The Liz Moody Podcast - Style And Success Secrets With Fashion Icon Rachel Zoe
Episode Date: September 25, 2024Rachel Zoe joins me to walk us through finding your own personal style. Rachel, known for styling A-list celebrities and starring in The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo, shares her philosophy on interpret...ing trends, the importance of confidence in your style, and exactly how to adapt looks to different body types. The conversation also delves into Rachel's career journey, mentorship experiences, and how to balance motherhood with a bustling career. This episode will give you practical style advice and insightful reflections to navigate your career and life. 00:17 Introducing Rachel Zoe: Fashion Icon 01:38 Finding Your Personal Style 04:09 Navigating Fashion Trends and Body Confidence 07:41 The Impact of Celebrity Culture on Fashion 23:48 Age and Fashion: Breaking the Rules 27:35 Personal Style Evolution 28:56 Confidence and Career Advice 30:25 Comfortable and Stylish Outfit Tips 33:17 Controversial Style Opinions 35:32 Balancing Career and Motherhood 43:58 The Importance of Mentorship 53:17 Final Thoughts Check out Rachel Zoe on her podcast Climbing in Heels, on Instagram @rachelzoe, or at shoprachelzoe.com. Ready to uplevel every part of your life? Order Liz’s new book 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success now! To join The Liz Moody Podcast Club Facebook group, go to www.facebook.com/groups/thelizmoodypodcast. Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizmoody, or subscribe to her newsletter by visiting www.lizmoody.com. This episode is sponsored by: Himalaya: go to himalayausa.com and use code LIZMOODY for 20% off all Himalaya supplements at checkout. LMNT: go to DrinkLMNT.com/LizMoody to get a free LMNT sample pack with any order. Manukora: head to manukora.com/LizMoody to get $25 off the Starter Kit, which comes with an MGO 850+ Manuka Honey jar, 5 honey travel sticks, a wooden spoon, and a guidebook. The Liz Moody Podcast cover art by Zack. The Liz Moody Podcast music by Alex Ruimy. Formerly the Healthier Together Podcast. This podcast and website represents the opinions of Liz Moody and her guests to the show. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for information purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. The Liz Moody Podcast Episode 268. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello, friends, and welcome to the Liz Moody podcast, where every week we're sharing real science,
real stories, and realistic tools that actually level up every part of your life.
I'm your host, Liz Moody, and I'm a best-selling author and longtime journalist.
Let's dive in.
I could not be more excited to welcome Rachel Zoe to the podcast today.
Rachel is a legendary fashion stylist.
She styled pretty much every A-list celebrity like Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer
Lawrence, Cameron Diaz. I could go on, but then that would be the entire episode.
She was the star of the Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo, which I was obsessed with.
She is the founder of the Zoe Report. She is the founder of Curator, which is a subscription
style box service. And she hosts the Climing and Heels podcast where she interviews amazing
women about how they found success while being their whole selves. And today, she is going to
help us find our personal style and share so many secrets of business and life. And she's going to
convince me to have a kid. So stay tuned for that. All right, Rachel Zoe, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to have you. I've been such a huge fan for years.
The Zoh project, the Rachel Zoh project, was probably one of my top favorite TV shows.
Oh, I appreciate that. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of work because it was a lot. It was a lot of work
because it was, I think, one of the first.
I think it just, there wasn't really a playbook on how to do it.
So it's just, but I kind of feel like that's been my entire career.
Career.
It's just figuring it out as I go.
And we're going to get into all of your career stuff in a little bit.
But I wanted to start off with fashion because obviously you are an expert in fashion.
And I think a lot of people listening and very much myself are trying to figure out how to look cute.
So I'd like you to help us look cute.
So my first question is you have such a distinct sense of personal style and you've helped so many
clients over the years find their distinct personal style. How can we find our own personal
style and not be subject to trends that feel like they're going faster and faster every single
month? You know, it's super interesting. I've never really believed in trends and trend following.
I've always believed in take whatever the trend is and interpret it for yourself.
If skinny jeans are like the biggest no ever, but that's all you feel best in, just wear them.
Who cares? You're not going to get arrested. I think the days of fashion do's and don'ts for me are
way gone. And to be honest, even in the days where there were fashion dues and don'ts, I still didn't
really believe in them because I think fashion and style in general is such a subjective thing overall.
You can have innate style.
You can be born with it.
But you can also learn to have it.
A lot of that is about confidence and really trial and error and experimenting and getting
feedback and really how it affects your confidence.
So I think in finding your style, choose the person that you're most obsessed with their style,
that you relate to the most.
Like, are you a Siana Miller person? So you're like the more bohemian, like, Chloe girl? Or are you
someone that loves like, you know, Nicole Kidman? And you're always going to be in something structured and
severe. You just start to play with it. And then you just start to be like, I look ridiculous.
I need to take this off. Or you walk out the door and you're like, I feel really good. You know?
And then you go out one night and everyone's like, oh, my God, you look amazing. Like, you will start
to really take that in and you really take in the feedback and your overall feeling in what you're
wearing. That's how you ultimately achieve your personal style. It's just wearing different things,
feeling really good in it, getting feedback from people you actually trust, not people that are
trying to ruin your life that tell you look good when you don't. I have so many questions on that.
First of all, I have to know, has somebody that you've styled or you yourself ever ended up on one of those,
in an outfit that you're like, no, that outfit was fantastic.
You know, when I first started styling, my goal when I moved to L.A. was to try and somehow
merge the world of fashion and Hollywood because there was such a huge disconnect.
It was like New York laughed at L.A. L.A. was scared of New York. Paris laughed at everyone.
