Victoria's Secret model Marisa Miller has a great body - slim, toned and tanned. Her hobbies are said to be surfing and volleyball, and is said to train with a personal trainer at a boxing gym.
Her measurements are 86.5-58-89.
A youtube video showing her working out can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzKbMAY90RM
Her breasts are said to be natural, a quote from Fitness magazine "I used to be shy about [my body] because I was a tomboy, but I was also a size D by the time I was 16". It also details some of her favoured forms of exercise: "I’ve tried everything. I love surfing: it’s spiritual and physical. I alsolike Spinning. It’s good toning for your rear and legs. I’ll put in one of my favorite Guns N Roses music video DVDs and start pedaling. I find it’s so much easier to work out when I can distract myself with somethingvisual."
"SURFING EVERY DAY KEEPS MY BODY TIGHT AND DEFINED," Marisa says. "The exercise gives you the whole package: The paddling is good for cardio, pulling yourself up is great for your arms, and the balancing gives your leg muscles a great workout."
"ALL EXERCISE RELIEVES STRESS--ESPECIALLY SURFING," Marisa says. "Even when the conditions aren't right, just getting wet helps. I walk out of the water feeling like a different person."
"I TAKE MY GOOD EATING HABITS ON THE ROAD," Marisa explains. Because of modeling, the 25-year-old logged 150,000 miles last year alone! Marisa's latest eat-right strategy: "I stop somewhere like Whole Foods Market before I get on the plane. Planning ahead is definitely worth it." She grabs a tuna sandwich, a spinach salad or a Naked juice smoothie to travel with.
"WHEN I'M HOME I COOK A LOT," says Marisa, who'll make a veggie omelet for brunch, and then a mixed greens salad with cut green grapes and goat cheese later on. "I eat often and try to have my largest meal during the day, and then a smaller one at night to maintain a great energy level throughout the day."
"HAVE A RAINY-DAY BACKUP PLAN FOR WORKOUTS," says Marisa, who lives in Southern California, 10 minutes away from the beach. But when she can't get into the water for whatever reason, she does a Spinning bike routine at home every day.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MK, as she is known to her friends and family, is also a punctual and professional sort. She arrives for a poolside tea in Los Angeles 10 minutes early, ordering a hot chocolate while explaining her fetish for all things sweet — "I'm a candy girl, like Tootsie Rolls and Swedish Fish" — and objecting when the waiter tries to take the sugar bowl away.
She is wearing a nautical striped T-shirt (her mom's, from the '70s), tucked into two black Wolford slips rolled down and turned into a tight, Robert-Palmer-video-style mini, and multicolored sparkly Christian Louboutin stilettos. She's just had her hair colored, returning to a sunnier shade after some experiments with both peroxide ("I woke up one morning and was like, I want white-trash hair today") and the dark side (an auburn-haired near-Goth moment last year). She's carrying a large black fringed leather Prada tote — she doesn't do small bags — and her fingers are covered with rings, most notably two vintage coiled gold snakes stacked on top of each other. ("They remind me of twins, sort of double headed.") Altogether, the effect is less her famed "bag-lady chic" than an edgy, body-conscious, and, yes, sexy silhouette. If she weren't 21, she could be 40. And French.
Few people need reminding that Mary-Kate — with her twin sister, Ashley — literally crawled into celebrity aged nine months (courtesy of Full House) and has not been out of the spotlight ever since. She has been a celebrity for more than two decades. Perhaps that's one reason she seems as if she came out of the womb worldly, the textbook old soul. "Yeah," she says with a small shrug. "I get that a lot."
With all of that attention and all of the money (her and Ashley's company, Dualstar, has famously become a "billion-dollar business"), Mary-Kate could easily have ended up the type who wears pink terry cloth and carries a variety of small dogs. "Could you imagine?" she says with the politest version of a snort. "No way." She credits her exceptionally close-knit family (she has five siblings) and, interestingly, early stardom with helping her keep her perspective. "I think it helped that I started in front of the camera, so it didn't come as a shock. If I was a teenager and was thrown into the spotlight, I don't know how I would react, to be honest."
Though the tabloids are all too keen to brand her a skinny, nervous deer in the headlights, in person Mary-Kate is easy in her skin, confident and surprisingly tactile, curling up in her seat and touching you on the arm to make a point. She laments the generic style of most actresses and cites only men as style inspirations: "Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp. Men, they just dress the way they want, and they don't think about Who Wore It Best." She doesn't much care for Who Wore It Best, noting she avoids those pages by "wearing vintage so often. I just dress the way I feel instead of looking for what's the new handbag."
If Mary-Kate and Ashley have their way, more people will be wearing clothes and carrying bags the way they do. They have just shown the fifth collection of their ready-to-wear line, the Row, and recently launched a contemporary label, Elizabeth and James, named after a sister and a brother. The Row's holiday collection (in stores next month) is a slick mix of skinny leather pants, razor-cut blazers, butter-soft, slouchy tees, and a destined-to-be-cultish pullover fur. Lauren Hutton, who stars in the Row's Spring '08 look book, says, "The clothes are extraordinary. A man I was with just loved them. The pieces are just so genius, soft like a baby's skin. Simple minimalist stuff, but really spectacular."
Mary-Kate, designer, faces an interesting challenge. She has to marry Dualstar — which has made its fortune selling tween-tastic DVDs and pastel Mary-Kate and Ashley T-shirts at Wal-Mart — with her increasingly edgy and subversive taste. Dualstar executives, some of whom have worked with her since she was a child, often nag her, mom-style, about pulling her hair back "or wearing a color," she says with a laugh. "I had this event recently, and I was like, They're going to be so happy that I'm wearing ... purple. I actually have to think about those things, though, you know, so I don't get trashed."
Get trashed sometimes she does. Hutton says, "Once in a while, she'll wear something and I'll think, Oh, baby doll, take another look. But to have the bravery, to take the chance to do that, is pretty wonderful. She is making her own way, which is hardly ever done in Hollywood." Of Mary-Kate's penchant for gigantic Balenciaga heels, Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds, says, laughing, "I'd be like, 'It's Tuesday. Do you really want to be wearing those shoes?' But she pulls it off." Designer Giambattista Valli, a friend, says, "She likes to take risks, but because she has such strong personal style, she always manages to make it work. Even if she had nothing on, she'd have style."
And MK chic is spreading. "Sometimes I'll look at people or at a magazine and I'll do a double take because I'm like, Oh, my God, that's my outfit, but that's not me," Mary-Kate says. Playing with her wire-rimmed aviators, she jokes wryly that she should have bought shares in Ray-Ban. (She and Chloë Sevigny pretty much brought back white '80s Wayfarers.) She tends to fall in love with a look, then wear it until she's done. "If I put together a good outfit, I'll wear it for three days and then switch it up with a blazer," she says. "I still love my vintage jeans, my tights, and my pants, though." She didn't start wearing heels, in fact, until a couple of years ago: "I kept watching Ashley walk around in them so gracefully, and I'm such a klutz. But I ended up loving heels, and I don't usually take them off." She wears precisely one pair of flat shoes: Chanel's knee-high patent-leather gladiator sandals.
This season, it's Balenciaga's fall collection — all of it — that has Mary-Kate obsessed. She is close to designer Nicolas Ghesquière and says, "He is so talented, but he's the nicest, most down-to-earth guy, and that makes everything he does more brilliant. I bought everything, but I haven't got anything yet," she says like a girl impatiently waiting for Christmas. Will she wear the new pieces with her infamous clodhopper boots? "Uh-huh. Wore them the other day, actually."
Mary-Kate always goes with her gut, even if some people (back to those tabloids) don't quite get it. "The tabloids say things about me? What do they say?" she asks archly. "People are going to write what they want, and everyone's going to have their own idea of who I am. But I'm not trying to be friends with the people who are reading them, really." After a rough couple of years filled with near-forensic scrutiny of her weight, she'll have you know that she does eat. "This is not going to sound good," she laughs, "but I like making crispy tofu sticks with peanut sauce. I love my sashimi and my salmon and my vegetables." She observes, "Stress plays a big role in how I look day-to-day. I've always been very active — Pilates, yoga. I grew up horseback riding every day for hours. I love dancing. I usually last longer than anyone on the dance floor."
A common image of Mary-Kate has her emerging from a coffee joint with an oversize cup. "I always get creamed for having my Starbucks cup," she says, sighing. "But the only time people get photos of me is when I'm getting coffee, when I can't sneak away from the camera." She also resents the pictorial implication that she and Ashley are dilettantes. "They take photos of us going into our offices, and it's 'Mary-Kate and Ashley shopping again.' But I'm going to work for eight hours, and we're working so hard. ..." She trails off. "It just shows how people want to think of you."
Mary-Kate is not above celeb watching herself, however. Newly obsessed with Victoria Beckham, she notes she avidly watched Beckham's Coming to America documentary: "She's running around in a bikini and heels, and I'm like, Oh, my God! I do that, too!" How positively Grey Gardens. "I run around my house naked with heels all the time. It's so funny. All my friends will tell you I love running around in kimonos and jewelry or naked with jewelry."
More people will be watching Mary-Kate soon, thanks to her role in the Emmy-nominated Weeds. "I am a very good Christian girl," she says with a wink. "She has her moral beliefs — and she happens to smoke pot." Of her newest cast member, Kohan adds, "Mary-Kate is complicated. She's a big celebrity, a huge media icon, but you have to separate the media images from someone who has the same issues, the same desires, as anyone else."
Of course, Mary-Kate's image, in all its incarnations — from high fashion to small screen — is her strongest asset. And she has yet to settle on one. "I feel like I've lived 10 different lives already and I'm only 21," she says, almost as a reminder to herself. "But I also feel like I'm entering a new chapter."
One thing on which she is clear, though: She doesn't need to be looked at all the time. What would she do for a day if she were invisible? "I would probably go to a restaurant with my friends, who would be able to see me, of course," she adds pragmatically, "and I would sit outside and enjoy a nice lunch with them. Then I would walk down the street."
The old soul takes a sip of her little-girl-sweet hot chocolate. "That's what I would do."
She is wearing a nautical striped T-shirt (her mom's, from the '70s), tucked into two black Wolford slips rolled down and turned into a tight, Robert-Palmer-video-style mini, and multicolored sparkly Christian Louboutin stilettos. She's just had her hair colored, returning to a sunnier shade after some experiments with both peroxide ("I woke up one morning and was like, I want white-trash hair today") and the dark side (an auburn-haired near-Goth moment last year). She's carrying a large black fringed leather Prada tote — she doesn't do small bags — and her fingers are covered with rings, most notably two vintage coiled gold snakes stacked on top of each other. ("They remind me of twins, sort of double headed.") Altogether, the effect is less her famed "bag-lady chic" than an edgy, body-conscious, and, yes, sexy silhouette. If she weren't 21, she could be 40. And French.
Few people need reminding that Mary-Kate — with her twin sister, Ashley — literally crawled into celebrity aged nine months (courtesy of Full House) and has not been out of the spotlight ever since. She has been a celebrity for more than two decades. Perhaps that's one reason she seems as if she came out of the womb worldly, the textbook old soul. "Yeah," she says with a small shrug. "I get that a lot."
With all of that attention and all of the money (her and Ashley's company, Dualstar, has famously become a "billion-dollar business"), Mary-Kate could easily have ended up the type who wears pink terry cloth and carries a variety of small dogs. "Could you imagine?" she says with the politest version of a snort. "No way." She credits her exceptionally close-knit family (she has five siblings) and, interestingly, early stardom with helping her keep her perspective. "I think it helped that I started in front of the camera, so it didn't come as a shock. If I was a teenager and was thrown into the spotlight, I don't know how I would react, to be honest."
Though the tabloids are all too keen to brand her a skinny, nervous deer in the headlights, in person Mary-Kate is easy in her skin, confident and surprisingly tactile, curling up in her seat and touching you on the arm to make a point. She laments the generic style of most actresses and cites only men as style inspirations: "Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp. Men, they just dress the way they want, and they don't think about Who Wore It Best." She doesn't much care for Who Wore It Best, noting she avoids those pages by "wearing vintage so often. I just dress the way I feel instead of looking for what's the new handbag."
If Mary-Kate and Ashley have their way, more people will be wearing clothes and carrying bags the way they do. They have just shown the fifth collection of their ready-to-wear line, the Row, and recently launched a contemporary label, Elizabeth and James, named after a sister and a brother. The Row's holiday collection (in stores next month) is a slick mix of skinny leather pants, razor-cut blazers, butter-soft, slouchy tees, and a destined-to-be-cultish pullover fur. Lauren Hutton, who stars in the Row's Spring '08 look book, says, "The clothes are extraordinary. A man I was with just loved them. The pieces are just so genius, soft like a baby's skin. Simple minimalist stuff, but really spectacular."
Mary-Kate, designer, faces an interesting challenge. She has to marry Dualstar — which has made its fortune selling tween-tastic DVDs and pastel Mary-Kate and Ashley T-shirts at Wal-Mart — with her increasingly edgy and subversive taste. Dualstar executives, some of whom have worked with her since she was a child, often nag her, mom-style, about pulling her hair back "or wearing a color," she says with a laugh. "I had this event recently, and I was like, They're going to be so happy that I'm wearing ... purple. I actually have to think about those things, though, you know, so I don't get trashed."
Get trashed sometimes she does. Hutton says, "Once in a while, she'll wear something and I'll think, Oh, baby doll, take another look. But to have the bravery, to take the chance to do that, is pretty wonderful. She is making her own way, which is hardly ever done in Hollywood." Of Mary-Kate's penchant for gigantic Balenciaga heels, Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds, says, laughing, "I'd be like, 'It's Tuesday. Do you really want to be wearing those shoes?' But she pulls it off." Designer Giambattista Valli, a friend, says, "She likes to take risks, but because she has such strong personal style, she always manages to make it work. Even if she had nothing on, she'd have style."
And MK chic is spreading. "Sometimes I'll look at people or at a magazine and I'll do a double take because I'm like, Oh, my God, that's my outfit, but that's not me," Mary-Kate says. Playing with her wire-rimmed aviators, she jokes wryly that she should have bought shares in Ray-Ban. (She and Chloë Sevigny pretty much brought back white '80s Wayfarers.) She tends to fall in love with a look, then wear it until she's done. "If I put together a good outfit, I'll wear it for three days and then switch it up with a blazer," she says. "I still love my vintage jeans, my tights, and my pants, though." She didn't start wearing heels, in fact, until a couple of years ago: "I kept watching Ashley walk around in them so gracefully, and I'm such a klutz. But I ended up loving heels, and I don't usually take them off." She wears precisely one pair of flat shoes: Chanel's knee-high patent-leather gladiator sandals.
This season, it's Balenciaga's fall collection — all of it — that has Mary-Kate obsessed. She is close to designer Nicolas Ghesquière and says, "He is so talented, but he's the nicest, most down-to-earth guy, and that makes everything he does more brilliant. I bought everything, but I haven't got anything yet," she says like a girl impatiently waiting for Christmas. Will she wear the new pieces with her infamous clodhopper boots? "Uh-huh. Wore them the other day, actually."
Mary-Kate always goes with her gut, even if some people (back to those tabloids) don't quite get it. "The tabloids say things about me? What do they say?" she asks archly. "People are going to write what they want, and everyone's going to have their own idea of who I am. But I'm not trying to be friends with the people who are reading them, really." After a rough couple of years filled with near-forensic scrutiny of her weight, she'll have you know that she does eat. "This is not going to sound good," she laughs, "but I like making crispy tofu sticks with peanut sauce. I love my sashimi and my salmon and my vegetables." She observes, "Stress plays a big role in how I look day-to-day. I've always been very active — Pilates, yoga. I grew up horseback riding every day for hours. I love dancing. I usually last longer than anyone on the dance floor."
A common image of Mary-Kate has her emerging from a coffee joint with an oversize cup. "I always get creamed for having my Starbucks cup," she says, sighing. "But the only time people get photos of me is when I'm getting coffee, when I can't sneak away from the camera." She also resents the pictorial implication that she and Ashley are dilettantes. "They take photos of us going into our offices, and it's 'Mary-Kate and Ashley shopping again.' But I'm going to work for eight hours, and we're working so hard. ..." She trails off. "It just shows how people want to think of you."
Mary-Kate is not above celeb watching herself, however. Newly obsessed with Victoria Beckham, she notes she avidly watched Beckham's Coming to America documentary: "She's running around in a bikini and heels, and I'm like, Oh, my God! I do that, too!" How positively Grey Gardens. "I run around my house naked with heels all the time. It's so funny. All my friends will tell you I love running around in kimonos and jewelry or naked with jewelry."
More people will be watching Mary-Kate soon, thanks to her role in the Emmy-nominated Weeds. "I am a very good Christian girl," she says with a wink. "She has her moral beliefs — and she happens to smoke pot." Of her newest cast member, Kohan adds, "Mary-Kate is complicated. She's a big celebrity, a huge media icon, but you have to separate the media images from someone who has the same issues, the same desires, as anyone else."
Of course, Mary-Kate's image, in all its incarnations — from high fashion to small screen — is her strongest asset. And she has yet to settle on one. "I feel like I've lived 10 different lives already and I'm only 21," she says, almost as a reminder to herself. "But I also feel like I'm entering a new chapter."
One thing on which she is clear, though: She doesn't need to be looked at all the time. What would she do for a day if she were invisible? "I would probably go to a restaurant with my friends, who would be able to see me, of course," she adds pragmatically, "and I would sit outside and enjoy a nice lunch with them. Then I would walk down the street."
The old soul takes a sip of her little-girl-sweet hot chocolate. "That's what I would do."
LA Livin'
+ Rent a unit in a reasonably good area
Food:
- rice
Can be a base for stir fries, risottos and is good with satay sauce
- sugarfree drinks
Can be mixed with alcohol, also made into ice blocks
Extra's
Camel Menthol Cigarettes
Cheap Vodka
Going Out
Teddy's
Hyde
Les Deux
Chateau Marmont
Clothes
- Melrose Avenue
- Rose Bowl Flea Markets
- Vintage shops
- American Apparel
- Urban Outfitters
Exercise
- Hike around Runyon Canyon every second day
- Treadmill or rowing machine in the house
- Windsor Pilates and Barry's Bootcamp DVDS
Food:
- rice
Can be a base for stir fries, risottos and is good with satay sauce
- sugarfree drinks
Can be mixed with alcohol, also made into ice blocks
Extra's
Camel Menthol Cigarettes
Cheap Vodka
Going Out
Teddy's
Hyde
Les Deux
Chateau Marmont
Clothes
- Melrose Avenue
- Rose Bowl Flea Markets
- Vintage shops
- American Apparel
- Urban Outfitters
Exercise
- Hike around Runyon Canyon every second day
- Treadmill or rowing machine in the house
- Windsor Pilates and Barry's Bootcamp DVDS
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Elle UK Excerpt
'I love playing dress up' Mary-Kate tells ELLE this month. 'I get inspired by old films, weird things. It could just be the person sitting across from me or it could be a full Victorian costume, ' she reveals, giving us an insight in to where she gets the inspiration for her unique blend of granny-chic meets couture bag lady style. A look that has made her just as famous as her acting career has, if not more so.
'What I find odd though is that a weekly [magazine] will come out describing my outfit as a fashion disaster, while the fashion industry actually respects what I wear,' Mary-Kate tells us. And the industry certainly does love what she wears. 'With her you already know future generations will look at her as an icon', says Margherita Missoni, while Karl Largerfeld is also a big fan of her look. ' I like the way Mary-Kate is mixing Chanel with other things, life is not a fashion show, and I find a total designer look boring'.
With fashion credentials like these it's no wonder she has teamed up with twin sister Ashley to create two fashion labels, The Row and Elizabeth and James - named after their younger siblings. They are both heavily involved in the design process at their companies, but, 'I think more of my energy goes in to Elizabeth and James' says Mary-Kate, about the collection, that has just gone on sale in Selfridges and at net-a-porter.com in the U.K. The Row is 'Ashley's baby' she says.
