Exclusive: Rachel Zoe, the woman who dresses Hollywood
By Lina Das
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She’s famous for sending the likes of Jennifer Lawrence down the Oscars red carpet looking goddess gorgeous. So what’s her advice for us mortals? Lina Das talks frocks, fabulousness and family life with super-stylist and new mum RACHEL ZOE
'Living a life filled with glamour and style has nothing to do with having money or fame'
The offices of Rachel Zoe Inc on Los Angeles’s fashionable Melrose Avenue are just what you’d expect from Hollywood’s pre-eminent stylist – sleek and minimalist, replete with neutral shades and framed prints of Twiggy, Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger, all arbiters of a certain brand of cool.
There are even a couple of chairs that are beautiful to look at, but barely functional, from which I’m hastily steered. ‘We should probably have tested them out before we bought them,’ laughs Rachel. ‘It’s kind of silly having chairs you can’t sit on properly!’
Rachel Zoe laughs a lot and is chatty, witty, warm and friendly, with a reputation for being down-to-earth in an industry not particularly noted for such qualities. She is one of the most influential people in the fashion business and the stylist to the stars (she has worked with everyone from Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Garner and Cameron Diaz to Kate Beckinsale and Eva Mendes) who became a star herself.
Left, Rachel with Lindsay Lohan in 2011; right, Rachel fits a model
She has her own-named fashion line, a daily online newsletter (The Zoe Report) and became a household name after debuting her reality TV show in 2008 (The Rachel Zoe Project), not to mention a husband (the predictably well-groomed Rodger Berman, a former investment banker) and two young children – Skyler, three, and three-month-old Kaius.
Nicole Richie
Rachel’s reputation was established in the mid-2000s when she was credited with revamping the style of various young stars including Nicole Richie, who at their first meeting showed up in a tracksuit and an ‘I Love LA’ baseball cap. Richie now has her own successful fashion line, House of Harlow.
As we meet today, Rachel is looking great in a Pucci jacket, tuxedo trousers from her own collection and towering Alaïa heels. ‘I look so haggard,’ she grimaces, ‘and I can barely remember my name. I’m up at 5am to feed Kaius, then Skyler wakes up, then I work all day, go home, make dinner and put Skyler to bed. I’ll shower at 11pm and do my nails at midnight. I live my life exhausted but it’s never been more fun.’
Adding to the exhaustion, she has just penned her second book – Living in Style: Inspiration and Advice for Everyday Glamour – which advises not just on how to dress well and pull an outfit together, but also on how style can inform one’s decorating, entertaining and even holiday choices.
‘I hope it’s aspirational as well as inspirational,’ she says. ‘I truly believe that living a life filled with glamour and style has nothing to do with having money or fame. The people I know with the greatest taste often have the most limited budgets, and I wanted to help people change their perspective a little bit. I was pleased with my first book [Style A to Zoe], but I feel that this new book addresses life and style as opposed to just getting dressed every day. I feel I’ve really grown up since then.’
Jennifer Garner
Anne Hathaway at the 2008 Venice Film Festival
Oscar-hot Jennifer Lawrence
I happened to interview Rachel seven years ago for her first book and there is indeed something different about her. By her own admission, she was obsessed with her job: ‘I was living on the adrenalin of work,’ she admits. ‘I still love what I do, but I have a much healthier approach to it all now. I used to spend a lot of time obsessing about things [to do with work] that I thought were more important than they actually were.’
'I've never told anyone to lose weight. I lead a very normal, healthy life'
Rachel freely admits that having children changed everything and indeed she moved her New York Fashion Week show in February in order to take care of baby Kaius. ‘I nurse Kaius, so I’m physically and emotionally attached to him and I decided I just couldn’t leave him,’ she says. ‘He hasn’t had any of his inoculations yet and it’s very dangerous to fly in the height of the flu season with a newborn. Fashion Week will always be there and I’ll still show my collection here in LA, it was just a judgment call I had to make. The biggest cliché of motherhood is that your priorities change overnight. I never really got it until I had children myself.’
Now 42, Rachel was 38 when she became pregnant with Skyler. ‘It wasn’t planned, although it was a very happy accident. But I was terrified.
Rachel has some mummy time with son Skyler
I remember about two weeks before I was due turning to Rodger and saying, “I can’t do this.” I couldn’t understand how I was going to go back to doing the job I did before, until I realised that I didn’t have to go back to my previous life – I just had to be myself in a very different way.
And then, when they put Skyler in my arms, it was a paralysing love and I just froze for a couple of months. It was something I could never have foreseen happening.’