And Milan was somewhere in the middle. I just loved fashion. And I would like look at things.
want to put them on a client. And I learned that certain things were better left to photo shoots
and magazines and runways versus what should go on a red carpet. After a while, what I found was
that my clients had had the most confidence, they actually didn't care. They were like,
this is what I feel the best in. At the time, there was so much scrutiny from the media.
there was so much like attack like what were they thinking what did a da like did and you can't really get
away with that anymore quite honestly thank god but in that day there was people who are not fashion
people and yet they are annihilating people in couture on the red carpet and that really never sat
well with me but what i did do because it felt like a responsibility for me was to be very honest with
my clients and I would say, okay, because I would say, Rachel, what's your favorite? I would say
this is my favorite by a landslide. This is going to garner the most fashion attention, like the
vows, the vows, the vows, but the mainstream media is not going to understand this most likely.
They're going to think it's too edgy. They're not going to get the train. They're not going to get the
this. They're not going to get the asymmetry at the top. But most of the time you can't please both
sides. You can sometimes, which I've experienced where unanimously everyone loved it. But there was
times where like the fashion world was obsessed with it and the mainstream tabloids and stuff were like,
no way. And it made me crazy because I knew they were wrong. And I would say that my clients
didn't give a fuck because I would arm them with the, this may not be understood. And I would.
And then some of the sort of like more insecure were affected by it, you know.
And I thought that was terrible because, you know, people going out there spending days and days
and fittings and hair makeup and spray tans and eyebrows and all the things and they go out
into the world and throw themselves and are very vulnerable, you know, in front of the world to
see and then just get criticized in like the most gorgeous couture gown you ever saw.
It makes no sense.
So the answer is I've had probably in my career that I can remember that were like big moments
that like the fashion world loved, but the mainstream media didn't.
Could you name them or no?
No, I probably shouldn't.
Okay.
But they were two really big celebrities in very, very major designer moments.
One of them didn't give a shit and one of them did.
And she was like sad and it made me so sad.
I was like, this is crazy.
You looked like a princess.
Like it was stunning.
What if the style that we've identified, we don't feel like looks good on our body.
So like you said Sienna Miller.
Santa Miller is one of my style icons.
I absolutely love her.
And I feel like she's like tall and willowy and I'm shorter and curvier.
So when I try to emulate that style, I don't feel like.
She's not tall.
I'll have you know she's not tall.
Wait, really?
Yeah.
She's stunning.
She gives nobody, every like Hollywood celebrity that I've met, I'm like, oh my gosh,
you're my size.
It makes me so happy.
They're all so much shorter than you think.
Oh, always.
Always.
Other than like Jennifer or Laura.
I feel like there's like a few people.
Jennifer Lawrence is tall.
Nicole Kimman is tall.
There's a handful of tall.
But everybody else is teeny tiny.
Okay.
But I feel like she has this like willowy body.
And I feel like when I try to emulate that style, it doesn't look effortless and willowy on me.
So what advice would you give to somebody who's like, I love this style, but I don't love
how it looks on my body. Okay. So that happens a lot. There is a lot of women that I've worked with
personal and professionally that are like, yeah, yeah, I'm obsessed with that, but I can't wear that.
So what you do is you like, for example, let's just take Zana Miller with like some amazing
Chloe moment with like ruffles and volume and where someone else might look like a bird, right?
I'm not a good bird, not a shan, not a shake bird. But I do think that there are certain body types
that can carry things differently. And I'll never forget when I was working with Samahayek,
I had also been working with other women who did not have sort of that more hourglassy curves.
They were more straight. And then the first thing she said to me is, baby, I cannot wear something
without my waist or without my. And the thing is, she was exactly right. And so I think as a stylist
and just someone who would, I guess, advise anyone with their personal.
style. It goes back to like you can't take something that looks great on someone with no curves
and expected to look the same on someone with curves. So what you do is you take the elements of those
things that you love, like the ruffles and the frills and the whatever and you find something
that has a shape, a waist. You can even just add a belt. You know what I mean? You could add a belt.
But I do think that you have to really know your body, right? Because even just taking pregnancy,
right? I've had women that only wanted to show their legs in pregnancy. And then other women were
like cover my legs. There's no one size fits all. There's nothing that works the same on all of us.
So I think it's taking that trend and what you love about it and saying, I'm going to take what I can
with this, but I'm going to give myself a shape or whatever, you know, or maybe you do the shorter version
so you look taller. But that's a myth also because I'm not tall and I only wear long. So, you know.
How tall are you?
Oh my God.
I'm without heels, which is only when I'm sleeping.
Five, four.
That's tall to me.
It is not tall.
The average height of the American woman, I believe, is five foot three and three quarters.
It is.
So then call me average.
I'm average.
I am totally average.
I'm totally average and have never been happy about it.
So I wear like six inch heels on the bag.
Yeah.
I can't sacrifice comfort.
enough to wear heels all the time, but I would like to be taller, very much so. The flattering
thing is an interesting thing to me, though, because I hate the idea that we're conforming
to these societal standards of what an ideal body is. Like, oh, your stomach should look this way,
your arms should look this way. But also, I hate the idea of people not feeling comfortable
in what they're wearing. So I never kind of know how to approach, should we be disguising things
we don't like? Should we be trying to, like, lean into them? How do you think about that with you
or with your clients. You know, it's super interesting because I will say, I think one of the greatest
effects, in my opinion, just from observing it over the years that the Kardashians have had
on society, I think, is really empowering women with curvier bodies to show them and not hide them.
