April 7, 2023 • 32 mins
This week, Rachel Zoe covers how she rose to the top in the Fashion and Reality TV world.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Every Genesis is a reminder to try something new, to
keep growing, keep hustling, keep beginning. At Genesis, they harness
that mindset into their performance suv. The GV seventy turn
heads with a stunning design inside and out. Discover intuitive
technology inside the GV seventy with a fourteen point five
(00:20):
inch infotainment system. The Genesis GV seventy is for those
who are making their mark on the world and want
to enjoy the luxurious amenities while they do it. So
go on and enjoy an exhilarating drive in the GV seventy.
Your Genesis GV seventy is waiting for you. Learn more
at Genesis dot com Genesis Keep Beginning. Hi everyone, I'm
(00:52):
Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing in Heels. The
show is all about celebrating the most extraordinary superwomen who
will be sharing their incredible journeys to the top, all
while staying glamorous. Today we're going to switch things up
again and instead of interviewing a guest about their career,
I figured we'd jump back in and talk a bit
(01:13):
more about my journey, my personal journey, well, my personal
in career journey. If you're listening to this and haven't
heard part one, I would definitely suggest going back to
give that a listen so you have more insight into
my early career and where we left off. So, without
further ado, here is myself and my producer Mary Elizabeth
(01:35):
with Part two of Becoming Rachel Zoe. It is a
long journey, I can tell you, and thank you for
taking interest in It's so many of you listen to
the first one, so I appreciate it. So Part two
(01:55):
Becoming Rachel Zoe. Okay, just to remind everyone where we
left off in part one, we left off. Wait, can
I say something? Yeah, you just said that Becoming Rachel's out.
And the funniest thing is that the first piece ever
written about me publicly when I was I don't know,
twenty something living in New York in one of my
first apartments I believe it was for Women's Were Daily
(02:17):
and it was the cover and the headline was becoming
Rachel Rosenswig. Oh that's so funny my maiden name. Yeah. Well,
we actually did talk about that part one too, how
you dropped your agent, was dropped the name and you
did when you just said becoming and I was like, Wow,
that's wild. That's our title for these. So we're on
part two. Yes, with a cold. We both are a
(02:37):
little snowy, as Rachel says, also full disclosure, we love
doing these. You guys obviously love listening to these, which
is exciting. But Rachel goes on spring break with her
kids next week. Also, yes, so we're multitasking here at
Rachel's o inc like we always do. Yep. Never a
dull moment, Never a dull moment. So where we left
off is you made the decision to move your life
(02:59):
and career to Los Angeles. We found out that you
started working with the lovely Nicole King Salaca and she
introed you to a budding young television star name Jennifer Garner. Yep,
you may have heard of her. And you were tasked
with styling Gen for the Emmy Awards. Her dress fell through,
(03:21):
so it was a bit of a nine one one.
It was like a few days before and it was
a beautiful burnt orange. No, this was the Emmys. No,
this was the very first time I styled someone like
Jen for the red carpet and it was a white
like an ivory Halter Nurcy so Rodriguez dress beautiful, really simple,
(03:48):
but beautiful, chilled like an angel. I kind of pulled
it together pretty quickly, and I think we did like
beautiful jewelry with it. And it was just one of
those things that I was so incredibly nervous because I like,
if I don't crush this, I'm not going to get
another chance, you know. And I cut to be honest,
I really approached pretty much every styling job I did
(04:09):
with that sort of mindset. If I don't do the
best job on this, I'm done. You're replaceable, replaceable where
you are, Ye're replaceable. That's true. It's not a bad mentality.
I don't think it works for a little A lot
of us are a little fear motivated. Yeah. So was
that your first actual red carpet styling or coming from
(04:31):
a heavily musician background, certainly, I'm sure you like VMAs
or Grammy or yeah, any of that prior to this. Yeah. Well,
I think what happened was I was working a lot
in fashion, right, So, I was working with a lot
of models and a lot of fashion photographers. I was
shooting a lot in South Beach, Miami, as we did
in that day. Everything was shot in Southbeach, and I
(04:54):
worked a lot with Backstreet and Enrique and a lot
of the pop stars. And to me, that was a
very different world then Hollywood, right and it is now,
but I would say it's definitely a little more merged,
I would say, but I think in the in that time,
they were very separate. So I think I did my
(05:15):
very very first red carpet dressing in Hollywood. Was an
actress named Tony Collett who or Versacchi, an incredible black Versacci.
She wanted very simple, but I was like, okay, but
we still have to be glamorous. And an actress named
Julie Delpi, a French actress named Julie Delpi. I put
her in one of my favorite dresses still to this day,
(05:36):
and Ivory Azero was some incredible jewelry. She looked stunning.
And then the Jennifer Garner moment, to me, I think
was the very first really like I had moved to
La at that, you know, with the other two. I
was still in New York and still working a lot
of music, and I think Jennifer was my first like
(05:58):
really big public moment at an award show where she
was such a dart like she was just so adored
still is adored, and I was just very nervous, you know,
I was just I was incredibly nervous, and there's a
big breakout moment for her, it was for you. It's
interesting how that parallels. Well, that's the thing. I always
(06:19):
say that to her because we're really good friends now,
like we kind of talk about that, like what those
days were, you know, And she was living in this
like great bungalow when we used to hang out to
a dog. She had a big dog and we had
a lot of like girl time like me, Jen and
Nicole everyone, you know. For me, I mean I was
definitely nervous, and there was a lot of fun like
(06:40):
made of me because I think Jen is well, first
of all, she's like a stand up comedian just just
being Jen. So I think like everything she said made
every situation fun and funny because I think she knew
I was nervous, and she knew how seriously I took
my job. And I think for Jen, fashionism not something
(07:00):
she really does take so seriously. I think it's like
part of her job, right, and so she really empowered
me to kind of do my thing. But she would
also make fun of me because it was like this
beautiful way that she stood in fittings like a swan,
like a dancer. And she used to be like, you
want me to do the swanstance right, like yeah, and
she would do it but still with like a funny face.
(07:22):
So anyway, yes, that was that was a big moment
and thankfully very well received, and then that went on
to create the one shoulder Valentino set in nineteen seventy
one carl One Valentino gorgeous that we were both kind
of scared because it was on a hanger and it
looked weird and it was folded over because it's a
one shoulder, so it couldn't like hang properly. And Jen
(07:45):
was like, I don't really do that color, and I
definitely don't do one shoulders, and I was like, okay,
but can we try it? And then she put it
on and we both kind of looked at each other
and we were like and she was like, oh my god,
it's a pretty astress I've ever seen. I was like dead.