SO ZOE...
l FAVOURITE DESIGNER
Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy’s creative director) – I can’t have just one.
l HIGH-STREET STORE
Topshop and Zara because the fashion is great and the clothes are good value.
l MAKE-UP
Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow and bronze stick; Tom Ford lipstick and nail polish; Nars The Multiple [make-up stick]. I don’t wear a lot of make-up but I love it.
l STYLE ICONS
Jane Birkin, Bianca Jagger and Brigitte Bardot. They epitomise effortless glamour and cool.
l WOULDN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT…
A deep-berry lipstick and a few jacket options. The weather in LA varies by 20 degrees during the day so I always change my jackets at least twice.
l RECENT PURCHASE
Alaïa ankle boots and a Proenza Schouler biker jacket with chunky zips.
l WOULDN'T BE SEEN DEAD IN…
Acid-wash skinny jeans, trainers or flat shoes. I’ve been wearing heels since I was 12.
l HOLIDAY DESTINATION
St Bart’s – I’ve been going for the past 15 years, ever since I spent my honeymoon there.
Losing the baby weight doesn’t appear to have been a problem for Rachel either. ‘I’ve always been this slim,’ she says. ‘I carried both babies full-term and delivered them naturally. I eat healthily like everyone does in LA, especially during my pregnancies. I’m also running around, chasing my toddler and nursing my baby, so physically that’s why I bounced back. I don’t exercise, though – I haven’t since college!’
Back when Rachel was working with the likes of Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, the actresses’ resemblance to their style mentor prompted the New York Post to dub them ‘Zoebots’. ‘And that did hurt,’ she says now. ‘I’ve never told anyone to lose weight. I’m a working mum and a businesswoman and I lead a very normal, healthy life.’
Rachel says that the support of her husband Rodger is invaluable. Together for almost 23 years and married for 16, she says simply, ‘He’s my soul mate.’ Rodger runs the business side of Rachel Zoe Inc, ‘and even though we’re together all the time, we don’t know how to do it any other way. People always ask us, “Isn’t marriage hard?” but we always say it’s the easiest part of our lives – it’s everything else that’s difficult!
In the beginning, I was terrified of getting married because I thought once you did, then your life was done. But it’s more fun than ever now. Rodger knew that my work was my passion and he never held me back from it.’
Born Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig (she later dropped her surname on the advice of an agent), Rachel grew up in New Jersey, with her sister Pamela and her parents Leslie and Ron, wealthy art collectors, ‘who were obsessed with style and design and interiors,’ she says. ‘I grew up around culture and that kind of informed my life without me even realising it.’
Her first styling job came when she was eight years old, overhauling the wardrobe of Douglas, the son of a family friend (‘I sorted out his outfits from Monday to Friday, right down to shoes and socks’). At 13, her mother took her to Paris and, after ‘saving every dime’, the fashion-obsessed Rachel walked into Louis Vuitton and bought a messenger bag, ‘which I have to this day’.
Left, Rachel watches New York Fashion Week on her laptop with baby Kaius; and right, at a Lanvin party with husband Rodger in 2011
Coming from a life of privilege, Rachel may have been forgiven for lacking ambition, ‘but I had a need to prove myself. In high school, I was the cute girl who dated hot guys and everyone said, “She’s just going to marry some rich guy and drive a Mercedes”. But I wanted more than that. My parents came from nothing and that was so admirable to me. I wanted to earn everything myself, the way my parents did.’
Rachel aged three wearing one of her favourite dresses
Rachel's mother Leslie
Relaxing with her boys
Rachel studied psychology and sociology at the George Washington University in Washington DC. ‘One might argue that psychology came in handy for my job,’ she admits. ‘You need to understand people [as a stylist] and you soon realise that no matter how beautiful or talented, everyone has their insecurities.’ Later, she moved to New York, where she became the fashion editor of YM magazine, then a stylist working with pop stars such as Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson. She moved to LA in 2003, and has worked nonstop ever since.
Rachel's wall of shoes
Just over a decade on and she now has her own fashion line, ‘which was a dream for me, but a terrifying one’. Her clothes, a mix of sharp tailoring along with her signature boho style, aren’t, she admits, ‘super-inexpensive, but they’re not designer prices either – I’d say they were aspirational for some and affordable for others. My customers range from a fashion-obsessed girl, who will save up to buy a special piece, to someone who primarily buys designer, but will come and buy two tuxedos, a leather jacket and a cocktail dress from my collection.’
