April 25, 2025 • 34 mins
This week, Rachel Zoe is taking you back to the Y2K era and the pop stars that launched her styling career! From Britney Spears, to the Backstreet Boys and Enrique Iglesias... revisit the iconic music videos that Rachel worked on! Find out which stars were easy to work and which were ... not.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and
of course fun. My styling career really really caught fire
in the late nineties and early two thousands, and I
at the time was working in the music industry. In fact,
I was eating, sleeping, and breathing in the music industry.
(00:30):
I worked with a lot of everyone's favorites. So it's
very exciting and lots to discuss. So here to help
me dive into some of my more famous Y two
K is my producer Mary Elizabeth, So let's get right
into it. How exciting.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
As Rachel mentioned, for some reason since January, you have
been getting a lot of requests for quotes or stories
or trending topics about your experience in your Y two
K styling era. So, as you mentioned, you started in
the music industry in the days when music videos were
(01:15):
the biggest marketing tool for a label and a song.
So the days of TRL which I was obsessed with,
the butterfly hair clips, the capri pants, the layering of
the tank tops. The Y two K fashion is back,
whether we like it or not, and I think before.
So I put up in your story for our listeners
(01:37):
to answer questions or ask you questions that you will
answer about Y two K specifically, and it, by far
and away got more responses than maybe any sticker I've
put on your story like ever. So we're going to
jump into listener questions that they have about Y two
K and your contributions to the era. But I thought
(01:57):
it would be fun first to lay the scene for everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Also, I want a sidebar. You said late nineties or
I said late nineties, I wasn't. I mean I was
like a kid then? Oh sure, for sure? Oh yeah, yeah,
a kid she was to do anything in the night.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Definitely, not a full adult, definitely not. Yes, I must
have been wrong on that. So I thought it would
be fun to first lay the scene for listeners about
the iconic music videos that you worked on, because all
the millennials like me who know and love you from
the Rachel Zoe Project grew up in that era of
like I said, TRL and waited on baited breath for
(02:33):
our favorite pop stars to drop their music videos, and
you were a part of some truly truly iconic ones
that I don't know if everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Knows, well, I'll be honest with you, I don't know
all of them, because I will be very honest with
you my life from the minute I went freelance, I
legitimately it's like I always say to you on the regular,
like it's a blur, actual blurb. Because the music industry
(03:04):
was on such fire, and the amount of money being
spent on every aspect of the artists their life and
all that was so intense, and like the speed at
which these pop stars were working, shooting, touring, performing I
and I was like me myself, and I was like, yeah,
(03:26):
one assistant with like fifty racks of clothes. So I like,
when you say it, I'll be like, oh my god,
of course they did that. But like if you asked me,
I could remember probably like a handful of them. And
like when I hear a song now, like of Backstreet
Enrique or Jessica Simpson or Brittany, I'll be like, oh
(03:47):
I did that, You're like, oh, crap, I was on set.
I was actually on so okay, I did that? Look right,
I love it, Okay, so let's kick it off.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I mean, the Y two K Queen was definitely Miss
Britney Spears yes, and you did work with Britney Spears.
I did, And you did work on correct me if
I'm wrong, hit me baby one more time.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I did. So that was actually one of my very
first freelance jobs because there was a woman. There is
a woman out in the world. I haven't spoken to
her in forever, but Hailey Hill, who was my boss
at YM magazine. And Haley was the senior fashion editor
fashion director at the time, and she would get booked
(04:28):
on these big commercials and stuff, and she was booked
on Britney's video and stuff through Okay, her manager, Sonya
Muckel Okay, and Sonya who I remember, like yesterday. I
think I ran into her in the last couple of years.
It was wild and Haley needed help and she had
(04:49):
two jobs booked at the same time. Its like one
of those things. So I was still working at the
magazine and I think it was being shot on a weekend, okay.