She counts Edie Sedgwick and Brigitte Bardot among her style icons but says in truth, she says, when it comes to trying something new 'I'm up for anything.' Which is maybe why she and Ashley have also made their first foray in to writing this year with their upcoming book Influence - for which they interviewed 22 people from the fashion industry who inspire them, including Christian Louboutin and John Galliano.
It seems like a lot of work for the diminutive star, but she thrives on it. 'I have so much more respect for fashion designers now because it's hard work and never ending. It's not a movie. You can't wrap it and go start something else.' she says.
And it looks like she's gaining all of that respect now too.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Aurora's Playground
Music:
M83
Midnight Juggernauts
Air
Cocorosie
The Kills
The Arcade Fire
Broken Social Scene
The Cure
Joy Division
New Order
Bat for Lashes
the Doors
Smashing Pumpkins
the Strokes
Tears for Fears
Van She
Nirvana
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Movies:
Candy
Romeo & Juliet
The Virgin Suicides
Donnie Darko
Almost Famous
Elephant
My Own Private Idaho
Marie Antoinette
Picnic at Hanging Rock
the Breakfast Club
Breakfast at Tiffanys
Amelie
Girl, Interrupted
Sleepy Hollow
Finding Neverland
Factory Girl
Edward Scissorhands
Books:
Candy
To Kill A Mockingbird
Valley of the Dolls
Go Ask Alice
Girl, Interrupted
the Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye
Twilight series
People:
Sharon Tate
Brigitte Bardot
Cory Kennedy
Mary-Kate Olsen
Chloe Sevigny
Sofia Coppola
Lesley Arfin
Quirks:
Werewolves
Vampires
Native Americans
Deer
Ghosts
Russh Magazine
Oyster Magazine
Nylon Magazine
Glitter
Fur
Gold
Studio 54
Transylvania
Pirates
Mermaids
M83
Midnight Juggernauts
Air
Cocorosie
The Kills
The Arcade Fire
Broken Social Scene
The Cure
Joy Division
New Order
Bat for Lashes
the Doors
Smashing Pumpkins
the Strokes
Tears for Fears
Van She
Nirvana
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Movies:
Candy
Romeo & Juliet
The Virgin Suicides
Donnie Darko
Almost Famous
Elephant
My Own Private Idaho
Marie Antoinette
Picnic at Hanging Rock
the Breakfast Club
Breakfast at Tiffanys
Amelie
Girl, Interrupted
Sleepy Hollow
Finding Neverland
Factory Girl
Edward Scissorhands
Books:
Candy
To Kill A Mockingbird
Valley of the Dolls
Go Ask Alice
Girl, Interrupted
the Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye
Twilight series
People:
Sharon Tate
Brigitte Bardot
Cory Kennedy
Mary-Kate Olsen
Chloe Sevigny
Sofia Coppola
Lesley Arfin
Quirks:
Werewolves
Vampires
Native Americans
Deer
Ghosts
Russh Magazine
Oyster Magazine
Nylon Magazine
Glitter
Fur
Gold
Studio 54
Transylvania
Pirates
Mermaids
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Things to Do in Los Angeles
+ Wasteland, on Melrose Ave
+ Melrose Ave in general
+ Rose Bowl Flea Markets
+ Le Beach Club tanning salon
+ Laser hair removal
+ Aurelia Adrian Institut de Beaute
+ Urth Caffe
+ Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - Ice Blendeds
+ Fred Segal
+ American Apparel
+ Spider club
+ Shop at Maxfield
+ Melrose Ave in general
+ Rose Bowl Flea Markets
+ Le Beach Club tanning salon
+ Laser hair removal
+ Aurelia Adrian Institut de Beaute
+ Urth Caffe
+ Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - Ice Blendeds
+ Fred Segal
+ American Apparel
+ Spider club
+ Shop at Maxfield
Moments : Paris
Dragging on her Gauloise, she turns her platinum head towards the sun. Ahh. And there it was, the sunset perfectly framing the iconic structure as she drained the last of her Coca Light. What a view. After a year and a half in Paris and more than a dozen trips past le tour Eiffel on her vespa, the sight still took her breath away.
Fumbling in her jumbo cream Chanel bag, she grabbed her old-school polaroid and snapped a few shots for her oh-so hipster friends back in Sydney. Wouldnt they be positively puce with envy, she thought to herself with a smile.
LIST
To Read:
Picnic at Hanging Rock' Girl Interrupted; the Virgin Suicides, Twilight series, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Candy, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, the Great Gatsby, Lolita
To See:
Girl Interrupted, Factory Girl, Donnie Darko, the Virgin Suicides, Candy, the Black Balloon, Elephant, Almost Famous, Romeo and Juliet, Breakfast at Tiffany's, the Breakfast Club, Lost Boys, 16 Candles, Marie Antoinette, Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, Whats Eating Gilbert Grape?, Pretty in Pink,
To Listen:
M83, Bat for Lashes, CocoRosie, the Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, Air, Cat Power, Bridezilla, Broken Social Scene, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Kills,
To Love:
Vampires, Pirates, Native American Indians, Cupcakes, Lollipops, Prom Night, Mixtapes, Polaroids, Oxford Art Factory, Tea Parties, My Little Pony, Wolf hats, Nars blush, Bobby socks, love song dedications, Anything heart shaped,
To Watch:
Skins, the Mighty Boosh
Picnic at Hanging Rock' Girl Interrupted; the Virgin Suicides, Twilight series, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Candy, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, the Great Gatsby, Lolita
To See:
Girl Interrupted, Factory Girl, Donnie Darko, the Virgin Suicides, Candy, the Black Balloon, Elephant, Almost Famous, Romeo and Juliet, Breakfast at Tiffany's, the Breakfast Club, Lost Boys, 16 Candles, Marie Antoinette, Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, Whats Eating Gilbert Grape?, Pretty in Pink,
To Listen:
M83, Bat for Lashes, CocoRosie, the Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, Air, Cat Power, Bridezilla, Broken Social Scene, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Kills,
To Love:
Vampires, Pirates, Native American Indians, Cupcakes, Lollipops, Prom Night, Mixtapes, Polaroids, Oxford Art Factory, Tea Parties, My Little Pony, Wolf hats, Nars blush, Bobby socks, love song dedications, Anything heart shaped,
To Watch:
Skins, the Mighty Boosh
Miranda Kerr's Diet
A typical daily diet if I am home is:
Breakfast:*
Fresh fruit salad with yoghurt and muesli*
2 x Rye toast with avocado and boiled eggs*
Water with lemon and ginger*
Cup of green tea
Pecans, almonds and walnuts to nibble on for morning tea (sometimes roasted in tamari)
Lunch:Fresh tuna salad with spelt crispbreadsWater with lemonDandelion Tea
Piece of fruit or nuts for afternoon tea
Dinner:Either a salmon steak or other fish or Lamb Loin chops or a piece of steak with veges or salad.
I don’t eat a lot of potato, but I eat heaps of greens and sweet potato and pumpkin roasted.
Cup of Green tea with ginger
Half hour of Yoga and meditation each day.
Breakfast:*
Fresh fruit salad with yoghurt and muesli*
2 x Rye toast with avocado and boiled eggs*
Water with lemon and ginger*
Cup of green tea
Pecans, almonds and walnuts to nibble on for morning tea (sometimes roasted in tamari)
Lunch:Fresh tuna salad with spelt crispbreadsWater with lemonDandelion Tea
Piece of fruit or nuts for afternoon tea
Dinner:Either a salmon steak or other fish or Lamb Loin chops or a piece of steak with veges or salad.
I don’t eat a lot of potato, but I eat heaps of greens and sweet potato and pumpkin roasted.
Cup of Green tea with ginger
Half hour of Yoga and meditation each day.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Heidi Montag's Diet and Fitness
Heidi Montag seems to be getting thinner and thinner…the reality star claims she has never been on a diet in her life. So..does this mean she is naturally thin? When you have a look at what her diet consists of you will see that what Heidi Montag eats is pretty much a diet in comparison to what most people eat.
What Does Heidi Montag Eat?
lean protein and lots of veggies.
5-7 mini meals consisting of egg whites on oatmeal, ham on wheat sandwiches, sushi, and apples
no alcohol
sleeping at least 7 hours every day.
How Does Heidi Montag Workout?
Heidi has hired personal trainer John Damon to get her in shape. She requested he help her achieve a "dancers body look". She has definitely achieved this, her body is perfect. She's earned it!
weight training 3-5 days (leg lifts, squats, lunges and upper body weight lifting)
cardio 4-6 days for at least 30 minutes (incline speed walks)
What Does Heidi Montag Eat?
lean protein and lots of veggies.
5-7 mini meals consisting of egg whites on oatmeal, ham on wheat sandwiches, sushi, and apples
no alcohol
sleeping at least 7 hours every day.
How Does Heidi Montag Workout?
Heidi has hired personal trainer John Damon to get her in shape. She requested he help her achieve a "dancers body look". She has definitely achieved this, her body is perfect. She's earned it!
weight training 3-5 days (leg lifts, squats, lunges and upper body weight lifting)
cardio 4-6 days for at least 30 minutes (incline speed walks)
Eva Longoria's Diet and Workout
Eva Longoria shot to fame playing ex-model Gabrielle Solis on the popular TV series Desperate Housewives. The actress knows more about fitness than every other celebrity as spent her days as an aerobics instructor before beginning work on Desperate Housewives. She also has a degree in kinesiology (the study of how your body moves) from Texas A & M University-Kingsville.She has a celebrity personal trainer (Patrick Murphy) who comes to her house 3 times a week for a one hour training session. His responsibilities not only include getting her in fantastic shape but getting her out of bed is the main task! "Sometimes Pat literally has to drag me out of bed," she says.
What Does Eva Longoria Eat?
As she usually works out on an empty stomach she keeps up her energy by having a protein rich meal for breakfast. An example of this would be egg whites and/or a protein shake. "I love egg whites," she says. "My mom made them for me when I was little." She says that its easy to eat healthily on the set of Desperate Housewives. As all of the women are keen to stay in great shape for their roles in the series they prefer salads, fresh fruits, lean proteins and whole grains. Luckily, when you are rich and famous..your needs are catered for at work! The good news is, you don't have to be rich and famous to eat healthy foods at home and at work.
If you want to a body like her, find out exactly what she eats!
How Does Eva Longoria Workout?
The star has her personal trainer come over for an early morning workout three times a week. Before she starts her workout she does 10 minutes on the treadmill. "Each session we do between 25 and 30 total-body exercises-lunges with torso twists and one-legged squats with clean and press, for example-with 30- to 45-second rests in between," says Patrick.
Eva's dedication to gym and her body has certainly paid off. "With all the lunges, squats and leg presses I've done in the last two months, I think I've gained an inch of muscle in my butt."
What Does Eva Longoria Eat?
As she usually works out on an empty stomach she keeps up her energy by having a protein rich meal for breakfast. An example of this would be egg whites and/or a protein shake. "I love egg whites," she says. "My mom made them for me when I was little." She says that its easy to eat healthily on the set of Desperate Housewives. As all of the women are keen to stay in great shape for their roles in the series they prefer salads, fresh fruits, lean proteins and whole grains. Luckily, when you are rich and famous..your needs are catered for at work! The good news is, you don't have to be rich and famous to eat healthy foods at home and at work.
If you want to a body like her, find out exactly what she eats!
How Does Eva Longoria Workout?
The star has her personal trainer come over for an early morning workout three times a week. Before she starts her workout she does 10 minutes on the treadmill. "Each session we do between 25 and 30 total-body exercises-lunges with torso twists and one-legged squats with clean and press, for example-with 30- to 45-second rests in between," says Patrick.
Eva's dedication to gym and her body has certainly paid off. "With all the lunges, squats and leg presses I've done in the last two months, I think I've gained an inch of muscle in my butt."
It was pouring rain in Paris in early July, and Rachel Zoe was late for the 11:30 a.m. Chanel haute couture presentation. ‘‘Oh, I shouldn’t say who my favorite is,’’ Zoe told me the day before the show. ‘‘So many of the designers are my friends. They all want to get their clothes on my clients.’’ Still, for Zoe, a Hollywood stylist who has dressed stars like Lindsay Lohan, Cameron Diaz and Keira Knightley, Chanel’s red-carpet ball gowns would have been a top priority of the couture calendar. And yet there she was, stuck in traffic in her chauffeured Mercedes sedan, an hour away from the Chanel show, which was to be held at a former palace in St.-Cloud, a suburb of Paris.
As always, Zoe (pronounced ZOH) was dressed for the designer she was viewing. She was wearing a bright pink nubby wool Chanel jacket, black pants and her usual five-inch platform open-toed shoes. All the Zoe trademarks were in place: she was very tan; her long blond hair was carefully styled to look carefree; there were ropes of gold chains around her neck and stacks of diamond bangles on her wrists; and enormous (Chanel) sunglasses nearly obscured her face. Even wearing high heels, she is short and stick-thin, but Zoe, who is 36, does not seem fragile. The masses of jewelry, the outsize sunglasses, the whole noisy, ’70s-inspired look add up to a hectic, ostentatious, theatrical sort of glamour.It’s the look she has duplicated on her clients, making the so-called Zoe-bots paparazzi favorites, as well as walking advertisements for a host of top designers.
A cross-pollinator of the worlds of Hollywood celebrities, high fashion and tabloid magazines, Zoe has become a powerful image broker, a conduit to the ever-more lucrative intersection of commerce, style and fame. Early in her career, in 1996, she worked as a stylist at YM magazine, dressing such teenage pop stars as Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson, girls who were young enough to be molded and popular enough to be influential. Around the same time, magazines like Us Weekly began inventing their own cadre of celebrities, like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. They had no discernible accomplishments or talent, but they did seem to go out a lot, and they thrived under the flash of the paparazzi. Magazines like Us constructed provocative narratives around them — their romantic woes, their drug problems — and Zoe, who began working with Richie in 2003 when she was viewed only as Hilton’s plump sidekick, saw an opportunity. ‘‘Nicole is now what people refer to as the big thing that happened,’’ Zoe told me in Paris. ‘‘Everything went from nowhere to everywhere. Nicole was about creating a look. Because of her fashion sense, which was really my fashion sense, she became famous. It was a huge moment: Nicole became a style icon without being a star.’’
And then Nicole became a star, too. Because of circumstances that remain murky, Nicole and Rachel no longer speak. But the relationship made their careers. Zoe began working with Lindsay Lohan, Kate Beckinsale and other tabloid-ready stars eager for a new fashion identity. Now she has 20 clients, each of whom reportedly pays her more than $6,000 a day to dress them for events, big and small. Some pay only for premieres and award shows; some also retain Zoe to provide clothes for their daily lives. The financial scope of her business also includes incentives in the form of money and/or clothes, accessories or jewels, offered by designers eager to dress a particular Zoe client for a particular event. ‘‘Around three years ago, everything began to change,’’ Zoe said as she ran through puddles toward the entrance of the Chanel show. ‘‘The nature of what, or who, is a celebrity has expanded. We aren’t saving lives here, but we are creating images, and images create opportunities in a lot of areas.’’
Normally Chanel refuses entry to latecomers, but Zoe was allowed into the show. Three publicists cooed over Zoe’s appearance as she quickly kissed them hello on both cheeks and rushed past to her seat in the front row. The models were already walking down the muddy runway when Zoe took out her digital camera and began snapping shots of the dresses. There were many potential choices for her clients. A ruffled black chiffon flapper style gown might be perfect for Jennifer Garner; a more restrained, narrow sequined sheath might suit Keira Knightley.
Although Lohan is a fan of Chanel, Zoe was not looking for clothes for her (Lohan was in rehab). Unlike Richie, who became famous for being famous, Lohan is actually a very good actress. But since her association with Zoe in 2004, her life in the tabloids and her style obsessions have eclipsed her talent. ‘‘For an entire year, Lindsay wanted to wear three different looks a night,’’ Zoe told me earlier. ‘‘We were changing in cars, in bathrooms. I would have to bring two assistants with me so we could exchange the clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry, because what am I going to do with the clothes when she takes them off? You can’t just leave diamonds in the car! But do you know how many designers she hooked up? When Lindsay would wear Chanel, it would sell out in four hours.’’
Lohan may have moved merchandise, but she seems to have simultaneously stopped attracting audiences to her films. Exposure in magazines like Us Weekly and In Touch, which Zoe seems almost to guarantee, promises a huge but very particular kind of fame. While, say, Jennifer Aniston has sold endless magazines, all those eager readers have been less quick to buy tickets to her movies. Only ‘‘The Break-Up,’’ which neatly mirrored the tabloid narrative of her life, was popular. And yet, if mass stardom of the self is your goal, there is no quicker path than the tabloids.
Zoe’s job — her innovation in the business — was to maximize the fashion component of the Hollywood-equals-celebrity equation. And for Zoe, fashion means the red carpet. Movies don’t necessarily depict a glamorous existence, but the red carpet has the gloss of perfection. When images of the girl and her gown are beamed around the globe, the dress, the bag, the shoes instantly become coveted symbols of a dream world. ‘‘The power of it all blows my mind every day,’’ Zoe said as the Chanel show ended. ‘‘Anna Wintour is one of my heroes, but they say that I’m more influential. As great as it is, Vogue won’t change a designer’s business. But if an unknown brand is worn by a certain person in a tabloid, it will be the biggest designer within a week. When I worked with Nicole, there were things that she wore that designers had to remake for another season because there was such demand.’’
Zoe was interrupted by two carefully groomed publicists in head-to-toe Chanel. They were concerned that Zoe had not seen every look in the show. Zoe promised to come to the showroom. She checked her BlackBerry and called her driver to find out his location. ‘‘I’m exhausted,’’ she said, to no one in particular. ‘‘My problem is, I kind of want to do everything. I was up until 4 a.m. checking on things in L.A. I have the fashion world, the Hollywood world, the creative world, and then I have the Rachel Zoe world. I have to deal with all of it.’’
On a gray day in Paris, Zoe was having lunch at the Bristol, where she was staying with her husband, Rodger Berman, who was once an investment banker and now produces award shows for television. ‘‘I love Paris,’’ Zoe said as she studied the menu. ‘‘If I spoke the language, I’d live here.’’ She looked up at the waitress, who had appeared at the table. ‘‘Can you do crudité?’’ Zoe said. The waitress looked confused. ‘‘You did it yesterday. With cucumber. If not, I guess a salad, no dressing.’’ The waitress still looked confused. ‘‘You see,’’ Zoe said to me, ‘‘there’s just too much of a communication barrier.’’ Zoe took a sip of her English Breakfast tea. ‘‘I wish caffeine had vitamins in it,’’ she said.
At times, Zoe, who was wearing a neon yellow patent leather Courrèges jacket from the ’60s, can seem like a dizzy character in a backstage musical. She seems to alternate between playing the madcap heiress (complete with costume) and the wisecracking best friend. But in both guises, her intense determination and ambition become almost immediately apparent. Zoe is, in many ways, her own best client.
In the last few years, stylists have become a dominant part of the business,’’ says Meredith O’Sullivan, a publicist who represents the actresses Jessica Biel and Rosario Dawson, among others. ‘‘And Rachel is a large part of the reason. Having a stylist is now a necessary element in any publicity or marketing campaign. As soon as I sign a girl, I insist that she get a stylist.’’
The economics of the stylist have significantly affected the movie business. A stylist’s fee, which can range from $4,000 to $6,000 a day plus the cost of assistants, is usually paid by the studio that is distributing the star’s film. Zoe, like most stylists, has an agent who negotiates with the publicity department of the movie company or, in the case of TV, the network. ‘‘It’s such a racket,’’ said one head of publicity at a major studio, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of angering any actresses who work with Zoe or other top stylists. ‘‘During awards season, when you are nominated or presenting an award, then it makes sense to have a stylist. But now, B- and C-list stars are demanding stylists for everything. The level of insanity is very high. But the bottom line is, if you don’t give them what they want, the actresses say they won’t do any press, that they won’t appear at the premiere. Sometimes I feel like saying, How difficult is it to just go out and buy a dress?’’
