April 16, 2024 • 30 mins
Rachel Zoe is a fashion mogul, celebrity stylist, CEO, and host of the podcast “Climbing in Heels.” She dishes about her decades of making fashion approachable, building her brand while staying on top of her game, and just being a nice person. Danielle and Simone react to the news that “The Morning Show” will delay season 4 until after this year’s election — and compare their own newsroom experience to the show. Plus, beauty tips from Ava Phillippe, the daughter of Reese Witherspoon!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, bright Side Besties, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, a no holds barred conversation
with fashion mogul and CEO Rachel Zoe.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
My purpose is actually to impact every woman, to help
every woman have confidence not be scared of fashion.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
And later we play a game of trend It or
trash It y two k edition. It's Tuesday, April sixteenth.
I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
Danielle.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
It's Tuesday, and we've got some exciting news about one
of my favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, we're getting a few hints about the newest season
of Apple TV's The Morning Show. Late last week, the
showrunner announced that they were delaying season four's release until
after the twenty twenty four election, meaning the show would
not cover election year politics, so instead it will cover
the misinformation crisis and the use of AI and deep
(00:58):
fakes in the newsroom, which it all feels very timely.
But The Morning Show obviously stars our very own ep
Reese Witherspoon alongside Jennifer Aniston, and in the past they've
used all real life headlines as storyline inspiration, so you know,
they covered the Me Too movement, the follow Roe v. Wade,
the January sixth insurrection. Simone, you worked in New York
(01:19):
in news, like, do you feel like this is realistic?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
You know it's funny. I get asked this question all
the time, and I do. I honestly do. I feel
like a lot of the elements are very realistic, especially
when it comes to the politics of the newsroom, the
competitiveness between the anchors, the backstabbing that happens. Of course,
a lot of it is heightened for our viewing pleasure,
(01:43):
but there's a lot of truth in this. And also
it was based on a book written by a prominent reporter,
Brian Stelter, so he was pulling from his own experience
and knowledge of the industry.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
So it definitely is rooted in a lot of truth.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Sometimes it was hard for me to watch because it
felt so real. I did a morning show in Chicago
and then did local news, and so many of the
plot lines felt dare I say, lowercase te triggering me,
Like the way that the anchors interact with the executives,
and like you said, the politics behind all of it.
(02:18):
The writing is really really good, and honestly, I hate
to say it, but that whole first season, which dealt
with the me Too movement, also felt really real to me.
Like I dealt with a lot of sexual harassment and
I never felt like I could say anything because I
was so young and so green, and so it was
sort of interesting to watch that be reflected on TV.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I really resonated with Nicole Bahari's storyline from last season
where she was dealing with a lot of racially charged microaggressions.
I mean, that stuff is so real, happened all the time,
and I mean, we can't forget about the pettiness too,
But the pettiness is something that I think makes the
show so rich and fun to watch. Like news anchors
are probably some of the most petty people I've ever
(03:02):
encountered in my life. I hate to report that it
is very accurate.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I know I feel the same way.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, we have news from another member of the Hello
Sunshine family, Reese Witherspoon's daughter, Ava Philippi, who if you
check her out on Instagram, she's like a resident cool
girl in my opinion. But she sat down with Today
dot Com to talk about the beauty tips that she
and her mom share. So these are some of her
favorite products. She starts off with nail Polish, which is
(03:30):
ESI's gel Cature long lasting polish.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
She says it's her go to.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It lasts longer than regular polish, and it comes in
great colors, And honestly, I co sign that so hard.
That's the one I use. I absolutely love it, and
for me, it lasts like two weeks.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
You know how we are talking about getting bold colors
on our nails. I think I'm going to go for
the Cobalt blue this week.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
I think I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's very bold.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
I know, I know it's a really bold move. But
we're living, baby.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I can't wait to see that. I'm going to with
my ballet slipper. But I love that for you, okay.
In terms of lip gloss, she loves the Summer Friday's
lip butter bomb that went viral online. I've never tried it,
but I personally love a nude lip. Like you won't
hear me citing a lot about the Kardashians on this show,
but I do feel like Kim Kardashian has nailed that
(04:20):
nude lip. And I've gotten to work with a few
celebrity makeup artists and finally found this one. So I
use the Makeup Forever Coffee lip liner, and then I
put a little bit of the Charlotte Tilbury pillow Talk
liner right in the middle of my bottom lip so
it almost gives it like an extra pop or a contour.
And then I throw the Fenti Gloss Bomb lip gloss
on it. You can use any lip gloss, though. Do
(04:42):
you have a go to lip I do.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I'm also a nude lip girly. My go to is
this cheapy, cheap Nix liner. I think the color is
literally brown, Like I'm not trying to be difficult. I
think it's literally called brown and it's a perfect brown liner.
So I do that with this smash box lipstick color
called Latte, and it is my favorite lipstic I've ever found.
It's a perfect peachy, pinky nude and it's now so
(05:08):
difficult to find. I don't know why these companies always
discontinue the best colors.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
It kills me.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's so tough when that happens.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So Ava's last product that she talked about was sunscreen,
and this was a huge lesson that my mom shared
with me. She always made me slather on sunscreen Ava
uses Supergoop unseen sunscreen. Sunscreen is tough because everything makes
me break out. So I finally found one this year.
It's called Innis Free and it's a Korean skincare brand.