And do you remember where it was being shot? No,
Like I want to see Brooklyn Queens, Like I can't,
you know, like at a stage or studio. I can't remember,
but that's for some reason feeling familiar. And she called
(05:10):
me because she needed help and so I went in
and started just working on it and like pulling the
clothes and doing the prep and like being on set
and whatever. And I think at the time, like I
was so obsessed with being great at my job that
I never looked at stars as stars, if that makes sense. Yeah.
(05:34):
I don't think in the moment I knew or cared
that much that it was Brittany. I knew, but it
was more like I was such a fashion girl that
to me, like if you were, like you're going on
set with Carlagerfeld and Kate Moss, that would have given
me a cold sweat panic attack. Sure, you know what
I mean. And so I think just.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It worked in your favor that you weren't a fact
starship or just obsessed with exactly music it served it
served you well.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I was able to, I think, maintain professionalism without
like freaking out because I was so young. Yeah you
know what I mean. I was so young, but yeah,
I felt so much older than these I mean kids,
they were really some of them were, you know, like
Kevin Richardson was not a kid, right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So that leads me to the next group, which is
the Backstreet Boy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But the Brittany. I want to touch on one seck
because after I did these few jobs working with Haley,
that is when that was the impetus for me going freelance,
really because I made so much money on those jobs
that I was like, what the hell am I doing?
This is creative, this is fun, Like I'm out in
(06:47):
the world. I'm not sitting in a fluorescent lit office,
you know, I'm not locked in a fashion closet. And
so this was sort of like I just felt alive, honestly,
And that is when I made the movie to go freelance,
like shortly after that, because then I got promoted and
then I and then I went freelance probably later that year,
(07:08):
left there as senior fashion editor. But it's important because
as senior fashion editor, I was styling a lot of
shoots for the magazine and all the covers. Sure, and
I met a lot of publicists and a lot of
pop stars and actors, Like that's when I met Gwen Stefani,
how she got on cover shoots Drew Barry. But that's
really how you got your foot into this, like music,
(07:29):
That's how I met the publicist love that later helped
would hire you to hire me so I made a
lot of connections there, and then after I was working
with Brittany, I worked with Brittany on my own a bunch.
I flew to the World Music Awards to Monaco for
twenty four hours. I thought I was never going to
work again, because I got there. I flew with her
(07:50):
and the bodyguards and like the team, and I just
remember like I had like no notice. It was sort
of like you're leaving tomorrow and she she has to
be out World Music Awards and Monica and you're going.
And I was so again, I was so young, so
it was like, okay, you know, I just never unpacked
a suitcase and like blah blah blah, and I went
and I remember getting there and I remember that the
(08:11):
managing team going, okay, everybody break, take a nap, take
a shower, whatever, And you know, me, Mary like, I
don't nap, I don't sleep. But what did I do?
I fucking blacked out. I blacked out. And the next
thing I remember is security banging on my door telling
me we had to leave. She was going on stage.
I had to get her ready. I'm by myself. I
(08:31):
had no assistant, like I was literally that was like
one of the most panicing for you in my life.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I can't even imagine it, but for you to fall
asleep that hardcore because I know you sleep like because
it lighted all night, worst sleeper maybe in the history
of the world, you must have been like truly exhausted.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
But that is that is really and it was terrifying.
I was like, she's going to miss her performance or
go on naked because I fell asleep, and I'll never
work again. And by the way, that was truly the
feeling and psychology that I had, probably for the rest
of my career was the was the like, if you
fuck this up, you're you're not working anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, that's it, You're just so you're working with Brittany.
How was Brittany then? Was she?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You know, she was great? This is the sort of
the beginning of her mega success. She was great, and
I think she was great. She was cute, she was bubbly,
she was fun. Was she collaborative with you? Did she
like getting dressed? Or was she stubborn? Uh? It was more.
What I very clearly remember was that I was trying
(09:41):
to I think make her a little uh, sort of
create a more what do I say fashion. I guess
maybe less sort of ripped everything, yeah, whatever, And I
was trying to do a little more fashion than I remember,
a little more polish. And I remember she was per
forming share song at the World Music Awards. You know
(10:04):
what's it? An? A rhythm to oh lad daddity mmm
mm hmm. Yeah, I remember the name of the song.