And then of course it rained, so we had to
lift the thing and the puddles and I mean every
just as you do have a bit of a rain
(08:07):
carpet curse. How did your day to day as a
stylist change from New York to LA. You mentioned you
were doing a lot of yeah, modeled editorial in New
York when you came to LA. Were you just doing
essentially event dressing or were you still working on models
(08:28):
for campaigns or how did that really shifted? It really shifted.
And I think once they started doing Jen it was
sort of this a bit of a domino kind of thing,
like it was just very word of mouth, Like I
started working with Cameron Diaz when she's doing Shrak and
then with Kate when she was doing Almost Famous, and
then with Samahayak, and you know, Pierce brows In and
(08:49):
then Britney Murphy Rest in Peace, and a lot of
actor I mean, Karen Knightley who just beyond you know,
and she would like fly in from shooting a film
and like come in the night before the oscars and
I would have literally like two hours to fit her.
And if that didn't work, I was like, Okay, the
oscars were the next day, so like what do we do?
(09:10):
And just for the listeners, I think when you say
you were working with X y Z, like let's take
Cameron for insta Shrek. You mean you were styling to Cameron. Yes,
for every appearance she had to do associated with the film. Yeah,
So late night shows or daytime shows or world premiers,
(09:31):
when you see them an actress or a singer or
someone who's very much in the public eye, I mean
ninety nine percent of the time, they have a stylist
and a hair and makeup person, and it's one of
those things where like they're on tour, you're on tour,
you do multiple fittings, you set looks, you go with them,
or an assistant goes with them. In those days, I
went everywhere with all my clients until I couldn't. Right,
(09:55):
there's only one of her. Shockingly, Yes, they had like
late night talk shows, morning talk shows, radio show not
radio shows. They would have to travel, right, There would
multiple premiers. You would camp out at a hotel all
day and change them five times. You go literally around
the world, I mean the big movies literally like in
the days of Shrek and stuff. I mean there was
(10:16):
multiple premiers around the world, like a lot of the
Marvel movies and things like that that premiere like in
Tokyo and London and Spain, and there was those incredible
moments where like it's a little bit like camp. You're
traveling with like the team. You know, you're with the Bubblicists,
you're with the manager, you're with the client, you're with
the hair and makeup, you're with the you know, and
you all become this like really great family together. And
(10:38):
then when the tour ends, sometimes it's like really sad.
You like you get a little like let down afterwards,
like leaving summer camp. Yeah, it's like leaving summer camp
vacation friends. Well, it's also like that. I think when
they filmed the movies, you know, they get like that
as well. But I think it definitely changed for me
when I moved to LA, and it was very different
styling in New York in LA. Styling in New York
(10:59):
was like a grind. Like there's blizzards and like you
know and seven floor walk ups and you can't get
a taxi. There was no ubers, there was no reserving cars.
I mean, you cut, but it was a fortune, so
like you could would afford that and schlapping like you know,
when I was doing you know, Backstreet and BRIGHTNY, I
(11:21):
mean I had like a hundred garment bags. I mean,
it was like crazy, and you've to use messengers, which
are so expensive. So it's very labor intensive in New
York and very weather. It's very hard, very challenging, and
in LA it's like very conducive to styling. I remember
when I started working here and I was like, oh God,
they don't know how good they have it here. You
(11:41):
can like throw stuff in it the clock, Like you
could put a coat in the trunk for when it
gets cold. You could like keep food in there when
you're hungry, Like you could literally drive a car with
your stuff in it. You know, you have your assistant
like with you. You know, it's like it was. It
felt a lot more civilized here, and I think, no
matter how how hard I was working, it just felt
(12:02):
more civilized. Right as a stylist here, it just did.
I don't know why, but it just did. Don't get
me wrong. I was doing like music videos that were
like night shoots. You know, you start shooting at ten pm,
you shoot till six am, then you have to sleep
for a few hours and go back to set. So
that was actually crazy. So we know about these very
public red carpet styling moments that you're working on, and
(12:26):
like you mentioned, it's a ripple effect. Thankfully, word of
mouth traveled and you started picking up more and more
clients for these. But I want you to talk about
how you were styling these eight girls of the moments,
not for technically carpet moments, but for lifestyle moments, right
Like you were working with at one point Lindsay Lohan,
(12:48):
Nicole Ritchie, and you were actually gaining notoriety because you
were essentially styling them for life every day. Yeah, to
remind everyone, this was in the culture of no social media,
yet paparazzi was intense for these in Hollywood, in New
York and everywhere. So what was that, Like, how does
(13:11):
that work where you go, I'm going to pull together
street style looks for you as opposed to this major
premiere or how did that work? So it's a couple
of things so well. Ultimately ended up happening is you
know a lot of my clients became friends. It's a
very very intimate relationship, and I am very protective and
(13:32):
I'm very I care a lot, sometimes too much about
them personally and also about they're sort of like, if
you're going to work this hard to put out this
image of this Hollywood movie star kind of persona. Then
why are you like rolling around and basically pajamas like
(13:54):
during the day because the paparazzi at that point was
so out of control. Yeah, that a lot of these
actors and you know, just kind of pop culture icon.
Sure it, girls were being photographed while going to coffee
bean or like going to lunch or whatever it was,
or going to the gym, shopping, whatever it was. So
(14:16):
what would happen is I would be like, I would
have them at my studio for fittings, and I'd be like,
you should just wear this to like go to dinner. Right,
this is so cute, you should just wear this for coffee.
I don't know, just life, just this is so cute.
It has to have a moment, just wear it. Every
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(14:38):
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into their performance SUV, the GV seventy discover intuitive technology
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(15:00):
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(15:23):
on and enjoy an exhilarating drive in the GV seventy.
