April 5, 2024 • 35 mins
To kick off Season 3, we're starting with a topic that seems to be back on the forefront of lots of people’s brains: Y2K fashion. As you all know, Rachel Zoe's styling career really caught fire in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and in this episode she shares her favorite moments from styling the Y2K stars.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and
of course fun. And we're back for season three of
the podcast, and I am so excited for all the
fun things we have planned this season and the amazing
guests we have coming up on the show. I truly
love doing this podcast for all of you, and I'm
(00:29):
so grateful that you all love listening to the show
so much. My favorite compliment ever, honestly, is when people
come up to me and tell me they love Climbing
in Heels. I'm so happy to be back for season three.
You have no idea. I know they are about a
billion podcasts out in the world, so the fact that
you're back with me for this next chapter is everything. Okay,
(00:51):
So I thought I would kick this new season off
with a topic that seems to be back on the
forefront of lots of people's brains. I've been asking a
lot of interviews. I don't know. It could just be
current pop culture, but that is hy two K fashion.
And as you might know or may not, my styling
career really really caught fire in the late nineties and
(01:14):
early two thousands, and I at the time was working
in the music industry. In fact, I was eating, sleeping,
and breathing in the music industry. I worked with a
lot of everyone's favorites. So it's very exciting and lots
to discuss. So here to help me dive into some
of my more famous Y two K is my producer
(01:36):
Mary Elizabeth, So let's get right into it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, well, well look at us back for season three.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
How exciting.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
As Rachel mentioned, for some reason, since January, you have
been getting a lot of requests for quotes or stories
or trending topics about your experience in your Y two
K styling era. So, as you mentioned, you started in
the music industry in the days when music videos were
(02:12):
the biggest marketing tool for a label and a song.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So the days of.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
TRL which I was obsessed with, the butterfly hair clips,
the capri pants, the layering of the tank tops, the
Y two K fashion is back, whether we like it
or not. And I think before so I put up
in your story for our listeners to answer questions or
ask you questions that you will answer about Y two
(02:38):
K specifically, and it by far and away got more
responses than maybe any sticker I've put on your story
like ever.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So we're going to jump into listener.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Questions that they have about Y two K and your
contributions to the era. But I thought it would be
fun first to lay the scene for everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Also, I want to sign you said late nineties or
I said late nineties, I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I mean I was like a kid then, Oh sure
for sure? Oh yeah, yeah, a kid. She was to
do anything in the night.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Definitely, not a full adult, definitely not. Yes, I must
have been wrong on that. So I thought it would
be fun to first lay the scene for listeners about
the iconic music videos that you worked on, because all
the millennials like me who know and love you from
the Rachel Zoe Project grew up in that era of
like I said, TRL and waited on baited breath for
(03:31):
our favorite pop stars to drop their music videos, and
you were a part of some truly, truly iconic ones
that I don't know if everybody knows, well.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I'll be honest with you, I don't know all of them,
because I will be very honest with you my life
from the minute I went freelance, I legitimately it's like
I always say to you on the regular, like it's
a blur, Like it's an actual blur. Because the music
(04:01):
industry was on such fire and the amount of money
being spent on every aspect of the artists their life
and all of that was so intense and like the
speed at which these pop stars were working, shooting, touring, performing,
And I was like me myself, and I was like, yeah,
(04:23):
one assistant with like fifty racks of clothes. So I like,
when you say it, I'll be like, oh my god,
of course they did that. But like if you asked me,
I could remember probably like a handful of them. And
like when I hear a song now, like of Backstreet
Enrique or Jessica Simpson or Brittany, I'll be like, oh
(04:45):
I did that.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
You're like, oh crap, I was on set. I was
actually on so okay, I did that?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Look right, I love it.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Okay, so let's kick it off. I mean the Y
two K Queen was definitely Miss Britney Spears. Yes, and
you did work with Britney Spears. I did, And you
did work on correct me if I'm wrong, hit me
baby one more time.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I did.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So that was actually one of my very first freelance
jobs because there was a woman. There is a woman
out in the world. I haven't spoken to her in forever,
but Hailey Hill, who was my boss at YM magazine,
and Hailey was the senior fashion editor fashion director at
the time, and she would get booked on these big
(05:26):
commercials and stuff, and she was booked on Britney's video
and stuff through Okay, her manager, Sonya Muckel Okay and Sonya,
who I remember like yesterday. I think I ran into
her in the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It was wild and Hailey needed help.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
And she had two jobs booked at the same time.
Its like one of those things. So I was still
working at the magazine and I think it was being
shot on a weekend, okay.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And do you remember where it was being shot?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
No, Like I want to see Brooklyn Queen's Like I can't,
you know, like at a stage or studio. I can't remember,
but that's for some reason feeling familiar. And she called
me because she needed help, and so I went in
and started just working on it and like pulling the
clothes and doing the prep and like being on set
(06:18):
and whatever. And I think at the time like I
was so obsessed with being great at my job that
I never looked at stars as stars, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I don't think in the moment I knew or cared
that much that it was Brittany. I knew, but it
was more like I was such a fashion girl that
to me, like, if you were, like you're going on
set with Carlagerfeld and Kate Moss, that would have given
me a cold sweat panic attack.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Sure, you know what I mean. And so I think just.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
It worked in your favor that you weren't a fact
starship or just obsessed with exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Music it served, it served you. Well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, I was able to, I think, maintain professionalism without
like freaking out because I was so young.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I was so young, but yeah, I felt so much
older than these I mean kids, they were really some
of them were, you know, like Kevin Richardson was not
a kid, right, Okay.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
So that leads me to the next group, which is
the Backstreet Boy But.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
The Brittany I want to touch on one suck because
after I did these few jobs working with Haley, that
is when that was the impetus for me going freelance
really because I made so much money.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
On those jobs that I was like, what the hell
am I doing?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
This is creative, this is fun, Like I'm out in
the world. I'm not sitting in a fluorescent lit office,
you know, I'm not locked in a fashion closet. And
so this was sort of like I just felt alive, honestly,
And that is when I made the move to go freelance,
like shortly after that, because then I got promoted and
(08:02):
then I and then I went freelance probably later that year,
left there as senior fashion editor. But it's important because
as senior fashion editor, I was styling a lot of
shoots for the magazine and all the covers, sure, and
I met a lot of publicists and a lot of
pop stars and actors, like that's when I met Gwen
Stefani and she got on cover shoots Drew Barry.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
But that's really how.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
You got your foot into this like.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Music, and that's how I met the publicist love that
later helped would you hire me? So I made a
lot of connections there and then after I was working
with Brittany, I worked with Brittany on my own a bunch.
