Stylist Profile: Rachel Zoe
By Denise Grayson September 4, 2009
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The celebrity practice of hiring a stylist to cultivate an image in the hopes of attaining “style icon” status is nothing new. But the stylist as celebrity on the other hand, is indeed a recent phenomenon. Rachel Zoe (rhymes with show) – has taken what has traditionally been a behind-the-scenes role – not discounting well-knowns Philip Bloch and Patricia Field – and turned it into a glamorous career that at times plays out in front of the camera, attracting as much frenzied attention as her A-list celebrity clients.
The diminutive, rail-thin New York native first found fame – or more accurately, notoriety – around 2005 when the media exploited the fact that some of the young Hollywood starlets she was dressing shared a disturbing trait: a fast and extreme weight loss. Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightly who were once a healthy weight had become noticeably reduced to skin and bones. It didn’t help that Richie and Lohan were friends at the time and were photographed around Los Angeles on a daily basis, shopping and cruising night clubs wearing revealing dresses that put their protruding rib cages and hip bones on full display. Zoe was accused outright in the tabloids and the gossip columns of encouraging her ‘Zoe-bots’ to become as thin as her, to which she responded “I don’t think it’s fair to say that I’m responsible because I’m a thin person, that because I’m influencing their style I’m influencing what they eat.”
More scandalous was the charge that Zoe took drugs to stay thin and was providing them to her young protégés. She addressed that allegation directly: “There was this crazy rumour that I was getting diet pills from Mexico and distributing them. Okay, I’ve never even tried cocaine. I don’t do drugs — I’m too much of a control freak.”
Despite being called out as “single-handedly bringing anorexia back” by the Los Angeles Times, Zoe managed to leave the controversy behind and went on to become one of the most powerful women in fashion. Designers, fashion editors, “it” girls, fashion houses, and beauty firms call on the stylist to imbue them with her unique brand of “effortlessly chic style.” Zoe, 38, describes her own signature look as “bronzed, sexy and wrapped up in Seventies-tinged laidback glamour” and is known for her obsession with vintage fashion – it’s all she wears. The influence of Zoe’s signature style on the runways was noted by the Los Angeles Times, designers across the globe rely on her fine-tuned eye and Women’s Wear Daily traced Hollywood’s new look to Zoe’s own style. Not to mention the numerous fashion industry awards and her name as a seemingly perpetual fixture on the ‘most influential’ lists.
Given her enviable credentials and accolades it’s little wonder that Zoe would be given her own television show. The Rachel Zoe Project premiered on Bravo in 2008 and has been picked up for a second season which is currently on air. It’s a ‘day in the life of’ concept which follows Zoe and her assistants Brad and Taylor as they struggle with the frantic pace of dressing Hollywood’s brightest in time for their gala events. Zoe currently styles Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson, Debra Messing, Joy Bryant, Molly Sims and Anne Hathaway, though they appear briefly in the show, if at all. If The Rachel Zoe Project tells us anything about the impassioned fashionista, it’s that she earns her $6,000 a day fee – observing what she goes through at Oscar time is all it takes to stop the headshaking and even feel a tinge of compassion.
Zoe is also an author, having released her first style guidebook in 2007 titled Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty, and Everything Glamour. It made The New York Times Bestseller list.
The woman born Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig currently resides in Los Angeles with her venture capitalist and new media entrepreneur husband, Rodger Berman. Berman does appear in The Rachel Zoe Project but wisely makes a point of staying out of her way during Oscar season. A somewhat sympathetic figure, he provides what appears to be the only element of normalcy Zoe has in her life. The couple met at George Washington University where Zoe studied sociology and psychology before going on to work at YM and Gotham magazines.
The natural evolution of Zoe’s high flying fashion career is a clothing line which will debut on QVC this fall. The collection will feature jewellery, bags, shoes, hats, scarves, sunglasses, and faux fur and according to Zoe “It will be absolutely, 100% accessible fashion for sure — for everybody. There’s no reason for me to do a luxury-level design. That’s not who I am. I don’t think it’s what people want from me. I think that I would need to give people that fantasy becoming a reality. That’s my job.”
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Submitted on September 4, 2009 in Celebrity Fashion, Who's Who.
Denise is a Canadian living in England who is fascinated by the fusing of fashion and art. Her obsession with the details and an insatiable urge to share beautiful discoveries drives her Paris-loving blog, www.TheSwelleLife.com, and recently she opened Swelle Boutique at www.swelleboutique.com which offers exclusive one-off and limited edition dresses and accessories.
Denise Grayson has contributed 59 articles to Models & Moguls.
[...] our Style Profile: Rachel Zoe about how she became as famous as the celebrities she [...]