Let's Get To Know THE ZOE!

In recognition of 4th of July which recently passed, I decided to feature the American stylist, Rachel Zoe Resenzweig (better known as simply Rachel Zoe).

Shall we dig into her background a little?

Rachel was born in Yonkers, New York September 1, 1971. She was raised in Millburn, New Jersey and attended the neighborhood middle and high school. As a teenager her love affair with fashion was born. Her mom took her to Paris and Zoe brought her first Luis Vuitton and it was lover at first site.


In 1993 she graduated from George Washington University with a major in sociology and psychology. As one of the most influential people in the fashion industry, Rachel Zoe decided it was best o move to New York upon graduating from college. There she worked for magazines like Gotham and YM. It was in New York were she snatched her first clients, the boy band heartthrobs Backstreet Boys, Teen Pop star Britney Spears, and a pre-daisy duke Jessica Simpson. She was working with her now former agency Magnet. In addition to her new clients, she was able to work with advertising agencies, beauty firms, magazine editors and fashion houses.

However she made her big splash as a fashion stylist when her and college sweetheart/ hubby, investment banker Roger Bernman moved to LA in 2004. In LA she managed to land client Nicole Richie, who was working with Paris Hilton on The Simple Life. She piled accessories, sunglasses, and maxi dresses on Nicole Richie and that began the revolution of what is called the “Zoe-bot.” That trend swept the nation and we can still see twinkles of her inspiration today, more commonly known as Bohemian chic.


So as she grew in stardom, she left her agency Magnet to join Todd Shemarya agency. From there she made a deal to write a style guidebook called “Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty and Everything Glamour.” In the book she uses her experience as a celebrity stylist to advise readers about stylish entertainment, travel, home decorations, and wardrobe. From the moment her book hi the New York Times Best Seller List she catapulted herself into the media world. She appeared on all show fashion such as Americas Next Top Model and Project Runway. Bravo even leapt at the chance to provide her with her own television show called “ The Rachel Zoe Project” which gives views a glimpse into her life as a stylist, and accessories and clothing designer. The second season is set to air September 2009 and as long as it doesn’t clash with Gossip Girl, then it should have a decent audience. In the slight off chance that it does, program your TiVos.


As a stylist, she hasn’t really taken the traditional road of making her main focus her client. She allows herself to gain as much, and even more, publicity than the people she works with. She can be seen on red carpets wearing gowns equally or more expensive than her clients, she can be seen advertising Samsungs BlackJack on television and collaborating with Leiber luxury bags. Goodness, she has even made her way onto Perez Hilton’s celebrity gossip website., if that doesn’t SCREAM celebrity, than what does?


However, all her success didn’t come without controversy. I am sure you can take a wild guess, given her clientele, which consisted of the Olsen Twins, Misha Barton, Nicole Richie, and Lindsay Lohan, what do they all have in common? Their weight, or lack-thereof. Zoe was considered a bad influence on her client’s physique, which is why Nicole Richie fired her. All her clients have slowly disappeared physically upon hiring her. Rumors are that she would give her clients drugs to loose weight and promote anorexic behavior. She denies these claims, but I believe that if you were not doing anything to stop their behaviors, I consider that a form of promotion.

Referred to Anorexia’s Poster Girl, Rachel Zoe maybe a little thin but her bank account is rather large. She lives in Beverly Hill and claims to have countless pairs of shoes and more than $400 coats. She is able to afford her lavish wardrobe because she charges approximately $6,000 a day for her services!


Her heavy price tag and her stylish clients are still not impressive to the Queen of Fashion herself, Anna Wintour. In 2008, Miss Wintour uninvited Rachel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Ball because of her comment saying that she was more influential than Anna. Rachel retaliated by saying she wouldn’t even have time to go because of her filming schedule and client appointments. Likely story, honestly, what person that lives and breathes the fashion world would be too busy for what some call the Fashion Oscars? Puh-lease girlfriend, we know you were hurt. Heck, I would be too.


Regardless of her misfortunes in the media and her poor choice of words, she is still an important figure in the fashion world. I am completely against her sizist nature, but I do admire her for her accomplishments. She has been able to use clothing that was not made by her, style it and make a fad that was unstoppable. I admire her will to be recognized not as the servant to her client but as an equal. She said that she notices other stylists purposefully dressing down holding pins to support their clients, but she would rather dress on the same level as her client while being available to help them. She has worked her to get her name on bookshelves and on television to spread her style advise to all who would like to be informed. She is now even in the process of making a clothing and accessories line of her own that I am sure will be a hit. I have to say that I also recently signed up for her newsletter via twitter because her, she has a really good eye for the effortlessly chic look.

However, as a stylist, I do not think she has challenged herself. She has stuck with what she knows and has spread that around to all her clients who have become very hard to tell apart. I believe that she should think outside of the box she created when she first started and make another revolutionary trend, if she is as good as she claims it should be no problem. Also, I think a good way for her to show that she is anti-anorexia is to work with some of the heavier celebrities. Not the “ size 8 and 10” people she claims she worked with before, but people like America Ferrera or Queen Latifa so we can see how good she really is. But for now, I appreciate her work and positive contributions to fashion. She is inspiring in the sense that I can be a stylist without hiding behind my client. She also inspires me to find different styles and mix them together to see the masterpiece I can come up with.


Thanks for that Rachel Zoe, you have successfully blurred the line between the title of Celebrity Fashion Stylist and Fashion Stylist to the Celebrities.

(from size 0 [left] to size 8[right])