(05:37):
It's sixteen bucks on Amazon, and it's the first one
that does not give me a white cast and does
not make me break out.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
I to share your poor clogging dilemma.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It takes me forever to find products that won't activate
my acne. I found one by an Australia acne safe
skincare brand called Zitstika. It's great, you get it target,
it goes on completely clear. It gives you a nice
lite shine and moisturizer effect too, And that one's really cheap.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
It's like under twenty bucks, so we love it.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So Ava talked about her favorite beauty products, But my
favorite part of this article was when she talked about
the biggest beauty lesson that she learned from her mom,
and she said it comes from this southern saying pretty
is as pretty does. I was trying to hear that
in Reese Witherspoon's Southern drawl.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
You know, yeah, I can't do it.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I can't imitate, but it really means that beauty comes
from the inside and it's the way you take care
of yourself and others. And Ava was saying that a
beautiful person is someone who treats others with kindness, and
I think that is what pretty is all about.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
I totally agree.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
When I think back to how my mom raised me,
that is the same message that she sent to me
about beauty and appearance. I feel so grateful that I
grew up in a home where my mom really didn't
talk about physical appearance that much or external beauty. She
really reminded me that it was all about your intelligence,
(07:01):
your inner self worth, how you treat people. So I'm
so grateful for that because I inherited a lot of
other issues, you know, from my family, but I don't
think that negative self talk when it comes to appearance
is one of them.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I love hearing that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I think the less we focus on it, the happier
we are usually. But this message resonated with me really
deeply because actually a few years ago, I started an
entire brand called pretty Smart that was based on this message.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
So good, thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But it's because I thought about all the pretty women
in my life, and you know, if you ask anybody
who's the most beautiful woman in their life. They always
say my mom, my aunt, my sister. No one cites
like some girl on Instagram or on a billboard. And
the prettiest women are pretty bold, pretty witty, pretty strong,
pretty smart. And I think if we can, as a
(07:58):
society and culture talk about pretty in the way that
Ava and Reese are talking about it, women as a
whole are going to be so much more fulfilled and happy.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
That's why I like the term body neutrality of our
body positivity, because body neutrality is all about this idea
that the way we look on the outside is the
least interesting thing about us, and that we would feel
more liberated as women if we truly embodied that concept
On the daily.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I always hear Jimmy Lajimil talk about how it can
be one of the ten or fifteen things that you
think about that day, but it can't be number one, two,
or three.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
That's when you start getting unhappy.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So I think focusing on what Ava said, which is pretty,
is what pretty does, sort of reframes pretty in my mind.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
All Right, we want to close out this part of
our show with a shout out to our girl Selena Quintania,
because today is Selena Day, in honor of the iconic
singer who would have been fifty three years old. Cities
across Texas where she grew up are going to be
holding concerts and tributes in her honor. And I mean,
it's hard to encapsulate the impact that this woman has
(09:05):
had on music. She was such a trailblazer for the
LATINX community, and she managed to do something that few
artists can, which is moved seamlessly between genres and create
music that stands the test of time. She was just
twenty three years old when she died, which is just
staggering to think about how young she was and how
much she would have been able to achieve if she
had been given more time on this earth. So Happy
(09:27):
Selena Day, Happy Selena Day.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I also wonder how she would feel about sort of
the last year of music, because so many LATINX artists
have punctured mainstream pop music and people are really celebrating it.
So I hope that she would be excited by some
of the doors that she helped kick in.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
It's so true. I think she's celebrating right now.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Well, people are definitely celebrating her so happy birthday, Selena.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Up next, we're diving further into the world of fashion
with stylist, designer, and CEO Rachel Zoe.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Today's guest has been a household name in fashion for
nearly twenty years.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Oh she's an OG influencer, stylist, reality TV star, mega
successful ceo.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
We're hanging out with Rachel Zoe everybody.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Her podcast, Climbing in Heels is back for its third season,
and she's here with us now to talk about crafting
a career in fashion that has spanned decades.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Rachel, Welcome to the bright Side. We're so excited to
have you with us.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Simone and I were in Austin for south By Southwest
when we launched the show, and you were at the
same party that we were at, and I went up
to chat with you and you started fixing my necklaces
and I was thinking to myself, does.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
This mean that I've been styled by Rachel Zoe?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Because ten year old Danielle would be freaking out right now.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Danielle realized she made it in that moment.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I literally god, that's so funny, you know, Austin was
such a blur for me, and it was such a whirlwind.
Was that rude that I fixed your necklace? I can't
even Rachel.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I was dying. I was so excited.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I feel like we grew up watching you, and you
were the very first celebrity stylist that I ever knew about.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
You know, it's funny because I never actually planned to
be one. I actually didn't even know what one was.
I just sort of figured it out as I went.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
To be honest, well, Rachel, I want to get into
that because I believe our journeys are made up of
a handful of defining moments and pivot points. And today,
of course you need no introduction, but can you take
us back to the crossroads that really kickstarted your fashion career?
Speaker 6 (11:47):
God? To be honest, there are There are quite a lot.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
There's different turning points that happened at different points throughout
my career and really impacted this sort of next phase,
if that makes sense. But I would say, when I
really think about it, in the earliest part of my career, first,
I would say, by the fact that I graduated as
a psych social major from George Washington university with absolutely
(12:12):
no idea what I was doing other than to try
and be like a child psychiatrist. I got a job
through a friend of a friend at a teen magazine
called Why Am And it was like a teen celebrity
fashion magazine, like seventeen. And I was making no money
at all, seventy five dollars a day, three days a week.
I worked seven I lived for every single second of
(12:34):
my job, and I knew in that moment that I
was doing.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
That for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I didn't know exactly what that was, but if I
was working in the fashion closet for the rest of
my life, that would have been fine too.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Wait, so what was it for you?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
What made you know in that moment that you wanted
to do that for the rest of your life.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
It was like, you know that scene in Sex and
the City when Sarah Jessica first goes to Paris and
she's like this starry eyed girl walking around in like
a tool skirt. It's like I was in love. I
was in love with the fashion world. I was obsessed
with fashion designers. I was obsessed with everything that was
(13:14):
glamorous and beautiful.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
I had no idea in any life that.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You could be paid to do this type of job
because it didn't exist the way you know it today.
I was literally figuring it out as I went, But
I decided as I turned twenty five that had to
make a move. And I worked on a Britney Spears video.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Wait, this was Hit Me Baby one More Time? Right, yeah, yeah,
which is like the iconic Brittany Catholic schoolgirl total Intentions inspired.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Video Oh God, the best movie ever.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
And when I worked on that, this whole different thing
happened inside of me, Like, wait a minute, this is
a whole other world of styling, of money, of pop culture.
And I was terrified because I was so young. But
at the same time, you're making next to nothing. I
(14:16):
was literally making like twenty thousand.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Rachel, How did you go from styling major celebrities like
Britney Spears just because Simpson and the Backstreet Boys to
that next big gig?