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at Genesis dot com Genesis Keep Beginning. Welcome back to
currently with Kuratore, where I share my latest style obsessions,
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(15:43):
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com and get started today. It was funny because Nicole
(16:31):
and I used to joke because she would just try
and torture me. She would literally just send me a
picture of her in her funniest like free city sweats
with like a baseball hat on that you bought in
the airport, with like a neck pillow, totally as Nicole would,
And it's funny. It's just I think that ultimately, I
think a lot of the girls kind of started to
(16:53):
feel I think they were sort of like it's like
anything else, you know, you get positive feedback, you start
to feel more confident, right sure. So I think with
my clients, I never worked based on what I was
hired for or what I was paid for. I just
kind of just did it because it made me happy
to know that they were looking great all the time
(17:13):
or they were feeling great all the time. Where they
had outfits to go down the street for dinner, or
go to the airport or get off the plane or whatever.
My theory about life is that, you know, every part
of your life should be chic kind and should be chic.
And that doesn't mean wearing a ballgown and diamonds. It
means like, just look a little bit cuter because you'll
feel that much better. You know. And listen, when you're
(17:34):
in the public eye and you have pap Rozzi all
over you and those pictures are plastered oliver tabloids, people
say they don't care, but a lot of people do care,
and ultimately you're like, well, you're only human. Yeah, I
mean yeah, that really started from you genuinely saying this
is really great, this looks great, and you take it,
wear it. Yeah. This wasn't some I wasn't hired publicist
(17:54):
manager saying you gotta clean up there, amid you gotta
make them that's really interesting. Nope, it was just was that.
There was that afterwards. There was there was that afterwards,
like help like nine one one, she has to look
better off duty, or she has to look better on
and off duty or whatever. And I think ultimately it
just became part of what it was for me, and
(18:15):
I think for all of my clients, I just started
to be like, right off, you know, offline or online,
I think this is this is the vibe and they
and they loved it. Yeah, you know exactly. But I
think I think part of that, to be honest, I
think part of that was that traditionally, stylist, it's a job, right,
so you're like, Okay, they need five looks, two premieres,
(18:36):
three talk shows, blah blah blah, and like buy and
that's it and that's it. And I think what started
to happen was when the off duty got as much
attention as the on the carpet, it started to just
matter more, right, you know. And that's when you yourself
started to gain some attention or dressing these it girls,
you started people started to wonder who was behind yeah
(18:58):
these yeah, these looks, these beautiful, well put together, like
you said, on and off yeah camera. So that brings
me to the Rachel Zoe project. So how did that happen?
This is your life, I mean, it's true, but how
did the Rachel Zoe project come about? Was that something
you sought or was that something that came to you?
(19:22):
It was something it's weird because it's all blurry because
it seems like four hundred years ago, but it wasn't.
And there was a lot of sort of conversations and
then sort of like definitely on the top of the
list of the things I'd never do, like let a
camera into my life, into my home, into my work,
and to my clients that you know, like just in
they never will I do. There was this show called
(19:43):
Style with Elsa clench on san and Style, and it
was something that I worshiped as a teen. It was
kind of my only way to sort of see fashion
right and it's the only really thing that existed at
that time. And it was every Saturday at ten thirty am.
And she was this in incredibly chic woman who went
and interviewed John Galliano and Karlagerfeld and Jompo Gautier and
(20:05):
all these incredible fashion heroes of mine. And I was like,
oh my god, I want to be here. I want
to do that. I want to do that, I want
to do that, I want to talk to them. Yeah.
I think being in the fashion world and then being
sort of in Hollywood, there was such a separation between
the two worlds and the fashion world really looked down
at LA, did not take it seriously, and I thought
there was such style here, in such flavor and such
(20:27):
history of style and California style that like an ease,
a very different style, very cool style, definitely one that
I related to. This sort of like Gallinos Halston sort
of vibe was very here, and there's a lot of
amazing California designers anyway, So I think for me, I
wanted to somehow convey a bit of the fashion world
(20:49):
to people, demestify it a little bit, and sort of
showcase the talent behind it. And somehow another I met
with an amazing producer Charlie Corwyn. He was doing incredible
docue like series and stuff like that, and another friend
of mine, Jamie Patrick Cough, and they were friends and
they knew each other whatever, and there was just a
lot of conversations that kind of happened, and then next
(21:12):
thing I know was like Bravo. And at that point
I was like, this is crazy. I'm not doing this,
Like there's no way I'm doing this. And it was
funny because Roger was sort of like, what do you
have to lose? Because at the time I was under
a lot of very false narrative of gossip, and not
even a piece of one word of one thing was true, right,
(21:32):
I think wait, I think you should set the record straight.
There was a rumor going around, a rumor, four hundred
a million rumors, But wasn't one of them like you
were giving the actresses you were working with some sort
of pill or drugs or something something. I was starving, man,
I was pushing or something pushing. I don't know. It
(21:54):
was cocaine, it was horse pills. It it was horse pills,
which I still to this day don't know what a
horse pill actually is. There was multiple things. It was
so insane, and it was so funny because I mean,
as you know, Mary, I'm pretty pretty much the straightest person. Really.
I don't even take advil. She's a snooze. Let's put
it that way. You are like half a Blafa line
(22:15):
at most exactly. Obviously, those rumors were not true, and
we're ridiculous. And there was a lot of fashion people
that were also trying to kick me down, a lot
of industry people that really didn't want me to move
forward in my career and in my life. And I think,
you know, Roger was sort of like look like people
(22:35):
are judging you without knowing you. So like, what do
you have to lose? Right, Like, at least this way,
if they don't like you, at least they can justify
why they don't like you, right, because you're not acting right.
This is docu, this is reality right, which it was.
I remember going to Bravo and then being like, we
want to do this. I was like, I want to
do this. I want to talk to all the designers
and I want everyone to meet Carlogerfeld and I want
(22:56):
everyone to meet, you know, all these amazing oscar Deala
Renta and Michael core So like all these amazing designers,
Mark Jacobs, which they did, but I just remember them
being like, yeah, they need more than that, right, Like
nobody's going to care about that. I was like, yes
they woh, They're like nothing, like someone needs to slam
a door. I don't know. We didn't even have a
name of it. And then and then I remember on
the first day, like the paper showed up to shoot
(23:16):
the call sheet and it said the Rachel Zoe Project.
We didn't have a name, and I just said, that's it,
that's the name. There you go, and literally that there
is and five years later. That's that was the show.
So not five years later, like five minutes later, but
five years so the show premieres, it takes off in
a big way, and again it was on Bravo in
(23:40):
a time before a lot of the other sort of
reality franchises that are very popular today had started. You
were sort of really one of the first Bravo reality
YEP shows. I think Real World was the only thing
out at that time that existed in road rules and
that sort of yeah, that kind of duck stuff. And
(24:00):
I think Bravo had a few other shows, but they
were not obviously fashion centric. How did your life change
when you started to shoot the show. It was crazy
because I was working twenty four seven. I mean I
think I had I don't even know how many clients
I was working with at the time, but a lot.