Because I think there were so many years that we went through this like waifie thing and the like straight thing and the high
your boobs and hide your butt and hide your whatever. And I think now I just see it in young women
because I have a son in middle school. And I just love that like every girl walks around with
confidence in their bodies. And I think that's been such a beautiful thing. And I really think
that the Kardashians in many ways have impacted overall kind of body image in terms of it
going from you have to be a size whatever, zero or double zero. I don't want to say it doesn't exist,
but it's not as overpowering and visible as it was once for many, many years. And I think that now
women feel more confident, young women, more importantly, feel really confident in their bodies.
And I think, no, I don't think you should hide things. But I do think you should do what feels right
in your body. And I think if you're like, hey, I don't like my elbows, then don't show your elbows,
because all you're going to be doing is trying to cover them. You know, so that's my feeling about it.
I don't think you should consider what other people think about your elbows. It's how do you
you feel about your elbows, right? I'm not a huge lover of knees and elbows. I was made fun of as a kid,
and you know how that really scars you. Like I was told I had chicken knees. So I instinct.
actually cover my knees. And then the other day I was wearing something and my knees were out.
And someone was like, you have such beautiful knees. I was like, what? It was the weirdest thing.
And I think it shows you that you should show the thing sometimes because you may be like,
wait, like, why am I hiding these? Yeah. It might help you reframe your relationship to that thing.
It's interesting with the Kardashians because I feel like it started that way. It started being so
permission giving because they were in such opposition to everything else happening in terms of
what the ideal body and what the media said the ideal body should look like. But now I feel like
there's almost like a different ideal body and you have to have the teeny tini tiniest waist and
these big hips and big butt and big boobs. I very rarely see bodies that look like mine and
media and it makes it hard to picture when I'm looking for outfits on Pinterest like, oh, that
making sense for me. And I think I just have like a normal, healthy body. I think you just need to
wear what you love. Where what you love? And trust me when I tell you, you're going to know when it looks
good. You're going to look in the mirror and be like, or take pictures of yourself and be like,
wait, I look cute. This vibe works. Maybe I should redo this vibe. You know, and that's how you develop
your personal style. It's what feels right. It ultimately becomes effortless. I've seen clients come
to me where they literally could not get themselves out of overalls. And,
And then all of a sudden, they have the sickest personal style because they've done it enough
that you learn.
It's like a language.
It's like learning a second language.
Okay.
I want to get really granular about that because I'm pretty far from the effortless right now.
I'm pretty much on the other side.
Let's say we're looking in the mirror.
We're wearing kind of an outfit.
We feel okay, but we feel like it's missing something.
What is it often missing to take it from just like, oh, this is an outfit to this is something that looks stylish and cute?
Jewelry.
What kind of jewelry? Big.
Earrings, a moment. Maybe it depends because it depends on what you're wearing.
If you're wearing a dress with a plunging neckline and you have no necklace on, I'm just going to stare at it.
Like, I want to place a necklace there, you know?
Okay.
I think always add more jewelry, A. B, I think a heel helps everything. I'm sorry, but it does.
Okay.
And a lip.
What if we really like want to walk around all day?
Like, what are our options?
Then you wear cute flats.
Then you wear a cute flats or you can wear a platform that's really.
really comfortable. The key is platforms. I have to apologize. I don't even look remotely cute today
because- Yes, you do. I just, I get up so early and I like basically throw something on in
the dark while I run my kids out. And then I come back in and go right to work and realize like,
oh my God, you've been working the whole day and you're on Zooms and now you're on a pod and
didn't even look cute. You look so cute. And we're going to talk about your work life balance and
all of that later. There is none. No, I'm just kidding. Answer it next. No, I'm just kidding.
No, okay, well, so then that's a nice lead-in. If we want to look cute really quickly and put very
little effort into it, what are the secrets there? I think you have a go-to uniform. I call them
heroes, hero items. And that term came from my styling life where when I was doing music
videos, they would always ask for the hero outfit, which was the outfit they were wearing in the
main part of the video. And so he's like, hero look, hero look. We need doubles and triples of
the hero look. So when I would like go into my styling life, it would just be like, you need to have
a hero rack in your closet. You need to have a section of your like go-toes. I have five minutes to
get myself out the door. I'm putting concealer on, mascara, a lip. I'm throwing these black trousers on
with this shirt or this cute little jacket with a tank underneath and these comfortable boots or
heels, whatever it is, and run out the door. And you need different iterations of that, like a really
easy black knit dress or a camel colored blazer with a t-shirt and jeans. It doesn't have to be
dressy. It just has to work. Take the decision fatigue out of it. You have to. That's what I'm saying
about like the trial and error. Like, you know that outfit works. Don't think about it. Just throw it on and
go. I feel like I'll have these outfits and I'll be like, yes, I look so good. I look better than I've ever looked.
And then like two years later, I'll be like, what was I thinking? I hated that outfit.
I think that's just your style insecurity.
Talk to me about that.
Style insecurity?
Yeah.
I think most people have that.
I think it's more the norm.
Even now I'll meet people for the first time.
They'll be like, don't look at what I'm wearing.
And I'll be like, I actually really didn't.
You know, for me, style really is the best kind of way to say who you are without speaking.
Someone's style is such a direct impression.
to me of who somebody is. You could not even say hello to me and I would probably know your vibe.
Which goes back to where we started the conversation because if your vibe is, I follow every
single trend. That's not a very interesting vibe versus this is who I am. They don't really
know who they are and they're reaching at things and they're spending all this money on trends to
help fill a void of who they want to be. Yeah. And they don't know who they are. My clients that
were the most A-list, most successful, most secure were like the easiest.
You know, the fittings were quick.
They were super decisive.
They were confident.
It was the ones that were still constantly trying to figure out what box they checked in this world.
Struggled.
When it would take them multiple fittings.
I guess what I'm saying is I've always approached style as something that informs your whole being.