Speaker 5 (14:26):
What was your next turning point?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You won't believe this, but truthfully, when you say turning point,
Tommy Hilfiger called me into his office at the top
of his game and making the most iconic campaigns. He
called me into his office and said, I've heard a
lot about you.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
I think you're really talented.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I'd like you to style this campaign for me. And
I was like frozen at that moment. I mean, I froze,
you know, and I listened to him.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
I'm like why.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I had just gone freelance, like literally like four days before,
and I was terrified, and so it began, you know,
and I would I would argue that that was the
most pivotal moment for me early on, because he took
such a chance on me. I'm pretty sure I had
panic attacks in the middle of the night every single
night for the whole time. I was absolutely terrified if
(15:22):
I part of my French can I curse?
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Yeah? Please?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I was like, if I fucked it up, I was
never working again. And so I kind of had that
sort of fear, panic, anxiety, excitement, passion that pretty much
governed everything I did from that point forward.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
But I did it.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
The stakes feel so high when you're twenty two years old,
no matter what industry you're in, but particularly fashion. I
was so curious what twenty two year old Rachel Zoe
was wearing. What were you racking during that time of life?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Do you know what like I was working with like
Backstreet Boys and Britney and just kind Enrique, and I
just remember like I was always the most overdressed. I
always had makeup on, I was always overdressed. I've been
overdressed since I was like eight years old.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
That's why you're in charge, Rachel. When I look back
at my fashion archives, my blood pressure starts to rise
immediately because I'm so embarrassed by some of the fashion
choices that I made. And I'm curious if you are
able to be forgiving with yourself of some of your
past fashion choices, or are there any fashion moments that
you look back at now and just they make you cringe?
Speaker 6 (16:30):
To be honest, really just the eighties.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I think I've pretty much stayed the same for like
the last twenty years. Not the same, but I have
different versions of me. When I think back the eighties,
it's literally like a psychological blackout, Like I just like
to pretend it didn't happen. Literally, when I say cringe,
it's like my inside's hurt.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Did you have really big hair, Rachel?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yes, Yes, I did so big that I should have
been arrested. I think, like Julia Roberts, mystic pizza vibe.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
I mean, see, I'm a fan of that. Like I am,
I'm all.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
For it and Julia Roberts.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So Rachel, a few months ago, we were at a
dinner together and you were sitting next to another celebrity stylist,
Mae Riley. But she's the generation below you, and she
was saying that you were one of the only people
kind to her as she was coming up.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Why was it important for you to be a nice girl?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
First of all, it's who I am, It's how I
was raised. I've always been the nice girl in a
crazy world.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
The people that I grew up with and the people
that knew me and even my husband would always say,
You're like this nice, normal girl living an insane life
in a crazy industry. My dad is a successful, self
made entrepreneur and the nicest man I know, and he
was never not nice. He taught me that you could
(17:58):
be kind and be a leader, you could be successful
and not step on people to.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Get to the top.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I just found my people, and I navigated the industry
in a way where I was always polite and I
just always was honest.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Stylists when I moved to.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
La were horrific to me, with the exception of like
two who I'm still close with today. And I had
enough people in my life that I looked up to,
just people that have kind of been through it. I
think would just say, just keep your eye on you,
keep your eye on what you love. If your clients
(18:40):
trust you, and you have enough people in your life
that actually know you and know who you are, then
don't worry. It doesn't matter they're judging you without actually
knowing you. You know, there were times I wished I
was harder. There were times I wished I could be scarier.
There were times I wished I had more of an
edge to be stronger in certain situations. And I think,
(19:04):
you know, over time, being naive really hit me in
the face. But I think that's life, and I think
that that really taught me and helped really shape who
I am now.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Rachel, as you were talking about just that tension that
exists in being a professional, and it got me thinking
about a post that you made on your Instagram about
America Ferrera's monologue from Barbie, and it talks about the
expectations on women, you know, be pretty, but not too
pretty as to intimidate other women, And I thought it
(19:39):
was interesting that you said that you watched it like
dozens of times, So I'm curious what about that monologue
resonated with you.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Honestly, I think all of it, because, first of all,
America Ferre was so extraordinary in that scene, and I
think the way she delivered it, And I think when
you look at Marca Robbie as this picture perfect icon
of a Barbie character, right, we live in this oxymoron.
I think of a very contradictory expectation of women. It's like,
(20:12):
don't be this, but be this, you know, don't talk
about being thin, but don't ever not be thin. Be gorgeous,
but definitely not to the point where like you would
ever intimidate another woman.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
It's like, don't not work, but don't work too hard
that you neglect your children or your husband. And men
don't deal with those pressures. I shouldn't say that, because
certain men, of course do deal with those pressures. But
I think generally speaking, we don't get the grace. And
I think that's why historically we are so ridden with guilt, right,
and we are trying to be all things to all people,
(20:46):
just by nature, like it's not because someone's telling me, Rachel,
you better be amazing at all these things. It's the
internal drive and motivation of you better be the best
at this right. I don't see a ton of husbands
that feel bad about like going to work. At the
same time, women somehow really carry that so much heavier
(21:11):
at the end of the day.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
I think the strength of women is historically.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
The thing that we get puted down for the most meaning, Oh,
they're so emotional, you can't have a woman do this.
And what I would say to that is emotion is
our actual superpower. Emotion is what makes us magic. Bringing
emotion to business, in my opinion, is the most important
thing that we do.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I love that you said superpower, Rachel, because I really
do think you bring that superpower to people when you
style them. It's like why they feel so connected to you.
And I would make the argument that you influence the
term celebrity stylist. How do you think that you've made
your mark on the.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
World of styling.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
It was just I cared so deeply about my clients,
and so I think it was that approach that's I
think what started to give it that term of celebrity
stylist and I think it's what really ultimately made me
launch my media business and write books and do all
(22:13):
these other things because I would hear from strangers and
made me want to get dressed and look like a
woman again, and all of these incredible stories that impacted
me in such a way that I was like, Okay,
I have a way bigger purpose here, and my purpose
is actually to impact every woman, to help every woman
(22:35):
have confidence, not be scared of fashion, help them with
their everyday approach to their lives.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I'm so glad that you brought that up, like inspiring
women to be more confident in their lives, because I
think of women like my mom. I remember growing up
watching her question her style choices because of her age.