Horror stories are rampant: last year, for instance, Nicole Kidman demanded upward of $100,000 for her stylist, makeup artist and hair person to be flown by private plane to the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of ‘‘Fur,’’ a low-budget, independent film about the photographer Diane Arbus. The studio, Picturehouse, decided not to pay for Kidman’s team for the New York premiere of the film. She, in turn, decided not to turn up. ‘‘It was cheaper for us if she didn’t support the film,’’ said an executive familiar with the marketing for ‘‘Fur.’’ ‘‘We should all come back in our next life as stylists.’’
While stylists, including Zoe, never say they aim for the tabloids, all are concerned with coverage in those pages, because that is where the clothes are seen by the largest number of interested readers. Nicole Kidman may be leagues away from Nicole Richie, in both talent and prestige, but she is keenly aware of the fashion pop of the tabloids. And her exposure (created with the help of her stylist, L’Wren Scott) is carefully choreographed. Kidman’s last few films have disappeared quickly, but her Chanel ad was a hit. What Kidman wears still sells.
The fashion choices made by a stylist like Zoe are usually safe and often geared to their commercial possibilities. Today actresses tend to look appropriate and boring. Gone are the days when Cher would don a beaded headdress for the Academy Awards or Jane Fonda would accept her Oscar in an off-the-rack pantsuit. True, the eclecticism of awards-show dressing started to die well before Zoe. In 1989, Wanda McDaniel, who is married to the Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy, went to work for Giorgio Armani and began dressing stars like Jodie Foster (Armani still dresses her) and Julia Roberts, as well as most of the leading actors in Hollywood from George Clooney to Warren Beatty to Clint Eastwood. Armani never charged for the service — the company even provided its own stylist to check on the fit of the garment and to assist with any accessories. Some stars continue to work with fashion designers in this way. Reese Witherspoon has an arrangement with the company Nina Ricci for red-carpet events, and Renée Zellweger usually wears the designer Carolina Herrera. But neither is structuring her career around tabloid exposure
That’s really what I object to about what Rachel Zoe does,’’ said the major studio publicity head. ‘‘If an Academy Award-nominated actress has 50 appearances to make and she hates to shop, we’re happy to hire her a stylist. But to pay exorbitant amounts when the designers and the stars just want publicity in the tabloids, that is not going to help a movie at the box office.’’
Zoe did not invent the job of stylist to the stars, but she did expand what the job could entail. In the past, stylists concerned themselves with the Academy Awards and a few other black-tie gala extravaganzas. ‘‘Everything changed with the popularity of red-carpet preshows and the popularity of fashion and celebrity in the tabloids,’’ O’Sullivan told me. What Zoe recognized is that the tabloids — virtually the only magazines to increase their circulation substantially in recent years — pretty much split their coverage between the bad behavior of their chosen stars and what they wore, whether it was to jail, to a premiere or to pick up their kids at school. ‘‘Because of the tabloids running photos of people in their downtime, that became a thing,’’ Zoe said as she waited for the food to arrive. ‘‘So, we started doing fun outfits to go get your coffee in the morning or if you were going to the Ivy for dinner. You know what I’m saying? The obsession with the tabloids fuels the business. Was I responsible? Yes. I think people should look cute all the time.’’
Life for Zoe and her clients became a constant red carpet. She put them in a combination of designer pieces and vintage finds from the ’60s and ’70s, which is also the way she dresses. After her days at YM, Zoe continued giving Jessica Simpson, then 16, advice on what to wear. ‘‘The girls started asking for my help when they had an event,’’ Zoe explained. ‘‘They’d say, ‘Oh, my God, Rachel, only you could wear such a huge pair of sunglasses.’ Or, ‘Only you could wear a ring the size of your hand.’ And, I’d say: ‘That’s nonsense. You can wear it, too: it’s about having confidence in taking a risk.’ And without risk, there’s no reward.’’
reward, of course, was fame. Not just for clients like Nicole Richie and, later, for more established stars like Cameron Diaz, but for Zoe too. Top designers suddenly sought her out, and she was asked to create a line of evening bags for Judith Leiber, to consult on the Gap’s shoe Web site and to be in an ad for a Samsung cellphone. Her autobiography/fashion guide, ‘‘Style A to Zoe,’’ will be published in October. The book is a narcissistic swirl of drawings of Zoe, photos of Zoe with her celebrity clients and glowing testimonials from fashion eminences like Valentino, mixed with tips — how to strike a pose and what to pack for a trip to Europe. ‘‘Hopefully, the book will teach people,’’ Zoe said at the Bristol as her food finally arrived. ‘‘You’re only here once. Why shouldn’t you do it with style?’’ Zoe looked down at her plate. Steamed vegetables were fanned around a small dollop of sauce. ‘‘What is this?’’ she asked. Zoe picked up her untouched plate and beckoned the waitress. ‘‘I need to send this back,’’ she said. ‘‘Bring it to me without the sauce, please.’’
As the waitress left, Zoe continued. ‘‘It has to be the big picture for me,’’ she said. ‘‘A lot of people saw this job as you put them in a dress and that’s all. I didn’t see it that way. I want them to look great all the time. And I don’t nickel-and-dime people. A lot of stylists say they are hired for this, this and this so that’s the only thing I’m going to dress them for. I’m like, are you nuts? If my client calls me and says I’m going to a friend’s premiere, I’ll say, come over and let’s do something cute. And I won’t bill them for that.’’
It all adds up anyway: more outfits means more photos, which means more designer credits and greater awareness and money. Through her involvement with Zoe, Lohan was offered not only the covers of top fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle but also upscale advertising campaigns for Miu Miu, Prada’s younger sister. ‘‘No one wants to stay in the tabloids,’’ Zoe said as a new plate of vegetables was placed before her. ‘‘But it’s actually not a terrible place to start.’’
late July, Zoe was in Manhattan to work on her newest venture, the relaunch of Halston, perhaps the most iconic American fashion house of the ’70s. Her involvement came about in a typical Zoe connect-the-dots way. Zoe met Harvey Weinstein, the Academy Award-winning movie mogul, at a fund-raising event in 2005. Weinstein had a new interest in fashion. His girlfriend, Georgina Chapman, had become a co-designer of Marchesa, a label that specializes in evening dresses. Eager to help Chapman, Weinstein strongly suggested that the stars of his movies wear Marchesa gowns for big events. ‘‘I also put the gowns on my girls,’’ Zoe said now, as she sat in the back seat of a black sedan on her way to a vintage store downtown called Resurrection. ‘‘And we became friends.
Zoe is also friends with Tamara Mellon, the president of Jimmy Choo (Zoe not only put Jimmy Choo stilettos on her girls; she also styled Jimmy Choo ads). It was Mellon who learned that Halston was available and brought the idea to Weinstein and Zoe, when they were all vacationing in St. Bart two years ago. At $22 million, Halston was not expensive — the brand has been relaunched twice already, and both efforts were financial failures. Weinstein secured the company through a private equity firm. Zoe was intrigued. ‘‘I said: Are you kidding? In a minute I’ll do this,’’ Zoe exclaimed. She was wearing loose jeans, a sleeveless white shirt unbuttoned to her sternum and an even larger amount of gold jewelry than usual. ‘‘I keep changing my sunnies,’’ she said as she fished in her Birkin bag for another pair of sunglasses. ‘‘When the light changes, you have to change your sunnies.’’Earlier that month, the Halston team named Marco Zanini, a former Versace assistant, as creative director. ‘‘He’s kind of brilliant,’’ Zoe said. ‘‘All the talent without the ego. But this is a slow process: I’m used to moving fast. Our C.E.O. is a Virgo like myself. We are always saying, keep it moving, keep it moving
Growing up in Short Hills, N.J., Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig (her middle name was then pronounced ZOH-ee) was fascinated by Halston. The daughter of wealthy art collectors, she was surrounded by Frank Stellas and Keith Harings, but her earliest memory is of her mother’s closet. ‘‘I was 13 going on 30,’’ she recalled. ‘‘And to me, Halston was a true superstar. I wanted to be in his world. I wanted to dance at Studio 54 and fly to exotic destinations. And his clothes represented that dream.’’
Zoe’s phone rang. Her ring tone is the opening notes of ‘‘Riders on the Storm,’’ by the Doors. ‘‘I’m not sick of it yet,’’ she said as she put the BlackBerry to her ear. ‘‘What’s up, babe?’’ It was Taylor Jacobson, one of her two assistants, calling from L.A. ‘‘It’s bananies here, just bananies. Liv’s fitting went great. But she needs some bags. Get some Atwood, Choo and Vivier. And I saw Annie last night. She’ll wear the white long for the Hamptons premiere on Monday. You have to get the jewels to her from Cartier. Cavalli is so happy about the premiere. What else? What else? I have lost my short-term memory — I’m just getting blonder by the day.’’To translate: Liv Tyler and Anne Hathaway have several events, and clothes are needed. Zoe and her team almost never buy anything new — they borrow or they are given garments from nearly every designer. Some designers say no. A year ago, Zoe contacted Olivier Theyskens, then the designer of Rochas, about dressing Keira Knightley. He refused. ‘‘I was shocked,’’ she said after ending her phone call. ‘‘I honestly could not believe that he wouldn’t want to dress her. He’s a brilliant designer, but he doesn’t understand how the business works.’’
Despite her roots in the tabloids with teen stars, Zoe is determined to elevate her business from mass to class. Her idol is Carine Roitfeld, now the editor of French Vogue, who started out as a stylist and inspired designers like Tom Ford at Gucci. ‘‘I had someone say to me the other day, You are my muse,’’ Zoe said as we passed a Starbucks. ‘‘And I said, Don’t put that pressure on me.’’ She stared out the window. ‘‘We have to stop at Starbucks. Even when I’m in Paris, I only drink Starbucks coffee. Otherwise, I feel like I’m cheating on this country.’’
After ordering an iced tea and placing the cup inside another cup (‘‘I hate condensation,’’ she explained), Zoe returned to the car. With all her new projects, the book, the Halston deal, the Leiber handbags that are priced from $2,500 to $16,000, it is surprising that Zoe is still fussing over Anne Hathaway’s dress for a local premiere. ‘‘I keep saying I’m going to cut back on styling,’’ Zoe said, ‘‘but it’s hard to give up. To be totally honest, I struggle with these two people: the Rachel that is the 100 percent service let-me-chase-you-down-the-red-carpet person. And then there’s the other Rachel. I’ve worked at this for 14 years, since I graduated from college, and right now, there are many opportunities to be Rachel the individual.’’She has already started shedding skins. Even though she had great success with Lindsay Lohan, Zoe has now distanced herself from the troubled actress. ‘‘I haven’t really been with Lindsay in the last year,’’ she said. ‘‘When I was with Lindsay, we’d stay up all night and try on clothes. Clothes made her happy. But I’ve only seen her two times in the last six months.’’ Zoe paused. ‘‘I always wonder, How would I have been if I was 18 and around millions of dollars in fame and fortune? How would it be to be wanted by everyone?’’
Todd Shemarya hates to use the word ‘‘brand.’’ ‘‘It sounds so using,’’ he said when I met him for drinks at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in August. As Zoe’s brand agent since last year, Shemarya, who was boyishly dressed in jeans and a baseball hat, is largely responsible for her expansion past the world of styling. ‘‘What I do,’’ Shemarya explained, ‘‘is to take an entity, whether it be a celebrity or a stylist, and enlarge their profile. I take whatever anyone’s best assets are and then I apply those in a business situation.’’
Shemarya, who also represents stars like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, got his start in the fashion world. He owned a modeling agency and began booking his models for commercials and other endorsement-related work. ‘‘I don’t give myself the credit for starting the endorsement thing,’’ Shemarya explained, ‘‘but it didn’t get big until I started doing it. Elizabeth Taylor had White Diamonds perfume, but it wasn’t that big of a deal yet. Now my clients endorse jewelry, pens, water, jeans and much more. But we are very careful. We don’t endorse anything that will not enlarge an entity’s profile.’’
In many ways, Zoe and Shemarya share a worldview: everyone has to get dressed in the morning, so why not have some role, financial or otherwise, in those choices? Both utilize the allure of celebrities, and both have altered the existing business model. Zoe has made every insecure actress (and they are all insecure) feel that her fame/success/career depend on what clothes her stylist tells her to wear, and Shemarya has turned top actors into ‘‘brands’’ without, he says, compromising their artistic credibility.He now plans to reinvent Zoe. ‘‘The way I see it,’’ Shemarya said, ‘‘fashion is now bigger than the movie business. It’s a world that has no end. And yet, nobody can guess who their customer is. Every fashion house is looking for a formula. Rachel has a formula. She’s paid attention to the marketplace. She figured out who wanted to buy what. And now she’s beyond being a stylist: Rachel Zoe is a brand that creates brands.’’Although Zoe has no design training, Shemarya plans for her to have her own line of sunglasses, jeans and shoes. ‘‘Very few designers ever went to design school,’’ Shemarya said. ‘‘And a lot of actors never went to acting school, and they were very successful. You either have a talent or you don’t. And Rachel may never have been a designer, but she’s been a creative director every single day. She creates outfits for people. She invents stars
Shemarya says he feels it’s crucial that Zoe move away from the tabloids. ‘‘Her associations with the Lindsays, the Nicoles cheapens the brand,’’ he explained. ‘‘I didn’t want Rachel to be seen out as much. And I’m not sure I would have chosen Halston for her. They’ve tried to revive that brand before, and it hasn’t worked. Sometimes the universe gives us a signal.’’Shemarya sipped his iced tea. ‘‘Let’s face it,’’ he continued, ‘‘you can take any entity and make them famous. But how long will that fame hold? I don’t think people are stupid. They are interested in the tabloids because they want an escape from reality. And Rachel figured that out. But when Nicole became famous, it was a different time. I’m not sure people are so easily persuaded today.’’
His current goal is to reinvent Zoe as a television star. While audiences would probably like to see her behind the scenes with her famous clients, Shemarya imagines her as a 2007 updated version of Elsa Klensch, an early fashion reporter who had a weekly show on CNN. Klensch concentrated completely on designers and their creations. Her show was never provocative or celebrity-oriented — Klensch would have had no interest in Zoe’s actresses.
know what people want,’’ Zoe told me. ‘‘They want to watch me with my assistants backstage with a star.’’ She isn’t unaware of what brought her to the public’s (and Todd Shemarya’s) attention: without the girls she dresses, who is Rachel Zoe? ‘‘That’s the challenge,’’ Zoe continued. ‘‘I understand what people want to see, but I’m interested in something else. I want my show to be about the history of fashion, about these brilliant designers and their homes and their lives.’’ She-marya agreed. ‘‘We want to do something educational,’’ he told me, ‘‘that you can still make money off of.’’
They’re negotiating a deal with Bravo, home of ‘‘Project Runway’’ (which is co-produced by Harvey Weinstein) and many makeover shows. ‘‘I would never do anything like a reality show with any of my clients,’’ Shemarya insisted. ‘‘Too much information cheapens the brand. And you can go from high to low, but it’s very difficult to go from low to high. That’s one of the challenges with Rachel.’’At her white modernist house in the Hollywood Hills above Sunset Boulevard, Zoe and her assistant, Lia Davis, were sitting at the space-age table in her kitchen looking at dresses on the Internet. ‘‘I die for this,’’ Zoe said as she looked for a strapless gown that might work for Jennifer Garner, ‘‘but nobody can wear this — it’s just too tight.’’ Davis, who was wearing a loose black smock dress with silver gladiator sandals, wrote a note on the pad in front of her. ‘‘Will people do feathers?’’ Zoe asked. ‘‘Yes!’’ Davis enthused. ‘‘Chanel wanted to dress Garner,’’ Zoe continued. ‘‘You should find out about that.
As Davis made another note, Zoe retrieved a diet Snapple from her refrigerator. It was nearly 2 in the afternoon, but Zoe was wearing a long white cashmere bathrobe and high-heeled espadrilles with full photo-ready hair and makeup. She looked particularly bony, her narrow frame accentuated by the tight belt of her robe. Her extreme thinness has spurred gossip: in recent months Zoe has repeatedly denied rumors that she is dependent on drugs and has, in the past, supplied clients.‘‘It’s absolutely not true,’’ Zoe told me in Paris. ‘‘I never even get drunk. I don’t like to let my guard down. I never lose control of where my head is. If I have an entire glass of wine in a night, that’s a lot.’’ Others agree. ‘‘Rachel is a nurturer,’’ says Cameron Silver, who owns an upscale vintage store called Decades, one of Zoe’s favorite destinations. ‘‘If she has a vice, it is shopping. She told me once that she has buyer’s guilt every day of her life.’’
In fact, except for the living room, with its sculptural Philippe Starck couch and the huge bed in the master bedroom, this house is dominated by clothes. There’s an enormous walk-in closet, with clothes organized by color. Her dresses are grouped according to category (designer, style, period and then hue). There are eight built-in drawers for jewelry, ranging from classic Hermès cuffs in the top drawer to more delicate ’20s pieces in the drawer below. A second bedroom has been turned into a closet, where Zoe has stashed some of her furs. ‘‘This room is just for coats and scarves,’’ she said as she walked down the hall toward her office, where 50 handbags were placed on the floor in neat rows of five. Downstairs, what was once the garage is now the showroom. ‘‘This is where all the clients come,’’ Zoe explained.
In the showroom, Zoe opened a closet, exposing at least 70 pairs of jeans, organized by size and cut. Six metal racks were packed with gowns, and there were rows of shoes, waiting to be tried on. On the desk were Polaroids of Zoe’s clients, Debra Messing and Maria Sharapova, in various ensembles. A photograph of Lindsay Lohan was torn out of a tabloid. There was a red circle drawn around the ring she was wearing, and someone — probably one of Zoe’s assistants — had written ‘‘H. Stern,’’ the name of the manufacturer. Zoe turned the clipping over. ‘‘You’re not supposed to see that,’’ she said.
Zoe picked up a Polaroid of Jennifer Garner. ‘‘I do have rules,’’ Zoe said. ‘‘I don’t like the girls to wear black for awards shows. It doesn’t photograph well. And I don’t normally do gray, even though Lia loves gray. I stay away from brown and certain shades of green. Basically, I don’t like any of the colors that don’t look good on me.’’ Zoe laughed. ‘‘I never truly decide about a dress for a big awards show until five minutes before they have to leave. It’s always Cinderella off to the ball.’’
Davis appeared in the showroom and asked Zoe to come back upstairs so they could finish making their choices. ‘‘If you snooze, you lose,’’ Zoe said as she followed Davis back into the kitchen. ‘‘The dress Cameron wore to the Costume Institute I grabbed as soon as I saw it on the runway. And then everyone wanted it.’’Zoe sat down and stared at a baby-doll dress with a white collar designed by Giambattista Valli. ‘‘I feel like I’ve seen this dress before,’’ she said. ‘‘I love it, but I feel like I’ve actually put this exact dress on someone.’’ Zoe paused. ‘‘Maybe I’ve been doing this too long,’’ she said. ‘‘Maybe it’s time for a change.’’
As always, Zoe (pronounced ZOH) was dressed for the designer she was viewing. She was wearing a bright pink nubby wool Chanel jacket, black pants and her usual five-inch platform open-toed shoes. All the Zoe trademarks were in place: she was very tan; her long blond hair was carefully styled to look carefree; there were ropes of gold chains around her neck and stacks of diamond bangles on her wrists; and enormous (Chanel) sunglasses nearly obscured her face. Even wearing high heels, she is short and stick-thin, but Zoe, who is 36, does not seem fragile. The masses of jewelry, the outsize sunglasses, the whole noisy, ’70s-inspired look add up to a hectic, ostentatious, theatrical sort of glamour.It’s the look she has duplicated on her clients, making the so-called Zoe-bots paparazzi favorites, as well as walking advertisements for a host of top designers.