It's an expression.
It's how you're feeling in that moment.
And I think it's very much who you are, what you want to put out.
into the world. And I also think on the flip side of that, when you get dressed in the morning,
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Have you had celebrities that you've worked with where, I don't know, they have skin that they're not happy with and they're having to go on a red carpet?
But when they have these insecurities based on things, how do you work with them on that?
I think you just try and be there for them.
I'm such a problem solver.
It's very hard for me to not fix something for people.
I was a psych major.
And I think I probably used my psychology throughout my career and every day of my life.
I mean, celebrities are human beings.
And, you know, imagine throwing yourself out in front of the world every day.
It's hard.
It's really hard.
And I think that's why we have to have grace.
for a lot of people in the public eye,
because it's not an easy thing to put yourself out there
and get photographed and get criticized
and get looked at and get judged
and people have opinions about you.
And I think some people love it
and they know it's part of the game.
And I think other people are like, it hurts,
you know, when people cut them down,
but they still have to do it because it's part of the job.
So I'm not putting pity on celebrities.
I'm just saying I think we have to like have grace for them.
They are very real people.
And I think if we think about our insecurities as people and then times 100 to put yourself
out there in front of the world, it's hard.
Was that hard for you when you went from behind the camera to in front of the camera?
Horrible.
Yes.
Yes, because it was never my intention.
Yeah.
I don't think I was ever ready for that.
When you're going into acting or you're a musician and, you know, you're a pop star and it's
like, you know that that is the game.
You know that if you make it that, you're going to be in the public eye.
That's part of it.
You're going to be famous, right?
And I think for me, I always approached what I was doing as my job and my business and
everything was a part of that.
And I think when I signed on to do the Rachel Zoe project, I think it was sort of like,
I was like absolutely not never.
And then it was like, okay, what I have to lose, right?
And no one's going to care about my life.
Like, I'm nobody, you know?
And I was like, I'm just highlighting the fashion world.
I'm not, this isn't about me.
It's about the designers, right?
And then obviously like life happens and the show turns out to be totally different.
And before that, when the media started inquiring about like who was creating these looks on certain people and da-da-da, I don't think that was ever something that I was comfortable with.
And certainly never when I was at like events and stuff and they would take pictures of me or if I was with clients, I would always.
step in the back. I'd be like, no, no, no, I'm working. How did you let it not impact your self-esteem?
I mean, it did. It did affect my self-esteem. You're out there and everybody's forming opinions of you,
whether you like it or not. And it's terrifying, honestly. And I'm just thinking about your
knees story or like somebody said to me when I was a kid that I didn't have great knees and that
sat with me for my entire life. And I think about the comments that I've gotten about my face and my body
online and you can have so many positive comments and you get one or two negative ones and you're like,
oh, okay, so that's the truth. Like, that's what I'm going to sit with forever. A thousand percent,
but that's like one bully in a class of 100 equals 100, right? Like, because the nice kids aren't
the ones that you're like processing all day. It's the bully that's ruining your life, right?
It's the same concept. That was hard for me. I tried to just look at it as part of my business and
part of my job and ultimately my show became a huge part of my business and part of my job.
That's probably why when I had kids, I just tried to not be. I think I didn't want them
judging my kids. And for many years, they still were chasing us to get the picture of sky.
Social media probably helped that a lot, you know, because social media, you can sort of control and
say, okay, well, here's a picture of my son, so you don't need to try and chase me to get it.
There's pros and cons to everything. And I think with publicity, if it's good publicity, comes opportunity.
If you take it as it's all just part of the same thing and it's all just fueling your business and your brand.
I think that's just sort of how I've tried to look at it. But yeah, it absolutely affects my self-esteem.
I mean, it crushes me. I take things very personally because my job is so personal. My clients were so personal.
I was so close with all of my clients and still friends with many of them, you know.
Do you think there are different dos and don'ts for different ages? Like when I post outfits
online, I always hear from people in their 40s like, oh, I'm 40. I can't wear that type of thing.
And then my mom, I grew up with my mom saying like when I turned 40, I had to cut my hair short
because you can't have long hair when you're older. Oh, God, I think the opposite. Gone are those days.
I will die as Rapunzel. I will die at 100 or.
80 or however when I will probably still have hair as long as share.
I love it.
I love it.
So do you think there's any credence to maybe you shouldn't have your midriff out at a certain
age or like the shit people say online or no?
Honestly, it's a hard question because the answer is in the world we're living in now,
no, I don't because I do think it's to each their own.
I really believe in that.
Body shaming on any level should go away.
it should not be tolerated whether you're too thin, you're short, you're fuller, you're this or that.
Just let everyone be who they want to be. I know that's not an interesting answer, but I just think
at the end of the day, I don't think anyone should have the right to cut someone down for how they're
built, how they choose to eat, whatever. I like to think that those rules are gone. Who was it recently?
Dolly Parton was in like, she was like in a mini with, remember that huge thing? She was like,
which is it a corset and a mini? I can't remember, but she was wearing.
something unbelievable. And I don't know how old she is. She in her 80s now, Dolly Parton, I think,
but I was like, God, let us all be like that at 80. Like, whatever it was. You know,
age now is so different than it was even 20 years ago. Yeah. You know, if you can feel hot in a
mini dress at 80, Godspeed, right? Like, truthfully, one of my best friends' moms is 75. That bitch is so
hot. I can't get over her. She is the most gorgeous, lush full hair. And I'm like, she should wear whatever
she wants. She wears mini. She looks amazing. Like, and even if she wasn't, if you have the confidence at 80
to wear a mini, like, who am I to tell you you can't? A hundred percent. Do you know what I mean?