So I want to talk to you about this whole
construct of dressing for your age. Don't you think we
should be doing away with that construct?
Speaker 6 (22:58):
And it's bullshit.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
I think you dress for yourself. I hated it then
and I hate it more now. The era of like
dos and don'ts and cans and cannots, and the whole
point of fashion and style in general is it's your
best form of self expression, right. It's how you say
who you are without actually having to speak or talk. Ever,
(23:21):
I know who someone is when they walk in the
door I do. I know by what kind of jewelry
they wear, I know by how they do their hair,
and I know what their mood is. I think for me,
I became determined how to sort of turn that on
its head and it not be considered that And how
can this mean more to people?
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Meaning is so important right when it comes to career,
because we spend so much time pouring ourselves into our career.
Your podcast, Climbing in Heels features interviews with incredible women
about their climb to the top of what you call
a Mount Everest in their given fields.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
So do you feel like you've hit your Mount Everest moment?
Are you still climbing towards any thing?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Oh my god, I'm so not at the top. I'll
always be climbing. I definitely do not feel in any
way at the top, and I don't feel that I'm
anywhere near done either.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
I have a lot left to do.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Is if you were to go back and start again today,
is there anything you would do differently?
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Oh my god, so many things.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Give me the two top ones?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
God, I would always say, just trusting people that shouldn't
be trusted and having lines that are too blurred between
my professional and personal life, which is hard to kind
of navigate that when you're young. I mean, I think
there's definitely decisions that I made that seemed.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Right at the time.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But then I would also argue to say that I
can't begin to tell you how much I learned from
that mistake that really informs how I go forward.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Now, after the break, we'll get Rachel's rapid fire takes
on the y two K trons that we are seeing
everywhere times even rock ourselves.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
So, Rachel, here's how this is gonna work. We're gonna
throw out some styles we've been seeing and you can
tell us if it's a trend it or a trash
it item. Okay, so these are these are resurgent y
two K trends, go for it, Okay, whale tail.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Is this a trended or a trash it?
Speaker 6 (25:24):
Oh God, trash it?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Baggie jeans or skinny jeans.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I'm gonna go with a wide legged trouser because I
don't wear either, but I would say baggie definitely. I
would prefer baggy over skinny any day of the week.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Jeorts trash it, trend it, trash it, Rachel, I'm personally offended.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Don't be because I think everyone at Coachella will be
wearing them so well, it also depends for other people.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Great for me.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Never how about crop tops.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
I think crop tops in the right iteration are always cute.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Cargo pants, love hate bucket hats.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
I think I think your hesitation says it all.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I have to ask this one for someone. How about
bike shorts?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Oh god, I think for working out, for working out
for bris, I feel attacked short.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
I feel attacked because I have worn those stamps.
Speaker 6 (26:26):
Feel attacked.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
I'm kidding. Really hot, Mam, Rachel.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
An insult from you is a compliment from anyone else,
so she'll take.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
It, okay, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Our very last question for you is what is a
piece of advice that works in style and in life.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Lead with kindness, root for other people, cheer for those
you love, just honestly wish everyone the best.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Thank you for being a nice girl, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, this is a podcast for that. You can sit
with us crowd.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I think it's cool to be kind and that's how
I'm raising my kids, so I hope it's still cool.
And I hope it stays cool because I think the
mean girl thing is I hope it's done for good.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Rachel, thank you so much for coming to the bright
Side today. It has been such a joy to have
you on our show.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Thanks Rachel.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Good to talk to you, guys.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Rachel Zoe is a celebrity stylist, CEO and host of
the podcast Climbing and Heels.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
You can listen to it on.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
The iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I grew up watching The Zoe Report, the Rachel Zoe Project,
like she was the first stylist I even knew existed.
One of the things that I took from her is
that style is really unique to each person.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Well, she also leads by example in that regard because
she's always had such an individualistic, unique, original sense of style.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I mean, she pioneered that whole like hippie chic look. Yeah,
like the Lindsay Lohan Paris Hilton era, which I think
is actually coming back now too. The boho she yeah,
oh interesting word on the street. That was never my vibe.
It wasn't good for my body type.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I feel like you could wear it well and now,
I mean the next thing is going to be the
Western cowboy.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That harder inspired. Yeah, that I can get down with.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
When I think about a parting thought that I want
to end this episode with. What really stuck with me
is when we were asking her about her Mount Everest
moment and she said, I'm still climbing, And I love
that mentality. I never want to stop climbing, and not
in the self serving hustle sense of that phrase, but
(28:42):
more like I always want to be learning, I always
want to be growing, I always want to be evolving.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I agree, and I actually took her comment a little differently.
We constantly think that as we hit certain levels of
success or certain milestones in life, that it's going to
get easier, and the reality is never does. She's one
of the most successful stylists in the world and she
feels like she's still climbing, and so it's really a mindset,
(29:07):
like you.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Said, well, that's that idea, that's like you never really
make it. Yeah, this idea of making it is just
this elusive, unrealistic concept.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I used to ask celebrities when I first moved to
LA I used to ask celebrities that question, like, what
was your I made it moment I stopped asking that
because I quickly realized that all of these huge stars
don't feel like they've made it, and so it was
really not a great question.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I actually think it's really important to hear that from celebrities,
from people like Rachel Zoe, who we have a tendency
to idolize or think their lives are perfect. They've got
it all figured out. But that's where And I know
I sound like a broken record, but I keep coming
back to this idea of contentment, like appreciating where you're
at right now and being grateful for what you already have,
especially when you think about a time when you didn't
(29:52):
have what you have now. I mean, that's the only
way to truly be happy. Otherwise you're always climbing, reaching
for something that might not exist or might not fulfill you.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I always call it my mountain climbing years, and I
feel like I'm in them, but she's making me feel
like they never really go away exactly.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
She's in her fifties and she's climbing a new mountain.
