It's a big Oscar night for "The luckiest stylist in town!"

It's not just the nominees getting excited and nervous for Oscar night: At this very moment, a small army of stylists are putting the final touches on a bevy of red-carpet ensembles. George Kotsiopoulos, a Los Angeles-based fashion editor and stylist, is making his Academy Award debut with a plum assignment: He's dressing the young and very picturesque stars of "Slumdog Millionaire," Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.

"I'm super excited — the luckiest stylist in town!" said the harried but charming Kotsiopoulos earlier this week, squeezing in time for a telephone interview. He's been working with Patel and Pinto for the entire awards season, engaged by "Slumdog" distributor Fox Searchlight to style the stars for a marathon of events, beginning with the Palm Springs International Film Festival in mid-January (where Pinto received a special award) through the Oscars.

Kotsiopoulos, who said he got the gig through "my friend [Elizabeth Stewart] who styles Cate Blanchett," has been breathlessly busy since the holidays, finding a variety of looks. Patel, he said, was more of a challenge than he expected. "I went into this thinking, oh, it'll be easy-breezy for the guy. But Dev is 18, he's from London, he's really cool and he's really tall and lanky and has really long arms. So what works for him is very specific." He's put Patel in labels like Dior Homme and Burberry, which suit his body type.

"[Dev] can actually have more fun with fashion, because he's tall and thin," Kotsiopoulos said.

For a first meeting with the beautiful 24-year-old Pinto, a Bombay-born model who made her screen debut in "Slumdog," Kotsiopoulos said he brought far more dresses than were needed (partly because she lives in Mumbai, so their meetings were limited). He does most of his work beforehand, "reserving looks and calling things in, finding out who's worn what and what's available, what isn't."

Among the dresses he's found for her: a dramatically draped smoky-yellow Christian Lacroix at the Golden Globes; a romantic full-skirted Marchesa gown in periwinkle blue for the Screen Actors Guild Awards; a glittery one-shoulder Zac Posen mini at the Directors Guild Awards.

Interviewed five days before the Oscars, Kotsiopoulos said that he and Pinto had "settled on something" for the big night, but hadn't yet had a final fitting. Asked about actresses who breezily announce on the red carpet that they just chose their dress that morning, he was amused. "The confident women, they don't do that," he said. "If you know what you want, you know what you want. People like that might like a little insanity in their lives. Ultimately, you want to be prepared, you don't want to be crazy."

He'll be with Pinto on Oscar day as she gets ready. "I think they probably allow about three or four hours," he said of prep time. "Hair and makeup always takes longer than you expect." He makes sure that his client has had several fittings, and that everything fits perfectly before the day.

Looking back to red carpets past, Kotsiopoulos' favorite looks have included Marion Cotillard's mermaid gown from Jean-Paul Gaultier, Reese Witherspoon's elaborately layered purple Nina Ricci, Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy, and, gulp, Cher's Bob Mackie feather headdress.

"Yes, it was inappropriate," he said, "but she looked amazing in it!"

When Pinto makes her Oscar red-carpet debut, whatever the gown, Kotsiopoulos is confident that she'll look amazing and be happy. Though he's provided options and guidance throughout the awards season, her preferences have been key to their decisions. For all of his clients, he said, "I'd be disappointed if someone didn't listen to my advice, but I wouldn't want them wearing something they're not happy in."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com