I flew to the World Music Awards to Monaco for
twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I thought I was never going to work again. Because
I got there.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I flew with her and the bodyguards and like the team,
and I just remember like I.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Had like no notice.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
It was sort of like you're leaving tomorrow and she
she has to make out World Music Awards and Monico
and you're going. And I was so again, I was
so young, So it was like, okay, you know, I
just never unpacked a suitcase and like blah blah blah,
and I went and I remember getting there and I
remember that the managing team going, okay, everybody break, take
a nap, take a shower, whatever. And you know me, Mary,
(09:14):
like I don't nap, I don't sleep, But what did
I do? I fucking blacked out. I blacked out. And
the next thing I remember is security banging on my
door telling me we had to leave. She was going
on stage. I had to get her ready. I'm by myself.
I had no assistant, like I was. Literally that was
like one of the most panicing for you in my life.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I can't even imagine it, but for you to fall
asleep that hardcore, because I.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Know you sleep like because it lighted all night. Worst
sleeper maybe in the history of the world, you must
have been like truly exhausted, But that is that is
really and it was terrifying.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I was like, she's going to miss her performance or
go on naked because I.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Fell asleep, and I'll never work again.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
And by the way, that was truly the feeling in
psychology that I had, probably for the rest of my
career was the was the like, if you fuck this up,
you're you're not working anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So you're working with Britney. How was Brittany then?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Was she?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
You know, she was great?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
This is the sort of the beginning of her mega success.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
She was great, and I think she was great. She
was cute, she was bubbly, she was fun.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Was she collaborative with you? Did she like getting dressed?
Or was she stubborn?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
It was more.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
What I very clearly remember was that I was trying to,
I think, make her a little uh sort of create
a more.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
What do I say, fashion?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I guess maybe less sort of ripped everything, yeah whatever,
And I was trying to do a little more fashion
than I remember, a little more polish. And I remember
she was performing share song at the World Awards.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
You know, what's it? An alorhythm to.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Oh laddaddity mmm mm hmm, yeah, I remember the name
of this song.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
When the beat goes on, Oh my god, thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
My brain hurts from thinking about that.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And she was incredible, and she had like long hair,
and I was like, Okay, I'm gonna give her this
like very share like kind of try to do this
like Bob Mackie, like you know, just a very like whatever.
And I just remember it was this long, like I believe,
if I remember correctly from five hundred years ago, Donna
Karen like did this like custom like cature at that time,
(11:38):
because we used to do all these award show dressing
looks together, like we would do custom things for clients.
But she was doing this very special. I was like
this long beaded like almost like a mermaid fishtail, long skirt,
and and basically we put this top on her and
(11:59):
I just remem and were like two minutes before, two
minutes before she went on stage. She went in the
bathroom and cut it. She cut the guitour, she cut
the guitur, she cropped the top to just below her boobs.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
If I remember correctly I cried.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yikes, yeah, I mean as the stylist. I'm sure you cried.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Well, I cried only because I was like, am I
fired from Donna Karen?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Now for life?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Have I ruined my reputation? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Did she hate what I styled? But she looked incredible,
she performed great. We all went to this big dinner
with Prince Albert, my god, and at that that was
the beginning of my very surreal life.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah. Really, and that'st twenty years.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Jumped you to Backstreet Boys, which.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yes, same same management.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
It was with the Firm, a place called The Firm,
which had Enrique, Backstreet and Brittany and I want to
say in sync, but maybe that's wrong.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
That might be wrong.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
For millennial girls like me, you were either back shreater
and sink and there was no Well it's.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Like are you Edward or are you Jacob? Of course
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
And now with summary term pretty, it's are you Conrad
or are you Jeremy.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I mean, it's just it goes on forever, doesn't it.
Backstreet Boys equal to basically Beatlemania beyond in terms of
like beyond the logistics of them traveling, touring, being right,
it must have been so insane to not only have
one very famous client, but five very.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Famous I can't really explained what was happening. Now.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
You didn't do correct me if I'm wrong. You didn't
do the Backstreets back music video, right, the one where
they're like Phantom of the Opera and it's like the
dance like the Thriller vibes where they're.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
That might be right when I started, because.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
You started with the Millennium album.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Was that my first or was that my last? Into
Millennial that I literally cannot remember?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
You can't remember I have to that video, okay, but
I very very remember, very like Michael Jackson Thriller inspired,
they're like dancing. It's like sort of a haunted mansion vibe.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
How do I feel? Like what it were they wearing?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I could tell by what they were wearing, Like, did
they look like I styled them?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
No?
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Because it was so theatrical, right so like AJ has
like the Phantom of the Opera mask on it right
point like Brian I think it was Brian is like
a werewolf man like.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
It was very very theatrical.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I did so many music videos with them, and we
did think like there's nothing we didn't do, so it's possible.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
But I remember Millennium.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Because that's the all white else.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Oh well, yeah, I remember that like it was because
I remember walking into my hotel room. I had been
prepping for so long. And what you have to remember,
and I need people to try and like visualize what
my life was with Backstreet. Imagine five kids different like
(15:02):
anyone who has five kids. You could have ten kids
and not one of them would belike sure, not one
of them would dress the same, not one right, And
that's what it was like.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
And it was like.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Five guys that I loved honestly deeply. I was so
close with them. They were like brothers. And Kevin was
like a friend because I think we were the same age.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Kevin was the l yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
One yeah group Yeah, And Kevin kind of felt like,
honestly like the dad of the group, you know, and
he and I hung out. I loved his girlfriend wife, Kristen,
and you know, I went through so much with all
of them. I would say Nick was the baby and
really felt like the.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Baby, you know.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
And I genuinely think I just remember white ray black,
but like Millennium obviously was all white. But I remember
ideating with that, and I remember saying like, it's a
new century, it's a new like everything should be clean,
everything should be new. And I remember like creating that
(16:06):
and saying like they need to look modern, they need
to look cool, they need to clean, they need to
like look cohesive. And that was the biggest thing that
I focused on with them, was cohesion, because I felt
everyone needed to have their own style and their own
take on the concept, which they did, sure, and that
(16:29):
was the challenge, right, But like we would have if
it was five guys. I swear to god, I had
a minimum of five racks per guy. Yeah, so I
would stand there with, you know, fifty racks of clothes
and white, overwhelmed, white, put white, Dulce, white, Guchies white, Yeah,
you name it, white, Zara white, everything white, everything right,
Calvin White.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know that's insane. Yeah, it was. It was overwhelming,
That's insane.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
My wardrobe budgets were and remember in those days, it
was not like computer based. We didn't have like the
cell phone world like, it wasn't like that. So there
was like star tax phone, so we were not I
was not doing expenses on a phone, I wasn't taking notes.
Everything was paper, everything was taxis, everything was food, paper, receipts, everything.
(17:16):
So if I had like one hundred thousand dollars wardrobe budget,
two hundred thousand dollars ward a budget, I had to
account for every penny of that. And the worst part
is a stylist, as any stylist will tell you, is
you have to lay out that money and then you
wait and you wait to get reimbursed.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Oh, it's a terrible model.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
That's terrible.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
It's a terrible business model. Literally, it's a terrible business model.