Love that.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
That's it for today's show. I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at Simone Voice.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I'm Danielle Robe at Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
That's ro Bay.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Tomorrow, we've got journalists and co creator of the new
series The Girls on the Bus.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
It's Amy Josik.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Ooh, that's so fun.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
We'll catch you tomorrow on the bright side.
Hey, bright Side Besties, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, a no holds barred conversation
with fashion mogul and CEO Rachel Zoe.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
My purpose is actually to impact every woman, to help
every woman have confidence not be scared of fashion.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
And later we play a game of trend It or
trash It y two k edition. It's Tuesday, April sixteenth.
I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
Danielle.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
It's Tuesday, and we've got some exciting news about one
of my favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, we're getting a few hints about the newest season
of Apple TV's The Morning Show. Late last week, the
showrunner announced that they were delaying season four's release until
after the twenty twenty four election, meaning the show would
not cover election year politics, so instead it will cover
the misinformation crisis and the use of AI and deep
(00:58):
fakes in the newsroom, which it all feels very timely.
But The Morning Show obviously stars our very own ep
Reese Witherspoon alongside Jennifer Aniston, and in the past they've
used all real life headlines as storyline inspiration, so you know,
they covered the Me Too movement, the follow Roe v. Wade,
the January sixth insurrection. Simone, you worked in New York
(01:19):
in news, like, do you feel like this is realistic?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
You know it's funny. I get asked this question all
the time, and I do. I honestly do. I feel
like a lot of the elements are very realistic, especially
when it comes to the politics of the newsroom, the
competitiveness between the anchors, the backstabbing that happens. Of course,
a lot of it is heightened for our viewing pleasure,
(01:43):
but there's a lot of truth in this. And also
it was based on a book written by a prominent reporter,
Brian Stelter, so he was pulling from his own experience
and knowledge of the industry.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
So it definitely is rooted in a lot of truth.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Sometimes it was hard for me to watch because it
felt so real. I did a morning show in Chicago
and then did local news, and so many of the
plot lines felt dare I say, lowercase te triggering me,
Like the way that the anchors interact with the executives,
and like you said, the politics behind all of it.
(02:18):
The writing is really really good, and honestly, I hate
to say it, but that whole first season, which dealt
with the me Too movement, also felt really real to me.
Like I dealt with a lot of sexual harassment and
I never felt like I could say anything because I
was so young and so green, and so it was
sort of interesting to watch that be reflected on TV.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I really resonated with Nicole Bahari's storyline from last season
where she was dealing with a lot of racially charged microaggressions.
I mean, that stuff is so real, happened all the time,
and I mean, we can't forget about the pettiness too,
But the pettiness is something that I think makes the
show so rich and fun to watch. Like news anchors
are probably some of the most petty people I've ever
(03:02):
encountered in my life. I hate to report that it
is very accurate.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I know I feel the same way.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, we have news from another member of the Hello
Sunshine family, Reese Witherspoon's daughter, Ava Philippi, who if you
check her out on Instagram, she's like a resident cool
girl in my opinion. But she sat down with Today
dot Com to talk about the beauty tips that she
and her mom share. So these are some of her
favorite products. She starts off with nail Polish, which is
(03:30):
ESI's gel Cature long lasting polish.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
She says it's her go to.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It lasts longer than regular polish, and it comes in
great colors, And honestly, I co sign that so hard.
That's the one I use. I absolutely love it, and
for me, it lasts like two weeks.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
You know how we are talking about getting bold colors
on our nails. I think I'm going to go for
the Cobalt blue this week.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
I think I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's very bold.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
I know, I know it's a really bold move. But
we're living, baby.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I can't wait to see that. I'm going to with
my ballet slipper. But I love that for you, okay.
In terms of lip gloss, she loves the Summer Friday's
lip butter bomb that went viral online. I've never tried it,
but I personally love a nude lip. Like you won't
hear me citing a lot about the Kardashians on this show,
but I do feel like Kim Kardashian has nailed that
(04:20):
nude lip. And I've gotten to work with a few
celebrity makeup artists and finally found this one. So I
use the Makeup Forever Coffee lip liner, and then I
put a little bit of the Charlotte Tilbury pillow Talk
liner right in the middle of my bottom lip so
it almost gives it like an extra pop or a contour.
And then I throw the Fenti Gloss Bomb lip gloss
on it. You can use any lip gloss, though. Do
(04:42):
you have a go to lip I do.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I'm also a nude lip girly. My go to is
this cheapy, cheap Nix liner. I think the color is
literally brown, Like I'm not trying to be difficult. I
think it's literally called brown and it's a perfect brown liner.
So I do that with this smash box lipstick color
called Latte, and it is my favorite lipstic I've ever found.
It's a perfect peachy, pinky nude and it's now so
(05:08):
difficult to find. I don't know why these companies always
discontinue the best colors.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
It kills me.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's so tough when that happens.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So Ava's last product that she talked about was sunscreen,
and this was a huge lesson that my mom shared
with me. She always made me slather on sunscreen Ava
uses Supergoop unseen sunscreen. Sunscreen is tough because everything makes
me break out. So I finally found one this year.
It's called Innis Free and it's a Korean skincare brand.