Like, why? If you can, you should. If you feel confident, you should. I don't think you should do it
to prove a point. I think you should do it. If you look in the mirror and you're like, I feel really
fucking good. It feels like a lot of your message is like you should figure out who you are.
And then you should confidently represent that in your style. I think that's how everyone should be in
life at this point. I do because I think it's cool to do that. But what if somebody's listening
and they're like, well, that's super cool. I don't know who I am. Okay. So I think you have to take that
time and I think you have to work on the inside. They've always said since the minute I started working
and I was dressing people.
I was like, your inside informs the out and the outside informs the end.
And they're all very synergistic or should be very synergistic.
Was there anything that you've done in your life that's helped you garner this really
strong sense of identity that you clearly have?
The answer is that's a really good question that I've never been asked, which is hard
because I've been asked a lot of questions and a lot of questions like a hundred times.
So thank you for ends.
Thank you for asking me when I haven't been asked.
For me, the styling part is like breathing.
And I think that's kind of always been how I felt.
I think as someone who didn't, and still probably doesn't have high self-esteem about most things.
I think that from the age of seven or eight, I was dressing other people.
I didn't know it was called styling.
I just, you know, went over to friends' houses and laid out their outfits Monday to Friday.
And I was like, I would do it head to toe and put little papers on them with notes.
And I don't think in any life, I thought I would make a career out of something that was
like breathing for me and get paid for it.
You know, in a weird way, I've always sort of had the same style in different iterations.
When I look back at pictures of me from when I was three, eight, 13, at my baut mitzvah,
I changed three times and I wore a head to toe metallic lemay outfit at 13.
So like when I think about it, I think I just dressed for myself.
And I think I dressed in what made me feel the most like myself and what made me feel
like glamorous in some way but effortless and felt unfussy and felt.
comfortable. And you know, anyone who knows me will tell you I will never wear anything uncomfortable.
I simply can't. Once I did to a gala like two years ago. And it looked great, but like,
I came home. Like, oh my God, that literally killed me. But for whatever reason, getting dressed has
always been the easiest thing for me. And I think it's because in some ways I give zero fucks if people
like it or not. I love that. Okay, I have a comment and I have a question because I do think
there's something else that you said that's incredibly important, which is you're not necessarily
confident in every single area in your life. But you come across as this incredibly confident woman.
And I think one of the things that you've done that anybody could learn from is you took the area
that you were naturally incredibly confident in and you let it radiate and bleed out into all of these
other areas of your life. And I think anybody can do that. So like maybe that's not style for you if you're
listening. Maybe it's some other component of your life. And you can lean in to,
into that and let that inform the person that you are and how you feel in all these other parts of your life.
My wish for anybody, and I tell this to a lot of young people that I try and mentor, is stop
focusing on what career you're going to make the most money in. Focus on the thing that makes you
the happiest and try and figure out how to make a career out of that. Because I fell into my career.
I thought I was going to be a psychiatrist. And I literally don't think I ever thought I could get paid to
do something I loved because I think when I was younger, working meant you have to be unhappy to make
money. In the world we live in with so much opportunity and so many different ways to have careers now.
You know, it used to be if you wanted to be in the public eye, you would to be an actor, right?
Or maybe like a politician or a singer. Now, because of the internet, social media and all these things,
you're in charge of your brand. Yeah, 100%. And what you put in the world, truthfully.
And then my question was, you said you like to be comfortable all the time.
Can you, on a very granular level, put together the cutest possible outfit that we can wear
on an everyday basis that's as comfortable as possible?
For anybody.
For anybody, yeah.
Yeah, like the thing is, everybody's different.
But what's the formula?
Like, what's the, what are some tips?
Because I want to be really comfortable 100% of the time.
But I want to look really cute and I want to feel really confident.
You have to know the things that work the best for you.
I'm going to give you an example. For me, I know that black flared pants or dark denim flared pants for me
look the best on me and feel the best of me. So when I'm going out into my work life, I know that a great pair of
black flared pants, whether they're tux pants, suit pants, you know, slouchy wide-like trousers or whatever,
I'm comfortable. They look dressier than they are. They can go from day to night. And I can
can throw them on with a blouse, whatever it is, like a good button, I'd be there, it's white,
it's black, it could be a cool tank. Most importantly for me is a jacket. I like to always have,
and for anybody else, it could be a sweater. It doesn't have to be a jacket. I have closets
of jackets. How do you do that in L.A.? Because it's hot during the day and then it's freezing
at night. So I have every iteration of a jacket from faux fur to suede to fringe to beaded to
sequin to denim, cotton, like, it doesn't matter, linen in the summer. Like, I love a jacket.
I love it on my shoulders. I love it on. And if you're not a trouser girl, then have it be a
skirt. Have it be a comfortable, easy skirt. Have a knit dress that's like black or navy or a
camel that looks good on you. It's about finding the thing that fits you well. It wears well.
Like it doesn't wrinkle throughout the day. So if you're sitting in it for two hours, it looks a crap.
because that doesn't work. That is comfortable but looks good. It could be your favorite black Zara
pants. I'm just using as an example. It could be a black Zara t-shirt dress. And with that t-shirt
dress, you feel like you're in pajamas, but you can throw a blazer over it. You could put a
sequin thing over it. You could put boots on. You could put heels on. You could put freaking
sneakers on. It doesn't matter. You understand? Like it's just about easy, comfortable, but looks
better than it costs.
Are you a fan of any of the fashion theories, like the sandwich theory where like your
purse, I think matches your shoes, stuff like that?
I think things need to work and live together peacefully.
I don't think they have to match.
Sometimes that looks way too forced.
I think if your bag matches, your belt matches your shoes.
It's two, too.