So every bit of my free time that I didn't
have was spent taping or glues sticking, taxi receipts, food receipts,
tailoring alterations, shipping, purchasing. You know, I had to purchase
a lot of stuff. I had a lot of stuff
custom made. I would be like down on a stream
(18:00):
getting random like things for a j like feather things,
or like I would I would get like embroidered or studded,
Like I would buy a leather vest and have someone
on a street just like add studs to it or
grammets on the shoes or denim rip it up. I
would tie things to like a car and drive so
they would get beaten down. I would wash them. I
(18:21):
would just try and like wear things down, T shirts.
I would teasting. I remember the Hi die.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
You name it? Oh my god, I need the job.
It's too great. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
One of my personal favorite music videos that I'm obsessed
with you working on is mister Enrique Glecia's Hero.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh my God, that song, that video.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I would wait for trl because I thought he was
so gorgeous, and I also like the drama of the
song in that music video with like Jennifer Love, Hewittt
and Mickey Rourke.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Was no idea.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I was obsessed with.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
That that is video and that song.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
That experience was perhaps one of the craziest experiences of
my styling career, of my life. Yeah, I will remember
that video forever for many reasons. That and another Enrique
video where he met Anna where his wife that is
so funny. And another Enrique video where I styled him
(19:24):
with Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Oh, and that was unforgettable, honestly wanting that's unforgetable and
her daughter came to set. But Hero was a stressful job.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So Hero was crazy because it was this director Joseph Kahane.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Who at the time was the Yes, the guy.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I worked mainly with Joseph Kahan. I worked with Francis
Lawrence a lot.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
He did a lot of the videos.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Now directs, like very major emotions.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
He That video was in Palm Springs at the MERV
Griffin Estate. Okay, if I remember correctly, we stayed at
you know, one of those great hotels. I remember getting
there like two in the morning. We had to be
on set at four thirty. A prop stylist actually died
(20:19):
on their way to set. It was the absolute saddest
thing because she drove off the ledge. There was no
railing on the location we were going to we were shooting,
if I remember correctly, like August twenty seventh or August
twenty something like that desert in the middle of the desert.
It was just one hundred and four by seven am.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Oh my god, Alia died.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Alia died.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
You got the news that we got the news that
she died while we were on set in the desert.
Because she was also shooting a music video in the
Caribbean Rage yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Pay Cash and so it was all these weird, weird energy.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Mickey Rourke was I was in a hotel Hotel with
Mickey York and that was wild wild he by the way,
he couldn't have been sweeter to me. For the rock
and Jennifer love Hewittt. I had known because we had
done a bunch of shoots together, because I think she
had done like Party of Five. I had met her
(21:20):
through like y Am and then I and then I
became her stylist for a bunch of things, and so
I was doing her and Enrique, and you know, Enrique
is one of the most professional people you've ever known.
He he just is and he would show up. He
is by far and away the most handsome and charming.
(21:40):
Love that person. Everything you want Enrique to be he is.
And Moore and me styling love to hear that me
styling Enrique as much as I would try and make
him a little fancier at times, jeans yep, vintage Levi's
like vintage jeans.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Hoodies type shirts.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I got him to go sometimes from a baseball hat
to a beanie, which ended up being like a signature.
So that was a moment I loved him. I still
love him. I always love him. And I styled him
for the video where he met his wife Anna Kornakova,
and I styled her as well. And I remember so
clearly standing behind the monitor because I was obsessive about
(22:21):
obviously everything and like I looks close everything. But I
had the thing with me beyond styling. I would always
I really did everything in terms of like I watched
the lighting, I watched the angles. I would suggest to
the directors how it might work better. Yeah, I would
sit in all the time. I would try, you know,
like I was so in it. You were very present
(22:44):
every part of it. But I remember standing behind the
monitor and I remember looking at the director and looking
at Enrique's team, this guy Fernando at the time.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
And I was like, chemist's pretty real in this one.
This may go past the video.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Everyone might be going on and they've been married for
a long time and together ever since.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
That.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I love that so much. Okay, rounding out your iconic
music video moments, we have to talk about Jessica Simpson. Okay,
we have to talk about these boots were made for walking.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I mean you fully.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Dressed her like Daisy Duke, right, she had because that
the song was for promotional for the movie.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
That was amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I just had long extensions in ye Ken Pavis is
the tiniest denim shorts you've ever seen ever ever and
like a midriff tank top she looks, and a big
belt belt right, that belt.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
But what we.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Weighed more than she did.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
But everybody made.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
To understand, because I think it's so important. If you
don't know what stylists do, what I need to explain
to you is that when you look at that video
of Jessica Simpson and you look at okay, she's wearing
these cowboy boots, a big belt, these tiny little denim
shorts and this crop top. Okay, great, and I think
we did cool earrings if I remember correctly. She's so
(24:06):
good in that video, honestly, yeah. But what nobody knows
is that to get to that look, there was literally
fifty belts laid out with different buckles and different straps.
There was maybe thirty pairs of cutoff denim shorts, maybe more.
To make sure they were the right fit. We would
have tailors on set that would make them shorter, to
(24:27):
make them shorter, then free them so they look vintage
cowboy boots. I mean one hundred pairs, oh my god,
and like the T shirts, I mean, you know, I
would run up and down Melrose and Librea and go
all the thrift stores. And you know, it's not what
it looks like. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Well, the simplicity of.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
You know, denim shorts and a tanked up and whatever,
I think to an outsider goes.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Oh, that's so easy.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Anyone could do that now.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
But the amount of a approvals it takes to get to
the final outfit and be getting the final outfit and
then keeping it. You know, you're shooting these music videos
for more than one day, most likely keeping them looking good,
having multiples to put on if she rips it or
drops whatever on it or whatever. It's it's more than
just a pair of shorts and a tank top. Oh yeah,
(25:17):
it's it always is always.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
It's always. Oh key dokey.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
I'm gonna go rapid fire right into our listener Y
two K questions. This covers a lot of different sort
of like Y two K E topics, but let's do it.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Let's do a rapid fire.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Question one, who is the nicest star from that era
that you dressed?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I gotta tell you, I mean, you know, the Backstreet Boys,
like I said, were literally it was like it was
like almost like I was their sister. Yeah, slash mom,
you know that always was with them. Enrique, He's an angel,
He's an angel. You we're so close, Like I love that.
You're too nice to know it's true. I would honestly
(25:58):
tell you, because anyone that was a nightmare, like I
didn't have time for honestly.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Yeah, you know it.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
It was nice.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
And Jessica and I were like related literally yeah, like
I was part of the Simpson family at one point.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Oh my god, I love that.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Okay, who do you wish you could have styled from
that era? But never got to? I think you could
do like music or otherwise.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I mean maybe j Lo Jalen right, because she was
like that's.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Right, that's right. That was like her Jenny from the block.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, you know you know who else?
