's Who of A-listers, including Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster and Matt Damon. "What matters to us," says Lerner, "is that everybody is happy, both the giver and the receiver."
To accomplish that goal, the two keep detailed files on celeb tastes. They know Jack Nicholson loves stogies—so when Sony wanted to congratulate him on his '98 Oscar win, the pair chose a silver Christofle cigar holder and a Lalique ashtray. Because Bridget Fonda dotes on her black Lab Doug, they recently selected a package that included gourmet dog-biscuit mix and Pawier fortified water. They also track trends closely, choosing the most coveted items. What's hot now? Says Cassel: "High-end skin-care products from Kiehl's and La Natura, the latest version of the PalmPilot, vintage movie posters and antique Swiss-made pocket watches."
To find such treasures, the two scour everyplace from tony L.A. boutiques to the auction Web site eBay. They wrap up profits by buying many items wholesale, then charging clients (80 percent of whom are studio suits, agents and other showbiz types) the retail price, usually $200 to $2,000 per present. Execs say it's worth it to please ever-more-powerful stars. "You want to make an impact," says Alison Bossert, manager of special events at Columbia Pictures.
Cassel and Lerner, who met at a Manhattan fashion show in 1993, were born to shop. Cassel grew up in Galveston, Texas, and Mexico City, later working as a fashion designer's assistant and a personal shopper in New York City. In 1995 she joined California native Lerner, then writing for her father's Mundo L.A. newspaper, when she moved west to live with now-husband Matt Cassel, a film editor. That Christmas, Lerner's father asked the friends to whip up gifts for advertisers. When the thank-you notes poured in, the two (and Lerner's mother, Diane, who keeps Star Treatment's books) drummed up more business by blitzing studios with cold calls and chocolates. Their first job: cheering up a tonsillitis-stricken music exec with a cooler of frozen yogurt and yoo-hoo.
From the silly (butcher knives for the cast of last year's Psycho remake) to the sophisticated (a crystal-inlaid picture frame to congratulate Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow), business has since boomed—to the delight of both Cassel, who shares a three-bedroom L.A. bungalow with Matt, 34, and Lerner, who rents a house in Sherman Oaks with boyfriend Jason Mascow, 25. "She's working 24-7, and I think it's great," says Mascow. The partners' dream? To work on the Mount Everest of swank gift-giving: the posh gift baskets for Oscar nominees. "All that stuff is donated, but we'd like to put them together one year," muses Cassel. "That would be a coup."
Samantha Miller
Monica Rizzo in Los Angeles
- Contributors:
- Monica Rizzo.
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