A cross-pollinator of the worlds of Hollywood celebrities, high fashion and tabloid magazines, Zoe has become a powerful image broker, a conduit to the ever-more lucrative intersection of commerce, style and fame. Early in her career, in 1996, she worked as a stylist at YM magazine, dressing such teenage pop stars as Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson, girls who were young enough to be molded and popular enough to be influential. Around the same time, magazines like Us Weekly began inventing their own cadre of celebrities, like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. They had no discernible accomplishments or talent, but they did seem to go out a lot, and they thrived under the flash of the paparazzi. Magazines like Us constructed provocative narratives around them — their romantic woes, their drug problems — and Zoe, who began working with Richie in 2003 when she was viewed only as Hilton’s plump sidekick, saw an opportunity. ‘‘Nicole is now what people refer to as the big thing that happened,’’ Zoe told me in Paris. ‘‘Everything went from nowhere to everywhere. Nicole was about creating a look. Because of her fashion sense, which was really my fashion sense, she became famous. It was a huge moment: Nicole became a style icon without being a star.’’
And then Nicole became a star, too. Because of circumstances that remain murky, Nicole and Rachel no longer speak. But the relationship made their careers. Zoe began working with Lindsay Lohan, Kate Beckinsale and other tabloid-ready stars eager for a new fashion identity. Now she has 20 clients, each of whom reportedly pays her more than $6,000 a day to dress them for events, big and small. Some pay only for premieres and award shows; some also retain Zoe to provide clothes for their daily lives. The financial scope of her business also includes incentives in the form of money and/or clothes, accessories or jewels, offered by designers eager to dress a particular Zoe client for a particular event. ‘‘Around three years ago, everything began to change,’’ Zoe said as she ran through puddles toward the entrance of the Chanel show. ‘‘The nature of what, or who, is a celebrity has expanded. We aren’t saving lives here, but we are creating images, and images create opportunities in a lot of areas.’’
Normally Chanel refuses entry to latecomers, but Zoe was allowed into the show. Three publicists cooed over Zoe’s appearance as she quickly kissed them hello on both cheeks and rushed past to her seat in the front row. The models were already walking down the muddy runway when Zoe took out her digital camera and began snapping shots of the dresses. There were many potential choices for her clients. A ruffled black chiffon flapper style gown might be perfect for Jennifer Garner; a more restrained, narrow sequined sheath might suit Keira Knightley.
Although Lohan is a fan of Chanel, Zoe was not looking for clothes for her (Lohan was in rehab). Unlike Richie, who became famous for being famous, Lohan is actually a very good actress. But since her association with Zoe in 2004, her life in the tabloids and her style obsessions have eclipsed her talent. ‘‘For an entire year, Lindsay wanted to wear three different looks a night,’’ Zoe told me earlier. ‘‘We were changing in cars, in bathrooms. I would have to bring two assistants with me so we could exchange the clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry, because what am I going to do with the clothes when she takes them off? You can’t just leave diamonds in the car! But do you know how many designers she hooked up? When Lindsay would wear Chanel, it would sell out in four hours.’’
Lohan may have moved merchandise, but she seems to have simultaneously stopped attracting audiences to her films. Exposure in magazines like Us Weekly and In Touch, which Zoe seems almost to guarantee, promises a huge but very particular kind of fame. While, say, Jennifer Aniston has sold endless magazines, all those eager readers have been less quick to buy tickets to her movies. Only ‘‘The Break-Up,’’ which neatly mirrored the tabloid narrative of her life, was popular. And yet, if mass stardom of the self is your goal, there is no quicker path than the tabloids.
Zoe’s job — her innovation in the business — was to maximize the fashion component of the Hollywood-equals-celebrity equation. And for Zoe, fashion means the red carpet. Movies don’t necessarily depict a glamorous existence, but the red carpet has the gloss of perfection. When images of the girl and her gown are beamed around the globe, the dress, the bag, the shoes instantly become coveted symbols of a dream world. ‘‘The power of it all blows my mind every day,’’ Zoe said as the Chanel show ended. ‘‘Anna Wintour is one of my heroes, but they say that I’m more influential. As great as it is, Vogue won’t change a designer’s business. But if an unknown brand is worn by a certain person in a tabloid, it will be the biggest designer within a week. When I worked with Nicole, there were things that she wore that designers had to remake for another season because there was such demand.’’
Zoe was interrupted by two carefully groomed publicists in head-to-toe Chanel. They were concerned that Zoe had not seen every look in the show. Zoe promised to come to the showroom. She checked her BlackBerry and called her driver to find out his location. ‘‘I’m exhausted,’’ she said, to no one in particular. ‘‘My problem is, I kind of want to do everything. I was up until 4 a.m. checking on things in L.A. I have the fashion world, the Hollywood world, the creative world, and then I have the Rachel Zoe world. I have to deal with all of it.’’
On a gray day in Paris, Zoe was having lunch at the Bristol, where she was staying with her husband, Rodger Berman, who was once an investment banker and now produces award shows for television. ‘‘I love Paris,’’ Zoe said as she studied the menu. ‘‘If I spoke the language, I’d live here.’’ She looked up at the waitress, who had appeared at the table. ‘‘Can you do crudité?’’ Zoe said. The waitress looked confused. ‘‘You did it yesterday. With cucumber. If not, I guess a salad, no dressing.’’ The waitress still looked confused. ‘‘You see,’’ Zoe said to me, ‘‘there’s just too much of a communication barrier.’’ Zoe took a sip of her English Breakfast tea. ‘‘I wish caffeine had vitamins in it,’’ she said.
At times, Zoe, who was wearing a neon yellow patent leather Courrèges jacket from the ’60s, can seem like a dizzy character in a backstage musical. She seems to alternate between playing the madcap heiress (complete with costume) and the wisecracking best friend. But in both guises, her intense determination and ambition become almost immediately apparent. Zoe is, in many ways, her own best client.
In the last few years, stylists have become a dominant part of the business,’’ says Meredith O’Sullivan, a publicist who represents the actresses Jessica Biel and Rosario Dawson, among others. ‘‘And Rachel is a large part of the reason. Having a stylist is now a necessary element in any publicity or marketing campaign. As soon as I sign a girl, I insist that she get a stylist.’’
The economics of the stylist have significantly affected the movie business. A stylist’s fee, which can range from $4,000 to $6,000 a day plus the cost of assistants, is usually paid by the studio that is distributing the star’s film. Zoe, like most stylists, has an agent who negotiates with the publicity department of the movie company or, in the case of TV, the network. ‘‘It’s such a racket,’’ said one head of publicity at a major studio, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of angering any actresses who work with Zoe or other top stylists. ‘‘During awards season, when you are nominated or presenting an award, then it makes sense to have a stylist. But now, B- and C-list stars are demanding stylists for everything. The level of insanity is very high. But the bottom line is, if you don’t give them what they want, the actresses say they won’t do any press, that they won’t appear at the premiere. Sometimes I feel like saying, How difficult is it to just go out and buy a dress?’’
Horror stories are rampant: last year, for instance, Nicole Kidman demanded upward of $100,000 for her stylist, makeup artist and hair person to be flown by private plane to the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of ‘‘Fur,’’ a low-budget, independent film about the photographer Diane Arbus. The studio, Picturehouse, decided not to pay for Kidman’s team for the New York premiere of the film. She, in turn, decided not to turn up. ‘‘It was cheaper for us if she didn’t support the film,’’ said an executive familiar with the marketing for ‘‘Fur.’’ ‘‘We should all come back in our next life as stylists.’’
While stylists, including Zoe, never say they aim for the tabloids, all are concerned with coverage in those pages, because that is where the clothes are seen by the largest number of interested readers. Nicole Kidman may be leagues away from Nicole Richie, in both talent and prestige, but she is keenly aware of the fashion pop of the tabloids. And her exposure (created with the help of her stylist, L’Wren Scott) is carefully choreographed. Kidman’s last few films have disappeared quickly, but her Chanel ad was a hit. What Kidman wears still sells.
The fashion choices made by a stylist like Zoe are usually safe and often geared to their commercial possibilities. Today actresses tend to look appropriate and boring. Gone are the days when Cher would don a beaded headdress for the Academy Awards or Jane Fonda would accept her Oscar in an off-the-rack pantsuit. True, the eclecticism of awards-show dressing started to die well before Zoe. In 1989, Wanda McDaniel, who is married to the Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy, went to work for Giorgio Armani and began dressing stars like Jodie Foster (Armani still dresses her) and Julia Roberts, as well as most of the leading actors in Hollywood from George Clooney to Warren Beatty to Clint Eastwood. Armani never charged for the service — the company even provided its own stylist to check on the fit of the garment and to assist with any accessories. Some stars continue to work with fashion designers in this way. Reese Witherspoon has an arrangement with the company Nina Ricci for red-carpet events, and Renée Zellweger usually wears the designer Carolina Herrera. But neither is structuring her career around tabloid exposure
That’s really what I object to about what Rachel Zoe does,’’ said the major studio publicity head. ‘‘If an Academy Award-nominated actress has 50 appearances to make and she hates to shop, we’re happy to hire her a stylist. But to pay exorbitant amounts when the designers and the stars just want publicity in the tabloids, that is not going to help a movie at the box office.’’
Zoe did not invent the job of stylist to the stars, but she did expand what the job could entail. In the past, stylists concerned themselves with the Academy Awards and a few other black-tie gala extravaganzas. ‘‘Everything changed with the popularity of red-carpet preshows and the popularity of fashion and celebrity in the tabloids,’’ O’Sullivan told me. What Zoe recognized is that the tabloids — virtually the only magazines to increase their circulation substantially in recent years — pretty much split their coverage between the bad behavior of their chosen stars and what they wore, whether it was to jail, to a premiere or to pick up their kids at school. ‘‘Because of the tabloids running photos of people in their downtime, that became a thing,’’ Zoe said as she waited for the food to arrive. ‘‘So, we started doing fun outfits to go get your coffee in the morning or if you were going to the Ivy for dinner. You know what I’m saying? The obsession with the tabloids fuels the business. Was I responsible? Yes. I think people should look cute all the time.’’
Life for Zoe and her clients became a constant red carpet. She put them in a combination of designer pieces and vintage finds from the ’60s and ’70s, which is also the way she dresses. After her days at YM, Zoe continued giving Jessica Simpson, then 16, advice on what to wear. ‘‘The girls started asking for my help when they had an event,’’ Zoe explained. ‘‘They’d say, ‘Oh, my God, Rachel, only you could wear such a huge pair of sunglasses.’ Or, ‘Only you could wear a ring the size of your hand.’ And, I’d say: ‘That’s nonsense. You can wear it, too: it’s about having confidence in taking a risk.’ And without risk, there’s no reward.’’
reward, of course, was fame. Not just for clients like Nicole Richie and, later, for more established stars like Cameron Diaz, but for Zoe too. Top designers suddenly sought her out, and she was asked to create a line of evening bags for Judith Leiber, to consult on the Gap’s shoe Web site and to be in an ad for a Samsung cellphone. Her autobiography/fashion guide, ‘‘Style A to Zoe,’’ will be published in October. The book is a narcissistic swirl of drawings of Zoe, photos of Zoe with her celebrity clients and glowing testimonials from fashion eminences like Valentino, mixed with tips — how to strike a pose and what to pack for a trip to Europe. ‘‘Hopefully, the book will teach people,’’ Zoe said at the Bristol as her food finally arrived. ‘‘You’re only here once. Why shouldn’t you do it with style?’’ Zoe looked down at her plate. Steamed vegetables were fanned around a small dollop of sauce. ‘‘What is this?’’ she asked. Zoe picked up her untouched plate and beckoned the waitress. ‘‘I need to send this back,’’ she said. ‘‘Bring it to me without the sauce, please.’’
As the waitress left, Zoe continued. ‘‘It has to be the big picture for me,’’ she said. ‘‘A lot of people saw this job as you put them in a dress and that’s all. I didn’t see it that way. I want them to look great all the time. And I don’t nickel-and-dime people. A lot of stylists say they are hired for this, this and this so that’s the only thing I’m going to dress them for. I’m like, are you nuts? If my client calls me and says I’m going to a friend’s premiere, I’ll say, come over and let’s do something cute. And I won’t bill them for that.’’
It all adds up anyway: more outfits means more photos, which means more designer credits and greater awareness and money. Through her involvement with Zoe, Lohan was offered not only the covers of top fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle but also upscale advertising campaigns for Miu Miu, Prada’s younger sister. ‘‘No one wants to stay in the tabloids,’’ Zoe said as a new plate of vegetables was placed before her. ‘‘But it’s actually not a terrible place to start.’’
late July, Zoe was in Manhattan to work on her newest venture, the relaunch of Halston, perhaps the most iconic American fashion house of the ’70s. Her involvement came about in a typical Zoe connect-the-dots way. Zoe met Harvey Weinstein, the Academy Award-winning movie mogul, at a fund-raising event in 2005. Weinstein had a new interest in fashion. His girlfriend, Georgina Chapman, had become a co-designer of Marchesa, a label that specializes in evening dresses. Eager to help Chapman, Weinstein strongly suggested that the stars of his movies wear Marchesa gowns for big events. ‘‘I also put the gowns on my girls,’’ Zoe said now, as she sat in the back seat of a black sedan on her way to a vintage store downtown called Resurrection. ‘‘And we became friends.
Zoe is also friends with Tamara Mellon, the president of Jimmy Choo (Zoe not only put Jimmy Choo stilettos on her girls; she also styled Jimmy Choo ads). It was Mellon who learned that Halston was available and brought the idea to Weinstein and Zoe, when they were all vacationing in St. Bart two years ago. At $22 million, Halston was not expensive — the brand has been relaunched twice already, and both efforts were financial failures. Weinstein secured the company through a private equity firm. Zoe was intrigued. ‘‘I said: Are you kidding? In a minute I’ll do this,’’ Zoe exclaimed. She was wearing loose jeans, a sleeveless white shirt unbuttoned to her sternum and an even larger amount of gold jewelry than usual. ‘‘I keep changing my sunnies,’’ she said as she fished in her Birkin bag for another pair of sunglasses. ‘‘When the light changes, you have to change your sunnies.’’Earlier that month, the Halston team named Marco Zanini, a former Versace assistant, as creative director. ‘‘He’s kind of brilliant,’’ Zoe said. ‘‘All the talent without the ego. But this is a slow process: I’m used to moving fast. Our C.E.O. is a Virgo like myself. We are always saying, keep it moving, keep it moving
Growing up in Short Hills, N.J., Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig (her middle name was then pronounced ZOH-ee) was fascinated by Halston. The daughter of wealthy art collectors, she was surrounded by Frank Stellas and Keith Harings, but her earliest memory is of her mother’s closet. ‘‘I was 13 going on 30,’’ she recalled. ‘‘And to me, Halston was a true superstar. I wanted to be in his world. I wanted to dance at Studio 54 and fly to exotic destinations. And his clothes represented that dream.’’
Zoe’s phone rang. Her ring tone is the opening notes of ‘‘Riders on the Storm,’’ by the Doors. ‘‘I’m not sick of it yet,’’ she said as she put the BlackBerry to her ear. ‘‘What’s up, babe?’’ It was Taylor Jacobson, one of her two assistants, calling from L.A. ‘‘It’s bananies here, just bananies. Liv’s fitting went great. But she needs some bags. Get some Atwood, Choo and Vivier. And I saw Annie last night. She’ll wear the white long for the Hamptons premiere on Monday. You have to get the jewels to her from Cartier. Cavalli is so happy about the premiere. What else? What else? I have lost my short-term memory — I’m just getting blonder by the day.’’To translate: Liv Tyler and Anne Hathaway have several events, and clothes are needed. Zoe and her team almost never buy anything new — they borrow or they are given garments from nearly every designer. Some designers say no. A year ago, Zoe contacted Olivier Theyskens, then the designer of Rochas, about dressing Keira Knightley. He refused. ‘‘I was shocked,’’ she said after ending her phone call. ‘‘I honestly could not believe that he wouldn’t want to dress her. He’s a brilliant designer, but he doesn’t understand how the business works.’’
Despite her roots in the tabloids with teen stars, Zoe is determined to elevate her business from mass to class. Her idol is Carine Roitfeld, now the editor of French Vogue, who started out as a stylist and inspired designers like Tom Ford at Gucci. ‘‘I had someone say to me the other day, You are my muse,’’ Zoe said as we passed a Starbucks. ‘‘And I said, Don’t put that pressure on me.’’ She stared out the window. ‘‘We have to stop at Starbucks. Even when I’m in Paris, I only drink Starbucks coffee. Otherwise, I feel like I’m cheating on this country.’’
After ordering an iced tea and placing the cup inside another cup (‘‘I hate condensation,’’ she explained), Zoe returned to the car. With all her new projects, the book, the Halston deal, the Leiber handbags that are priced from $2,500 to $16,000, it is surprising that Zoe is still fussing over Anne Hathaway’s dress for a local premiere. ‘‘I keep saying I’m going to cut back on styling,’’ Zoe said, ‘‘but it’s hard to give up. To be totally honest, I struggle with these two people: the Rachel that is the 100 percent service let-me-chase-you-down-the-red-carpet person. And then there’s the other Rachel. I’ve worked at this for 14 years, since I graduated from college, and right now, there are many opportunities to be Rachel the individual.’’She has already started shedding skins. Even though she had great success with Lindsay Lohan, Zoe has now distanced herself from the troubled actress. ‘‘I haven’t really been with Lindsay in the last year,’’ she said. ‘‘When I was with Lindsay, we’d stay up all night and try on clothes. Clothes made her happy. But I’ve only seen her two times in the last six months.’’ Zoe paused. ‘‘I always wonder, How would I have been if I was 18 and around millions of dollars in fame and fortune? How would it be to be wanted by everyone?’’
Todd Shemarya hates to use the word ‘‘brand.’’ ‘‘It sounds so using,’’ he said when I met him for drinks at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in August. As Zoe’s brand agent since last year, Shemarya, who was boyishly dressed in jeans and a baseball hat, is largely responsible for her expansion past the world of styling. ‘‘What I do,’’ Shemarya explained, ‘‘is to take an entity, whether it be a celebrity or a stylist, and enlarge their profile. I take whatever anyone’s best assets are and then I apply those in a business situation.’’
Shemarya, who also represents stars like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, got his start in the fashion world. He owned a modeling agency and began booking his models for commercials and other endorsement-related work. ‘‘I don’t give myself the credit for starting the endorsement thing,’’ Shemarya explained, ‘‘but it didn’t get big until I started doing it. Elizabeth Taylor had White Diamonds perfume, but it wasn’t that big of a deal yet. Now my clients endorse jewelry, pens, water, jeans and much more. But we are very careful. We don’t endorse anything that will not enlarge an entity’s profile.’’
In many ways, Zoe and Shemarya share a worldview: everyone has to get dressed in the morning, so why not have some role, financial or otherwise, in those choices? Both utilize the allure of celebrities, and both have altered the existing business model. Zoe has made every insecure actress (and they are all insecure) feel that her fame/success/career depend on what clothes her stylist tells her to wear, and Shemarya has turned top actors into ‘‘brands’’ without, he says, compromising their artistic credibility.He now plans to reinvent Zoe. ‘‘The way I see it,’’ Shemarya said, ‘‘fashion is now bigger than the movie business. It’s a world that has no end. And yet, nobody can guess who their customer is. Every fashion house is looking for a formula. Rachel has a formula. She’s paid attention to the marketplace. She figured out who wanted to buy what. And now she’s beyond being a stylist: Rachel Zoe is a brand that creates brands.’’Although Zoe has no design training, Shemarya plans for her to have her own line of sunglasses, jeans and shoes. ‘‘Very few designers ever went to design school,’’ Shemarya said. ‘‘And a lot of actors never went to acting school, and they were very successful. You either have a talent or you don’t. And Rachel may never have been a designer, but she’s been a creative director every single day. She creates outfits for people. She invents stars
Shemarya says he feels it’s crucial that Zoe move away from the tabloids. ‘‘Her associations with the Lindsays, the Nicoles cheapens the brand,’’ he explained. ‘‘I didn’t want Rachel to be seen out as much. And I’m not sure I would have chosen Halston for her. They’ve tried to revive that brand before, and it hasn’t worked. Sometimes the universe gives us a signal.’’Shemarya sipped his iced tea. ‘‘Let’s face it,’’ he continued, ‘‘you can take any entity and make them famous. But how long will that fame hold? I don’t think people are stupid. They are interested in the tabloids because they want an escape from reality. And Rachel figured that out. But when Nicole became famous, it was a different time. I’m not sure people are so easily persuaded today.’’