Speaker 4 (26:33):
I feel like And I don't even know if you
have worked with her, but like talking about like more
nineties whatever, but Alicia Silverstone.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
I did share. I did work with her.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
I styled for different shoes, Harrow Smith's music, right, those
music videos. Yeah, but I feel like she and I
feel like she could have been like a client of yours,
like no brainer, just.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
With her like aesthetic.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Okay, what a accessories from Y two K stand out
to you the most, Like when you think about just
accessories and having to like have a thousand options of blank,
what is it?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
God, I'll be honest with you, like I should remember coats, coats,
like jackets and like and like accessories, I mean hats.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, there was a lot of hats.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
I feel also with jackets. Y two K had an
interesting big fabric.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, it was that Techi. It was the That's why.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I keep going scuba gears.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
It was neoprene. Yes, it was a lot of neoprene,
a lot of But the thing with me, though, truthfully,
I think I'd never succumbed to the oversized cargo pan
and the like the sneakers with the big socks and stuff.
And I think that's why in its resurgence, I'm like, no, see,
(28:01):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I didn't like it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I was trying to go against the crop top, you
know what I mean. So I think for me, I
was shifting into like the nineties, like this sort of
minimalism and the chic and then the sort of like
over the top, and I you know.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I was just about pretty. Yeah. But for guys.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
To be honest, my vibe was like just look hot, yeah,
like and to me, hot was Brad Pitt and Thelmon
Luise Like yeah. To me, it was always trying to
make the guys, especially with like Enrique. It was that like, no,
like look like Johnny Depp with Kate Moss, like beat
up jeans, cool belt, beat up like Chelsea boots. Yeah,
(28:46):
and and like a cool like leathers or swede jacket
with a vintage tea Like to me, that was cool.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And that's where I was trying to take the guys
because that's where all of like young Hollywood, that was
the young Hollywood vibe.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, And so I was emerging. I was able to
do that with Enrique. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Okay, we got this question a couple of times, Oh
my god, why did thongs become popular?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And y two k oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
It was like a thong. It was like a thong craze.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
I mean there was even the song Paris Hilton.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
You know, I don't think we've talked about Paris Hilton here, yeah,
like Nicole and everything, because we're talking about music.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
But I mean I think Paris.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Was like Juicy Sweats, which was the biggest y two
k fashion.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That's a thing, like I can't we can't forget that.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
That was j Loo Madonna and like the whole velvet
track suit of like my friend Pam Levy and Gila
that created the juicy track suit and that was like
rhinestone like bedazzled track suits, be dazzled jackets, kits in
you know, the bedazzled everything. So I think we can't
like not mention that, yea, because I think you're a
(30:01):
part of Christina Aguilera like all of them. And Christina
was opening for Backstreet Boys at the time.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Oh my gosh, that's so crazy because she obviously went
on to be her own massive success story.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
So yeah, the thongs like coming out of the pants,
We'll black Paris.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
And then we did the the low sung jeans.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
It's almost like the thong craze happened because the jeans
were just too low.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yes, it was.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
God awfully low.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
And just to be clear, I want to be clear,
I was not an advocate for that. Sure, sure, you know,
I mean I think Paris, like I have such a
clear visual of when I met her with like the
cropped bleached white platinum hair, in like a pink velvet
sweatsuit with like so low but she looked so.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Hot, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, and she was so sweet and friendly. Honestly, yeah,
but kits In. I just keep thinking about kits In.
Oh yeah, it was the craze.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Okay, next up then eyebrows. Just why, just.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Why is what this was.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I'm going to tell you why because that started because
of like Calvin Klein, John Galliano, all the nineties supers,
Kate Moss, they all did it.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
It tweet the eye.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It was part of the minimal the you know, the
minimalism movement, and it was all the nineties with Matt
Brown makeup, you know, very neutral palette, matte, matt lips,
thin thin eyebrows, very wafy movement, yep, and very minimal
no bells and whistles, no jewels, very clean. It was
(31:33):
the Kate Moss Calvin movement. Honestly.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yeah. And Kate Moss, like.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I mean she was like sixteen, I know, I mean
she she changed the whole.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
I mean, some of us millennial girls are paying for
the overtweezing to that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I would like to proudly say that my mother. I
have to thank my mom for not letting me do that.
That's good because I still to this day have eyebrows.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Blessed you made it out Still, you made it out
of white.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
That's okay with me.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Listen, I don't have my nineties two thousand eyebrows, but
I still have eyebrows.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
There, Okay, Doki.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Last question, who was your most stubborn client from Y two?
K doesn't mean mean or difficult, but who was the
most stubborn when it came to like getting dressed or
wearing what you recommended or you know.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
When I think about it, it's like this sort of
like the Lindsay Missionnicole, we had so much fun, so
they weren't. I'm thinking about my music world, Like, I mean, Brittany,
I would say definitely was the one who would sort
of like change from whatever my.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Well after you told me that cutting the coutour story.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think Brittany was definitely probably the
one that you know, did that. And I think I'm
thinking about some of the Backstreet boys, like we really collaborated.
I mean, AJ and I had so much fun because
he was the most like out there, you know, yeah,
we would He was the most costume me.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
He was like a he was like the well, like
the bad boy of the fact. Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
So he was like the Risks taker.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, and Rite the most incredible voice. And Kevin was
like dressing like my brother. It was fun. And Roger
right yeah, and Nick it was like chasing him to
put clothes on him.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Oh my god, that's I mean, because he's just like
running around enjoying.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
His And Brian was like a gentleman, you know, and
Howie was a doll.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Okay, this is your final question. Okay, what was your
go to look in the Y two k era when
you were on set, when you were traveling, when you.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Were black and jeans, like I would wear dark jeans,
I'd wear.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Light flare obviously.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, always dark and some kind of like black probably
ankle boot, you know, some kind of boot and like a.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Like a like a black like leather jacket.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I had like a hundred black leather jackets and that
was like my jam, your go to.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, stylists always need pockets. Yeah, I think of it's
so fun. It was so fast.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I'd like think about what I was even wearing. I
can't even like, yeah, I never thought about me right.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Well, because you said you like I kept a suitcase pack.
So you're just like bringing the same things over and over.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I'm sure, so weird. I flew a lot of private planes.
I remember that.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh that's fun though.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I was on private planes very young.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Did you witness anyone have a total meltdown on a
private plane?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Of course I did spill it.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Nope, who never, honey, I witnessed more meltdowns between ninety
eight or ninety seven and two thousand and.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Eight.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Seven, twelve, My wheels are turning, and thirteen my styling
wave was filled with melt We're at our time for today.
You have said, you have just cued us up for
part two Meltdowns.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yeah, Part two of this podcast, the Meltdown.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
The Meltdown. Thanks for listening, everyone.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to
Climbing and Heels. If you haven't already, please subscribe to
the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeart app, or
wherever you get your podcasts. You don't miss a single
episode this season, and be sure to follow me on
Instagram at Rachel Zoe and of course the show at
(35:30):
Climbing in Hills pod for the latest episodes and updates.