It was a lot, and they were like major, very prominent,
(24:21):
important yes, working a list really amazing talents. Yes. And
I only cared about my job. I didn't have kids,
so my job was my entire existence. I think for me,
the challenge of the show was trying to shoot the
show in the best, most real, organic way possible while
(24:45):
still being really good at my actual job and not
neglecting that and protecting that and not exposing too much,
but still giving the viewers enough that they felt that
they were in it. Because it's funny. Even today, people
are like, it was my favorite show part, this part,
this part, and I love the part when we went
into this, like and you did London and you did
this and I'm thinking of myself, God, there's so much
(25:06):
you didn't see it a moment, right, Yeah. Was it
strange for you to have a job that was very
behind the scenes in terms of no one brought their
stylist to an award show, no one brought their stylist
to any kind of public outing. To then go, the
paparazzi is following you because now you are in front
(25:28):
of the camera. What was that like for you? Awful?
You didn't like that? Now, it's terrible. No, I actually
hated it. It was really uncomfortable. Because I don't mean
to sound like woe is me, like it was very
nice that it's very nice that the media was recognizing
hair and makeup and stylist because now they really recognize them.
(25:49):
I really didn't like it because it was very uncomfortable
for me. I'm someone who is actually naturally more comfortable
behind the scenes, which I know sounds ironic now because
I'm sort of in front and back and in front
and back. But I think that I was sort of
pulled in front a bit. And I recognize that I
had a TV show which also puts you in front.
(26:10):
But the weird thing is that I was doing the
show to sort of showcase the behind. So it's a
little it's a little surreal. All that it doesn't make
a whole lot of sense, but I would say that
it was surreal. And I was never ever comfortable getting
attention when I was with my clients. That was really
uncomfortable for me. But you know, today is such a
(26:32):
different thing because today it's totally I'm just watching the talent.
I'm watching the actors just promote and advocate their stylists
and pose for magazine covers and put them on social media.
Like I wasn't even allowed to talk about my clients,
let alone take pictures with them, do you know what
(26:53):
I mean? There was a handful that were like incredibly supportive,
Like Kate Hudson was the best. She was on my show.
We had the best still to this day, my favorite
episode and my favorite scene in five years of the
Rachel Zoe Project was when we were in London together
when she was trying to convince me to have babies
and go in the ocean, and I was like, well,
(27:13):
what should I do first? She was like, oh, both.
And I think there's like those organic moments that in hindsight,
I'm like so happy that they happened, you know, and
I have amazing friends in the industry. But I guess
my point is is that, like that wasn't the intention.
But I love the fact that people took so much
away from the Rachel Zoe Project to this day. Oh
(27:36):
you know, it's funny. You don't really go anywhere or
post anything without somebody bringing up the Rachel Zoe Project now,
and that's how I knew you. Yeah, But I mean,
it's it's so nice that it had that impact, right
those lives, like in hindsight, like as hard and grueling
as it was and as insane as those years were
because I was doing like a hundred things and then
(27:58):
the camera you know so much, but can retrospect, you know,
really did a lot for my brand, you know, it
did a lot for my business, and I love how
much people took from it. I love how emotionally involved
people got in it, you know, and and still watching
and now like another generation is watching it, like Skyler's
friends watch it. It's so funny. Yeah, it's great. Skyler
(28:21):
wants to watch it, and I'm like, dear God, now
that's amazing. Now you have to let him watch it.
I will. I will soon, he's almost old enough. I
just it's going to be really weird for him to
see me in that regard, I guess. So maybe he'll
be shocked, maybe he won't be. We should do like
a we should film him watching it. It'd be so funny.
So talking about the show change the trajectory of your career.
(28:43):
You and Roger. The show is in gosh, it's third
season maybe fourth, and you and Roger decide to launch
the Zoo Report. Huh, So tell us about that. Where
did that start? What was the idea behind that? I
mean that took off like a rocket as well, good
the Zar Report. I mean, at the time, the last
(29:05):
thing I was going to do is start a magazine,
right like and did magazine because they already existed in
such a big way, very successfully. So there were already
fashioned bibles out there, and I think for me, I've
always been about how to be relatable to as many
women as possible. And I think it was really the
(29:25):
brainchild of Roger. He really felt that there was a
way that I could communicate. There had to be a
better way that I could communicate and help as many
women as possible, and he thought by doing a newsletter,
you know, called this ZAR Report, that would be amazing.
And it was just a It started me Roger and
(29:48):
one editor named Jessica Amento, and it started as a weekly,
right it was daily, I think I think it was
daily wow. And she wrote in my voice, I wrote,
I would like rewrite and re edit like it was
so mo pa right, like cattle like it was really
just very like it was. It was just very small.
(30:11):
And I would talk about a trend, and you know,
I would be like, this is the version on the runway,
and this is how you can do this at home
for not ten thousand dollars, you know, And that was
really it. It started with a trend. It started with
style advice, and then it just grew and grew and grew,
and then one day we had like a hundred employees
or something. And it became this incredible fashion and beauty
(30:33):
and pop culture kind of trend destination. It's doing so
well today and you know, run by BDG Vessel Digital Group,
and it's great. It's incredible, and it's like living on
in the biggest and best way. And I'm so close
to it and still so involved in it and so
proud of it. Honestly, it's it's so good. From a
(30:54):
tiny operation to a massive media business. Roger and Jessica Mente,
isn't that fighting article which came first? Did your first book,
Style eight to Zoe come before the Zoe Report? Yep?
Or after my book came first? I think my first book,
I want to say it was two thousand and seven,
and the second one I think was twenty and twelve,
which that sounds right. Yeah, I want to say. So
(31:16):
you're still styling at this point, you're commanding a growing
media business. Ye, you're finishing the Rachel Zoe project and
you're about to book up a mom and I launch
a clothing line right two eleven, just as Skyler was
about to be born, a month before I was pregnant,
wearing like platform thigh high boots at my very first
(31:37):
fashion show and launch of my collection as only you
would Well, that is going to tee up Part three. Okay,
so our listeners to come back about to give birth
to my first collection in my first trial. She's nine
months pregnant and THI hi, solet us come back for more.