When the beat goes on, Oh my god, thank you.
My brain hurts from thinking about that. And she was incredible,
and she had like long hair, and I was like, Okay,
I'm going to give her this like very share like
(10:24):
kind of try to do this like Bob Mackie, like,
you know, just a very like whatever. And I just
remember it was this long, like I believe, if I
remember correctly from five hundred years ago, Donna Karen like
did this like custom like cature at that time, because
we used to do all these awards show dressing looks together,
(10:45):
like we would do custom things for clients. But she
was doing this very special. It was like this long
beaded like almost like a mermaid fishtail long skirt, and
and basically we put this top on her and I
just remember like two minutes before, two minutes before she
(11:07):
went on stage. She went in the bathroom and cut it.
She cut the guitar, She cut the guitar, She cropped
the top to just below her boobs. If I remember correctly,
I cried yikes. Yeah, I mean as the stylist. I'm
sure you cried.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I cried only because I was like, am I fired
from Donna Karen?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Now?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
For life? Have I ruined my reputation? Yeah? Did she
hate what I styled? But she looked incredible, she performed great.
We all went to this big dinner with Prince Albert,
my god, and at that that was the beginning of
my very surreal life. Yeah. Really, and that's twenty years.
(11:46):
Jumped you to Backstreet Boys, which yes, same same management.
It was with the Firm, a place called the Firm,
which had Enrique Backstreet and Brittany and I want to
say in sync, but maybe that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
That wrong. For millennial girls like me, you were either
Backsheater and sink and there was no Well, it's.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Like are you Edward or are you Jacob? Of course
yeah yeah. And now with summary term pretty, it's are
you Conrad or are you Jeremy.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean, it's just it goes on forever. Doesn't it
Backstreet Boys equal to basically Beatlemania beyond in terms of
like beyond the logistics of them traveling touring being right,
it must have been so insane to not only have
one very famous client, but five very famous I.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Can't really explain what was happening.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Now. You didn't do correct me if I'm wrong. You
didn't do the Backstreets back music video, right, the one
where they're like Phantom of the Opera and it's like
the dance like the Thriller vibes where they're That.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Might be right when I started, because you started with
the Millennium album. Was that my first? Or was that
my last? Into Millennial that I literally cannot remember? You
can't remember. I have to watch that video, okay, but
I very very remember.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Very like Michael Jackson Thriller inspired, they're like dancing, it's
like sort of a haunted mansion vibe.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
What do I feel like? What were they wearing? I
could tell by what they were wearing, Like, did they
look like I styled them?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
No? Because it was so theatrical, right, so like AJ
has like the Phantom of the Opera mask on it,
right point, like Brian, I think it was Brian is
like a werewolf man. Like.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It was very, very theatrical. I did so many music
videos with them, and we did think, like there's nothing
we didn't do, so it's possible. But I remember Millennium
because that's the all white else. Oh well, yeah, I
remember that like it was because I remember walking into
my hotel room. I had been prepping for so long.
(13:51):
And what you have to remember and I need people
to try and like visualize what my life was with Backstreet.
Imagine five kids different like anyone who has five kids.
You could have ten kids and not one of them
would be like sure, not one of them would dress
the same, not one, right, And that's what it was like.
(14:13):
And it was like five guys that I loved honestly deeply.
I was so close with them. They were like brothers.
And Kevin was like a friend because I think we
were the same age. Kevin was the light, the other
one yeah group Yeah, and Kevin kind of felt like,
honestly like the dad of the group, you know, and
(14:35):
he and I hung out. I loved his girlfriend wife, Kristen,
and you know, I went through so much with all
of them. I would say Nick was the baby and
really felt like the baby, you know, and I genuinely
think I just remember white ray black, but like Millennium
(14:56):
obviously was all white. But I remember ideating with that,
and I remember saying like, it's a new century, it's
a new like everything should be clean, everything should be new.