I will talk to you so soon and have a
great week.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Last
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and
of course fun. And we're back for season three of
the podcast, and I am so excited for all the
fun things we have planned this season and the amazing
guests we have coming up on the show. I truly
love doing this podcast for all of you, and I'm
(00:29):
so grateful that you all love listening to the show
so much. My favorite compliment ever, honestly, is when people
come up to me and tell me they love Climbing
in Heels. I'm so happy to be back for season three.
You have no idea. I know they are about a
billion podcasts out in the world, so the fact that
you're back with me for this next chapter is everything. Okay,
(00:51):
So I thought I would kick this new season off
with a topic that seems to be back on the
forefront of lots of people's brains. I've been asking a
lot of interviews. I don't know. It could just be
current pop culture, but that is hy two K fashion.
And as you might know or may not, my styling
career really really caught fire in the late nineties and
(01:14):
early two thousands, and I at the time was working
in the music industry. In fact, I was eating, sleeping,
and breathing in the music industry. I worked with a
lot of everyone's favorites. So it's very exciting and lots
to discuss. So here to help me dive into some
of my more famous Y two K is my producer
(01:36):
Mary Elizabeth, So let's get right into it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, well, well look at us back for season three.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
How exciting.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
As Rachel mentioned, for some reason, since January, you have
been getting a lot of requests for quotes or stories
or trending topics about your experience in your Y two
K styling era. So, as you mentioned, you started in
the music industry in the days when music videos were
(02:12):
the biggest marketing tool for a label and a song.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So the days of.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
TRL which I was obsessed with, the butterfly hair clips,
the capri pants, the layering of the tank tops, the
Y two K fashion is back, whether we like it
or not. And I think before so I put up
in your story for our listeners to answer questions or
ask you questions that you will answer about Y two
(02:38):
K specifically, and it by far and away got more
responses than maybe any sticker I've put on your story
like ever.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So we're going to jump into listener.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Questions that they have about Y two K and your
contributions to the era. But I thought it would be
fun first to lay the scene for everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Also, I want to sign you said late nineties or
I said late nineties, I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I mean I was like a kid then, Oh sure
for sure? Oh yeah, yeah, a kid. She was to
do anything in the night.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Definitely, not a full adult, definitely not. Yes, I must
have been wrong on that. So I thought it would
be fun to first lay the scene for listeners about
the iconic music videos that you worked on, because all
the millennials like me who know and love you from
the Rachel Zoe Project grew up in that era of
like I said, TRL and waited on baited breath for
(03:31):
our favorite pop stars to drop their music videos, and
you were a part of some truly, truly iconic ones
that I don't know if everybody knows, well.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I'll be honest with you, I don't know all of them,
because I will be very honest with you my life
from the minute I went freelance, I legitimately it's like
I always say to you on the regular, like it's
a blur, Like it's an actual blur. Because the music
(04:01):
industry was on such fire and the amount of money
being spent on every aspect of the artists their life
and all of that was so intense and like the
speed at which these pop stars were working, shooting, touring, performing,
And I was like me myself, and I was like, yeah,
(04:23):
one assistant with like fifty racks of clothes. So I like,
when you say it, I'll be like, oh my god,
of course they did that. But like if you asked me,
I could remember probably like a handful of them. And
like when I hear a song now, like of Backstreet
Enrique or Jessica Simpson or Brittany, I'll be like, oh
(04:45):
I did that.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
You're like, oh crap, I was on set. I was
actually on so okay, I did that?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Look right, I love it.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Okay, so let's kick it off. I mean the Y
two K Queen was definitely Miss Britney Spears. Yes, and
you did work with Britney Spears. I did, And you
did work on correct me if I'm wrong, hit me
baby one more time.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I did.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So that was actually one of my very first freelance
jobs because there was a woman. There is a woman
out in the world. I haven't spoken to her in forever,
but Hailey Hill, who was my boss at YM magazine,
and Hailey was the senior fashion editor fashion director at
the time, and she would get booked on these big
(05:26):
commercials and stuff, and she was booked on Britney's video
and stuff through Okay, her manager, Sonya Muckel Okay and Sonya,
who I remember like yesterday. I think I ran into
her in the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It was wild and Hailey needed help.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
And she had two jobs booked at the same time.
Its like one of those things. So I was still
working at the magazine and I think it was being
shot on a weekend, okay.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And do you remember where it was being shot?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
No, Like I want to see Brooklyn Queen's Like I can't,
you know, like at a stage or studio. I can't remember,
but that's for some reason feeling familiar. And she called
me because she needed help, and so I went in
and started just working on it and like pulling the
clothes and doing the prep and like being on set
(06:18):
and whatever. And I think at the time like I
was so obsessed with being great at my job that
I never looked at stars as stars, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I don't think in the moment I knew or cared
that much that it was Brittany. I knew, but it
was more like I was such a fashion girl that
to me, like, if you were, like you're going on
set with Carlagerfeld and Kate Moss, that would have given
me a cold sweat panic attack.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Sure, you know what I mean. And so I think just.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
It worked in your favor that you weren't a fact
starship or just obsessed with exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Music it served, it served you. Well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, I was able to, I think, maintain professionalism without
like freaking out because I was so young.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I was so young, but yeah, I felt so much
older than these I mean kids, they were really some
of them were, you know, like Kevin Richardson was not
a kid, right, Okay.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
So that leads me to the next group, which is
the Backstreet Boy But.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
The Brittany I want to touch on one suck because
after I did these few jobs working with Haley, that
is when that was the impetus for me going freelance
really because I made so much money.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
On those jobs that I was like, what the hell
am I doing?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
This is creative, this is fun, Like I'm out in
the world. I'm not sitting in a fluorescent lit office,
you know, I'm not locked in a fashion closet. And
so this was sort of like I just felt alive, honestly,
And that is when I made the move to go freelance,
like shortly after that, because then I got promoted and
(08:02):
then I and then I went freelance probably later that year,
left there as senior fashion editor. But it's important because
as senior fashion editor, I was styling a lot of
shoots for the magazine and all the covers, sure, and
I met a lot of publicists and a lot of
pop stars and actors, like that's when I met Gwen
Stefani and she got on cover shoots Drew Barry.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
But that's really how.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
You got your foot into this like.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Music, and that's how I met the publicist love that
later helped would you hire me? So I made a
lot of connections there and then after I was working
with Brittany, I worked with Brittany on my own a bunch.
I flew to the World Music Awards to Monaco for
twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I thought I was never going to work again. Because
I got there.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I flew with her and the bodyguards and like the team,
and I just remember like I.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Had like no notice.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
It was sort of like you're leaving tomorrow and she
she has to make out World Music Awards and Monico
and you're going. And I was so again, I was
so young, So it was like, okay, you know, I
just never unpacked a suitcase and like blah blah blah,
and I went and I remember getting there and I
remember that the managing team going, okay, everybody break, take
a nap, take a shower, whatever. And you know me, Mary,
(09:14):
like I don't nap, I don't sleep, But what did
I do? I fucking blacked out. I blacked out. And
the next thing I remember is security banging on my
door telling me we had to leave. She was going
on stage. I had to get her ready. I'm by myself.