Thank you so much for listening to more of my
story and I hope you're inspired or at least entertained
(32:00):
by my insane journey to where I am. If you
want more Climbing and Heels content, follow me on at
Rachel Zoe and at Climbing in Heels Pod on Instagram
for more updates on upcoming guests, episodes, and all things
here Atour. I'll see you all next week
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heads with a stunning design inside and out. Discover intuitive
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(00:20):
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Your Genesis GV seventy is waiting for you. Learn more
at Genesis dot com Genesis Keep Beginning. Hi everyone, I'm
(00:52):
Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing in Heels. The
show is all about celebrating the most extraordinary superwomen who
will be sharing their incredible journeys to the top, all
while staying glamorous. Today we're going to switch things up
again and instead of interviewing a guest about their career,
I figured we'd jump back in and talk a bit
(01:13):
more about my journey, my personal journey, well, my personal
in career journey. If you're listening to this and haven't
heard part one, I would definitely suggest going back to
give that a listen so you have more insight into
my early career and where we left off. So, without
further ado, here is myself and my producer Mary Elizabeth
(01:35):
with Part two of Becoming Rachel Zoe. It is a
long journey, I can tell you, and thank you for
taking interest in It's so many of you listen to
the first one, so I appreciate it. So Part two
(01:55):
Becoming Rachel Zoe. Okay, just to remind everyone where we
left off in part one, we left off. Wait, can
I say something? Yeah, you just said that Becoming Rachel's out.
And the funniest thing is that the first piece ever
written about me publicly when I was I don't know,
twenty something living in New York in one of my
first apartments I believe it was for Women's Were Daily
(02:17):
and it was the cover and the headline was becoming
Rachel Rosenswig. Oh that's so funny my maiden name. Yeah. Well,
we actually did talk about that part one too, how
you dropped your agent, was dropped the name and you
did when you just said becoming and I was like, Wow,
that's wild. That's our title for these. So we're on
part two. Yes, with a cold. We both are a
(02:37):
little snowy, as Rachel says, also full disclosure, we love
doing these. You guys obviously love listening to these, which
is exciting. But Rachel goes on spring break with her
kids next week. Also, yes, so we're multitasking here at
Rachel's o inc like we always do. Yep. Never a
dull moment, Never a dull moment. So where we left
off is you made the decision to move your life
(02:59):
and career to Los Angeles. We found out that you
started working with the lovely Nicole King Salaca and she
introed you to a budding young television star name Jennifer Garner. Yep,
you may have heard of her. And you were tasked
with styling Gen for the Emmy Awards. Her dress fell through,
(03:21):
so it was a bit of a nine one one.
It was like a few days before and it was
a beautiful burnt orange. No, this was the Emmys. No,
this was the very first time I styled someone like
Jen for the red carpet and it was a white
like an ivory Halter Nurcy so Rodriguez dress beautiful, really simple,
(03:48):
but beautiful, chilled like an angel. I kind of pulled
it together pretty quickly, and I think we did like
beautiful jewelry with it. And it was just one of
those things that I was so incredibly nervous because I like,
if I don't crush this, I'm not going to get
another chance, you know. And I cut to be honest,
I really approached pretty much every styling job I did
(04:09):
with that sort of mindset. If I don't do the
best job on this, I'm done. You're replaceable, replaceable where
you are, Ye're replaceable. That's true. It's not a bad mentality.
I don't think it works for a little A lot
of us are a little fear motivated. Yeah. So was
that your first actual red carpet styling or coming from
(04:31):
a heavily musician background, certainly, I'm sure you like VMAs
or Grammy or yeah, any of that prior to this. Yeah. Well,
I think what happened was I was working a lot
in fashion, right, So, I was working with a lot
of models and a lot of fashion photographers. I was
shooting a lot in South Beach, Miami, as we did
in that day. Everything was shot in Southbeach, and I
(04:54):
worked a lot with Backstreet and Enrique and a lot
of the pop stars. And to me, that was a
very different world then Hollywood, right and it is now,
but I would say it's definitely a little more merged,
I would say, but I think in the in that time,
they were very separate. So I think I did my
(05:15):
very very first red carpet dressing in Hollywood. Was an
actress named Tony Collett who or Versacchi, an incredible black Versacci.
She wanted very simple, but I was like, okay, but
we still have to be glamorous. And an actress named
Julie Delpi, a French actress named Julie Delpi. I put
her in one of my favorite dresses still to this day,
(05:36):
and Ivory Azero was some incredible jewelry. She looked stunning.
And then the Jennifer Garner moment, to me, I think
was the very first really like I had moved to
La at that, you know, with the other two. I
was still in New York and still working a lot
of music, and I think Jennifer was my first like
(05:58):
really big public moment at an award show where she
was such a dart like she was just so adored
still is adored, and I was just very nervous, you know,
I was just I was incredibly nervous, and there's a
big breakout moment for her, it was for you. It's
interesting how that parallels. Well, that's the thing. I always
(06:19):
say that to her because we're really good friends now,
like we kind of talk about that, like what those
days were, you know, And she was living in this
like great bungalow when we used to hang out to
a dog. She had a big dog and we had
a lot of like girl time like me, Jen and
Nicole everyone, you know. For me, I mean I was
definitely nervous, and there was a lot of fun like
(06:40):
made of me because I think Jen is well, first
of all, she's like a stand up comedian just just
being Jen. So I think like everything she said made
every situation fun and funny because I think she knew
I was nervous, and she knew how seriously I took
my job. And I think for Jen, fashionism not something
(07:00):
she really does take so seriously. I think it's like
part of her job, right, and so she really empowered
me to kind of do my thing. But she would
also make fun of me because it was like this
beautiful way that she stood in fittings like a swan,
like a dancer. And she used to be like, you
want me to do the swanstance right, like yeah, and
she would do it but still with like a funny face.
(07:22):
So anyway, yes, that was that was a big moment
and thankfully very well received, and then that went on
to create the one shoulder Valentino set in nineteen seventy
one carl One Valentino gorgeous that we were both kind
of scared because it was on a hanger and it
looked weird and it was folded over because it's a
one shoulder, so it couldn't like hang properly. And Jen
(07:45):
was like, I don't really do that color, and I
definitely don't do one shoulders, and I was like, okay,
but can we try it? And then she put it
on and we both kind of looked at each other
and we were like and she was like, oh my god,
it's a pretty astress I've ever seen. I was like dead.