(05:37):
It's sixteen bucks on Amazon, and it's the first one
that does not give me a white cast and does
not make me break out.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
I to share your poor clogging dilemma.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It takes me forever to find products that won't activate
my acne. I found one by an Australia acne safe
skincare brand called Zitstika. It's great, you get it target,
it goes on completely clear. It gives you a nice
lite shine and moisturizer effect too, And that one's really cheap.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
It's like under twenty bucks, so we love it.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So Ava talked about her favorite beauty products, But my
favorite part of this article was when she talked about
the biggest beauty lesson that she learned from her mom,
and she said it comes from this southern saying pretty
is as pretty does. I was trying to hear that
in Reese Witherspoon's Southern drawl.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
You know, yeah, I can't do it.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I can't imitate, but it really means that beauty comes
from the inside and it's the way you take care
of yourself and others. And Ava was saying that a
beautiful person is someone who treats others with kindness, and
I think that is what pretty is all about.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
I totally agree.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
When I think back to how my mom raised me,
that is the same message that she sent to me
about beauty and appearance. I feel so grateful that I
grew up in a home where my mom really didn't
talk about physical appearance that much or external beauty. She
really reminded me that it was all about your intelligence,
(07:01):
your inner self worth, how you treat people. So I'm
so grateful for that because I inherited a lot of
other issues, you know, from my family, but I don't
think that negative self talk when it comes to appearance
is one of them.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I love hearing that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I think the less we focus on it, the happier
we are usually. But this message resonated with me really
deeply because actually a few years ago, I started an
entire brand called pretty Smart that was based on this message.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
So good, thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But it's because I thought about all the pretty women
in my life, and you know, if you ask anybody
who's the most beautiful woman in their life. They always
say my mom, my aunt, my sister. No one cites
like some girl on Instagram or on a billboard. And
the prettiest women are pretty bold, pretty witty, pretty strong,
pretty smart. And I think if we can, as a
(07:58):
society and culture talk about pretty in the way that
Ava and Reese are talking about it, women as a
whole are going to be so much more fulfilled and happy.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
That's why I like the term body neutrality of our
body positivity, because body neutrality is all about this idea
that the way we look on the outside is the
least interesting thing about us, and that we would feel
more liberated as women if we truly embodied that concept
On the daily.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I always hear Jimmy Lajimil talk about how it can
be one of the ten or fifteen things that you
think about that day, but it can't be number one, two,
or three.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
That's when you start getting unhappy.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So I think focusing on what Ava said, which is pretty,
is what pretty does, sort of reframes pretty in my mind.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
All Right, we want to close out this part of
our show with a shout out to our girl Selena Quintania,
because today is Selena Day, in honor of the iconic
singer who would have been fifty three years old. Cities
across Texas where she grew up are going to be
holding concerts and tributes in her honor. And I mean,
it's hard to encapsulate the impact that this woman has
(09:05):
had on music. She was such a trailblazer for the
LATINX community, and she managed to do something that few
artists can, which is moved seamlessly between genres and create
music that stands the test of time. She was just
twenty three years old when she died, which is just
staggering to think about how young she was and how
much she would have been able to achieve if she
had been given more time on this earth. So Happy
(09:27):
Selena Day, Happy Selena Day.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I also wonder how she would feel about sort of
the last year of music, because so many LATINX artists
have punctured mainstream pop music and people are really celebrating it.
So I hope that she would be excited by some
of the doors that she helped kick in.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
It's so true. I think she's celebrating right now.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Well, people are definitely celebrating her so happy birthday, Selena.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Up next, we're diving further into the world of fashion
with stylist, designer, and CEO Rachel Zoe.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Today's guest has been a household name in fashion for
nearly twenty years.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Oh she's an OG influencer, stylist, reality TV star, mega
successful ceo.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
We're hanging out with Rachel Zoe everybody.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Her podcast, Climbing in Heels is back for its third season,
and she's here with us now to talk about crafting
a career in fashion that has spanned decades.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Rachel, Welcome to the bright Side. We're so excited to
have you with us.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Simone and I were in Austin for south By Southwest
when we launched the show, and you were at the
same party that we were at, and I went up
to chat with you and you started fixing my necklaces
and I was thinking to myself, does.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
This mean that I've been styled by Rachel Zoe?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Because ten year old Danielle would be freaking out right now.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Danielle realized she made it in that moment.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I literally god, that's so funny, you know, Austin was
such a blur for me, and it was such a whirlwind.
Was that rude that I fixed your necklace? I can't
even Rachel.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I was dying. I was so excited.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I feel like we grew up watching you, and you
were the very first celebrity stylist that I ever knew about.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
You know, it's funny because I never actually planned to
be one. I actually didn't even know what one was.
I just sort of figured it out as I went.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
To be honest, well, Rachel, I want to get into
that because I believe our journeys are made up of
a handful of defining moments and pivot points. And today,
of course you need no introduction, but can you take
us back to the crossroads that really kickstarted your fashion career?
Speaker 6 (11:47):
God? To be honest, there are There are quite a lot.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
There's different turning points that happened at different points throughout
my career and really impacted this sort of next phase,
if that makes sense. But I would say, when I
really think about it, in the earliest part of my career, first,
I would say, by the fact that I graduated as
a psych social major from George Washington university with absolutely
(12:12):
no idea what I was doing other than to try
and be like a child psychiatrist. I got a job
through a friend of a friend at a teen magazine
called Why Am And it was like a teen celebrity
fashion magazine, like seventeen. And I was making no money
at all, seventy five dollars a day, three days a week.
I worked seven I lived for every single second of
(12:34):
my job, and I knew in that moment that I
was doing.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
That for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I didn't know exactly what that was, but if I
was working in the fashion closet for the rest of
my life, that would have been fine too.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Wait, so what was it for you?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
What made you know in that moment that you wanted
to do that for the rest of your life.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
It was like, you know that scene in Sex and
the City when Sarah Jessica first goes to Paris and
she's like this starry eyed girl walking around in like
a tool skirt. It's like I was in love. I
was in love with the fashion world. I was obsessed
with fashion designers. I was obsessed with everything that was
(13:14):
glamorous and beautiful.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
I had no idea in any life that.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You could be paid to do this type of job
because it didn't exist the way you know it today.
I was literally figuring it out as I went, But
I decided as I turned twenty five that had to
make a move. And I worked on a Britney Spears video.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Wait, this was Hit Me Baby one More Time? Right, yeah, yeah,
which is like the iconic Brittany Catholic schoolgirl total Intentions inspired.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Video Oh God, the best movie ever.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
And when I worked on that, this whole different thing
happened inside of me, Like, wait a minute, this is
a whole other world of styling, of money, of pop culture.
And I was terrified because I was so young. But
at the same time, you're making next to nothing. I
(14:16):
was literally making like twenty thousand.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Rachel, How did you go from styling major celebrities like
Britney Spears just because Simpson and the Backstreet Boys to
that next big gig?