I had no assistant, like I was. Literally that was
like one of the most panicing for you in my life.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I can't even imagine it, but for you to fall
asleep that hardcore, because I.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Know you sleep like because it lighted all night. Worst
sleeper maybe in the history of the world, you must
have been like truly exhausted, But that is that is
really and it was terrifying.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I was like, she's going to miss her performance or
go on naked because I.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Fell asleep, and I'll never work again.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
And by the way, that was truly the feeling in
psychology that I had, probably for the rest of my
career was the was the like, if you fuck this up,
you're you're not working anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So you're working with Britney. How was Brittany then?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Was she?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
You know, she was great?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
This is the sort of the beginning of her mega success.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
She was great, and I think she was great. She
was cute, she was bubbly, she was fun.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Was she collaborative with you? Did she like getting dressed?
Or was she stubborn?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
It was more.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
What I very clearly remember was that I was trying to,
I think, make her a little uh sort of create
a more.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
What do I say, fashion?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I guess maybe less sort of ripped everything, yeah whatever,
And I was trying to do a little more fashion
than I remember, a little more polish. And I remember
she was performing share song at the World Awards.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
You know, what's it? An alorhythm to.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Oh laddaddity mmm mm hmm, yeah, I remember the name
of this song.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
When the beat goes on, Oh my god, thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
My brain hurts from thinking about that.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And she was incredible, and she had like long hair,
and I was like, Okay, I'm gonna give her this
like very share like kind of try to do this
like Bob Mackie, like you know, just a very like whatever.
And I just remember it was this long, like I believe,
if I remember correctly from five hundred years ago, Donna
Karen like did this like custom like cature at that time,
(11:38):
because we used to do all these award show dressing
looks together, like we would do custom things for clients.
But she was doing this very special. I was like
this long beaded like almost like a mermaid fishtail, long skirt,
and and basically we put this top on her and
(11:59):
I just remem and were like two minutes before, two
minutes before she went on stage. She went in the
bathroom and cut it. She cut the guitour, she cut
the guitur, she cropped the top to just below her boobs.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
If I remember correctly I cried.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yikes, yeah, I mean as the stylist. I'm sure you cried.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Well, I cried only because I was like, am I
fired from Donna Karen?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Now for life?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Have I ruined my reputation? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Did she hate what I styled? But she looked incredible,
she performed great. We all went to this big dinner
with Prince Albert, my god, and at that that was
the beginning of my very surreal life.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah. Really, and that'st twenty years.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Jumped you to Backstreet Boys, which.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yes, same same management.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
It was with the Firm, a place called The Firm,
which had Enrique, Backstreet and Brittany and I want to
say in sync, but maybe that's wrong.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
That might be wrong.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
For millennial girls like me, you were either back shreater
and sink and there was no Well it's.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Like are you Edward or are you Jacob? Of course
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
And now with summary term pretty, it's are you Conrad
or are you Jeremy.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I mean, it's just it goes on forever, doesn't it.
Backstreet Boys equal to basically Beatlemania beyond in terms of
like beyond the logistics of them traveling, touring, being right,
it must have been so insane to not only have
one very famous client, but five very.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Famous I can't really explained what was happening. Now.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
You didn't do correct me if I'm wrong. You didn't
do the Backstreets back music video, right, the one where
they're like Phantom of the Opera and it's like the
dance like the Thriller vibes where they're.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
That might be right when I started, because.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
You started with the Millennium album.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Was that my first or was that my last? Into
Millennial that I literally cannot remember?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
You can't remember I have to that video, okay, but
I very very remember, very like Michael Jackson Thriller inspired,
they're like dancing. It's like sort of a haunted mansion vibe.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
How do I feel? Like what it were they wearing?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I could tell by what they were wearing, Like, did
they look like I styled them?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
No?
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Because it was so theatrical, right so like AJ has
like the Phantom of the Opera mask on it right
point like Brian I think it was Brian is like
a werewolf man like.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
It was very very theatrical.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I did so many music videos with them, and we
did think like there's nothing we didn't do, so it's possible.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
But I remember Millennium.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Because that's the all white else.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Oh well, yeah, I remember that like it was because
I remember walking into my hotel room. I had been
prepping for so long. And what you have to remember,
and I need people to try and like visualize what
my life was with Backstreet. Imagine five kids different like
(15:02):
anyone who has five kids. You could have ten kids
and not one of them would belike sure, not one
of them would dress the same, not one right, And
that's what it was like.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
And it was like.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Five guys that I loved honestly deeply. I was so
close with them. They were like brothers. And Kevin was
like a friend because I think we were the same age.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Kevin was the l yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
One yeah group Yeah, And Kevin kind of felt like,
honestly like the dad of the group, you know, and
he and I hung out. I loved his girlfriend wife, Kristen,
and you know, I went through so much with all
of them. I would say Nick was the baby and
really felt like the.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Baby, you know.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
And I genuinely think I just remember white ray black,
but like Millennium obviously was all white. But I remember
ideating with that, and I remember saying like, it's a
new century, it's a new like everything should be clean,
everything should be new. And I remember like creating that
(16:06):
and saying like they need to look modern, they need
to look cool, they need to clean, they need to
like look cohesive. And that was the biggest thing that
I focused on with them, was cohesion, because I felt
everyone needed to have their own style and their own
take on the concept, which they did, sure, and that
(16:29):
was the challenge, right, But like we would have if
it was five guys. I swear to god, I had
a minimum of five racks per guy. Yeah, so I
would stand there with, you know, fifty racks of clothes
and white, overwhelmed, white, put white, Dulce, white, Guchies white, Yeah,
you name it, white, Zara white, everything white, everything right,
Calvin White.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know that's insane. Yeah, it was. It was overwhelming,
That's insane.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
My wardrobe budgets were and remember in those days, it
was not like computer based. We didn't have like the
cell phone world like, it wasn't like that. So there
was like star tax phone, so we were not I
was not doing expenses on a phone, I wasn't taking notes.
Everything was paper, everything was taxis, everything was food, paper, receipts, everything.
(17:16):
So if I had like one hundred thousand dollars wardrobe budget,
two hundred thousand dollars ward a budget, I had to
account for every penny of that. And the worst part
is a stylist, as any stylist will tell you, is
you have to lay out that money and then you
wait and you wait to get reimbursed.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Oh, it's a terrible model.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
That's terrible.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
It's a terrible business model. Literally, it's a terrible business model.