And I remember like creating that and saying like, they
need to look modern, they need to look cool, they
need to clean, they need to like look cohesive. And
(15:17):
that was the biggest thing that I focused on with them,
was cohesion, because I felt everyone needed to have their
own style and their own take on the concept, which
they did, sure, and that was the challenge, right, But
like we would have if it was five guys. I
(15:37):
swear to god, I had a minimum of five racks
per guy. Yeah, so I would stand there with, you know,
fifty racks of clothes and white, overwhelmed white, white, Doulce white,
Gucci white, yeah, you name it, white, Zara white, everything white,
everything right, Calvin white. You know that's insane. Yeah, it was.
It was overwhelming, that's insane. My wardrobe budgets were And
(15:58):
remember in those days, it was not like computer based.
We didn't have like the cell phone world like it
wasn't like that. So there was like Star tax phone,
so we were not I was not doing expenses on
a phone. I wasn't taking notes. Everything was paper, everything
was taxis, everything was food, paper, receipts, everything. So if
(16:19):
I had like one hundred thousand dollars wardrobe budget, two
hundred thousand dollars wards budget, I had to account for
every penny of that. And the worst part is a stylist,
as any stylist will tell you, is you have to
lay out that money and then you wait and you
wait to get reimbursed. Oh, it's a terrible model. That's terrible.
(16:40):
It's a terrible business model. Literally, it's a terrible business model.
So every bit of my free time that I didn't
have was spent taping or glu sticking, TAXI receipts, food receipts,
tailoring alterations, shipping, purchasing. You know, I had to purchase
a lot of stuff. I had a lot of stuff
custom made. I would be like down on a street
(17:02):
getting random like things for a j like feather things,
or like I would I would get like embroidered or studded,
Like I would buy a leather vest and have someone
in a street, just like add studs to it, or
grammets on the shoes or denim rip it up. I
would tie things to like a car and drive so
they would get beaten down. I would wash them. I
(17:24):
would just try and.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Like wear things down T shirts. I would teasting. Remember
the Hi die.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
You name it? Oh my god, I need the job.
It's too great. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
One of my personal favorite music videos that I'm obsessed
with you working on is mister Enrique Glecia's Hero.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Oh my God, that song, that video.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I would wait for TRL because I thought he was
so gorgeous, and I also like the drama of the
song in that music video with like Jennifer Love Hewitt
and Mickey.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Rourke with no idea.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I was obsessed with that that.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Is video and that song. That experience was perhaps one
of the craziest experiences of my styling career of my life. Yeah,
I will remember that video forever for many reasons. That
and another Enrique video where he met Anna wife that
is so funny. And another Enrique video where I styled
(18:27):
him with Whitney Houston. Oh and that was unforgettable.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I want.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And her daughter came to set. But Hero was a
stressful job. So hero was crazy because it was this director,
Joseph Kahn, who at the time was the yes, the guy.
I worked mainly with Joseph Kahan. I worked with Francis
Lawrence a lot. He did a lot of the video
so now directs like very major emotions. Yeah. That video
(19:02):
was in Palm Springs at the MERV Griffin Estate. Okay,
if I remember correctly, we stayed at you know, one
of those great hotels. I remember getting there like two
in the morning. We had to be on set at
four thirty. A prop stylist actually died on their way
to set. It was the absolute saddest thing because she
(19:25):
drove off the ledge. There was no railing on the
location we were going to we were shooting, if I
remember correctly, like August twenty seventh or August twenty something
like that desert in the middle of the desert. It
was just one hundred and four by seven am. Oh
my god, Alia died. Alia died. You got the news
that we got the news that she died while we
(19:47):
were on set in the desert, because she was also
shooting a music video in the Caribbean. Rage yep, yeah,
pay cash and so it was all these weird, weird energy. Yeah,
Mickey work was there. I was in a hotel hotel
with Mickey York and that was wild wild he by
(20:09):
the way, he couldn't have been sweeter to me. For
the rocker and Jennifer love Hewittt. I had known because
we had done a bunch of shoots together, because I
think she had done like Party of Five. I had
met her through like y Am and then I and
then I became her stylist for a bunch of things,
and so I was doing her and Enrique, and you know,
(20:32):
Enrique is one of the most professional people you've ever known.