Do you have any controversial style opinions?
style hot takes? Listen, I'm not a huge fan of the big, baggy situation happening right now. I mean,
my son is 13. He comes down. I'm like, did you just become like new kids on the block? Like,
what on earth? I love you madly, but what is happening? Like, your butt is going to come out.
Mom, it's okay. Can wear a belt. I'm like, and then my team is like, you know your mom knows what
she's talking about, right? He's like, I do, but like, not with this.
And I'm like, you know what, that's fair.
Like, that's fair.
I know.
You sat on your podcast once.
Somebody was like, what wedding dress would you pick for your daughter if you had one?
And you're like, if I had a daughter, she would not listen to my opinions about her wedding dress.
It's true.
It's true.
It's 100% true.
What daughter listens to their mother's opinion of what they should wear?
I don't know how many daughters' mother is Rachel Zoe.
But I think even more so she would not listen.
What current celebrities do you think have the best style?
Lately, I'm really loving Daisy, is it Daisy Edgar Jones?
Is that her name?
She kind of reminds me of Dakota Johnson a bit.
I always love Dakota Johnson.
Obviously, Sienna Miller.
Wait, say what you like about them so we can kind of learn from what you're identifying.
There's an effortlessness.
I'm always going to like the person that looks like they didn't try.
Sienna for me is always a win.
Kate Moss is always a win still.
I think Nicole Kidman is really crushing it, as always.
If we want to look effortless, but we don't know how to do that.
Do you have any style secrets for looking effortless since you just pinpointed that
that's something you're identifying as great style?
It's about taking something off if you're doing too many things.
So it's like what we were talking about earlier, right?
Like if your earrings and your belt and your bag and your shoes and that you have like a bow
in your hair because that's a trend.
Likely you shouldn't be wearing all of them.
That is the number one I tried so hard, right?
Doing all the trends at once.
Take one and roll with it.
Your clothes should never overpower you.
I want to shift gears.
I want to talk about your career because I'm obsessed with the progression of your career
and the way that you approach business and the way that you approach life.
So I want to start with the obvious thing, which is that I've seen you talk about how
wildly busy you are for so long, like all through the Rachel's O' project, and then you're still
potentially doing even more things on a regular basis. I would love to know as nitty-gritty as possible
your time management and productivity secrets. You want me to be honest? I don't sleep half as much
as I should, which is why I think I can get more done. I'm not proud of that, by the way. I want to
say that I don't recommend this. This is just how my brain works. My favorite time of day,
is my like 10 to 1 a.m. because I'm alone. No one's bothering me. No one's talking to me. No one's
asking me to do anything. And I can just go through my emails. I can get my stuff done. I can't go
to sleep knowing all the things I have to do when I open my eyes. I have to open my eyes knowing I
close the book on that day. I think it's a blessing and a curse. You know, I think requiring a small
amount of sleep has served me in my career and probably as a mom because when I had my babies,
I just didn't realize how little sleep one can actually have. But again, productivity to me is
really important. When I became a parent, I realized that there was nothing more important than time
management and that every minute counts, right? Because any minute away from my child than children,
was better be worth it. And so what I tried to do since they were born is work while they're not here. And then when they get
home, I'm mom. You know, I don't have a nanny. I won't yield on being a full on mom. I don't want to
miss anything, honestly. I had kids late in life. I did a lot before I had them, but goes in a freaking
and lightning flash. I've 13 and 10 year old now. It's wild. And I know that in a few years,
they won't need me in the same way, you know, and that's fine. But at least I know I did
everything to help build who they become. A huge debate I've been having on this podcast is like,
we have a whole series called the pros and cons of having kids. I've been debating if I want kids,
how they fit into my life. And something I have a lot of struggle around is the idea that I feel like
my career is at its peak right now. I'm doing so well. And I can't picture how a kid would fit into that.
And as somebody who had kids when your career was really busy, were you worried about that?
Terrified. Beyond literally beyond terrified. It's funny because I'm listening to you say that.
And I'm like, I'm pretty sure I said that every single day for 10 years. Here's the thing.
I did a lot before I had my kids. And I think that.
for me, it really worked to have my kids later. I do really believe that if you are a career person,
most of the women I know that are very driven in their careers are like, how am I going to have a baby?
How am I going to do? I want to be a mom. How am I going to do that? I barely have time to shower.
And I mean, it's funny because, you know, they had me do these rewatch episodes for my podcast and I have not watched my show.
I don't even think I watched it when it was on because I was so immersed in it that I just was like, I can't even watch it because I can't hear my voice and I don't want to see my face.
But I do remember like really watching it and crying.
Like, how am I going to have a baby?
Because my nickname, my whole life since I was 17 was like Mama's O or like I'm mom to everyone.
I mom to mom's at the kids parties.
The only mom invited to kids parties that didn't have kids, right?
because my friends were all having kids, and they were all off drinking wine, and I was the one sitting
with all the kids because I love them so much. So I knew in my soul I had to be a mother. To your point,
every day, how? I'm at the peak of my career. I work 20 out of 24 hours a day. I don't even have a
Sunday off. How am I ever going to do this? I can't even shower sometimes because I'm too tired.
And then I got pregnant. I completely missed the first trimester. And, you know, nine weeks in,
I was pregnant. And I just, I think I was as shocked as anyone. I think I wasn't trying. I wasn't
not trying. And I just remember walking into the hospital about, I don't know, three or four weeks
before I had sky. I had bronchitis and sinus infection. I was almost nine months pregnant.
styling Anne Hathaway for the Oscars when she was hosting it.
And we changed her, I think 13 times.
I just remember being on the floor, like I had this tummy and I was like squatting down like
I always do.