And then of course it rained, so we had to
lift the thing and the puddles and I mean every
just as you do have a bit of a rain
(08:07):
carpet curse. How did your day to day as a
stylist change from New York to LA. You mentioned you
were doing a lot of yeah, modeled editorial in New
York when you came to LA. Were you just doing
essentially event dressing or were you still working on models
(08:28):
for campaigns or how did that really shifted? It really shifted.
And I think once they started doing Jen it was
sort of this a bit of a domino kind of thing,
like it was just very word of mouth, Like I
started working with Cameron Diaz when she's doing Shrak and
then with Kate when she was doing Almost Famous, and
then with Samahayak, and you know, Pierce brows In and
(08:49):
then Britney Murphy Rest in Peace, and a lot of
actor I mean, Karen Knightley who just beyond you know,
and she would like fly in from shooting a film
and like come in the night before the oscars and
I would have literally like two hours to fit her.
And if that didn't work, I was like, Okay, the
oscars were the next day, so like what do we do?
(09:10):
And just for the listeners, I think when you say
you were working with X y Z, like let's take
Cameron for insta Shrek. You mean you were styling to Cameron. Yes,
for every appearance she had to do associated with the film. Yeah,
So late night shows or daytime shows or world premiers,
(09:31):
when you see them an actress or a singer or
someone who's very much in the public eye, I mean
ninety nine percent of the time, they have a stylist
and a hair and makeup person, and it's one of
those things where like they're on tour, you're on tour,
you do multiple fittings, you set looks, you go with them,
or an assistant goes with them. In those days, I
went everywhere with all my clients until I couldn't. Right,
(09:55):
there's only one of her. Shockingly, Yes, they had like
late night talk shows, morning talk shows, radio show not
radio shows. They would have to travel, right, There would
multiple premiers. You would camp out at a hotel all
day and change them five times. You go literally around
the world, I mean the big movies literally like in
the days of Shrek and stuff. I mean there was
(10:16):
multiple premiers around the world, like a lot of the
Marvel movies and things like that that premiere like in
Tokyo and London and Spain, and there was those incredible
moments where like it's a little bit like camp. You're
traveling with like the team. You know, you're with the Bubblicists,
you're with the manager, you're with the client, you're with
the hair and makeup, you're with the you know, and
you all become this like really great family together. And
(10:38):
then when the tour ends, sometimes it's like really sad.
You like you get a little like let down afterwards,
like leaving summer camp. Yeah, it's like leaving summer camp
vacation friends. Well, it's also like that. I think when
they filmed the movies, you know, they get like that
as well. But I think it definitely changed for me
when I moved to LA, and it was very different
styling in New York in LA. Styling in New York
(10:59):
was like a grind. Like there's blizzards and like you
know and seven floor walk ups and you can't get
a taxi. There was no ubers, there was no reserving cars.
I mean, you cut, but it was a fortune, so
like you could would afford that and schlapping like you know,
when I was doing you know, Backstreet and BRIGHTNY, I
(11:21):
mean I had like a hundred garment bags. I mean,
it was like crazy, and you've to use messengers, which
are so expensive. So it's very labor intensive in New
York and very weather. It's very hard, very challenging, and
in LA it's like very conducive to styling. I remember
when I started working here and I was like, oh God,
they don't know how good they have it here. You
(11:41):
can like throw stuff in it the clock, Like you
could put a coat in the trunk for when it
gets cold. You could like keep food in there when
you're hungry, Like you could literally drive a car with
your stuff in it. You know, you have your assistant
like with you. You know, it's like it was. It
felt a lot more civilized here, and I think, no
matter how how hard I was working, it just felt
(12:02):
more civilized. Right as a stylist here, it just did.
I don't know why, but it just did. Don't get
me wrong. I was doing like music videos that were
like night shoots. You know, you start shooting at ten pm,
you shoot till six am, then you have to sleep
for a few hours and go back to set. So
that was actually crazy. So we know about these very
public red carpet styling moments that you're working on, and
(12:26):
like you mentioned, it's a ripple effect. Thankfully, word of
mouth traveled and you started picking up more and more
clients for these. But I want you to talk about
how you were styling these eight girls of the moments,
not for technically carpet moments, but for lifestyle moments, right
Like you were working with at one point Lindsay Lohan,
(12:48):
Nicole Ritchie, and you were actually gaining notoriety because you
were essentially styling them for life every day. Yeah, to
remind everyone, this was in the culture of no social media,
yet paparazzi was intense for these in Hollywood, in New
York and everywhere. So what was that, Like, how does
(13:11):
that work where you go, I'm going to pull together
street style looks for you as opposed to this major
premiere or how did that work? So it's a couple
of things so well. Ultimately ended up happening is you
know a lot of my clients became friends. It's a
very very intimate relationship, and I am very protective and
(13:32):
I'm very I care a lot, sometimes too much about
them personally and also about they're sort of like, if
you're going to work this hard to put out this
image of this Hollywood movie star kind of persona. Then
why are you like rolling around and basically pajamas like
(13:54):
during the day because the paparazzi at that point was
so out of control. Yeah, that a lot of these
actors and you know, just kind of pop culture icon.
Sure it, girls were being photographed while going to coffee
bean or like going to lunch or whatever it was,
or going to the gym, shopping, whatever it was. So
(14:16):
what would happen is I would be like, I would
have them at my studio for fittings, and I'd be like,
you should just wear this to like go to dinner. Right,
this is so cute, you should just wear this for coffee.
I don't know, just life, just this is so cute.
It has to have a moment, just wear it. Every
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(15:23):
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(15:43):
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com and get started today. It was funny because Nicole
(16:31):
and I used to joke because she would just try
and torture me. She would literally just send me a
picture of her in her funniest like free city sweats
with like a baseball hat on that you bought in
the airport, with like a neck pillow, totally as Nicole would,
And it's funny. It's just I think that ultimately, I
think a lot of the girls kind of started to
(16:53):
feel I think they were sort of like it's like
anything else, you know, you get positive feedback, you start
to feel more confident, right sure. So I think with
my clients, I never worked based on what I was
hired for or what I was paid for. I just
kind of just did it because it made me happy
to know that they were looking great all the time
(17:13):
or they were feeling great all the time. Where they
had outfits to go down the street for dinner, or
go to the airport or get off the plane or whatever.