His current goal is to reinvent Zoe as a television star. While audiences would probably like to see her behind the scenes with her famous clients, Shemarya imagines her as a 2007 updated version of Elsa Klensch, an early fashion reporter who had a weekly show on CNN. Klensch concentrated completely on designers and their creations. Her show was never provocative or celebrity-oriented — Klensch would have had no interest in Zoe’s actresses.
know what people want,’’ Zoe told me. ‘‘They want to watch me with my assistants backstage with a star.’’ She isn’t unaware of what brought her to the public’s (and Todd Shemarya’s) attention: without the girls she dresses, who is Rachel Zoe? ‘‘That’s the challenge,’’ Zoe continued. ‘‘I understand what people want to see, but I’m interested in something else. I want my show to be about the history of fashion, about these brilliant designers and their homes and their lives.’’ She-marya agreed. ‘‘We want to do something educational,’’ he told me, ‘‘that you can still make money off of.’’
They’re negotiating a deal with Bravo, home of ‘‘Project Runway’’ (which is co-produced by Harvey Weinstein) and many makeover shows. ‘‘I would never do anything like a reality show with any of my clients,’’ Shemarya insisted. ‘‘Too much information cheapens the brand. And you can go from high to low, but it’s very difficult to go from low to high. That’s one of the challenges with Rachel.’’At her white modernist house in the Hollywood Hills above Sunset Boulevard, Zoe and her assistant, Lia Davis, were sitting at the space-age table in her kitchen looking at dresses on the Internet. ‘‘I die for this,’’ Zoe said as she looked for a strapless gown that might work for Jennifer Garner, ‘‘but nobody can wear this — it’s just too tight.’’ Davis, who was wearing a loose black smock dress with silver gladiator sandals, wrote a note on the pad in front of her. ‘‘Will people do feathers?’’ Zoe asked. ‘‘Yes!’’ Davis enthused. ‘‘Chanel wanted to dress Garner,’’ Zoe continued. ‘‘You should find out about that.
As Davis made another note, Zoe retrieved a diet Snapple from her refrigerator. It was nearly 2 in the afternoon, but Zoe was wearing a long white cashmere bathrobe and high-heeled espadrilles with full photo-ready hair and makeup. She looked particularly bony, her narrow frame accentuated by the tight belt of her robe. Her extreme thinness has spurred gossip: in recent months Zoe has repeatedly denied rumors that she is dependent on drugs and has, in the past, supplied clients.‘‘It’s absolutely not true,’’ Zoe told me in Paris. ‘‘I never even get drunk. I don’t like to let my guard down. I never lose control of where my head is. If I have an entire glass of wine in a night, that’s a lot.’’ Others agree. ‘‘Rachel is a nurturer,’’ says Cameron Silver, who owns an upscale vintage store called Decades, one of Zoe’s favorite destinations. ‘‘If she has a vice, it is shopping. She told me once that she has buyer’s guilt every day of her life.’’
In fact, except for the living room, with its sculptural Philippe Starck couch and the huge bed in the master bedroom, this house is dominated by clothes. There’s an enormous walk-in closet, with clothes organized by color. Her dresses are grouped according to category (designer, style, period and then hue). There are eight built-in drawers for jewelry, ranging from classic Hermès cuffs in the top drawer to more delicate ’20s pieces in the drawer below. A second bedroom has been turned into a closet, where Zoe has stashed some of her furs. ‘‘This room is just for coats and scarves,’’ she said as she walked down the hall toward her office, where 50 handbags were placed on the floor in neat rows of five. Downstairs, what was once the garage is now the showroom. ‘‘This is where all the clients come,’’ Zoe explained.
In the showroom, Zoe opened a closet, exposing at least 70 pairs of jeans, organized by size and cut. Six metal racks were packed with gowns, and there were rows of shoes, waiting to be tried on. On the desk were Polaroids of Zoe’s clients, Debra Messing and Maria Sharapova, in various ensembles. A photograph of Lindsay Lohan was torn out of a tabloid. There was a red circle drawn around the ring she was wearing, and someone — probably one of Zoe’s assistants — had written ‘‘H. Stern,’’ the name of the manufacturer. Zoe turned the clipping over. ‘‘You’re not supposed to see that,’’ she said.
Zoe picked up a Polaroid of Jennifer Garner. ‘‘I do have rules,’’ Zoe said. ‘‘I don’t like the girls to wear black for awards shows. It doesn’t photograph well. And I don’t normally do gray, even though Lia loves gray. I stay away from brown and certain shades of green. Basically, I don’t like any of the colors that don’t look good on me.’’ Zoe laughed. ‘‘I never truly decide about a dress for a big awards show until five minutes before they have to leave. It’s always Cinderella off to the ball.’’
Davis appeared in the showroom and asked Zoe to come back upstairs so they could finish making their choices. ‘‘If you snooze, you lose,’’ Zoe said as she followed Davis back into the kitchen. ‘‘The dress Cameron wore to the Costume Institute I grabbed as soon as I saw it on the runway. And then everyone wanted it.’’Zoe sat down and stared at a baby-doll dress with a white collar designed by Giambattista Valli. ‘‘I feel like I’ve seen this dress before,’’ she said. ‘‘I love it, but I feel like I’ve actually put this exact dress on someone.’’ Zoe paused. ‘‘Maybe I’ve been doing this too long,’’ she said. ‘‘Maybe it’s time for a change.’’
The StylistWorking behind the seams with some of Hollywood's most glamourous starlets has made Rachel Zoe something of a celebrity herself.
By Marshall Heyman
Shopping with Rachel Zoe, the pixie-size celebrity stylist who says she hates the term "celebrity stylist" and instead wants to be referred to as "just a stylist," is a dizzying, even exhausting, experience. Five minutes into a visit at What Comes Around Goes Around, a vintage-clothing shop in New York's SoHo, she has swooned, kvelled and plotzed over any number of items. On this brisk November afternoon, she's searching for goddess dresses for the spring 2007 Jimmy Choo and Judith Leiber advertising campaigns she'll be styling; outfits for public appearances by her clients Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, and Nicole Richie (the last of whom will hire a rival stylist a little more than two weeks later); and, of course, pieces to fit her own rail-thin frame.
Each swoon, kvell and plotz is accompanied by a different, wildly effervescent superlative."This is so amazing," she says, fondling a tiny gold purse. "Like, I'm kind of obsessed. And the silver one is just insane." (She takes both.) A pair of boots are "like, the dopest things ever." A sweater vest with a fur collar "is amazingly delicious. So yummy." A Missoni caftan "is so kooky crazy. I could wear it in St. Barths."Then, one of the store's owners, Seth Weisser, has Zoe try on a Matrix-inspired, formfitting leather jacket of his own design. And that's when Zoe has a fashion orgasm. "Seth, this is on another level!" she squeals. "This jacket's so hot. This is not even on another level; it's on another planet. I need to rock this. I'll wear this left, right and center." (Weisser gives it to her as a gift, knowing that her tastemaking friends and clients will inevitably see it on her and want one too.)
And then, after a 10-second cooldown, she's off again, combing the racks: "I'm looking for Alaïas. Any Alaïas, Alaïas, Alaïas, Alaïas?"Though this scene might sound like a shopaholic's fantasy, for Zoe—who dropped her last name, Rosenzweig, professionally on an agent's recommendation—it was serious business. She's not a shopaholic but a workaholic, she insists, when she finally sits down, after several hours of hard labor, to rest her Brian Atwoods. (The shoe designer is a longtime friend; according to Atwood, they met "dancing on tables in Paris eight years ago" after Zoe left YM magazine to work as a freelance stylist.) "I can't plan anything," she says, sliding into a banquette in the lobby of the 60 Thompson Hotel. "I don't get to see my friends. Ever. I can't keep a doctor's appointment. I can't make a dinner plan. I've canceled every vacation that I've wanted to take in the last three or four years."
Zoe, 35 and a native of New Jersey, considers herself a "fashion doctor on call, 24-7." She majored in sociology and psychology at George Washington University, and one can only assume that—with her high-drama twentysomething clients—she's putting that degree to good use. But she has lately become much, much more than a dressing-room shrink handy with double-stick tape. Besides the 15 clients she dresses at a rate of more than $6,000 a day—among them Jennifer Garner, Keira Knightley, Maria Sharapova, Demi Moore, Cameron Diaz and Salma Hayek—she designs a collection of ultraexpensive bags for Leiber; consults with piperlime.com, a shoe Web site run by Gap Inc.; styles runway shows for the fashion label Marchesa; is codesigning uniforms for the new Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills; works on the aforementioned ad campaigns for Jimmy Choo, Leiber and any brand a client may be promoting; stars in a current print ad for a Samsung cell phone; and will release her first book, set to be called Style A to Zoe, in the fall.
Beyond all this, she is developing a jewelry line, an accessories line and possibly a television show, none of which she is ready to discuss. "I see Rachel almost as a brand herself," says Georgina Chapman, one of the designers behind Marchesa.Celebrity stylists are a relatively new phenomenon. As recently as 15 years ago, many stars chose their own ensembles, even for Oscar night, or were dressed by designers or the wardrobe departments of the studios they worked with. But sometime in the mid-1990s, the increased focus on red-carpet fashion led celebs to start hiring fashion experts for big affairs. Now—thanks to the explosion of weekly gossip magazines doing their best to catch famous folks in unflattering sweatpants—more and more stars are employing wardrobe fixers to outfit them for everyday too.
Suddenly, stylists are almost as integral to the Hollywood machine as publicists and agents—and a handful of them have been able to attain a certain degree of fame and fortune. In the words of Zoe's fellow stylist Cristina Ehrlich, who, with her business partner, Estee Stanley, has a clothing label called Miss Davenporte and a line of body-shaping underwear for Frederick's of Hollywood, "We're only as limited as we think we are." (Stanley also has a burgeoning home-decor business.)Naturally, with such high stakes, the industry is especially cutthroat. Clients are constantly switching stylists, as happened this past November when Richie reportedly dumped Zoe and hired Ehrlich and Stanley the very same week. (According to press reports, Richie was angry that Zoe participated in an intervention aimed at helping her overcome an eating disorder. Zoe, in a statement, called the split a "mutual decision.")
Adding to the drama, Ehrlich and Stanley are represented by Zoe's former agent, and they previously styled current Zoe clients Moore and Hayek."It's like Mean Girls," explains a New York–based celebrity stylist who, for obvious reasons, prefers to remain anonymous. Adds Steven Cojocaru, a fashion correspondent for CBS's The Insider, "It's ugly, ridiculous, Fellini-esque. Everybody hates everybody. They're not just jealous of each other. They're insanely, pathologically jealous."Amid all the maneuvering, Zoe has managed to become queen bee. It's not that she makes her clients look more beautiful than does L'Wren Scott (who styles Nicole Kidman and Sharon Stone, dates Mick Jagger and recently began designing her own line of dresses) or Andrea Lieberman (who, besides dressing Faith Hill and Mary J. Blige, fashions jewelry for Mouawad and consults on L.A.M.B. for her client Gwen Stefani); it's more that Zoe's young, naughty clients get the most press. And quite often, when they're photographed living it up at events and clubs, Zoe is right there with them.
Still, she insists that she's not a partyer—"My clients make fun of me when I want to go home at 10:30," she says—and claims to be uncomfortable with the fact that she's become something of a celebrity herself."I'm scared that it's going to be gone," Zoe says. "That people may like my work now, but then next week they'll be so over it. It's almost how they say when an actress wins an Academy Award, it's like the kiss of death. I just don't ever want to lose sight of why I'm here."Indeed, Zoe's skyrocketing success—she moved to L.A. with her husband, Rodger Berman, a new-media entrepreneur, in late 2002, after working as a fashion editor and styling music videos—has made her the target of sniping.
There is the accusation that she's more interested in her own fame than in working for her clients. "What I've observed is that if stylists go on the red carpet, they'll make a conscious effort to really dress down in jeans, carrying pins. You don't want to outshine your clients," says Mario Lavandeira, the editor of perezhilton.com, which devotes much blog space to Zoe. "Rachel dresses as well as her clients, and she'll talk to reporters."Cojocaru concurs. "Certain stylists want to work on the down-low—L'Wren would run away from me when I saw her at fashion shows," he says. "But Rachel is very social. That's the way she's wired. She's part of it. She loves it. And if you want to put yourself out there, people are going to come scurrying."Others complain that Zoe turns all of her clients into clones, putting them in Grecian gowns and loading them down with jewelry.
But Sharapova, who says she hired Zoe because she wanted "the best," disagrees. "Everyone has their own sort of style," counters the tennis champ. "I didn't want her to make me into someone or change mine. But I've learned a lot. I would never have spent three grand on an Yves Saint Laurent cashmere sweater, but she taught me that key pieces are really important. And I'm wearing that sweater right now."But the most scathing anti-Zoe chatter of all has little to do with dresses or diamonds. The real issue, according to her detractors, is how skin-and-bones thin many of her clients have become. A recent gossip report declared that the expression "Rachel Zoe skinny" is now being used regularly in Hollywood to refer to the extremely underweight look currently epitomized by Barton and Richie—and Zoe herself.
"There was something that came out about me giving horse pills or diet pills from Mexico to my clients," says Zoe. "Anyone who knows me, they laugh. I'm so drug clueless. If I can get through a glass and a half of wine in a night, that's a momentous occasion. I mean, I take Tylenol once in a while, and that's about it."Though she was born 10 pounds—"the fattest baby you ever saw in your whole life"—the ultrapetite stylist claims that she has been naturally thin for as long as she can remember. "I'm not going to lie. I don't eat like a pig. I don't diet per se, but I'm one of those people that, when I'm under a lot of stress, I have to remind myself to eat," she says. "You're not going to see me eating crap and junk food, because it doesn't make me feel good. But I eat tons of fish and vegetables. And I would never in a billion years tell anyone to lose weight. Ever."
But an especially nasty posting on Richie's MySpace page paints a different picture. The curiously spelled blurb, widely reported to have been written by Richie and aimed at Zoe, read: "What 35 year old raisin face whispers her order of 3 peices of asparagus for dinner at Chateau everynight, and hides her deathly disorder by pointing a finger at me?""That's kind of below the belt," Zoe huffs, when asked about the posting. "I just need to rise above it and let it go. My teenage drama years were a long time ago, and I certainly don't want to relive them. I'm 35, and I just don't want the drama. I'm tired."Besides, Zoe has more important things to think about. In conversations about her life goals, she admits that what she really wants to be is a creative director at a fashion house, "a brand with history. It could be anything: Halston, Yves Saint Laurent. Those are the ones that come to mind."To hear her friends tell it, she's got what it takes to make that—or anything else she wants to do—happen.
"She's a great little networker," says pal Edward O'Sullivan, who, until recently, worked as a celebrity liaison for Ralph Lauren. "She works it. She'll have a dinner with Georgina Chapman, Margherita Missoni, Harvey Weinstein, Brian Atwood and Karolina Kurkova. Now that's a f---ing table."And recently, quite by accident, Zoe seems to have stumbled upon a role model. In November she came down with what she describes as "the worst flu ever. Like a plague. It was literally the most horrible thing. It was like typhoid." Stuck in bed, she flipped on the television and happened to land on a program about megabillionaire investor Warren Buffett. "He's the most amazing man," she gushes, sounding like a high schooler with a crush. "And it's funny, because a lot of his mantras are very similar to the ones I live by. We both live by our
By Marshall Heyman
Shopping with Rachel Zoe, the pixie-size celebrity stylist who says she hates the term "celebrity stylist" and instead wants to be referred to as "just a stylist," is a dizzying, even exhausting, experience. Five minutes into a visit at What Comes Around Goes Around, a vintage-clothing shop in New York's SoHo, she has swooned, kvelled and plotzed over any number of items. On this brisk November afternoon, she's searching for goddess dresses for the spring 2007 Jimmy Choo and Judith Leiber advertising campaigns she'll be styling; outfits for public appearances by her clients Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, and Nicole Richie (the last of whom will hire a rival stylist a little more than two weeks later); and, of course, pieces to fit her own rail-thin frame.
Each swoon, kvell and plotz is accompanied by a different, wildly effervescent superlative."This is so amazing," she says, fondling a tiny gold purse. "Like, I'm kind of obsessed. And the silver one is just insane." (She takes both.) A pair of boots are "like, the dopest things ever." A sweater vest with a fur collar "is amazingly delicious. So yummy." A Missoni caftan "is so kooky crazy. I could wear it in St. Barths."Then, one of the store's owners, Seth Weisser, has Zoe try on a Matrix-inspired, formfitting leather jacket of his own design. And that's when Zoe has a fashion orgasm. "Seth, this is on another level!" she squeals. "This jacket's so hot. This is not even on another level; it's on another planet. I need to rock this. I'll wear this left, right and center." (Weisser gives it to her as a gift, knowing that her tastemaking friends and clients will inevitably see it on her and want one too.)
And then, after a 10-second cooldown, she's off again, combing the racks: "I'm looking for Alaïas. Any Alaïas, Alaïas, Alaïas, Alaïas?"Though this scene might sound like a shopaholic's fantasy, for Zoe—who dropped her last name, Rosenzweig, professionally on an agent's recommendation—it was serious business. She's not a shopaholic but a workaholic, she insists, when she finally sits down, after several hours of hard labor, to rest her Brian Atwoods. (The shoe designer is a longtime friend; according to Atwood, they met "dancing on tables in Paris eight years ago" after Zoe left YM magazine to work as a freelance stylist.) "I can't plan anything," she says, sliding into a banquette in the lobby of the 60 Thompson Hotel. "I don't get to see my friends. Ever. I can't keep a doctor's appointment. I can't make a dinner plan. I've canceled every vacation that I've wanted to take in the last three or four years."
Zoe, 35 and a native of New Jersey, considers herself a "fashion doctor on call, 24-7." She majored in sociology and psychology at George Washington University, and one can only assume that—with her high-drama twentysomething clients—she's putting that degree to good use. But she has lately become much, much more than a dressing-room shrink handy with double-stick tape. Besides the 15 clients she dresses at a rate of more than $6,000 a day—among them Jennifer Garner, Keira Knightley, Maria Sharapova, Demi Moore, Cameron Diaz and Salma Hayek—she designs a collection of ultraexpensive bags for Leiber; consults with piperlime.com, a shoe Web site run by Gap Inc.; styles runway shows for the fashion label Marchesa; is codesigning uniforms for the new Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills; works on the aforementioned ad campaigns for Jimmy Choo, Leiber and any brand a client may be promoting; stars in a current print ad for a Samsung cell phone; and will release her first book, set to be called Style A to Zoe, in the fall.
Beyond all this, she is developing a jewelry line, an accessories line and possibly a television show, none of which she is ready to discuss. "I see Rachel almost as a brand herself," says Georgina Chapman, one of the designers behind Marchesa.Celebrity stylists are a relatively new phenomenon. As recently as 15 years ago, many stars chose their own ensembles, even for Oscar night, or were dressed by designers or the wardrobe departments of the studios they worked with. But sometime in the mid-1990s, the increased focus on red-carpet fashion led celebs to start hiring fashion experts for big affairs. Now—thanks to the explosion of weekly gossip magazines doing their best to catch famous folks in unflattering sweatpants—more and more stars are employing wardrobe fixers to outfit them for everyday too.
Suddenly, stylists are almost as integral to the Hollywood machine as publicists and agents—and a handful of them have been able to attain a certain degree of fame and fortune. In the words of Zoe's fellow stylist Cristina Ehrlich, who, with her business partner, Estee Stanley, has a clothing label called Miss Davenporte and a line of body-shaping underwear for Frederick's of Hollywood, "We're only as limited as we think we are." (Stanley also has a burgeoning home-decor business.)Naturally, with such high stakes, the industry is especially cutthroat. Clients are constantly switching stylists, as happened this past November when Richie reportedly dumped Zoe and hired Ehrlich and Stanley the very same week. (According to press reports, Richie was angry that Zoe participated in an intervention aimed at helping her overcome an eating disorder. Zoe, in a statement, called the split a "mutual decision.")