I like literally would squat in my like eight inch platforms and just like squat down to like
hemadress or tweak something.
And everybody like, why are you squatting?
And I'm like, I'm good, I'm good.
I just remember going to the hospital to like look at the labor and delivery.
You know, they like to give you that tour.
And I remember going, I'm not doing this.
I'm not doing this.
And everybody was like, what do you mean?
I was like, I'm not ready.
I can't do it.
I'm going to carry him for another year.
I am not ready to bring him into the world.
I am not ready to be a mom.
There's no way I can do this.
I have no time.
And what I can tell you is that he came into the world, came into my hands,
and I still haven't let him go.
So, you know, and then I had another one.
Which is a good, honestly, testament to this seems to be working out that you were like,
okay, I'll do it again.
I mean, I would have had four.
Did your career suffer for it in any of the ways that you were scared about?
My career became different.
I would say I prioritized things differently.
I approached work differently.
And to be very honest with you, I don't think.
I could have continued on the path that I was on.
I was getting very sick.
I had severe vertigo that was like polarizing for about a year, over a year.
I was constantly getting sick.
My body was telling me it's not sustainable.
Do you know what I mean?
In your 20s, everything's sustainable.
You know, you're invincible in your 20s.
Sky saved my life in many ways.
He made me look at things differently.
I think my success was absolutely still there.
I just looked at it all differently.
I approached life and work in a more healthy way.
If you're going to ask me, I'm going to tell you to do it.
So I'm never going to tell you not to do it.
But I also want to say that if you're not someone that feels an overwhelming need to be a mother,
then don't do it.
Don't do it because you feel like you have to do it.
But if my fears about the time and the time,
my career and all of that.
Don't worry about your time.
In the world we live in, especially in what you do, that baby can sit right next to you.
Everyone in my team is having babies now.
My innermost circle, they've been with me 10 years, 9 years, 13 years.
Like, they're all having babies now.
And I'm just like bring the baby.
Like bring the, it's not like you work in finance in some corporate place that people are going to be like, no babies, you know.
But people listening might.
And I do feel like it's so.
shitty how little support we give mothers and parents in this world. And it's getting better. And when I
had my kids, I opened a nursery in my company because it killed me that I had the luxury of taking
my son to work. And six other moms that year had babies. And I was like, there's no world that
I'm bringing mine and you're not allowed to bring yours. And I just think babies make everything better.
I think that if you know that you want to be a mother, then don't worry about your time. It happens
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Last thing that I want to get into with you is mentorship, because I know that mentors have
been so important in your career and then you mentor a lot. So can you start off with maybe
some specific ways that mentors have helped your career? I mean, mentors are my career.
I don't know that my career would have been anything without the start of my career,
with people like Tommy Hilfiger, who took the biggest chance on me of a lifetime.
I was 24, about to be 25 going freelance.
I went from making like $17,000 a year to making more money in one job than I had in
my life at that point.
And I left this job without knowing that I had my first freelance job.
And I was about to be 25 having like that panic attack of like, oh my God, I'm a grown
up.
I'm on my own.
I have to like, I have to figure this out.
Like, da-da-da-da-da.
I'm not making enough money.
I was on the floor of my apartment in tears and, like, pasting taxi receipts and wardrobe receipts to
papers to, like, get reimbursed for money I had laid out.
And Tommy, I'd been working with his brother, Andy, just going in to pull denim from his, like,
J-Lo Hillfigure line or whatever he was doing.
And I guess he had told Tommy that he thought I was, like, a great stylist or whatever.
And Tommy called me into his office.
I hadn't met him.
and he hired me to do this incredibly huge job with huge stakes,
with 10 celebrities that were so huge.
And then another like 10 to 20 male and female supermodels to style his brand new campaign.
And it was in L.A. and in Texas.
And it was a two-week job with so much money and so much production.
I just remember sweat.
I had like a panic attack.
Like I was like, why are you?
like taking this chance. I don't know that I can do this, you know? And he just said, I know you can.
And honestly, like, had he not done that? Because after that, you know, everything just, I was just
working with Brittany and Backstreet Boys and In sync and Jessica and Enrique and, you know, all the pop stars and Mariah
Kay, you know, it just kept going. And then I moved out to L.A. and in, in,
2003. And again, like this amazing publicist who's still a very close friend of mine and a really
big manager now, Nicole, at the time Nicole King, now she's Nicole King, Salaka, took a chance on me
and had me style Jennifer Garner at the very last minute after having a meeting with her.
And that was the break of my life because that was really took me from sort of going fashion
and music and pop and that whole industry into.
red carpet. And then after I worked with Jennifer, the rest really stumbled. Then it was Cameron and
Selma and Kira and Kate and, you know, just kept going. How do we find a mentor? And if we see
somebody that we want to be our mentor, are we asking like, hey, will you be my mentor? Like, how does
that go? I've had various mentors in my life from Mark Jacobs to Tommy to Dan from Perstenberg.
And, you know, I think I've been lucky enough that these are people that are, and listen, honestly,
in many ways my clients were mentors sometimes, like Salma Hayek or, you know, just women who had also been
through stuff in their careers. I think if you don't have people like that, I think to find a mentor,
a mentor really is someone that you look up to. They don't have to be famous. It could just be someone
you respect first and foremost for their values, for their ideals, for their success in business
or success as a parent or success in literally anything, right? And someone that you just respect
and admire on any level that you're like, whatever advice you're giving me feels real,
feels genuine, feels helpful, you know? How do we get them to give that advice though? Like let's say
I respect, admire this person. I've identified them. Do I just ask them,
Do I ask to take them out for coffee? Yeah, I think if it's someone in your everyday life,
you just say, I really admire you. I really admire your work ethic. I really admire your career
path or I really admire your style. I really think you're an incredible mother and you clearly
work really hard. How do you do this? Would you ever spend 30 minutes with me? Most people
really like to pay it forward if they've had success in life. I know.
know for me, it's probably the most valuable thing I do for people because most women didn't help me
coming up in my career, which is part of why I started climbing in heels because I have the most
extraordinary women in my life now. As a woman in business and as a mother, I had these like
incredible pockets of women in different areas of my life. And I just brought everyone together
recently for my birthday. And I just like looked around and I was like, my heart is so full.
because I think every woman at this table likes to see each other win.