Speaker 5 (14:26):
What was your next turning point?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You won't believe this, but truthfully, when you say turning point,
Tommy Hilfiger called me into his office at the top
of his game and making the most iconic campaigns. He
called me into his office and said, I've heard a
lot about you.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
I think you're really talented.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I'd like you to style this campaign for me. And
I was like frozen at that moment. I mean, I froze,
you know, and I listened to him.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
I'm like why.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I had just gone freelance, like literally like four days before,
and I was terrified, and so it began, you know,
and I would I would argue that that was the
most pivotal moment for me early on, because he took
such a chance on me. I'm pretty sure I had
panic attacks in the middle of the night every single
night for the whole time. I was absolutely terrified if
(15:22):
I part of my French can I curse?
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Yeah? Please?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I was like, if I fucked it up, I was
never working again. And so I kind of had that
sort of fear, panic, anxiety, excitement, passion that pretty much
governed everything I did from that point forward.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
But I did it.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
The stakes feel so high when you're twenty two years old,
no matter what industry you're in, but particularly fashion. I
was so curious what twenty two year old Rachel Zoe
was wearing. What were you racking during that time of life?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Do you know what like I was working with like
Backstreet Boys and Britney and just kind Enrique, and I
just remember like I was always the most overdressed. I
always had makeup on, I was always overdressed. I've been
overdressed since I was like eight years old.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
That's why you're in charge, Rachel. When I look back
at my fashion archives, my blood pressure starts to rise
immediately because I'm so embarrassed by some of the fashion
choices that I made. And I'm curious if you are
able to be forgiving with yourself of some of your
past fashion choices, or are there any fashion moments that
you look back at now and just they make you cringe?
Speaker 6 (16:30):
To be honest, really just the eighties.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I think I've pretty much stayed the same for like
the last twenty years. Not the same, but I have
different versions of me. When I think back the eighties,
it's literally like a psychological blackout, Like I just like
to pretend it didn't happen. Literally, when I say cringe,
it's like my inside's hurt.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Did you have really big hair, Rachel?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yes, Yes, I did so big that I should have
been arrested. I think, like Julia Roberts, mystic pizza vibe.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
I mean, see, I'm a fan of that. Like I am,
I'm all.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
For it and Julia Roberts.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So Rachel, a few months ago, we were at a
dinner together and you were sitting next to another celebrity stylist,
Mae Riley. But she's the generation below you, and she
was saying that you were one of the only people
kind to her as she was coming up.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Why was it important for you to be a nice girl?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
First of all, it's who I am, It's how I
was raised. I've always been the nice girl in a
crazy world.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
The people that I grew up with and the people
that knew me and even my husband would always say,
You're like this nice, normal girl living an insane life
in a crazy industry. My dad is a successful, self
made entrepreneur and the nicest man I know, and he
was never not nice. He taught me that you could
(17:58):
be kind and be a leader, you could be successful
and not step on people to.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Get to the top.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I just found my people, and I navigated the industry
in a way where I was always polite and I
just always was honest.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Stylists when I moved to.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
La were horrific to me, with the exception of like
two who I'm still close with today. And I had
enough people in my life that I looked up to,
just people that have kind of been through it. I
think would just say, just keep your eye on you,
keep your eye on what you love. If your clients
(18:40):
trust you, and you have enough people in your life
that actually know you and know who you are, then
don't worry. It doesn't matter they're judging you without actually
knowing you. You know, there were times I wished I
was harder. There were times I wished I could be scarier.
There were times I wished I had more of an
edge to be stronger in certain situations. And I think,
(19:04):
you know, over time, being naive really hit me in
the face. But I think that's life, and I think
that that really taught me and helped really shape who
I am now.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Rachel, as you were talking about just that tension that
exists in being a professional, and it got me thinking
about a post that you made on your Instagram about
America Ferrera's monologue from Barbie, and it talks about the
expectations on women, you know, be pretty, but not too
pretty as to intimidate other women, And I thought it
(19:39):
was interesting that you said that you watched it like
dozens of times, So I'm curious what about that monologue
resonated with you.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Honestly, I think all of it, because, first of all,
America Ferre was so extraordinary in that scene, and I
think the way she delivered it, And I think when
you look at Marca Robbie as this picture perfect icon
of a Barbie character, right, we live in this oxymoron.
I think of a very contradictory expectation of women. It's like,
(20:12):
don't be this, but be this, you know, don't talk
about being thin, but don't ever not be thin. Be gorgeous,
but definitely not to the point where like you would
ever intimidate another woman.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
It's like, don't not work, but don't work too hard
that you neglect your children or your husband. And men
don't deal with those pressures. I shouldn't say that, because
certain men, of course do deal with those pressures. But
I think generally speaking, we don't get the grace. And
I think that's why historically we are so ridden with guilt, right,
and we are trying to be all things to all people,
(20:46):
just by nature, like it's not because someone's telling me, Rachel,
you better be amazing at all these things. It's the
internal drive and motivation of you better be the best
at this right. I don't see a ton of husbands
that feel bad about like going to work. At the
same time, women somehow really carry that so much heavier
(21:11):
at the end of the day.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
I think the strength of women is historically.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
The thing that we get puted down for the most meaning, Oh,
they're so emotional, you can't have a woman do this.
And what I would say to that is emotion is
our actual superpower. Emotion is what makes us magic. Bringing
emotion to business, in my opinion, is the most important
thing that we do.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I love that you said superpower, Rachel, because I really
do think you bring that superpower to people when you
style them. It's like why they feel so connected to you.
And I would make the argument that you influence the
term celebrity stylist. How do you think that you've made
your mark on the.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
World of styling.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
It was just I cared so deeply about my clients,
and so I think it was that approach that's I
think what started to give it that term of celebrity
stylist and I think it's what really ultimately made me
launch my media business and write books and do all
(22:13):
these other things because I would hear from strangers and
made me want to get dressed and look like a
woman again, and all of these incredible stories that impacted
me in such a way that I was like, Okay,
I have a way bigger purpose here, and my purpose
is actually to impact every woman, to help every woman
(22:35):
have confidence, not be scared of fashion, help them with
their everyday approach to their lives.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I'm so glad that you brought that up, like inspiring
women to be more confident in their lives, because I
think of women like my mom. I remember growing up
watching her question her style choices because of her age.