Adding to the drama, Ehrlich and Stanley are represented by Zoe's former agent, and they previously styled current Zoe clients Moore and Hayek."It's like Mean Girls," explains a New York–based celebrity stylist who, for obvious reasons, prefers to remain anonymous. Adds Steven Cojocaru, a fashion correspondent for CBS's The Insider, "It's ugly, ridiculous, Fellini-esque. Everybody hates everybody. They're not just jealous of each other. They're insanely, pathologically jealous."Amid all the maneuvering, Zoe has managed to become queen bee. It's not that she makes her clients look more beautiful than does L'Wren Scott (who styles Nicole Kidman and Sharon Stone, dates Mick Jagger and recently began designing her own line of dresses) or Andrea Lieberman (who, besides dressing Faith Hill and Mary J. Blige, fashions jewelry for Mouawad and consults on L.A.M.B. for her client Gwen Stefani); it's more that Zoe's young, naughty clients get the most press. And quite often, when they're photographed living it up at events and clubs, Zoe is right there with them.
Still, she insists that she's not a partyer—"My clients make fun of me when I want to go home at 10:30," she says—and claims to be uncomfortable with the fact that she's become something of a celebrity herself."I'm scared that it's going to be gone," Zoe says. "That people may like my work now, but then next week they'll be so over it. It's almost how they say when an actress wins an Academy Award, it's like the kiss of death. I just don't ever want to lose sight of why I'm here."Indeed, Zoe's skyrocketing success—she moved to L.A. with her husband, Rodger Berman, a new-media entrepreneur, in late 2002, after working as a fashion editor and styling music videos—has made her the target of sniping.
There is the accusation that she's more interested in her own fame than in working for her clients. "What I've observed is that if stylists go on the red carpet, they'll make a conscious effort to really dress down in jeans, carrying pins. You don't want to outshine your clients," says Mario Lavandeira, the editor of perezhilton.com, which devotes much blog space to Zoe. "Rachel dresses as well as her clients, and she'll talk to reporters."Cojocaru concurs. "Certain stylists want to work on the down-low—L'Wren would run away from me when I saw her at fashion shows," he says. "But Rachel is very social. That's the way she's wired. She's part of it. She loves it. And if you want to put yourself out there, people are going to come scurrying."Others complain that Zoe turns all of her clients into clones, putting them in Grecian gowns and loading them down with jewelry.
But Sharapova, who says she hired Zoe because she wanted "the best," disagrees. "Everyone has their own sort of style," counters the tennis champ. "I didn't want her to make me into someone or change mine. But I've learned a lot. I would never have spent three grand on an Yves Saint Laurent cashmere sweater, but she taught me that key pieces are really important. And I'm wearing that sweater right now."But the most scathing anti-Zoe chatter of all has little to do with dresses or diamonds. The real issue, according to her detractors, is how skin-and-bones thin many of her clients have become. A recent gossip report declared that the expression "Rachel Zoe skinny" is now being used regularly in Hollywood to refer to the extremely underweight look currently epitomized by Barton and Richie—and Zoe herself.
"There was something that came out about me giving horse pills or diet pills from Mexico to my clients," says Zoe. "Anyone who knows me, they laugh. I'm so drug clueless. If I can get through a glass and a half of wine in a night, that's a momentous occasion. I mean, I take Tylenol once in a while, and that's about it."Though she was born 10 pounds—"the fattest baby you ever saw in your whole life"—the ultrapetite stylist claims that she has been naturally thin for as long as she can remember. "I'm not going to lie. I don't eat like a pig. I don't diet per se, but I'm one of those people that, when I'm under a lot of stress, I have to remind myself to eat," she says. "You're not going to see me eating crap and junk food, because it doesn't make me feel good. But I eat tons of fish and vegetables. And I would never in a billion years tell anyone to lose weight. Ever."
But an especially nasty posting on Richie's MySpace page paints a different picture. The curiously spelled blurb, widely reported to have been written by Richie and aimed at Zoe, read: "What 35 year old raisin face whispers her order of 3 peices of asparagus for dinner at Chateau everynight, and hides her deathly disorder by pointing a finger at me?""That's kind of below the belt," Zoe huffs, when asked about the posting. "I just need to rise above it and let it go. My teenage drama years were a long time ago, and I certainly don't want to relive them. I'm 35, and I just don't want the drama. I'm tired."Besides, Zoe has more important things to think about. In conversations about her life goals, she admits that what she really wants to be is a creative director at a fashion house, "a brand with history. It could be anything: Halston, Yves Saint Laurent. Those are the ones that come to mind."To hear her friends tell it, she's got what it takes to make that—or anything else she wants to do—happen.
"She's a great little networker," says pal Edward O'Sullivan, who, until recently, worked as a celebrity liaison for Ralph Lauren. "She works it. She'll have a dinner with Georgina Chapman, Margherita Missoni, Harvey Weinstein, Brian Atwood and Karolina Kurkova. Now that's a f---ing table."And recently, quite by accident, Zoe seems to have stumbled upon a role model. In November she came down with what she describes as "the worst flu ever. Like a plague. It was literally the most horrible thing. It was like typhoid." Stuck in bed, she flipped on the television and happened to land on a program about megabillionaire investor Warren Buffett. "He's the most amazing man," she gushes, sounding like a high schooler with a crush. "And it's funny, because a lot of his mantras are very similar to the ones I live by. We both live by our
She's got the look Rachel Zoe's trademark look - Studio 54 meets Saint Tropez boho - has put her A-list clients, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Mischa Barton and Keira Knightley, on magazine covers the world over. And has, uniquely for a stylist, made her as famous as 'her girls'. Gaby Wood dons big sunglasses and tousles her hair to spend a week in New York with the Queen of Skinny Chic Rachel Zoe greets me at the door of her New York hotel room with her head tilted to one side and a large brush entrenched in her beachy-blonde wet hair. Her bathrobe is about 12 sizes too big for her.
'Oh my God,' she says, 'today has been...' She glances round at the Blackberry on the bed and lets her arms slump to her sides in defeat. 'I just got 45 emails in the last three minutes.' The phone rings. 'Hello-oh?' she sings, 'Grand Central?' As anyone in the fashion industry will concede, Rachel Zoe (whose surname rhymes with 'low') is one of the most influential people in the business. The most sought-after celebrity stylist of the moment, she has minted a certain young Hollywood look: tousled hair, perpetual tan, smoky eyeshadow, oversized sunglasses, layers of gold jewellery, huge handbags, vintage jersey dresses - an overly svelte Studio 54-meets-Saint Tropez boho chic.
Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Mischa Barton - actresses revered in the style pages of Heat, Grazia and the fashion press, and as Zoe calls them, 'my girls' - are styled by her, are friends of hers and look exactly like her. When it comes to the Oscars and other red-carpet events, she styles Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway and Keira Knightley (whose Vera Wang gown - co-designed by Zoe - was widely voted best dress of the night this year). So Zoe is widely worshipped. 'When a celebrity wears a certain designer,' Zoe explains to me later, 'it's at least a year of free advertising.'
She won't reveal her fee, but it's rumoured to be around $6,000 a day. Yet Zoe's influence is felt far beyond the fashion industry. By altering a client's look, she can change their fame and fortune - in that respect, Zoe is more Louis B Mayer than Coco Chanel. Not so long ago, Lohan and Richie were teenage laughing stocks; now they are among the most photographed stars in Hollywood. 'Those girls get photographed going to dinner. They get photographed going to lunch. They get photographed from the minute they leave their houses in the morning till the minute they go to sleep,' Zoe says - and every one of those minutes has been styled by her.
Due to the dramatically reduced frames of her young friends Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie, Zoe was recently credited with 'single-handedly bringing anorexia back into fashion', a contentious comment that, though uncharitable in intention, implies an enormous degree of influence: it's not just about sunglasses - Rachel Zoe can shift the popularity of an entire psychiatric condition. 'For Rachel, life is a fashion shoot,' says Harper's Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey, who noticed one season last year that Zoe's look had influenced all the catwalk shows. 'People underestimate her power,' agrees Zoe's friend Nicole Garcia, American Elle's fashion director. Where once magazines set the trends, now they take their cues from the celebrities they feature instead of models on their covers.
Paul Cavaco, creative director of Allure magazine, says, 'We can be snobbish about "high fashion" but, in fact, what people are looking at is Hollywood. And Rachel's dressing all those young Hollywood starlets.' Zoe's friend Michael Kors agrees. 'It's not just the red carpet,' says the designer. 'We've never lived in such a paparazzi moment. So many women get their fashion information by looking at a tabloid, and she has found a way of making those girls look intriguing and fabulous when they're running out for a Starbucks'. She's very influential - she has editorial pages running all over the world without editing a magazine.' Zoe was spending the week in New York, and I wanted to know what a week in her life was like. When I'd phoned to ask if I could shadow her she'd laughed. 'Fasten your seat belt. It's a roller-coaster ride.'
On Monday night, she was due to go to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards (CFDA) - a big day in the fashion calendar. On Tuesday there was a photo shoot with Lohan for UK style magazine i-D. On Wednesday there was a Missoni event, on Thursday it was Cartier. Oh my God, she thought out loud, looking at her crazy schedule - did I want to come and talk to her while she had her hair and make-up done? So here I am in her hotel room, squeezed between makeup artist and hairdresser. 'Last night, someone asked me who did my nose,' Zoe is telling the assembled audience.
'I was like: "Oh my God - my mother! I was born with this nose!"' (Despite having moved to LA three years ago, Zoe is militantly anti-plastic.) 'So,' asks the hairdresser from behind, 'are we gonna do like, more of a loose wave?' 'Yeah, I think a wave. I mean, you could do... Think Giselle. Giselle hair.' Zoe turns to me and adds: 'And I love Giselle personally. She's so kind, and so modest... The first thing she always says is, "Oh my God, Rachel you look so beautiful!" I really think supermodels say that to civilians just to make them feel better about themselves. But it's OK. I got over it a long time ago.'
Zoe is 34. She says she feels like a grandmother sometimes, hanging out with all these teenage starlets. At other times she thinks it keeps her young. Either way, age has given her a degree of cool, both in temperament and style, which her diva friends lack. By all accounts one of the few down-to-earth people in a world of hyper-inflated egos, Zoe has fox-coloured eyes and looks roughly as Brigitte Bardot would have, had she coincided with the era of Halston. She is warm, bright, sisterly and has, since girlhood, been utterly possessed by a love of glamour. She was born Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig in New York and grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey, the daughter of wealthy art collectors.
As a child, she was surrounded by Frank Stellas, Keith Harings, Barbara Krugers, 'all that stuff' - and by vintage Chanel, vintage Lanvin, vintage Dior. Zoe likes to say she was born into her mother's closet. 'It was like a candy store when I was a kid,' she tells me, 'I used to go in there and put everything on at once. You know, more is more is more is more - that's my motto. And I stole it all!' She studied sociology and psychology at university - skills she has said that come in handy in Hollywood - and met her future husband Roger Berman there 15 years ago. Once an investment banker, Berman now has a business of his own - he buys award shows - which allows him to travel with her.
'I'm telling you, I am nothing without him,' she says. 'He keeps me sane.' Berman has, however, threatened to walk out temporarily around Oscar time next year. From the moment nominations are announced to the second a star hits the red carpet is, for Zoe, 'colossal mayhem. It's one of those things where it used to be my favourite time of year,' she says, 'but I think that the competition has got so fierce among designers...' Substantial bribes have been offered; she never takes them. 'Some people you think are really your friends,' she muses. 'When it gets to the nitty-gritty and they're desperate to get that placement you see, like, the dark side.'
The phone rings. It's Louis Vuitton. Can they send some stuff over? I ask Zoe what is the most brutal piece of advice she's ever given a client. 'I never give brutal advice,' she says. 'Probably the most brutal is how to stand. How to work a dress. But I would never in a million years tell a client they had to lose weight,' she adds. 'Ever. And it's not my place. I wouldn't even tell my best friend that. There's a size for everybody.'Of course, Zoe knows that she is expected to dispel the rumours that she has fostered anorexia.
'I think an eating disorder is a very sad thing, a very serious thing - it kills people,' she says emphatically, and quickly undercuts that by adding: 'People don't realise that I've worked with people who are size eight, and 10,' (this, dear reader, is meant to stand for 'extremely large'). 'I don't think it's fair to say that I'm responsible because I'm a thin person, that because I'm influencing their style I influence what they eat. And then there was this crazy rumour that I was getting diet pills from Mexico and, like, distributing them. I was like, "OK, I've never even tried cocaine. I don't do drugs - I'm too much of a control freak." The phone rings again. It's someone inviting her to P Diddy's after party tonight. 'Yeah,' she says, 'I'll totally come by.' I ask Zoe if she believes she can change a person's status if they have a bad reputation - for drugs, drink, poor career choices? 'I don't know,' she replies. 'People say that I do.' Could she make anyone famous? 'No!' she laughs. 'You're giving me too much credit!'
Fifteen minutes to go before her car arrives. Her hair and make-up are perfect. The men leave and Zoe tips out a pile of accessories on to the bed. She's going to wear a vintage Chloe sheath, and is trying to work out which earrings go with it. She chooses several of her gold snakes and some oversized glass pendants, puts on the dress, walks out of the door, and decides something's not right. The belt hangs a little oddly. With the car waiting downstairs, she lets herself back in, switches all the jewellery, swaps her handbag and changes into a layered white vintage Halston.
Tuesday: a photography studio in the meatpacking district. Prince's greatest hits are blaring from the loud speakers, and at least half a dozen people are waiting for Lindsay Lohan to arrive. She is supposed to be shooting a cover for Cosmopolitan with her 12-year-old sister Ali, and then she is due to do a shoot for i-D. Zoe wasn't supposed to be at the Cosmo shoot - she is only styling the i-D story - but I later learn that she was roped into coming because it was going to be difficult to get Lohan there at all otherwise. As it was, she was two-and-a-half hours late.
They arrive, in identical false lashes, with identical tans, wearing each other's clothes. ('Lindsay borrowed my vintage Chanel handbag so I took her Hermes jacket,' Zoe says.) Lohan is smoky-voiced and sore-stomached. From time to time there is talk of a doctor coming to the set to give her an injection. 'Last night was great,' she says of the CFDA awards, where she was Karl Lagerfeld's designated muse. 'Just being up there with Karl. We didn't leave each other's side. We were glued.' As she has her make-up done, Lohan is given a sheaf of press clippings by her publicist.
Zoe looks over her shoulder congratulating her as she flicks through photos of herself. They go over some options for the shoot - a beaded cream chiffon Temperley dress, a sequined Burberry shift, a Chanel two-piece with leather shorts. ('That looks so good - you have to wear that in real life,' Zoe tells Lohan, begging the inevitable question of when real life might begin.)Then Zoe glances down at her Blackberry. 'Oh great,' she sighs, 'I just found out I have to go to a black-tie dinner tonight with her for Gucci. Tomorrow night's Missoni. Thursday night's Cartier. Oh my God, I'm gonna vomit!'
'Come on,' I say, 'it doesn't sound that bad.' 'Dude!' she replies, 'I got 15 years on this girl - everybody forgets that!' She rushes off to button a dress. Later, Lohan returns from the bathroom, babbling excitedly about how someone in a neighbouring cubicle opened the door and nearly broke her nose. 'Oh my God,' she says, 'if she had been this much closer, I'd be at the plastic surgeon's by now.' 'That would be such a shame, Linds,' says Zoe distractedly, 'you have a great nose.' Her tone is perfect - supportive but not overindulgent, maternal but girlie, in charge but not overbearing. I don't know what I'd imagined Zoe to be like at work - something ditzier, perhaps, or, on the other hand, more grand.
A back-seat Paris Hilton, a blonde Diana Vreeland - but her skills as an older sister should not be overlooked. 'We love her,' says Lohan's mother of Zoe during a break in shooting. 'She's so talented. And a good soul - very maternal. If Lindsay's in LA I don't worry because I know Rachel's there.' Zoe's sister calls - a rare moment when she gets to speak to her ('My whole family emails me now to get in touch with me. I mean, imagine the Jewish guilt in my family - you have no idea.') The occasion for the call is crucial: Zoe's six-year-old niece wants to know if she can wear her jeans really long, with heels. 'Pamela,' says Zoe, 'I think you gave birth to my daughter, not yours.'
Meanwhile, the surreal mayhem of the day unfurls. There is a brief, fraught exchange relating to the shoot for i-D, which is famous for its winking cover stars. Matt Jones, the photographer - whose father, Terry, founded i-D - is concerned that Lohan's false lashes will interfere with the wink. 'I'm not taking my lashes off!' Lohan exclaims, before going into a brief but impressively energetic huff. She says Kate Moss doesn't jump - 'and I,' she adds flatly, 'don't wink. I don't wink!' Jones turns to me. 'In your piece, if my name is mentioned, could the word "patient" be next to it?'
A moment later, the make-up artist glances at some shiny black heels Lohan is trying on. 'Oh my God,' he says, 'I just bought some of those for my poodle!' They missed the Gucci dinner that night - the shoot went on past 10:30pm - so they went to Da Silvano's for something to eat instead. The paparazzi swarmed around Lohan instantly. If Zoe is used to dealing with her clients' fame, it is something of a discomfort to her to have to deal with her own. In the past few months, Zoe herself has been featured in Elle - showing readers her Missoni-bedecked home in Beverly Hills - and in Vogue, where we learned that she owns 400 coats. (Zoe's response, when I asked her how many clothes she had, was a near-heart attack: 'How many clothes? Oh God. I couldn't answer that question.')
Her friend Nina Garcia, fashion director of American Elle, tells me: 'I was with her at the CFDA Awards, when people were clamouring: "Rachel, Rachel, give me your autograph!"' 'It was surreal,' Zoe explains later on the phone. 'I walk outside, and there's a swarm of people screaming my name. I turn around, and they're like , "Can we hug you? Can we kiss you? Can we have your autograph?" I signed, like, 30 autographs.' I ask Paul Cavaco what happens when the celebrity stylist becomes as famous as the celebrities she styles. 'I don't know,' he replies slowly, 'it's never really happened before.' Clearly, this is Rachel Zoe's 'moment'.
But since she has such a recognisable style, will that not at some point go out of fashion? And when it does, will she be out of work? 'I'm always gonna wear my jersey Halstons and vintage YSLs and vintage Chanel jackets,' Zoe says. 'I've been wearing big sunglasses forever.' As for her clients, she says, that's another story - 'You have to keep it new and interesting all the time.' And, as Cavaco points out, 'There's always someone you gotta fix.' We meet again towards the end of the week, at the showroom of two ultra-glamorous young British designers, Keren Craig and Georgina Chapman, who operate under the name Marchesa.
Zoe is a great supporter of theirs, and styled their last show. Though they have not been in business long, all of Zoe's 'girls' have already worn Marchesa dresses on the red carpet - the effect of which, they tell me, is extraordinary. Today, Zoe is looking for dresses for Keira Knightley's Pirates of the Caribbean 3 premiere - and other dresses generally: she looks out for feminine things for Mischa, more edgy things for Lindsay, black or white things for Kate Beckinsale. There are beautiful chiffon pieces draped and pinned on mannequins, and drawings on a board. White crepe silk palazzo pants are topped with incredible beaded embroidery.
Craig designs the luscious textiles, and Chapman has been known to sculpt a piece of silk into a dress two hours before a show. They chat and giggle, and show me an entirely handmade red brocade dress from their archive - worn by Renee Zellweger to the premiere of the Bridget Jones sequel. Zoe has had an amazing week. The Missoni event was 'fabulous', the Cartier party was 'incredible'. 'They did this dinner on the roof of the Cartier mansion - the first time they ever did anything like that in like 98 years,' she says as we leave the Marchesa showroom and try to find a cab back to her hotel.