And that's not always the case.
Historically, there was only one seat at a table for a woman.
Now that there's more and more seats, I hope that women will continue to be genuine with each other and mean it when they say, I want you to do well.
What if you look around your life and there aren't people?
I had that most of my career, which is probably why the kind women, there was a very small
handful of women that have been supportive and kind and rooting for me in my career.
And I'm still very close with them.
One is Elizabeth Salzman.
I don't know if you know who she is.
She's a great stylist.
An incredible friend and a boy mom.
Mina Garcia was incredible.
helpful to me. Karian Ritefield was incredibly helpful. Like I said, Diane von Persenberg,
but most of the women as I came up in fashion were really, really mean to me. I came up with this
sort of like, I'm going to stay to myself feeling. And ultimately what happened over the last,
I'm even going to say five years, five and 10 years, I've managed to bring in extraordinary
women in my life. And it's really just so meaningful.
meaningful because I think as women, when you find great women that are genuine, there's nothing like
it, truthfully.
I love that because I think there's a lot of people listening and they're in their 20s and 30s and 40s
and they're like, I don't have this girl group of women.
It must be too late for me.
And you're like five years ago.
Like, that's crazy.
And I'll tell you something even further than that is that, you know, my team needs to make fun
in me.
They're like, yeah, you don't like new people.
And I think part of that was having been betrayed by a lot of women in my life, I think having not been supported, knowing that certain women wanted to see me fail most of the time.
And I think when you start to look through that lens in a weird way, I think that's what ultimately surrounds you, right?
Because you're so guarded, right?
You're so like, uh-uh, nope, we're not.
It's like the guy that doesn't want to be in a relationship, so he just keeps sabotaging it.
And I think I was a little like, well, I have my sister and I have my team and that's all kind of I need. And I have a few girlfriends. And then about five, six years ago, I just was like, I need some new people. What did you do? How did you find him? Different areas. Like different areas, like places I spend time, truthfully being a mom, incredible mom friends that are just badasses. And we just really can talk about this sort of work mom life and the real struggles that go with that. When you grow up,
whether it's in school or in a certain industry, there's a very finite group that surrounds you.
And that group is either going to be amazing or it's not. But you're still going to always see
those same people because what you do is always going to bring the same people together.
But once you get to a certain point in your life, you can actually pick and choose who you want
to surround yourself with every day. And I like to say it's like your chosen family.
You may not love your birth family, but you absolutely have to love your chosen family.
And I'm lucky because I have the most epic actual blood family.
So I feel very blessed for that.
And that's also probably why I didn't feel the need to have so many friends because I just felt very fulfilled with my innermost team and family.
But now I just love my friends.
And it's really, I've really just amassed this incredible group of women that are so not petty and so not jealous.
and so root for each other.
And I think it's cool to root for your friends.
I love that.
I find it really exciting that my best friend group could be ahead of me still.
I think that's a really lovely sentiment.
I could talk to you for 20 more years, but time is unfortunately up for now.
Because the podcast has to end or people are going to fall asleep.
No, I think they'd listen.
I think they'd listen for a long time.
I've listened to climbing in heels probably for cumulatively hours and hours and hours.
I do.
I love it. Do you want to take a second to shout out, climbing in heels in your own words?
Yes. So climbing in heels has been the most fun. Honestly, one of the most fun things I've done in a really long time.
Because I think it's like talking to you. I just love talking to interesting, successful women.
I love to hear about the journey of women because I think that by nature, a lot of people are like, oh, she just got there because, oh, my God, well, she knows so and so.
So that's how she got there.
Oh my God.
Well, she's best friends with this person.
It's like, no.
She has been on the floor crying a thousand times.
She's hit a hundred walls.
You know, she's tripped over herself, you know.
But I think that learning the journey is part of how we help each other.
Because I think that the highlight reel of social media is not, in fact, real most of the time.
Right.
And so for me, climbing in heels was really about.
highlighting incredible women, a woman's journey to the top while she still really embraced
the powers of being a woman. That's really why it's climbing in heels. I think I said this to
before we got on, but it's something I so admire about your career is that you've not
shaped yourself into like a masculine boss energy or any other energy other than completely
yourself and you found such success doing it. Well, thank you. Listen, the one of the one
thing I would say about us is I think people hold it against women that we bring emotion to everything.
And I don't think all women do. But I think, yes, I mean, I know I do. I do. I definitely do.
But I'm not ashamed of that. I actually think that that's our superpower, honestly.
A hundred percent. And I think the more we get women in positions of leadership, the more we'll get to see that.
Yes. The more consideration of humans.
Yes. In general. Yes. Well, thank you so much, Rachel. I love this.
conversation. Oh, me too. So fun to meet you and I can't wait to have you on my pod.
That is all for this episode of the Liz Moody podcast. If you are new to the podcast, welcome.
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Okay, I love you and I will see you for the next episode of the Liz Moody podcast.
Oh, just one more thing. It's the legal language. This podcast is presented solely for educational
and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice.
advice of a physician, a psychotherapist, or any other qualified professional.