He he just is and he would show up. He
is by far and away the most handsome and charming.
Love that person. Everything you want Enrique to be. He
and Moore and me styling. Loves to hear that me
styling Enrique as much as I would try and make
(20:52):
him a little fancier at times jeans yep, vintage Levi's
like vintage jeans hoodie type. I got him to go
sometimes from a baseball hat to a beanie, which ended
up being like a signature. So that was a moment
I loved him. I still love him. I always love him,
and I styled him for the video where he met
(21:14):
his wife Anna Kornakova, and I styled her as well.
And I remember so clearly standing behind the monitor because
I was obsessive about obviously everything and like I looks
close everything. But I had the thing with me beyond styling.
I would always I really did everything in terms of
like I watched the lighting, I watched the angles. I
(21:36):
would suggest to the directors how it might work better. Yeah,
I would sit in all the time. I would try,
you know, like I was so in it. You were
very present every part of it. But I remember standing
behind the monitor and I remember looking at the director
and looking at Enrique's team, this guy Fernando at the time,
(21:57):
and I was like, I was just pretty real in
this one. This may go passing video.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Everyone might be going on and they've been married for
a long time and together ever since that. Oh I
love that so much. Okay, rounding out your iconic music
video moments, we have to talk about Jessica Simpson. Okay,
we have to talk about these boots were made for walking.
I mean, you fully dressed her like Daisy Duke, right,
(22:24):
she had because that the song was for promotional for
the movie.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
That was amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I just had it with long extensions in Yeah, Ken
Pavis is the tiniest denim shorts you've ever seen ever,
ever and like a midriff tank.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Top she looks, and a big belt belt right, that
belt needs to understand, because I think it's so important.
If you don't know what stylists do, what I need
to explain to you is that when you look at
that video of Jessica Simpson and you look at okay,
she's wearing these cowboy boots, a big belt, these little
denim shorts and this crop top. Okay, great, and I
(23:03):
think we did cool earrings if I remember correctly. She's
so good in that video, honestly. Yeah. But what nobody
knows is that to get to that look, there was
literally fifty belts laid out with different buckles and different straps.
There was maybe thirty pairs of cutoff denim shorts, maybe more.
(23:23):
To make sure they were the right fit. We would
have tailors on set that would make them shorter. To
make them shorter, then free them so they look vintage
cowboy boots. I mean one hundred pairs, oh my god,
and like the t shirts. I mean, you know, I
would run up and down Melrose and Librea and go
all the thrift stores. And you know, it's not what
(23:43):
it looks like. That's all I'm saying. Well, the simplicity of.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, denim shorts and a tanked up and whatever,
I think to an outsider goes, oh, that's so easy.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Anyone could do that now.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
But the amount of a approvals it takes to get to
the final outfit and.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Getting the final outfit and then keeping it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know, you're shooting these music videos for more than
one day, most likely keeping them looking good, having multiples
to put on if she rips it or drops whatever
on it or whatever. It's it's more than just a
pair of shorts and a tank top.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Oh yeah, it's it always is always, it's always. Oh
key dokey.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I'm gonna go rapid fire right into our listener Y
two K questions. Okay, this covers a lot of different
sort of like Y two K E topics, but let's
do it.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Let's do a rapid fire. Okay, okay, Question one, who
is the nicest star from that era that you dressed?
I gotta tell you, I mean, you know, the Backstreet Boys,
like I said, were literally it was like it was
like almost like I was their sister. Yeah, slash mom,
you know that always was with them. Enrique, he's an angel.
He's an angel. You we're so close, Like I love that.
(24:54):
You're too nice to know it's true. I would honestly
tell you because anyone that was a nightmare, like I
didn't have time for honestly, yeah, you know to do it.