So every bit of my free time that I didn't
have was spent taping or glues sticking, taxi receipts, food receipts,
tailoring alterations, shipping, purchasing. You know, I had to purchase
a lot of stuff. I had a lot of stuff
custom made. I would be like down on a stream
(18:00):
getting random like things for a j like feather things,
or like I would I would get like embroidered or studded,
Like I would buy a leather vest and have someone
on a street just like add studs to it or
grammets on the shoes or denim rip it up. I
would tie things to like a car and drive so
they would get beaten down. I would wash them. I
(18:21):
would just try and like wear things down, T shirts.
I would teasting. I remember the Hi die.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
You name it? Oh my god, I need the job.
It's too great. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
One of my personal favorite music videos that I'm obsessed
with you working on is mister Enrique Glecia's Hero.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh my God, that song, that video.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I would wait for trl because I thought he was
so gorgeous, and I also like the drama of the
song in that music video with like Jennifer Love, Hewittt
and Mickey Rourke.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Was no idea.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I was obsessed with.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
That that is video and that song.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
That experience was perhaps one of the craziest experiences of
my styling career, of my life. Yeah, I will remember
that video forever for many reasons. That and another Enrique
video where he met Anna where his wife that is
so funny. And another Enrique video where I styled him
(19:24):
with Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Oh, and that was unforgettable, honestly wanting that's unforgetable and
her daughter came to set. But Hero was a stressful job.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So Hero was crazy because it was this director Joseph Kahane.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Who at the time was the Yes, the guy.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I worked mainly with Joseph Kahan. I worked with Francis
Lawrence a lot.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
He did a lot of the videos.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Now directs, like very major emotions.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
He That video was in Palm Springs at the MERV
Griffin Estate. Okay, if I remember correctly, we stayed at
you know, one of those great hotels. I remember getting
there like two in the morning. We had to be
on set at four thirty. A prop stylist actually died
(20:19):
on their way to set. It was the absolute saddest
thing because she drove off the ledge. There was no
railing on the location we were going to we were shooting,
if I remember correctly, like August twenty seventh or August
twenty something like that desert in the middle of the desert.
It was just one hundred and four by seven am.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Oh my god, Alia died.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Alia died.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
You got the news that we got the news that
she died while we were on set in the desert.
Because she was also shooting a music video in the
Caribbean Rage yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Pay Cash and so it was all these weird, weird energy.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Mickey Rourke was I was in a hotel Hotel with
Mickey York and that was wild wild he by the way,
he couldn't have been sweeter to me. For the rock
and Jennifer love Hewittt. I had known because we had
done a bunch of shoots together, because I think she
had done like Party of Five. I had met her
(21:20):
through like y Am and then I and then I
became her stylist for a bunch of things, and so
I was doing her and Enrique, and you know, Enrique
is one of the most professional people you've ever known.
He he just is and he would show up. He
is by far and away the most handsome and charming.
(21:40):
Love that person. Everything you want Enrique to be he is.
And Moore and me styling love to hear that me
styling Enrique as much as I would try and make
him a little fancier at times, jeans yep, vintage Levi's
like vintage jeans.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Hoodies type shirts.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I got him to go sometimes from a baseball hat
to a beanie, which ended up being like a signature.
So that was a moment I loved him. I still
love him. I always love him. And I styled him
for the video where he met his wife Anna Kornakova,
and I styled her as well. And I remember so
clearly standing behind the monitor because I was obsessive about
(22:21):
obviously everything and like I looks close everything. But I
had the thing with me beyond styling. I would always
I really did everything in terms of like I watched
the lighting, I watched the angles. I would suggest to
the directors how it might work better. Yeah, I would
sit in all the time. I would try, you know,
like I was so in it. You were very present
(22:44):
every part of it. But I remember standing behind the
monitor and I remember looking at the director and looking
at Enrique's team, this guy Fernando at the time.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
And I was like, chemist's pretty real in this one.
This may go past the video.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Everyone might be going on and they've been married for
a long time and together ever since.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
That.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I love that so much. Okay, rounding out your iconic
music video moments, we have to talk about Jessica Simpson. Okay,
we have to talk about these boots were made for walking.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I mean you fully.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Dressed her like Daisy Duke, right, she had because that
the song was for promotional for the movie.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
That was amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I just had long extensions in ye Ken Pavis is
the tiniest denim shorts you've ever seen ever ever and
like a midriff tank top she looks, and a big
belt belt right, that belt.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
But what we.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Weighed more than she did.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
But everybody made.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
To understand, because I think it's so important. If you
don't know what stylists do, what I need to explain
to you is that when you look at that video
of Jessica Simpson and you look at okay, she's wearing
these cowboy boots, a big belt, these tiny little denim
shorts and this crop top. Okay, great, and I think
we did cool earrings if I remember correctly. She's so
(24:06):
good in that video, honestly, yeah. But what nobody knows
is that to get to that look, there was literally
fifty belts laid out with different buckles and different straps.
There was maybe thirty pairs of cutoff denim shorts, maybe more.
To make sure they were the right fit. We would
have tailors on set that would make them shorter, to
(24:27):
make them shorter, then free them so they look vintage
cowboy boots. I mean one hundred pairs, oh my god,
and like the T shirts, I mean, you know, I
would run up and down Melrose and Librea and go
all the thrift stores. And you know, it's not what
it looks like. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Well, the simplicity of.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
You know, denim shorts and a tanked up and whatever,
I think to an outsider goes.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Oh, that's so easy.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Anyone could do that now.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
But the amount of a approvals it takes to get to
the final outfit and be getting the final outfit and
then keeping it. You know, you're shooting these music videos
for more than one day, most likely keeping them looking good,
having multiples to put on if she rips it or
drops whatever on it or whatever. It's it's more than
just a pair of shorts and a tank top. Oh yeah,
(25:17):
it's it always is always.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
It's always. Oh key dokey.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
I'm gonna go rapid fire right into our listener Y
two K questions. This covers a lot of different sort
of like Y two K E topics, but let's do it.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Let's do a rapid fire.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Question one, who is the nicest star from that era
that you dressed?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I gotta tell you, I mean, you know, the Backstreet Boys,
like I said, were literally it was like it was
like almost like I was their sister. Yeah, slash mom,
you know that always was with them. Enrique, He's an angel,
He's an angel. You we're so close, Like I love that.
You're too nice to know it's true. I would honestly
(25:58):
tell you, because anyone that was a nightmare, like I
didn't have time for honestly.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Yeah, you know it.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
It was nice.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
And Jessica and I were like related literally yeah, like
I was part of the Simpson family at one point.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Oh my god, I love that.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Okay, who do you wish you could have styled from
that era? But never got to? I think you could
do like music or otherwise.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I mean maybe j Lo Jalen right, because she was
like that's.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Right, that's right. That was like her Jenny from the block.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, you know you know who else?
