Karen Le Brun, Marilyn Riseman, designer Michael DePaulo and Tonya Mezrich, from left, are pictured inside the Riseman residence on Beacon Hill.

City socialites Marilyn Riseman, Tonya Chen Mezrich and Caron LeBrun would land cameo roles as fairy godmothers and Linda Pizzuti, Red Sox [team stats] owner John Henry’s fiancee, would play the princess bride. But De Paulo would star as the humble fashion prince who saves the day.

For this young South Shore designer , the fairy tale has already come true.

Since turning his master’s degree in architecture into a couture eveningwear business five years ago, De Paulo has enjoyed the kind of attention most fledgling designers only dream of.

“These people have been around. They’re not going to waste their time,” said De Paulo, who creates designs in a modest Braintree studio destined for Boston’s Saks Fifth Avenue and New York’s Kleinfeld. “It’s a nice, encouraging thing.”

Last winter, De Paulo hit the jackpot when he met Mezrich, wife of author Ben Mezrich, best known for writing “Bringing Down the House.” De Paulo dressed the Boston socialista for several events for “21,” the Kevin Spacey movie based on Mezrich’s novel, and the two became fast friends.

“Anytime I needed anything, I called him,” Mezrich said. “I love wearing his clothes. Anytime I wear his dresses, people stop me.”

Count among them Pizzuti, who met De Paulo through Mezrich earlier this year. In search of a one-of-a-kind dress for her nuptials next month, the 30-year-old chose De Paulo. .

“He has a great sense of drama,” said Pizzuti, who wanted a dress that captured old Hollywood glamour. “He was really able to take what I articulated and translate it.”

The Pizzuti coup will likely put De Paulo under the brightest spotlight yet, even though he’s dressed his fair share of soap-opera actresses and wives of local politicians.

“The stars are with him,” said LeBrun, who introduced her stylist daughter, Angelique O’Neil, to De Paulo. O’Neil later put De Paulo’s dresses on “Guiding Light” star Gina Tognoni.

“He’s very sculptural and red-carpet gorgeous,” LeBrun noted, “but not frothy and overdone.”

As complimentary as his fairy godmothers are, at least one, Riseman, is blunt in her assesment. “(Local designer) Danny Faucher’s finishes on his clothes are better than Michael’s, but he’s been doing it longer,” she said.

Riseman, who owned designer clothing boutiques in Boston years ago, likens De Paulo to Valentino, but believes he needs to be pushed to achieve greatness.

“He’s got a tremendously good crowd around him,” she acknowledged. “But after he does that dress, he’s going to be hot enough to have someone push him. He needs to have more than John Henry’s wife. He needs more than that.” A retail castle, perhaps?

-Jill Radsken / Boston Herald