So I want to talk to you about this whole
construct of dressing for your age. Don't you think we
should be doing away with that construct?
Speaker 6 (22:58):
And it's bullshit.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
I think you dress for yourself. I hated it then
and I hate it more now. The era of like
dos and don'ts and cans and cannots, and the whole
point of fashion and style in general is it's your
best form of self expression, right. It's how you say
who you are without actually having to speak or talk. Ever,
(23:21):
I know who someone is when they walk in the
door I do. I know by what kind of jewelry
they wear, I know by how they do their hair,
and I know what their mood is. I think for me,
I became determined how to sort of turn that on
its head and it not be considered that And how
can this mean more to people?
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Meaning is so important right when it comes to career,
because we spend so much time pouring ourselves into our career.
Your podcast, Climbing in Heels features interviews with incredible women
about their climb to the top of what you call
a Mount Everest in their given fields.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
So do you feel like you've hit your Mount Everest moment?
Are you still climbing towards any thing?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Oh my god, I'm so not at the top. I'll
always be climbing. I definitely do not feel in any
way at the top, and I don't feel that I'm
anywhere near done either.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
I have a lot left to do.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Is if you were to go back and start again today,
is there anything you would do differently?
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Oh my god, so many things.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Give me the two top ones?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
God, I would always say, just trusting people that shouldn't
be trusted and having lines that are too blurred between
my professional and personal life, which is hard to kind
of navigate that when you're young. I mean, I think
there's definitely decisions that I made that seemed.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Right at the time.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But then I would also argue to say that I
can't begin to tell you how much I learned from
that mistake that really informs how I go forward.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Now, after the break, we'll get Rachel's rapid fire takes
on the y two K trons that we are seeing
everywhere times even rock ourselves.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
So, Rachel, here's how this is gonna work. We're gonna
throw out some styles we've been seeing and you can
tell us if it's a trend it or a trash
it item. Okay, so these are these are resurgent y
two K trends, go for it, Okay, whale tail.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Is this a trended or a trash it?
Speaker 6 (25:24):
Oh God, trash it?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Baggie jeans or skinny jeans.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I'm gonna go with a wide legged trouser because I
don't wear either, but I would say baggie definitely. I
would prefer baggy over skinny any day of the week.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Jeorts trash it, trend it, trash it, Rachel, I'm personally offended.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Don't be because I think everyone at Coachella will be
wearing them so well, it also depends for other people.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Great for me.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Never how about crop tops.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
I think crop tops in the right iteration are always cute.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Cargo pants, love hate bucket hats.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
I think I think your hesitation says it all.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I have to ask this one for someone. How about
bike shorts?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Oh god, I think for working out, for working out
for bris, I feel attacked short.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
I feel attacked because I have worn those stamps.
Speaker 6 (26:26):
Feel attacked.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
I'm kidding. Really hot, Mam, Rachel.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
An insult from you is a compliment from anyone else,
so she'll take.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
It, okay, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Our very last question for you is what is a
piece of advice that works in style and in life.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Lead with kindness, root for other people, cheer for those
you love, just honestly wish everyone the best.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Thank you for being a nice girl, Rachel.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, this is a podcast for that. You can sit
with us crowd.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I think it's cool to be kind and that's how
I'm raising my kids, so I hope it's still cool.
And I hope it stays cool because I think the
mean girl thing is I hope it's done for good.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Rachel, thank you so much for coming to the bright
Side today. It has been such a joy to have
you on our show.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Thanks Rachel.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Good to talk to you, guys.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Rachel Zoe is a celebrity stylist, CEO and host of
the podcast Climbing and Heels.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
You can listen to it on.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
The iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I grew up watching The Zoe Report, the Rachel Zoe Project,
like she was the first stylist I even knew existed.
One of the things that I took from her is
that style is really unique to each person.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Well, she also leads by example in that regard because
she's always had such an individualistic, unique, original sense of style.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I mean, she pioneered that whole like hippie chic look. Yeah,
like the Lindsay Lohan Paris Hilton era, which I think
is actually coming back now too. The boho she yeah,
oh interesting word on the street. That was never my vibe.
It wasn't good for my body type.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I feel like you could wear it well and now,
I mean the next thing is going to be the
Western cowboy.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That harder inspired. Yeah, that I can get down with.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
When I think about a parting thought that I want
to end this episode with. What really stuck with me
is when we were asking her about her Mount Everest
moment and she said, I'm still climbing, And I love
that mentality. I never want to stop climbing, and not
in the self serving hustle sense of that phrase, but
(28:42):
more like I always want to be learning, I always
want to be growing, I always want to be evolving.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I agree, and I actually took her comment a little differently.
We constantly think that as we hit certain levels of
success or certain milestones in life, that it's going to
get easier, and the reality is never does. She's one
of the most successful stylists in the world and she
feels like she's still climbing, and so it's really a mindset,
(29:07):
like you.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Said, well, that's that idea, that's like you never really
make it. Yeah, this idea of making it is just
this elusive, unrealistic concept.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I used to ask celebrities when I first moved to
LA I used to ask celebrities that question, like, what
was your I made it moment I stopped asking that
because I quickly realized that all of these huge stars
don't feel like they've made it, and so it was
really not a great question.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I actually think it's really important to hear that from celebrities,
from people like Rachel Zoe, who we have a tendency
to idolize or think their lives are perfect. They've got
it all figured out. But that's where And I know
I sound like a broken record, but I keep coming
back to this idea of contentment, like appreciating where you're
at right now and being grateful for what you already have,
especially when you think about a time when you didn't
(29:52):
have what you have now. I mean, that's the only
way to truly be happy. Otherwise you're always climbing, reaching
for something that might not exist or might not fulfill you.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I always call it my mountain climbing years, and I
feel like I'm in them, but she's making me feel
like they never really go away exactly.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
She's in her fifties and she's climbing a new mountain.
Love that.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
That's it for today's show. I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at Simone Voice.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I'm Danielle Robe at Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
That's ro Bay.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Tomorrow, we've got journalists and co creator of the new
series The Girls on the Bus.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
It's Amy Josik.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Ooh, that's so fun.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
We'll catch you tomorrow on the bright side.
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