'I got these charity bracelets: all these celebrities like Salma Hayek and Liv Tyler chose a bracelet colour for their charity - I bought four of them. There are so many different charities - I got a black, a red... anyway, the turnout was incredible - it was Sarah Jessica and Liv and Salma, and Cyndi Lauper sang. And I am a die-hard Cartier girl. It's almost dangerous. No, it's not almost dangerous - it is dangerous. Oh my God, these YSLs are crippling me.' Zoe never wears heels under five inches. If we don't find a cab soon her feet will be mangled. 'I 'd kill for my Louboutin espadrilles right now!' she sighs. Part of Zoe's appeal is that she lives the life of a movie star herself. She always spends Christmas in St Barth's and she summers, when she can find the time, in St Tropez.
Every year, she gives her husband a Cartier watch. Her luggage, I am told, is to die for. But she also knows where her priorities lie. She loves 'the adrenalin rush of making someone beautiful'; at some point soon, though, she would like to chill out, maybe in a beach house in Malibu, maybe have a baby, work a little less to other people's schedules. Because after a while, the 'high school pettiness' of the celebrity styling world can get to you. 'Oh my God,' she laughs as a taxi pulls up, 'you have no idea. It's like, we're not saving lives here, we're dressing people: you've gotta get over it. It's not that deep.'
'Oh my God,' she says, 'today has been...' She glances round at the Blackberry on the bed and lets her arms slump to her sides in defeat. 'I just got 45 emails in the last three minutes.' The phone rings. 'Hello-oh?' she sings, 'Grand Central?' As anyone in the fashion industry will concede, Rachel Zoe (whose surname rhymes with 'low') is one of the most influential people in the business. The most sought-after celebrity stylist of the moment, she has minted a certain young Hollywood look: tousled hair, perpetual tan, smoky eyeshadow, oversized sunglasses, layers of gold jewellery, huge handbags, vintage jersey dresses - an overly svelte Studio 54-meets-Saint Tropez boho chic.
Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Mischa Barton - actresses revered in the style pages of Heat, Grazia and the fashion press, and as Zoe calls them, 'my girls' - are styled by her, are friends of hers and look exactly like her. When it comes to the Oscars and other red-carpet events, she styles Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway and Keira Knightley (whose Vera Wang gown - co-designed by Zoe - was widely voted best dress of the night this year). So Zoe is widely worshipped. 'When a celebrity wears a certain designer,' Zoe explains to me later, 'it's at least a year of free advertising.'
She won't reveal her fee, but it's rumoured to be around $6,000 a day. Yet Zoe's influence is felt far beyond the fashion industry. By altering a client's look, she can change their fame and fortune - in that respect, Zoe is more Louis B Mayer than Coco Chanel. Not so long ago, Lohan and Richie were teenage laughing stocks; now they are among the most photographed stars in Hollywood. 'Those girls get photographed going to dinner. They get photographed going to lunch. They get photographed from the minute they leave their houses in the morning till the minute they go to sleep,' Zoe says - and every one of those minutes has been styled by her.
Due to the dramatically reduced frames of her young friends Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie, Zoe was recently credited with 'single-handedly bringing anorexia back into fashion', a contentious comment that, though uncharitable in intention, implies an enormous degree of influence: it's not just about sunglasses - Rachel Zoe can shift the popularity of an entire psychiatric condition. 'For Rachel, life is a fashion shoot,' says Harper's Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey, who noticed one season last year that Zoe's look had influenced all the catwalk shows. 'People underestimate her power,' agrees Zoe's friend Nicole Garcia, American Elle's fashion director. Where once magazines set the trends, now they take their cues from the celebrities they feature instead of models on their covers.
Paul Cavaco, creative director of Allure magazine, says, 'We can be snobbish about "high fashion" but, in fact, what people are looking at is Hollywood. And Rachel's dressing all those young Hollywood starlets.' Zoe's friend Michael Kors agrees. 'It's not just the red carpet,' says the designer. 'We've never lived in such a paparazzi moment. So many women get their fashion information by looking at a tabloid, and she has found a way of making those girls look intriguing and fabulous when they're running out for a Starbucks'. She's very influential - she has editorial pages running all over the world without editing a magazine.' Zoe was spending the week in New York, and I wanted to know what a week in her life was like. When I'd phoned to ask if I could shadow her she'd laughed. 'Fasten your seat belt. It's a roller-coaster ride.'
On Monday night, she was due to go to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards (CFDA) - a big day in the fashion calendar. On Tuesday there was a photo shoot with Lohan for UK style magazine i-D. On Wednesday there was a Missoni event, on Thursday it was Cartier. Oh my God, she thought out loud, looking at her crazy schedule - did I want to come and talk to her while she had her hair and make-up done? So here I am in her hotel room, squeezed between makeup artist and hairdresser. 'Last night, someone asked me who did my nose,' Zoe is telling the assembled audience.
'I was like: "Oh my God - my mother! I was born with this nose!"' (Despite having moved to LA three years ago, Zoe is militantly anti-plastic.) 'So,' asks the hairdresser from behind, 'are we gonna do like, more of a loose wave?' 'Yeah, I think a wave. I mean, you could do... Think Giselle. Giselle hair.' Zoe turns to me and adds: 'And I love Giselle personally. She's so kind, and so modest... The first thing she always says is, "Oh my God, Rachel you look so beautiful!" I really think supermodels say that to civilians just to make them feel better about themselves. But it's OK. I got over it a long time ago.'
Zoe is 34. She says she feels like a grandmother sometimes, hanging out with all these teenage starlets. At other times she thinks it keeps her young. Either way, age has given her a degree of cool, both in temperament and style, which her diva friends lack. By all accounts one of the few down-to-earth people in a world of hyper-inflated egos, Zoe has fox-coloured eyes and looks roughly as Brigitte Bardot would have, had she coincided with the era of Halston. She is warm, bright, sisterly and has, since girlhood, been utterly possessed by a love of glamour. She was born Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig in New York and grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey, the daughter of wealthy art collectors.
As a child, she was surrounded by Frank Stellas, Keith Harings, Barbara Krugers, 'all that stuff' - and by vintage Chanel, vintage Lanvin, vintage Dior. Zoe likes to say she was born into her mother's closet. 'It was like a candy store when I was a kid,' she tells me, 'I used to go in there and put everything on at once. You know, more is more is more is more - that's my motto. And I stole it all!' She studied sociology and psychology at university - skills she has said that come in handy in Hollywood - and met her future husband Roger Berman there 15 years ago. Once an investment banker, Berman now has a business of his own - he buys award shows - which allows him to travel with her.
'I'm telling you, I am nothing without him,' she says. 'He keeps me sane.' Berman has, however, threatened to walk out temporarily around Oscar time next year. From the moment nominations are announced to the second a star hits the red carpet is, for Zoe, 'colossal mayhem. It's one of those things where it used to be my favourite time of year,' she says, 'but I think that the competition has got so fierce among designers...' Substantial bribes have been offered; she never takes them. 'Some people you think are really your friends,' she muses. 'When it gets to the nitty-gritty and they're desperate to get that placement you see, like, the dark side.'
The phone rings. It's Louis Vuitton. Can they send some stuff over? I ask Zoe what is the most brutal piece of advice she's ever given a client. 'I never give brutal advice,' she says. 'Probably the most brutal is how to stand. How to work a dress. But I would never in a million years tell a client they had to lose weight,' she adds. 'Ever. And it's not my place. I wouldn't even tell my best friend that. There's a size for everybody.'Of course, Zoe knows that she is expected to dispel the rumours that she has fostered anorexia.
'I think an eating disorder is a very sad thing, a very serious thing - it kills people,' she says emphatically, and quickly undercuts that by adding: 'People don't realise that I've worked with people who are size eight, and 10,' (this, dear reader, is meant to stand for 'extremely large'). 'I don't think it's fair to say that I'm responsible because I'm a thin person, that because I'm influencing their style I influence what they eat. And then there was this crazy rumour that I was getting diet pills from Mexico and, like, distributing them. I was like, "OK, I've never even tried cocaine. I don't do drugs - I'm too much of a control freak." The phone rings again. It's someone inviting her to P Diddy's after party tonight. 'Yeah,' she says, 'I'll totally come by.' I ask Zoe if she believes she can change a person's status if they have a bad reputation - for drugs, drink, poor career choices? 'I don't know,' she replies. 'People say that I do.' Could she make anyone famous? 'No!' she laughs. 'You're giving me too much credit!'
Fifteen minutes to go before her car arrives. Her hair and make-up are perfect. The men leave and Zoe tips out a pile of accessories on to the bed. She's going to wear a vintage Chloe sheath, and is trying to work out which earrings go with it. She chooses several of her gold snakes and some oversized glass pendants, puts on the dress, walks out of the door, and decides something's not right. The belt hangs a little oddly. With the car waiting downstairs, she lets herself back in, switches all the jewellery, swaps her handbag and changes into a layered white vintage Halston.
Tuesday: a photography studio in the meatpacking district. Prince's greatest hits are blaring from the loud speakers, and at least half a dozen people are waiting for Lindsay Lohan to arrive. She is supposed to be shooting a cover for Cosmopolitan with her 12-year-old sister Ali, and then she is due to do a shoot for i-D. Zoe wasn't supposed to be at the Cosmo shoot - she is only styling the i-D story - but I later learn that she was roped into coming because it was going to be difficult to get Lohan there at all otherwise. As it was, she was two-and-a-half hours late.
They arrive, in identical false lashes, with identical tans, wearing each other's clothes. ('Lindsay borrowed my vintage Chanel handbag so I took her Hermes jacket,' Zoe says.) Lohan is smoky-voiced and sore-stomached. From time to time there is talk of a doctor coming to the set to give her an injection. 'Last night was great,' she says of the CFDA awards, where she was Karl Lagerfeld's designated muse. 'Just being up there with Karl. We didn't leave each other's side. We were glued.' As she has her make-up done, Lohan is given a sheaf of press clippings by her publicist.
Zoe looks over her shoulder congratulating her as she flicks through photos of herself. They go over some options for the shoot - a beaded cream chiffon Temperley dress, a sequined Burberry shift, a Chanel two-piece with leather shorts. ('That looks so good - you have to wear that in real life,' Zoe tells Lohan, begging the inevitable question of when real life might begin.)Then Zoe glances down at her Blackberry. 'Oh great,' she sighs, 'I just found out I have to go to a black-tie dinner tonight with her for Gucci. Tomorrow night's Missoni. Thursday night's Cartier. Oh my God, I'm gonna vomit!'
'Come on,' I say, 'it doesn't sound that bad.' 'Dude!' she replies, 'I got 15 years on this girl - everybody forgets that!' She rushes off to button a dress. Later, Lohan returns from the bathroom, babbling excitedly about how someone in a neighbouring cubicle opened the door and nearly broke her nose. 'Oh my God,' she says, 'if she had been this much closer, I'd be at the plastic surgeon's by now.' 'That would be such a shame, Linds,' says Zoe distractedly, 'you have a great nose.' Her tone is perfect - supportive but not overindulgent, maternal but girlie, in charge but not overbearing. I don't know what I'd imagined Zoe to be like at work - something ditzier, perhaps, or, on the other hand, more grand.
A back-seat Paris Hilton, a blonde Diana Vreeland - but her skills as an older sister should not be overlooked. 'We love her,' says Lohan's mother of Zoe during a break in shooting. 'She's so talented. And a good soul - very maternal. If Lindsay's in LA I don't worry because I know Rachel's there.' Zoe's sister calls - a rare moment when she gets to speak to her ('My whole family emails me now to get in touch with me. I mean, imagine the Jewish guilt in my family - you have no idea.') The occasion for the call is crucial: Zoe's six-year-old niece wants to know if she can wear her jeans really long, with heels. 'Pamela,' says Zoe, 'I think you gave birth to my daughter, not yours.'
Meanwhile, the surreal mayhem of the day unfurls. There is a brief, fraught exchange relating to the shoot for i-D, which is famous for its winking cover stars. Matt Jones, the photographer - whose father, Terry, founded i-D - is concerned that Lohan's false lashes will interfere with the wink. 'I'm not taking my lashes off!' Lohan exclaims, before going into a brief but impressively energetic huff. She says Kate Moss doesn't jump - 'and I,' she adds flatly, 'don't wink. I don't wink!' Jones turns to me. 'In your piece, if my name is mentioned, could the word "patient" be next to it?'
A moment later, the make-up artist glances at some shiny black heels Lohan is trying on. 'Oh my God,' he says, 'I just bought some of those for my poodle!' They missed the Gucci dinner that night - the shoot went on past 10:30pm - so they went to Da Silvano's for something to eat instead. The paparazzi swarmed around Lohan instantly. If Zoe is used to dealing with her clients' fame, it is something of a discomfort to her to have to deal with her own. In the past few months, Zoe herself has been featured in Elle - showing readers her Missoni-bedecked home in Beverly Hills - and in Vogue, where we learned that she owns 400 coats. (Zoe's response, when I asked her how many clothes she had, was a near-heart attack: 'How many clothes? Oh God. I couldn't answer that question.')
Her friend Nina Garcia, fashion director of American Elle, tells me: 'I was with her at the CFDA Awards, when people were clamouring: "Rachel, Rachel, give me your autograph!"' 'It was surreal,' Zoe explains later on the phone. 'I walk outside, and there's a swarm of people screaming my name. I turn around, and they're like , "Can we hug you? Can we kiss you? Can we have your autograph?" I signed, like, 30 autographs.' I ask Paul Cavaco what happens when the celebrity stylist becomes as famous as the celebrities she styles. 'I don't know,' he replies slowly, 'it's never really happened before.' Clearly, this is Rachel Zoe's 'moment'.
But since she has such a recognisable style, will that not at some point go out of fashion? And when it does, will she be out of work? 'I'm always gonna wear my jersey Halstons and vintage YSLs and vintage Chanel jackets,' Zoe says. 'I've been wearing big sunglasses forever.' As for her clients, she says, that's another story - 'You have to keep it new and interesting all the time.' And, as Cavaco points out, 'There's always someone you gotta fix.' We meet again towards the end of the week, at the showroom of two ultra-glamorous young British designers, Keren Craig and Georgina Chapman, who operate under the name Marchesa.
Zoe is a great supporter of theirs, and styled their last show. Though they have not been in business long, all of Zoe's 'girls' have already worn Marchesa dresses on the red carpet - the effect of which, they tell me, is extraordinary. Today, Zoe is looking for dresses for Keira Knightley's Pirates of the Caribbean 3 premiere - and other dresses generally: she looks out for feminine things for Mischa, more edgy things for Lindsay, black or white things for Kate Beckinsale. There are beautiful chiffon pieces draped and pinned on mannequins, and drawings on a board. White crepe silk palazzo pants are topped with incredible beaded embroidery.
Craig designs the luscious textiles, and Chapman has been known to sculpt a piece of silk into a dress two hours before a show. They chat and giggle, and show me an entirely handmade red brocade dress from their archive - worn by Renee Zellweger to the premiere of the Bridget Jones sequel. Zoe has had an amazing week. The Missoni event was 'fabulous', the Cartier party was 'incredible'. 'They did this dinner on the roof of the Cartier mansion - the first time they ever did anything like that in like 98 years,' she says as we leave the Marchesa showroom and try to find a cab back to her hotel.
'I got these charity bracelets: all these celebrities like Salma Hayek and Liv Tyler chose a bracelet colour for their charity - I bought four of them. There are so many different charities - I got a black, a red... anyway, the turnout was incredible - it was Sarah Jessica and Liv and Salma, and Cyndi Lauper sang. And I am a die-hard Cartier girl. It's almost dangerous. No, it's not almost dangerous - it is dangerous. Oh my God, these YSLs are crippling me.' Zoe never wears heels under five inches. If we don't find a cab soon her feet will be mangled. 'I 'd kill for my Louboutin espadrilles right now!' she sighs. Part of Zoe's appeal is that she lives the life of a movie star herself. She always spends Christmas in St Barth's and she summers, when she can find the time, in St Tropez.
Every year, she gives her husband a Cartier watch. Her luggage, I am told, is to die for. But she also knows where her priorities lie. She loves 'the adrenalin rush of making someone beautiful'; at some point soon, though, she would like to chill out, maybe in a beach house in Malibu, maybe have a baby, work a little less to other people's schedules. Because after a while, the 'high school pettiness' of the celebrity styling world can get to you. 'Oh my God,' she laughs as a taxi pulls up, 'you have no idea. It's like, we're not saving lives here, we're dressing people: you've gotta get over it. It's not that deep.'
The Tiny Big SisterLast week, the much-maligned stylist Rachel Zoe arrived in New York. She stood in the winter garden at Bottino, all five feet and a few inches tall, in an involuntarily oversized one-shoulder negative-size-four number. Her honey-colored limbs hung limp with several pounds of silver and gold chain attached at the wrist and finger level.Ms. Zoe, who wears her blond hair boob-length and curled in that done-but-not sort of way, her skin resplendent and metallic, her eyes lined and her lobes bedangled, looks simultaneously older and younger than her 33 years. She has the sprightly, gamine physical presence and vocabulary of a teenager, but the steely-eyed, drawn look of someone who has not let anything interfere with her intentions.
She is a “celebrity stylist,” an invisible figure who works to bolster the illusion that stars are always star-like.But in this increasingly competitive tabloid market, which exhibits an ever-growing fascination with the more banal aspects of celebrity life, Ms. Zoe’s position has grown in significance, and it has pushed her out of the background and into the limelight herself. Each week, at least four of her well-taught denizens (Mischa, Mary-Kate, Rachel, Nicole, Lindsay and Jessica, to name but a few) occupy prime real estate in the glossy weeklies. Photographed on their way to the supermarket, the gym, the inevitable Starbucks or an envelope opening, they appear unnervingly, offhandedly primed for their constant close-ups.Ms. Zoe has been accused of styling her young wards in her own image.
Her most egregious offense has been encouraging them to lose considerable amounts of weight over short periods of time, and her least has been forgetting to remind her miniature self-tanners to wash their hands.“You wanna know the difference between L.A. and New York?” she asked as she sat down at a table in the far corner of the restaurant, flanked on one side by her husband, Roger Berman, and with Jan-Patrick Schmitz, the florid C.E.O. of Montblanc, on the other. “We just left, like, 85-degree weather for this!”
In her hand was a full glass of champagne. She set it down near her plate, poured a glass of water, then a glass of wine, and so the triumvirate remained, untouched, until the end of dinner. So did the plates of antipasti, which lined up like soldiers at her elbow. She passed those on politely and continued to explain: “I love New York; I used to live here. I’ve only been out there for seven years. I love coming back—it’s just that I don’t really miss it.”Her husband, whose arm dangled affectionately (not possessively) around her shoulder for the duration of dinner, offered a similar explanation but threw in the words beach, beer and buddies.
“I love this stuff!” Ms. Zoe exclaimed, fingering her finery. “I totally walked into Montblanc today and was like, ‘I like this, this, this, this …. Ohmigod, I like everything.’ And look how well it all goes together!” Mr. Schmitz smiled and concurred that the 20 or so pieces she wore—rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings—complemented each other very nicely.“Accessories are soooo important,” Ms. Zoe continued. “In fact, I often buy my clothes around my accessories.” The black jersey dress she wore? “Of course! I got it today,” she said.She tugged on the necklace around her husband’s neck. “I mean, even guys can wear this stuff.” Mr. Berman smiled and lifted his free arm to show off the plate-sized watch on his wrist. “I love that watch!” she squealed. Ms. Zoe is simultaneously effusive and controlled, giggly and stern. “Actually, honey, I want to wear it tonight,” she added, and just like that she undid the strap and put in on her own wrist, which is nearly half the size of the watch.
Does Mr. Zoe reap the sartorial rewards of being married to a stylist? “Well, she’s not styling me per se, but I will occasionally leave the house wearing something and she’ll just look at me and go, ‘You cannot go outside wearing that!’’It would be foolish to waste an opportunity to solicit free advice from the woman who speaks to her “little sisters” Nicole and Lindsay about five times a day.