It was nice. And Jessica and I were like related
literally yeah, like I was part of the Simpson family
at one point. Oh my god, I love that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Okay, who do you wish you could have styled from
that era? But never got to? I think you could
do like music or otherwise. I mean maybe j Lo
Jalen right, because.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
That was like her Jenny from the block. Yeah, you
know you know who else I feel like.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
And I don't even know if you have worked with her,
but like talking about like more nineties whatever, But Alicia Silverstone,
I did share horoit.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I work with her.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I styled for different shoes, Harrow Smith's music, right, those
music videos. Yeah, but I feel like she and I
feel like she could have been like a client of yours.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Like no brainer, just with her like aesthetic.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Okay, what accessories from Y two K stand out to
you the most? Like when you think about just accessories
and having to like have a thousand options of blank,
what is it?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
God, I'll be honest with you, Like I should remember coats, coats,
like jackets and like and like accessories, I mean hats. Yeah,
there was a lot of hats.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I feel also with jackets. Y two K had an
interesting big fabric.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, it was that techie. It was the that's why
I keep going like scuba gears. It was neoprene. Yes,
it was a lot of neoprene, a lot. But the
thing with me, though, truthfully, I think I'd never succumbed
to the oversized cargo pant and the like the sneakers
(26:52):
with the big socks and stuff. And I think that's
why in its resurgence, I'm like, no, see, I didn't.
I didn't like it. The I was trying to go
against the crop top, you know what I mean. So
I think for me, I was shifting into like the nineties,
like this sort of minimalism and the chic and then
the sort of like over the top, and I you know,
(27:16):
I was just about pretty. Yeah, but for guys, to
be honest, my vibe was like just look hot, yeah,
Like and to me hot was Brad Pitt and thelm
and Luise Like yeah. To me, it was always trying
to make the guys, especially with like Enrique, it was
that like, no, like look like Johnny Depp with Kate Moss,
(27:36):
like beat up jeans, cool belt, beat up like Chelsea boots. Yeah,
and and like a cool like leathers or swede jacket
with a vintage tea Like to me, that was cool. Yeah.
And that's where I was trying to take the guys
because that's where all of like young Hollywood, that was
(27:56):
the young Hollywood vibe. Yeah, And so I was I
was able to do that with Enrique. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, we got this question a couple of times. Oh
my god, why did thongs become popular?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And hy two k oh my god. It was like
a thong. It was like a thong craze.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I mean, there was even the song Paris Hilton.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You know, I don't think we've talked about Paris Hilton here, yeah,
like Nicole and everything, because we're talking about music, But
I mean I think Paris was like Juicy Sweats, which
was the biggest y two K fashion. That's a thing,
like I can't we can't forget that. That was Jalo
Madonna and like the whole velvet track suit of like
(28:41):
my friend Pam Levy and Gila that created the Juicy
track suit and that was like rhinestone like bedazzled track suits,
be dazzled jackets, kits in you know, the bedazzled everything.
So I think we can't like not mention that because
I think you're a part of Christina Aguile like all
of them. And Christina was opening for Backstreet Boys at
(29:03):
the time.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh my gosh, that's so crazy because she obviously went
on to be her own.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Massive success story.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
So yeah, the thongs like coming out of the pants
with black hairs, and then we did the the low
sung jeans.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
It's almost like the thong craze happened because the jeans
were just too low.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yes, it was god awfully low. And just to be clear,
I want to be clear, I was not an advocate
for that, sure, sure, you know, I mean I think Paris,
like I have such a clear visual of when I
met her with like the cropped bleached white platinum hair
in like a pink velvet sweatsuit with like so low
(29:40):
but she looked so hot, you know. Yeah, and she
was so sweet and friendly. Honestly, yeah, but kits In.