It’s currently awards season and Rachel styled two clients for the Oscars – Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lawrence. ‘They’re both really lovely. I’ve been with Jennifer Garner for about 11 years now and Jennifer Lawrence is just the most down-to-earth person you’ll meet. She always invites Skyler to come to fittings and she must have played with him for two hours on Golden Globes day. I can’t say enough about her.’
Of course, having two boys, even ones as nattily attired as Skyler and Kaius, makes you wonder whether Rachel doesn’t secretly long for a girl on whom she can lavish her fabulous wardrobe. ‘I do want a girl, but more for Rodger’s sake,’ she admits. ‘My sister and I are both daddy’s girls and Skyler is just glued to me at the moment, so I’d love Rodger to have that kind of close relationship [with a daughter].
'No matter how beautiful or talented, everyone has their insecurities '
But people are always saying, “Well, your boys’ girlfriends will get your things,” and I’m like, “Are you crazy? Those girls aren’t getting anything,”’ she laughs. ‘But Skyler’s getting to an age now where he can make decisions for himself if I lay out clothes for him, so I’m loving that. But at some point they’re only going to want to wear sportswear,’ she sighs, then pleads, half-mockingly, ‘so just let me have a little fun while I still can…’
'FASHION IS LIKE MAGIC - HERE ARE MY TRICKS'
An extract from Rachel Zoe’s new style bible
Coco Chanel once said that showing your knees was ‘hardly ever pretty’. I don’t like my knees. I can’t even pinpoint why, exactly, except to say that they look a little chickeny. Rationally, I know that my joints are totally normal. But the reality is that I am uncomfortable when I expose them. So I don’t.
Instead, I dress to highlight my upper body, thanks to a long torso, defined, feminine shoulders and an elongated neck. Once you know which areas you want to accentuate, focus on necklines, silhouettes, sleeves and hemlines that do just that. Fashion is a lot like magic, and over years of styling dozens of women, I have developed more than a few tricks for highlighting your best features.
Rachel wearing a dress from her own label.
GIVE AN INCH
When it comes to hemlines, even a half-inch alteration can extend the line of the leg. Experiment with the length of a skirt or dress to see where your hem falls best. Just above or below the knee is usually the sweet spot, but trust your eye and instinct.
THE PRICE OF GOLD (AND SILVER)
As much as I adore metallic fabrics, their reflective quality can make you appear larger if you have va-va-voom curves. By the same token, that effect may be something you’re going for, depending on your body type. Examine how light hits a metallic dress or consider a separate such as gold lamé capri pants or a silver sequined top.
CINCH EFFECT
If you want your torso to appear longer, wear a belt on the lowest point of your natural waistline. Or a wide belt worn a little higher than your waist is great for creating more of a classic hourglass silhouette.
MAX OUT
Do not fear the maxi dress. I swear, it works for everyone. If you’re petite, wear it with heels (and be sure the hemline still touches the floor) or opt for one that is more fitted with less volume.
BETWEEN THE LINES
Contrary to what people say, horizontal stripes do not always add bulk. I find that skinnier stripes – such as the ones on a French sailor sweater – are the most flattering. Trust me: stripes actually make you look taller.
Rachel out and about in LA
LEAN LIMBS
A bishop’s sleeve, which is fitted from the shoulder to the elbow and then flares slightly, always looks elegant and leans out the upper arms.
NECKLINE KNOW-HOW
A choker worn just above the collarbone will make your neck appear longer. Long necklaces – with a dress or separates – also extend the line of the body, so you look taller and slimmer overall.
GO NUDE
To create the illusion of longer legs, slip on nude platform wedges or pumps – the higher the better. Be sure to match the shade to your skin. Avoid T-straps, which bisect the line and shorten the leg.
WHITE HOT
I adore white all year round because it brightens the skin. It makes you look fresh and stand out in a sea of black. Experiment with different shades to find what complements your complexion.
KICK OFF
Dark denim is always more slimming than a lighter wash. A pair of mid-rise jeans with a kick or flare below the knee – whether it is a wide-leg or a boot-cut style – is elongating for everyone. I love skinny jeans, but the reality is they are not universally flattering; tall, boyish figures fare best in the silhouette.
Taken from Living In Style by Rachel Zoe, which will be published by Sphere on 27 March, £18.99. To order a copy for £13.99 with free P&P, contact the You bookshop on 0844 472 4157, you-bookshop.co.uk
Additional images: Rex, Getty.
Bluebutterfly, Ldn, United Kingdom, 5 hours ago
That shoe cupboard is amazing!