My theory about life is that, you know, every part
of your life should be chic kind and should be chic.
And that doesn't mean wearing a ballgown and diamonds. It
means like, just look a little bit cuter because you'll
feel that much better. You know. And listen, when you're
(17:34):
in the public eye and you have pap Rozzi all
over you and those pictures are plastered oliver tabloids, people
say they don't care, but a lot of people do care,
and ultimately you're like, well, you're only human. Yeah, I
mean yeah, that really started from you genuinely saying this
is really great, this looks great, and you take it,
wear it. Yeah. This wasn't some I wasn't hired publicist
(17:54):
manager saying you gotta clean up there, amid you gotta
make them that's really interesting. Nope, it was just was that.
There was that afterwards. There was there was that afterwards,
like help like nine one one, she has to look
better off duty, or she has to look better on
and off duty or whatever. And I think ultimately it
just became part of what it was for me, and
(18:15):
I think for all of my clients, I just started
to be like, right off, you know, offline or online,
I think this is this is the vibe and they
and they loved it. Yeah, you know exactly. But I
think I think part of that, to be honest, I
think part of that was that traditionally, stylist, it's a job, right,
so you're like, Okay, they need five looks, two premieres,
(18:36):
three talk shows, blah blah blah, and like buy and
that's it and that's it. And I think what started
to happen was when the off duty got as much
attention as the on the carpet, it started to just
matter more, right, you know. And that's when you yourself
started to gain some attention or dressing these it girls,
you started people started to wonder who was behind yeah
(18:58):
these yeah, these looks, these beautiful, well put together, like
you said, on and off yeah camera. So that brings
me to the Rachel Zoe project. So how did that happen?
This is your life, I mean, it's true, but how
did the Rachel Zoe project come about? Was that something
you sought or was that something that came to you?
(19:22):
It was something it's weird because it's all blurry because
it seems like four hundred years ago, but it wasn't.
And there was a lot of sort of conversations and
then sort of like definitely on the top of the
list of the things I'd never do, like let a
camera into my life, into my home, into my work,
and to my clients that you know, like just in
they never will I do. There was this show called
(19:43):
Style with Elsa clench on san and Style, and it
was something that I worshiped as a teen. It was
kind of my only way to sort of see fashion
right and it's the only really thing that existed at
that time. And it was every Saturday at ten thirty am.
And she was this in incredibly chic woman who went
and interviewed John Galliano and Karlagerfeld and Jompo Gautier and
(20:05):
all these incredible fashion heroes of mine. And I was like,
oh my god, I want to be here. I want
to do that. I want to do that, I want
to do that, I want to talk to them. Yeah.
I think being in the fashion world and then being
sort of in Hollywood, there was such a separation between
the two worlds and the fashion world really looked down
at LA, did not take it seriously, and I thought
there was such style here, in such flavor and such
(20:27):
history of style and California style that like an ease,
a very different style, very cool style, definitely one that
I related to. This sort of like Gallinos Halston sort
of vibe was very here, and there's a lot of
amazing California designers anyway, So I think for me, I
wanted to somehow convey a bit of the fashion world
(20:49):
to people, demestify it a little bit, and sort of
showcase the talent behind it. And somehow another I met
with an amazing producer Charlie Corwyn. He was doing incredible
docue like series and stuff like that, and another friend
of mine, Jamie Patrick Cough, and they were friends and
they knew each other whatever, and there was just a
lot of conversations that kind of happened, and then next
(21:12):
thing I know was like Bravo. And at that point
I was like, this is crazy. I'm not doing this,
Like there's no way I'm doing this. And it was
funny because Roger was sort of like, what do you
have to lose? Because at the time I was under
a lot of very false narrative of gossip, and not
even a piece of one word of one thing was true, right,
(21:32):
I think wait, I think you should set the record straight.
There was a rumor going around, a rumor, four hundred
a million rumors, But wasn't one of them like you
were giving the actresses you were working with some sort
of pill or drugs or something something. I was starving, man,
I was pushing or something pushing. I don't know. It
(21:54):
was cocaine, it was horse pills. It it was horse pills,
which I still to this day don't know what a
horse pill actually is. There was multiple things. It was
so insane, and it was so funny because I mean,
as you know, Mary, I'm pretty pretty much the straightest person. Really.
I don't even take advil. She's a snooze. Let's put
it that way. You are like half a Blafa line
(22:15):
at most exactly. Obviously, those rumors were not true, and
we're ridiculous. And there was a lot of fashion people
that were also trying to kick me down, a lot
of industry people that really didn't want me to move
forward in my career and in my life. And I think,
you know, Roger was sort of like look like people
(22:35):
are judging you without knowing you. So like, what do
you have to lose? Right, Like, at least this way,
if they don't like you, at least they can justify
why they don't like you, right, because you're not acting right.
This is docu, this is reality right, which it was.
I remember going to Bravo and then being like, we
want to do this. I was like, I want to
do this. I want to talk to all the designers
and I want everyone to meet Carlogerfeld and I want
(22:56):
everyone to meet, you know, all these amazing oscar Deala
Renta and Michael core So like all these amazing designers,
Mark Jacobs, which they did, but I just remember them
being like, yeah, they need more than that, right, Like
nobody's going to care about that. I was like, yes
they woh, They're like nothing, like someone needs to slam
a door. I don't know. We didn't even have a
name of it. And then and then I remember on
the first day, like the paper showed up to shoot
(23:16):
the call sheet and it said the Rachel Zoe Project.
We didn't have a name, and I just said, that's it,
that's the name. There you go, and literally that there
is and five years later. That's that was the show.
So not five years later, like five minutes later, but
five years so the show premieres, it takes off in
a big way, and again it was on Bravo in
(23:40):
a time before a lot of the other sort of
reality franchises that are very popular today had started. You
were sort of really one of the first Bravo reality
YEP shows. I think Real World was the only thing
out at that time that existed in road rules and
that sort of yeah, that kind of duck stuff. And
(24:00):
I think Bravo had a few other shows, but they
were not obviously fashion centric. How did your life change
when you started to shoot the show. It was crazy
because I was working twenty four seven. I mean I
think I had I don't even know how many clients
I was working with at the time, but a lot.