I just keep thinking about kits In. Oh yeah, it
was the craze. Okay, next up then eyebrows. Just why
just why is this? I tell you why? Because that
started because of like Calvin Klein, John Galliano, all the nineties, Supers,
(30:05):
Kate Moss, they all did it. It would tweet their
eyebrows off. It was part of the minimal the you know,
the minimalism movement, and it was all the nineties with
Matt Brown makeup, you know, very neutral palette, Matt Matt lips,
thin thin eyebrows, very wafy movement, yep, and very minimal
(30:27):
no bells and whistles, no jewels, very clean. It was
the Kate Moss Calvin movement. Honestly. Yeah. And Kate Moss,
like I mean she was like sixteen, I know, I
mean she she changed the whole.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I mean, some of us millennial girls are paying for
the overtweezing to that.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I would like to proudly say that my mother. I
have to thank my mom for not letting me do that.
That's good because I still to this day have eyebrows.
Blessed you made it out, you made it out of
white to k with Listen. I don't have my nineties
two thousand eyebrows, but I still have eyebrows. Fair okay, Doki.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Last question, who was your most stubborn client from Y
two K? Doesn't mean mean or difficult, but who was
the most stubborn when it came to like getting dressed
or wearing what you recommended or you know.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
When I think about it, it's like this sort of
like the Lindsay Miss Nicole. We had so much fun,
so they weren't. I'm thinking about my music world, Like
I mean, Brittany, I would say definitely was the one
who would sort of like change from whatever my well
after you told me that cutting the couture story. Yeah,
(31:44):
I mean I think Brittany was definitely probably the one
that you know did that. And I think I'm thinking
about some of the Backstreet boys, like we really collaborated.
I mean, AJ and I had so much fun because
he was the most like out there, you know, yeah,
would he was the most costume me.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
He was like a he was like the well, like
the bad boy of the back show for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
So he was like the Risks taker, Yeah right, the
most incredible voice. And Kevin was like dressing like my brother.
It was fun. It was like chasing him to put
clothes on him. Oh my god, that's I mean, because
he's just like running around enjoying. And Brian was like
a gentleman, you know, and Howie was a doll.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Okay, this is your final question. What was your go
to look in the Y two k era when you
were on set, when you were traveling, when you.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Were black and jeans, Like I would wear dark jeans,
I'd wear light flare obviously. Yeah, always dark and some
kind of like black, probably ankle boot, you know, some
kind of boot and like a like a like a
black like leather jacket. I had like a hundred black
leather jackets and that was like my jam, your go to. Yeah,
(32:50):
stylists always need pockets. Yeah, I think of it so funny.
Pocket it was so fast. I'd like think about what
I was even wearing. I can't even like, yeah, I
never thought about me right, well, because you said you
like I kept a suitcase pack, so you're just like
bringing the same things over and over. I'm sure, so weird.
I flew a lot of private planes. I remember. Oh
(33:12):
that's fun though. I was on private planes very young.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Did you witness anyone have a total meltdown on a
private plane?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Of course I did spill it. Nope, who ever, honey,
I witnessed more meltdowns between ninety eight or ninety seven
and two thousand and eight. Seven, twelve, my wheels are turning,
(33:39):
and thirteen my styling wave was filled with melt.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
We're at our time for today that you have just said,
you have just cued us up for Part two Meltdowns.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah, Part two of this podcast, the Meltdown, The Meltdowns.
Thanks for listening everyone, all right, everybody, thank you so
much for listening to Climbing and Heels. If you haven't already,
please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the
(34:13):
iHeart app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You don't
miss a single episode this season, and be sure to
follow me on Instagram at Rachel Zoe and of course
the show at Climbing in Hills pod for the latest
episodes and updates. I will talk to you so soon
and have a great week month
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and
of course fun. My styling career really really caught fire
in the late nineties and early two thousands, and I
at the time was working in the music industry. In fact,
I was eating, sleeping, and breathing in the music industry.
