Alisa Bellettini

Alisa Bellettini died in her sleep at her sister's home in Sacramento, California, on February 16, 2016, at the age of 61.

Soon after Bellettini joined MTV, a network's executive, Doug Herzog, announced that MTV News would start covering fashion, in addition to its existing coverage of the music industry. Bellettini, who had been promoted to news writer, was a logical choice to write the copy for fashion stories in the small news department, "I was always stylish. And the two other writers in the news department, one was a Rastafarian and the other was reading Hitler books all the time." However, Kurt Loder, the main on-camera anchor at MTV News, was deeply uncomfortable with his new role covering the fashion. Bellettini recalled in the 2012 interview for I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, recalled the awkward on-air transitions between music and fashion news, "Kurt Loder was our main news anchor, and fashion stories had to come out of Kurt’s mouth. He was not comfortable doing it. The look on his face, going from a Guns N’ Roses story to a fashion story–he looked like he was about to die."

A documentary on the history of the show and its cultural impact, House of Style: Music, Models and MTV, aired on MTV on August 7, 2012. Bellettini, Crawford, Herzog and other important figures from House of Style appeared on the documentary. House of Style was relaunched online by MTV in 2012 and 2014.

House of Style ran for 78 episodes during its original run. Cindy Crawford remained the show's host for the series' first six years. She was succeeded by a string of guest hosts after Crawford's departure, including Rebecca Romijn, Amber Valletta and Molly Sims. House of Style was ultimately trimmed down from a weekly series to an annual special before its cancellation in 2000.

House of Style, which brought together fashion and music, debuted on MTV in 1989. In an interview for the 2012 MTV oral history book, "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution," Bellettini recalled her original vision for the series, "I wanted to do a show about music and fashion because I loved fashion, and at the time, MTV was driven by music." Her other objective, in her role as show's creator and producer, was to "democratize" fashion by making it more accessible to average viewers. She later spoke of her vision for the show, "I just felt like I had to have a viewer in mind. I thought that the Midwest girl was really the person that I wanted to appeal to."

House of Style debuted in May 1989 to high ratings. Herzog high-fived Bellettini once news of the ratings reached MTV's offices.

Bellettini remained the producer of House of Style during its original run from May 1989 until 2000. The show had an immediate effect on youth and popular culture. House of Style is credited with transforming Cindy Crawford's career, "Especially before the days of social media, it gave me an opportunity for people to know me as a person and not just in two dimensions," she later noted in 2012. Bellettini also supported the career of designer Todd Oldham, by having him host regularly segment known as "Todd Time" during the 1990s. House of Style profiled designers, models and other figures within the industry that may have been little known to average Americans, with the goal of "democratizing fashion", including Naomi Campbell, Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs during their early careers. Bellettini also recruited musicians and other celebrities to appear with Crawford during its early years, including Nick Rhodes, Onyx, and Will Smith.

In September 1988, Bellettini was hired by MTV News as a segment producer. MTV, which had only launched in 1981, was still a relatively young cable network at that point, but had become a strong influencer of pop culture. One of Bellettini's first assignments at MTV News was to interview the Beastie Boys, which Bellettini recalled in 2012, "They said, “Go interview the Beastie Boys.” It was so much fun–they poured beer on my head."

Alisa Marie Bellettini (October 1, 1954 – February 16, 2016) was an American television producer. In 1989, Bellettini created the landmark MTV television series, House of Style. The series, originally hosted by supermodel Cindy Crawford, brought together fashion, modeling, music and pop culture. Bellettini produced the original run of the series, which aired on MTV for 78 episodes from 1989 to 2000.

Bellettini was born on October 1, 1954, in Napa, California. She began her career at a radio station before joining the staff of Rolling Stone magazine.