Speaker 4 (26:33):
I feel like And I don't even know if you
have worked with her, but like talking about like more
nineties whatever, but Alicia Silverstone.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
I did share. I did work with her.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
I styled for different shoes, Harrow Smith's music, right, those
music videos. Yeah, but I feel like she and I
feel like she could have been like a client of yours,
like no brainer, just.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
With her like aesthetic.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Okay, what a accessories from Y two K stand out
to you the most, Like when you think about just
accessories and having to like have a thousand options of blank,
what is it?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
God, I'll be honest with you, like I should remember coats, coats,
like jackets and like and like accessories, I mean hats.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, there was a lot of hats.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
I feel also with jackets. Y two K had an
interesting big fabric.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, it was that Techi. It was the That's why.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I keep going scuba gears.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
It was neoprene. Yes, it was a lot of neoprene,
a lot of But the thing with me, though, truthfully,
I think I'd never succumbed to the oversized cargo pan
and the like the sneakers with the big socks and stuff.
And I think that's why in its resurgence, I'm like, no, see,
(28:01):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I didn't like it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I was trying to go against the crop top, you
know what I mean. So I think for me, I
was shifting into like the nineties, like this sort of
minimalism and the chic and then the sort of like
over the top, and I you know.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I was just about pretty. Yeah. But for guys.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
To be honest, my vibe was like just look hot, yeah,
like and to me, hot was Brad Pitt and Thelmon
Luise Like yeah. To me, it was always trying to
make the guys, especially with like Enrique. It was that like, no,
like look like Johnny Depp with Kate Moss, like beat
up jeans, cool belt, beat up like Chelsea boots. Yeah,
(28:46):
and and like a cool like leathers or swede jacket
with a vintage tea Like to me, that was cool.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And that's where I was trying to take the guys
because that's where all of like young Hollywood, that was
the young Hollywood vibe.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, And so I was emerging. I was able to
do that with Enrique. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Okay, we got this question a couple of times, Oh
my god, why did thongs become popular?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And y two k oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
It was like a thong. It was like a thong craze.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
I mean there was even the song Paris Hilton.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
You know, I don't think we've talked about Paris Hilton here, yeah,
like Nicole and everything, because we're talking about music.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
But I mean I think Paris.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Was like Juicy Sweats, which was the biggest y two
k fashion.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That's a thing, like I can't we can't forget that.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
That was j Loo Madonna and like the whole velvet
track suit of like my friend Pam Levy and Gila
that created the juicy track suit and that was like
rhinestone like bedazzled track suits, be dazzled jackets, kits in
you know, the bedazzled everything. So I think we can't
like not mention that, yea, because I think you're a
(30:01):
part of Christina Aguilera like all of them. And Christina
was opening for Backstreet Boys at the time.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Oh my gosh, that's so crazy because she obviously went
on to be her own massive success story.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
So yeah, the thongs like coming out of the pants,
We'll black Paris.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
And then we did the the low sung jeans.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
It's almost like the thong craze happened because the jeans
were just too low.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yes, it was.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
God awfully low.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
And just to be clear, I want to be clear,
I was not an advocate for that. Sure, sure, you know,
I mean I think Paris, like I have such a
clear visual of when I met her with like the
cropped bleached white platinum hair, in like a pink velvet
sweatsuit with like so low but she looked so.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Hot, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, and she was so sweet and friendly. Honestly, yeah,
but kits In. I just keep thinking about kits In.
Oh yeah, it was the craze.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Okay, next up then eyebrows. Just why, just.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Why is what this was.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I'm going to tell you why because that started because
of like Calvin Klein, John Galliano, all the nineties supers,
Kate Moss, they all did it.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
It tweet the eye.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It was part of the minimal the you know, the
minimalism movement, and it was all the nineties with Matt
Brown makeup, you know, very neutral palette, matte, matt lips,
thin thin eyebrows, very wafy movement, yep, and very minimal
no bells and whistles, no jewels, very clean. It was
(31:33):
the Kate Moss Calvin movement. Honestly.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yeah. And Kate Moss, like.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I mean she was like sixteen, I know, I mean
she she changed the whole.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
I mean, some of us millennial girls are paying for
the overtweezing to that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I would like to proudly say that my mother. I
have to thank my mom for not letting me do that.
That's good because I still to this day have eyebrows.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Blessed you made it out Still, you made it out
of white.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
That's okay with me.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Listen, I don't have my nineties two thousand eyebrows, but
I still have eyebrows.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
There, Okay, Doki.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Last question, who was your most stubborn client from Y two?
K doesn't mean mean or difficult, but who was the
most stubborn when it came to like getting dressed or
wearing what you recommended or you know.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
When I think about it, it's like this sort of
like the Lindsay Missionnicole, we had so much fun, so
they weren't. I'm thinking about my music world, Like, I mean, Brittany,
I would say definitely was the one who would sort
of like change from whatever my.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Well after you told me that cutting the coutour story.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think Brittany was definitely probably the
one that you know, did that. And I think I'm
thinking about some of the Backstreet boys, like we really collaborated.
I mean, AJ and I had so much fun because
he was the most like out there, you know, yeah,
we would He was the most costume me.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
He was like a he was like the well, like
the bad boy of the fact. Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
So he was like the Risks taker.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, and Rite the most incredible voice. And Kevin was
like dressing like my brother. It was fun. And Roger
right yeah, and Nick it was like chasing him to
put clothes on him.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Oh my god, that's I mean, because he's just like
running around enjoying.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
His And Brian was like a gentleman, you know, and
Howie was a doll.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Okay, this is your final question. Okay, what was your
go to look in the Y two k era when
you were on set, when you were traveling, when you.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Were black and jeans, like I would wear dark jeans,
I'd wear.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Light flare obviously.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, always dark and some kind of like black probably
ankle boot, you know, some kind of boot and like a.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Like a like a black like leather jacket.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I had like a hundred black leather jackets and that
was like my jam, your go to.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, stylists always need pockets. Yeah, I think of it's
so fun. It was so fast.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I'd like think about what I was even wearing. I
can't even like, yeah, I never thought about me right.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Well, because you said you like I kept a suitcase pack.
So you're just like bringing the same things over and over.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I'm sure, so weird. I flew a lot of private planes.
I remember that.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh that's fun though.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I was on private planes very young.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Did you witness anyone have a total meltdown on a
private plane?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Of course I did spill it.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Nope, who never, honey, I witnessed more meltdowns between ninety
eight or ninety seven and two thousand and.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Eight.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Seven, twelve, My wheels are turning, and thirteen my styling
wave was filled with melt We're at our time for today.
You have said, you have just cued us up for
part two Meltdowns.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yeah, Part two of this podcast, the Meltdown.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
The Meltdown. Thanks for listening, everyone.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to
Climbing and Heels. If you haven't already, please subscribe to
the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeart app, or
wherever you get your podcasts. You don't miss a single
episode this season, and be sure to follow me on
Instagram at Rachel Zoe and of course the show at
(35:30):
Climbing in Hills pod for the latest episodes and updates.
I will talk to you so soon and have a
great week.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Last
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