“There are four things,” she offered begrudgingly. “One: a really good coat. Fur is nice, though not necessary. Two: a good pair of boots. I have like 85 pairs. It’s just sooooo important to have good boots. Three: a good bag. I mean, I have every Chloé bag, but it doesn’t need to be that.” (Ms. Zoe later confessed that Phoebe Philo, the Chloé designer, is a “genius” but that the line is “way overpriced.”) She continued her enumeration. “And four: a really good pair of sunglasses.”She leaned in. “You know, most of my girls are really smart, and they never mess up. I mean, they can totally dress themselves, but the other day I sent a girl off on press junkets, and we packed all her bags together, and then I saw her in some picture wearing this Y.S.L. dress with riding boots! It was so humiliating.”
Ms. Zoe’s eyes lit up as Robert Verdi, the celebrity stylist best known for his riotous 2004 Emmys commentary, bounded into the room, requisite sunglasses perched on his bare head. They squealed, said hello and discussed their recent trip to Chicago together. “Are you staying for dinner?” she asked. “Honey!” he said. “I just came to see you. I’ve got to go.” They kissed.When The Transom asked whether Mr. Verdi and Ms. Zoe were acquainted through their mutual profession, she said, “Welllll, he’s not really a stylist. He’s more, y’know, like television.”Once dinner was finished, the guests gathered in front of the restaurant to smoke cigarettes. Ms. Zoe ran out and made sure everyone would be ushered to the nightclub Cain, where the remainder of the evening would take place. “You guys are all coming?” she pleaded, and helped to usher the last remaining guests into cars. A guest begged exhaustion, and Ms. Zoe said, “Well, isn’t that always the excuse?” Then she winked.—Jessica Joffe
She is a “celebrity stylist,” an invisible figure who works to bolster the illusion that stars are always star-like.But in this increasingly competitive tabloid market, which exhibits an ever-growing fascination with the more banal aspects of celebrity life, Ms. Zoe’s position has grown in significance, and it has pushed her out of the background and into the limelight herself. Each week, at least four of her well-taught denizens (Mischa, Mary-Kate, Rachel, Nicole, Lindsay and Jessica, to name but a few) occupy prime real estate in the glossy weeklies. Photographed on their way to the supermarket, the gym, the inevitable Starbucks or an envelope opening, they appear unnervingly, offhandedly primed for their constant close-ups.Ms. Zoe has been accused of styling her young wards in her own image.
Her most egregious offense has been encouraging them to lose considerable amounts of weight over short periods of time, and her least has been forgetting to remind her miniature self-tanners to wash their hands.“You wanna know the difference between L.A. and New York?” she asked as she sat down at a table in the far corner of the restaurant, flanked on one side by her husband, Roger Berman, and with Jan-Patrick Schmitz, the florid C.E.O. of Montblanc, on the other. “We just left, like, 85-degree weather for this!”
In her hand was a full glass of champagne. She set it down near her plate, poured a glass of water, then a glass of wine, and so the triumvirate remained, untouched, until the end of dinner. So did the plates of antipasti, which lined up like soldiers at her elbow. She passed those on politely and continued to explain: “I love New York; I used to live here. I’ve only been out there for seven years. I love coming back—it’s just that I don’t really miss it.”Her husband, whose arm dangled affectionately (not possessively) around her shoulder for the duration of dinner, offered a similar explanation but threw in the words beach, beer and buddies.
“I love this stuff!” Ms. Zoe exclaimed, fingering her finery. “I totally walked into Montblanc today and was like, ‘I like this, this, this, this …. Ohmigod, I like everything.’ And look how well it all goes together!” Mr. Schmitz smiled and concurred that the 20 or so pieces she wore—rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings—complemented each other very nicely.“Accessories are soooo important,” Ms. Zoe continued. “In fact, I often buy my clothes around my accessories.” The black jersey dress she wore? “Of course! I got it today,” she said.She tugged on the necklace around her husband’s neck. “I mean, even guys can wear this stuff.” Mr. Berman smiled and lifted his free arm to show off the plate-sized watch on his wrist. “I love that watch!” she squealed. Ms. Zoe is simultaneously effusive and controlled, giggly and stern. “Actually, honey, I want to wear it tonight,” she added, and just like that she undid the strap and put in on her own wrist, which is nearly half the size of the watch.
Does Mr. Zoe reap the sartorial rewards of being married to a stylist? “Well, she’s not styling me per se, but I will occasionally leave the house wearing something and she’ll just look at me and go, ‘You cannot go outside wearing that!’’It would be foolish to waste an opportunity to solicit free advice from the woman who speaks to her “little sisters” Nicole and Lindsay about five times a day.
“There are four things,” she offered begrudgingly. “One: a really good coat. Fur is nice, though not necessary. Two: a good pair of boots. I have like 85 pairs. It’s just sooooo important to have good boots. Three: a good bag. I mean, I have every Chloé bag, but it doesn’t need to be that.” (Ms. Zoe later confessed that Phoebe Philo, the Chloé designer, is a “genius” but that the line is “way overpriced.”) She continued her enumeration. “And four: a really good pair of sunglasses.”She leaned in. “You know, most of my girls are really smart, and they never mess up. I mean, they can totally dress themselves, but the other day I sent a girl off on press junkets, and we packed all her bags together, and then I saw her in some picture wearing this Y.S.L. dress with riding boots! It was so humiliating.”
Ms. Zoe’s eyes lit up as Robert Verdi, the celebrity stylist best known for his riotous 2004 Emmys commentary, bounded into the room, requisite sunglasses perched on his bare head. They squealed, said hello and discussed their recent trip to Chicago together. “Are you staying for dinner?” she asked. “Honey!” he said. “I just came to see you. I’ve got to go.” They kissed.When The Transom asked whether Mr. Verdi and Ms. Zoe were acquainted through their mutual profession, she said, “Welllll, he’s not really a stylist. He’s more, y’know, like television.”Once dinner was finished, the guests gathered in front of the restaurant to smoke cigarettes. Ms. Zoe ran out and made sure everyone would be ushered to the nightclub Cain, where the remainder of the evening would take place. “You guys are all coming?” she pleaded, and helped to usher the last remaining guests into cars. A guest begged exhaustion, and Ms. Zoe said, “Well, isn’t that always the excuse?” Then she winked.—Jessica Joffe
THE CULT OF RACHELAugust 25, 2005 -- THE most influential person in fashion right now isn't Vogue's Anna Wintour, Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, or even pop star-turned-designer Gwen Stefani. She's an unknown stylist from Los Angeles who has legions of New York City fashionistas unknowingly emulating her look: a deep perma-tan on a skinny frame, long, blown-out hair, oversized sunglasses, and a slouchy, gargantuan it-bag cavalierly cradled in the crook of an elbow.
Meet Rachel Zoe, progenitor of the ubiquitous celebrity magazine, "oh, I-just-tossed-this-together-for-my-paparazzi-chronicled-Starbucks-run" look of the momentAs stylist to Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, the 33-year-old Zoe (pronounced "Zo") transformed her charges from chunky, Ugg-wearing fashion disasters to tabloid "style icons," influencing hordes of New York style mavens in the process. Her style is so ubiquitous that celeb magazine editors have started calling it "The Rachel." "I love it! I think it's amazing!" says Zoe of her East Coast imitators, who are actually channeling a third-generation version of Zoe's look through acolytes Lohan and Richie. "It think it's incredible," she continues, in her Valley-Girl cadence.
"Every girl, from 8 years old to 30 years old, is dressing like them. I see them in airports and malls around the country." She pauses. "It's weird," she admits. "It's weird." Amy Astley, editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, agrees - especially when it comes to the denizens of downtown New York. "It's really surprising to see the East Village and Williamsburg hipsters dressing like Nicole Richie," Astley says. "Celebrity's been reigning for a really long time, and I think it's the ubiquity of Us Weekly, but I'm sure there will be a backlash. For super-hipsters, it's not that cool to take fashion images from Lindsay Lohan." Zoe politely disagrees. "God, here's a perfect example: I was just in Europe," she says. "Literally, I was with Lindsay, and the chicest women in Europe were like, 'Where did that dress come from? Where does Nicole get her hair cut?' It has gone around the world." Zoe, who was raised in New Jersey and says she has always been "obsessed" with fashion, got her start at YM right after college - accidentally, she says. "I got the job through a friend of a friend, and worked my butt off. I did styling, market research, fashion stories, covers."
She quit in 1997; "I needed more," she says. She began working as a freelance celeb stylist for the likes of Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Vanessa Carlton - hardly fashion icons. She decided to move to L.A. to cut back on her commute and make herself more available to her celebrity clientele. And then, a year and a half ago, reality star Nicole Richie - mocked for her ratty extensions and penchant for pink Uggs - hired Zoe to class up her image. "Nicole showed up to meet me in an airport once wearing a sweatsuit, with a leopard-print neck pillow tied around her neck, an 'I Love L.A.' cap, and her hair in pigtails," says Zoe, laughing. "I think she was doing it to torture me."
It's a measure of Zoe's talent that Richie's transformation landed her on the cover of this month's Teen Vogue. Still, industry insiders find it odd that such a distinctly West Coast, mainstream, celebrity-driven look - which can be sourced in the back pages of downmarket tabloids - has reverberated so strongly in New York, which typically generates trends. "These girls want to be Lindsay Lohan, and it's very depressing for a fashion editor," says Elle's Nina Garcia, who is also a judge on "Project Runway" and considers Zoe "a dear friend." "I have noticed on the streets of New York a predominance of oversized glasses, lots of accessories, vintage dresses, cowboy boots - when fashion is actually getting chic and glamorous," she says.
"But people want to dress like Jessica Simpson." And that, tragicomically, includes the junior staffers at Us Weekly itself. "The poor assistants here are going to flea markets and garage sales to emulate [Nicole and Lindsay]," says Hayley Hill, fashion director at the New York-based tabloid. Zoe's had such an impact that, despite her relative anonymity, she's just been hired by The Gap to promote their line of bras, and will make promotional appearances in New York during Fashion Week. "I think they hired me because several of my clients are the people in the weeklies," Zoe says, using the classier term for "tabloid." "So that reaches their audience." The stylist says she cultivated her own look 15 years ago; she describes it as a late-'60s/early '70s pastiche of louche glam, offset by an earthier, "Ali-MacGraw-in-'Love-Story'" prepster/hippie chic. Us Weekly's Hayley says that Zoe's influence is known around the office as "the Rachel look," - a reference to the mid-'90s haircut made famous by Jennifer Aniston's Rachel on "Friends" - mixed with "Golden Girls" frumpiness. "
It looks like they're all going on a cruise with their grandmother," Hayley concedes of New York's fashion clones. "But it's an L.A. moment, and Rachel Zoe has turned fashion on a dime. She's wildly influential." Yet Zoe cites supermodel Kate Moss (along with retired Gucci/YSL designer Tom Ford) as her biggest fashion influence; Moss, in fact, is the girl Lohan is most trying to look like. "We're obsessed with the way Kate looks - Wellington boots with shorts? Who else could get away with that?" asks Zoe, who makes up to $6,000 a day and receives piles of free clothes and accessories from major houses and struggling designers alike, all hoping her clients will be photographed wearing one of their pieces. When Lohan hired Zoe a year ago, "I asked Lindsay, 'What are we trying to do?' And she said, 'Kate is my style icon.' So I said, 'OK. Let's be influenced, but let's not copy.'"
Yet Lohan and Richie are widely viewed as photocopies of Zoe - especially when it comes to their sudden, dramatic weight loss, which has had its own trickle-down effect. "Their weight loss - I really think it was timing," Zoe says. "It has nothing to do with me. I would never, ever, ever promote anorexia. It is a serious disease. They don't have eating disorders. It makes me extremely uncomfortable." Severe thinness aside, Zoe admits that the look she's created is about aspiring to the idea of a celebrity lifestyle: "It's about dinners, parties, shopping, going to work, to shoot," she says. Or, if you're a New York civilian with a dreary 9-to-5 job that leaves you with a little disposable income, it's about looking like the minutiae of your daily errands are Us Weekly-worthy enterprises.
"It's like all these girls are from the same factory," says 24-year-old Lawrence Gega, who admits that he and his other straight male friends have a passing familiarity with Us Weekly and hate the impact it's had on formerly stylish New York girls. "It's not fun to see," he says. "It's like, We get it: You have the same $200 jeans and $200 flat sandals. This is New York City!" he exclaims. "You think you'd see a little diversity. But when everyone congregates downtown, everyone looks the same. From downtown to Midtown to uptown, there's no such thing as personal style." "Everyone's walking around like Stepford children!" exclaims a Lower East Side event planner named Liza. "I think it makes people feel close to celebrities, like they know them. But it seems neurotic to me." In fact, New York psychotherapist and author Heide Banks says that when she meets a client who looks like a Lohan or a Richie, she reads it as a sign of low self-esteem.
"My job is not to be a fashion commentator," Banks says, "but the way someone dresses tells you a lot. When everyone's dressing like celebrities, that means they're trying to access some other life, because they're unsatisfied with their own." It's a sentiment Zoe herself gets. As thrilled as she is by the impact she's had on the streets of New York, even she admits her look isn't necessarily for the masses - and that no one is ever served by copying an entire look head-to-toe, no matter how stylish it seems in a magazine. "I think if you are looking to adapt a style, it's great to be influenced. But the key thing is to interpret for yourself. Don't copy." And, ironically, the woman responsible for generating numerous trends says she never, ever follows them. "I don't believe in changing my style because something's a trend," Zoe says. "People are mislead: They think because it's a trend, they should do it. And it's not going to work."
Meet Rachel Zoe, progenitor of the ubiquitous celebrity magazine, "oh, I-just-tossed-this-together-for-my-paparazzi-chronicled-Starbucks-run" look of the momentAs stylist to Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, the 33-year-old Zoe (pronounced "Zo") transformed her charges from chunky, Ugg-wearing fashion disasters to tabloid "style icons," influencing hordes of New York style mavens in the process. Her style is so ubiquitous that celeb magazine editors have started calling it "The Rachel." "I love it! I think it's amazing!" says Zoe of her East Coast imitators, who are actually channeling a third-generation version of Zoe's look through acolytes Lohan and Richie. "It think it's incredible," she continues, in her Valley-Girl cadence.
"Every girl, from 8 years old to 30 years old, is dressing like them. I see them in airports and malls around the country." She pauses. "It's weird," she admits. "It's weird." Amy Astley, editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, agrees - especially when it comes to the denizens of downtown New York. "It's really surprising to see the East Village and Williamsburg hipsters dressing like Nicole Richie," Astley says. "Celebrity's been reigning for a really long time, and I think it's the ubiquity of Us Weekly, but I'm sure there will be a backlash. For super-hipsters, it's not that cool to take fashion images from Lindsay Lohan." Zoe politely disagrees. "God, here's a perfect example: I was just in Europe," she says. "Literally, I was with Lindsay, and the chicest women in Europe were like, 'Where did that dress come from? Where does Nicole get her hair cut?' It has gone around the world." Zoe, who was raised in New Jersey and says she has always been "obsessed" with fashion, got her start at YM right after college - accidentally, she says. "I got the job through a friend of a friend, and worked my butt off. I did styling, market research, fashion stories, covers."
She quit in 1997; "I needed more," she says. She began working as a freelance celeb stylist for the likes of Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Vanessa Carlton - hardly fashion icons. She decided to move to L.A. to cut back on her commute and make herself more available to her celebrity clientele. And then, a year and a half ago, reality star Nicole Richie - mocked for her ratty extensions and penchant for pink Uggs - hired Zoe to class up her image. "Nicole showed up to meet me in an airport once wearing a sweatsuit, with a leopard-print neck pillow tied around her neck, an 'I Love L.A.' cap, and her hair in pigtails," says Zoe, laughing. "I think she was doing it to torture me."
It's a measure of Zoe's talent that Richie's transformation landed her on the cover of this month's Teen Vogue. Still, industry insiders find it odd that such a distinctly West Coast, mainstream, celebrity-driven look - which can be sourced in the back pages of downmarket tabloids - has reverberated so strongly in New York, which typically generates trends. "These girls want to be Lindsay Lohan, and it's very depressing for a fashion editor," says Elle's Nina Garcia, who is also a judge on "Project Runway" and considers Zoe "a dear friend." "I have noticed on the streets of New York a predominance of oversized glasses, lots of accessories, vintage dresses, cowboy boots - when fashion is actually getting chic and glamorous," she says.
"But people want to dress like Jessica Simpson." And that, tragicomically, includes the junior staffers at Us Weekly itself. "The poor assistants here are going to flea markets and garage sales to emulate [Nicole and Lindsay]," says Hayley Hill, fashion director at the New York-based tabloid. Zoe's had such an impact that, despite her relative anonymity, she's just been hired by The Gap to promote their line of bras, and will make promotional appearances in New York during Fashion Week. "I think they hired me because several of my clients are the people in the weeklies," Zoe says, using the classier term for "tabloid." "So that reaches their audience." The stylist says she cultivated her own look 15 years ago; she describes it as a late-'60s/early '70s pastiche of louche glam, offset by an earthier, "Ali-MacGraw-in-'Love-Story'" prepster/hippie chic. Us Weekly's Hayley says that Zoe's influence is known around the office as "the Rachel look," - a reference to the mid-'90s haircut made famous by Jennifer Aniston's Rachel on "Friends" - mixed with "Golden Girls" frumpiness. "
It looks like they're all going on a cruise with their grandmother," Hayley concedes of New York's fashion clones. "But it's an L.A. moment, and Rachel Zoe has turned fashion on a dime. She's wildly influential." Yet Zoe cites supermodel Kate Moss (along with retired Gucci/YSL designer Tom Ford) as her biggest fashion influence; Moss, in fact, is the girl Lohan is most trying to look like. "We're obsessed with the way Kate looks - Wellington boots with shorts? Who else could get away with that?" asks Zoe, who makes up to $6,000 a day and receives piles of free clothes and accessories from major houses and struggling designers alike, all hoping her clients will be photographed wearing one of their pieces. When Lohan hired Zoe a year ago, "I asked Lindsay, 'What are we trying to do?' And she said, 'Kate is my style icon.' So I said, 'OK. Let's be influenced, but let's not copy.'"
Yet Lohan and Richie are widely viewed as photocopies of Zoe - especially when it comes to their sudden, dramatic weight loss, which has had its own trickle-down effect. "Their weight loss - I really think it was timing," Zoe says. "It has nothing to do with me. I would never, ever, ever promote anorexia. It is a serious disease. They don't have eating disorders. It makes me extremely uncomfortable." Severe thinness aside, Zoe admits that the look she's created is about aspiring to the idea of a celebrity lifestyle: "It's about dinners, parties, shopping, going to work, to shoot," she says. Or, if you're a New York civilian with a dreary 9-to-5 job that leaves you with a little disposable income, it's about looking like the minutiae of your daily errands are Us Weekly-worthy enterprises.
"It's like all these girls are from the same factory," says 24-year-old Lawrence Gega, who admits that he and his other straight male friends have a passing familiarity with Us Weekly and hate the impact it's had on formerly stylish New York girls. "It's not fun to see," he says. "It's like, We get it: You have the same $200 jeans and $200 flat sandals. This is New York City!" he exclaims. "You think you'd see a little diversity. But when everyone congregates downtown, everyone looks the same. From downtown to Midtown to uptown, there's no such thing as personal style." "Everyone's walking around like Stepford children!" exclaims a Lower East Side event planner named Liza. "I think it makes people feel close to celebrities, like they know them. But it seems neurotic to me." In fact, New York psychotherapist and author Heide Banks says that when she meets a client who looks like a Lohan or a Richie, she reads it as a sign of low self-esteem.
"My job is not to be a fashion commentator," Banks says, "but the way someone dresses tells you a lot. When everyone's dressing like celebrities, that means they're trying to access some other life, because they're unsatisfied with their own." It's a sentiment Zoe herself gets. As thrilled as she is by the impact she's had on the streets of New York, even she admits her look isn't necessarily for the masses - and that no one is ever served by copying an entire look head-to-toe, no matter how stylish it seems in a magazine. "I think if you are looking to adapt a style, it's great to be influenced. But the key thing is to interpret for yourself. Don't copy." And, ironically, the woman responsible for generating numerous trends says she never, ever follows them. "I don't believe in changing my style because something's a trend," Zoe says. "People are mislead: They think because it's a trend, they should do it. And it's not going to work."
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