It was a lot, and they were like major, very prominent,
(24:21):
important yes, working a list really amazing talents. Yes. And
I only cared about my job. I didn't have kids,
so my job was my entire existence. I think for me,
the challenge of the show was trying to shoot the
show in the best, most real, organic way possible while
(24:45):
still being really good at my actual job and not
neglecting that and protecting that and not exposing too much,
but still giving the viewers enough that they felt that
they were in it. Because it's funny. Even today, people
are like, it was my favorite show part, this part,
this part, and I love the part when we went
into this, like and you did London and you did
this and I'm thinking of myself, God, there's so much
(25:06):
you didn't see it a moment, right, Yeah. Was it
strange for you to have a job that was very
behind the scenes in terms of no one brought their
stylist to an award show, no one brought their stylist
to any kind of public outing. To then go, the
paparazzi is following you because now you are in front
(25:28):
of the camera. What was that like for you? Awful?
You didn't like that? Now, it's terrible. No, I actually
hated it. It was really uncomfortable. Because I don't mean
to sound like woe is me, like it was very
nice that it's very nice that the media was recognizing
hair and makeup and stylist because now they really recognize them.
(25:49):
I really didn't like it because it was very uncomfortable
for me. I'm someone who is actually naturally more comfortable
behind the scenes, which I know sounds ironic now because
I'm sort of in front and back and in front
and back. But I think that I was sort of
pulled in front a bit. And I recognize that I
had a TV show which also puts you in front.
(26:10):
But the weird thing is that I was doing the
show to sort of showcase the behind. So it's a
little it's a little surreal. All that it doesn't make
a whole lot of sense, but I would say that
it was surreal. And I was never ever comfortable getting
attention when I was with my clients. That was really
uncomfortable for me. But you know, today is such a
(26:32):
different thing because today it's totally I'm just watching the talent.
I'm watching the actors just promote and advocate their stylists
and pose for magazine covers and put them on social media.
Like I wasn't even allowed to talk about my clients,
let alone take pictures with them, do you know what
(26:53):
I mean? There was a handful that were like incredibly supportive,
Like Kate Hudson was the best. She was on my show.
We had the best still to this day, my favorite
episode and my favorite scene in five years of the
Rachel Zoe Project was when we were in London together
when she was trying to convince me to have babies
and go in the ocean, and I was like, well,
(27:13):
what should I do first? She was like, oh, both.
And I think there's like those organic moments that in hindsight,
I'm like so happy that they happened, you know, and
I have amazing friends in the industry. But I guess
my point is is that, like that wasn't the intention.
But I love the fact that people took so much
away from the Rachel Zoe Project to this day. Oh
(27:36):
you know, it's funny. You don't really go anywhere or
post anything without somebody bringing up the Rachel Zoe Project now,
and that's how I knew you. Yeah, But I mean,
it's it's so nice that it had that impact, right
those lives, like in hindsight, like as hard and grueling
as it was and as insane as those years were
because I was doing like a hundred things and then
(27:58):
the camera you know so much, but can retrospect, you know,
really did a lot for my brand, you know, it
did a lot for my business, and I love how
much people took from it. I love how emotionally involved
people got in it, you know, and and still watching
and now like another generation is watching it, like Skyler's
friends watch it. It's so funny. Yeah, it's great. Skyler
(28:21):
wants to watch it, and I'm like, dear God, now
that's amazing. Now you have to let him watch it.
I will. I will soon, he's almost old enough. I
just it's going to be really weird for him to
see me in that regard, I guess. So maybe he'll
be shocked, maybe he won't be. We should do like
a we should film him watching it. It'd be so funny.
So talking about the show change the trajectory of your career.
(28:43):
You and Roger. The show is in gosh, it's third
season maybe fourth, and you and Roger decide to launch
the Zoo Report. Huh, So tell us about that. Where
did that start? What was the idea behind that? I
mean that took off like a rocket as well, good
the Zar Report. I mean, at the time, the last
(29:05):
thing I was going to do is start a magazine,
right like and did magazine because they already existed in
such a big way, very successfully. So there were already
fashioned bibles out there, and I think for me, I've
always been about how to be relatable to as many
women as possible. And I think it was really the
(29:25):
brainchild of Roger. He really felt that there was a
way that I could communicate. There had to be a
better way that I could communicate and help as many
women as possible, and he thought by doing a newsletter,
you know, called this ZAR Report, that would be amazing.
And it was just a It started me Roger and
(29:48):
one editor named Jessica Amento, and it started as a weekly,
right it was daily, I think I think it was
daily wow. And she wrote in my voice, I wrote,
I would like rewrite and re edit like it was
so mo pa right, like cattle like it was really
just very like it was. It was just very small.
(30:11):
And I would talk about a trend, and you know,
I would be like, this is the version on the runway,
and this is how you can do this at home
for not ten thousand dollars, you know, And that was
really it. It started with a trend. It started with
style advice, and then it just grew and grew and grew,
and then one day we had like a hundred employees
or something. And it became this incredible fashion and beauty
(30:33):
and pop culture kind of trend destination. It's doing so
well today and you know, run by BDG Vessel Digital Group,
and it's great. It's incredible, and it's like living on
in the biggest and best way. And I'm so close
to it and still so involved in it and so
proud of it. Honestly, it's it's so good. From a
(30:54):
tiny operation to a massive media business. Roger and Jessica Mente,
isn't that fighting article which came first? Did your first book,
Style eight to Zoe come before the Zoe Report? Yep?
Or after my book came first? I think my first book,
I want to say it was two thousand and seven,
and the second one I think was twenty and twelve,
which that sounds right. Yeah, I want to say. So
(31:16):
you're still styling at this point, you're commanding a growing
media business. Ye, you're finishing the Rachel Zoe project and
you're about to book up a mom and I launch
a clothing line right two eleven, just as Skyler was
about to be born, a month before I was pregnant,
wearing like platform thigh high boots at my very first
(31:37):
fashion show and launch of my collection as only you
would Well, that is going to tee up Part three. Okay,
so our listeners to come back about to give birth
to my first collection in my first trial. She's nine
months pregnant and THI hi, solet us come back for more.
Thank you so much for listening to more of my
story and I hope you're inspired or at least entertained
(32:00):
by my insane journey to where I am. If you
want more Climbing and Heels content, follow me on at
Rachel Zoe and at Climbing in Heels Pod on Instagram
for more updates on upcoming guests, episodes, and all things
here Atour. I'll see you all next week
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