(00:30):
I worked with a lot of everyone's favorites. So it's
very exciting and lots to discuss. So here to help
me dive into some of my more famous Y two
K is my producer Mary Elizabeth, So let's get right
into it. How exciting.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
As Rachel mentioned, for some reason since January, you have
been getting a lot of requests for quotes or stories
or trending topics about your experience in your Y two
K styling era. So, as you mentioned, you started in
the music industry in the days when music videos were
(01:15):
the biggest marketing tool for a label and a song.
So the days of TRL which I was obsessed with,
the butterfly hair clips, the capri pants, the layering of
the tank tops. The Y two K fashion is back,
whether we like it or not, and I think before.
So I put up in your story for our listeners
(01:37):
to answer questions or ask you questions that you will
answer about Y two K specifically, and it, by far
and away got more responses than maybe any sticker I've
put on your story like ever. So we're going to
jump into listener questions that they have about Y two
K and your contributions to the era. But I thought
(01:57):
it would be fun first to lay the scene for everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Also, I want a sidebar. You said late nineties or
I said late nineties, I wasn't. I mean I was
like a kid then? Oh sure, for sure? Oh yeah, yeah,
a kid she was to do anything in the night.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Definitely, not a full adult, definitely not. Yes, I must
have been wrong on that. So I thought it would
be fun to first lay the scene for listeners about
the iconic music videos that you worked on, because all
the millennials like me who know and love you from
the Rachel Zoe Project grew up in that era of
like I said, TRL and waited on baited breath for
(02:33):
our favorite pop stars to drop their music videos, and
you were a part of some truly truly iconic ones
that I don't know if everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Knows, well, I'll be honest with you, I don't know
all of them, because I will be very honest with
you my life from the minute I went freelance, I
legitimately it's like I always say to you on the regular,
like it's a blur, actual blurb. Because the music industry
(03:04):
was on such fire, and the amount of money being
spent on every aspect of the artists their life and
all that was so intense, and like the speed at
which these pop stars were working, shooting, touring, performing I
and I was like me myself, and I was like, yeah,
(03:26):
one assistant with like fifty racks of clothes. So I like,
when you say it, I'll be like, oh my god,
of course they did that. But like if you asked me,
I could remember probably like a handful of them. And
like when I hear a song now, like of Backstreet
Enrique or Jessica Simpson or Brittany, I'll be like, oh
(03:47):
I did that, You're like, oh, crap, I was on set.
I was actually on so okay, I did that? Look right,
I love it, Okay, so let's kick it off.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I mean, the Y two K Queen was definitely Miss
Britney Spears yes, and you did work with Britney Spears.
I did, And you did work on correct me if
I'm wrong, hit me baby one more time.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
I did. So that was actually one of my very
first freelance jobs because there was a woman. There is
a woman out in the world. I haven't spoken to
her in forever, but Hailey Hill, who was my boss
at YM magazine. And Haley was the senior fashion editor
fashion director at the time, and she would get booked
(04:28):
on these big commercials and stuff, and she was booked
on Britney's video and stuff through Okay, her manager, Sonya
Muckel Okay, and Sonya who I remember, like yesterday. I
think I ran into her in the last couple of years.
It was wild and Haley needed help and she had
(04:49):
two jobs booked at the same time. Its like one
of those things. So I was still working at the
magazine and I think it was being shot on a weekend, okay.
And do you remember where it was being shot? No,
Like I want to see Brooklyn Queens, Like I can't,
you know, like at a stage or studio. I can't remember,
but that's for some reason feeling familiar. And she called
(05:10):
me because she needed help and so I went in
and started just working on it and like pulling the
clothes and doing the prep and like being on set
and whatever. And I think at the time, like I
was so obsessed with being great at my job that
I never looked at stars as stars, if that makes sense. Yeah.
(05:34):
I don't think in the moment I knew or cared
that much that it was Brittany. I knew, but it
was more like I was such a fashion girl that
to me, like if you were, like you're going on
set with Carlagerfeld and Kate Moss, that would have given
me a cold sweat panic attack. Sure, you know what
I mean. And so I think just.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It worked in your favor that you weren't a fact
starship or just obsessed with exactly music it served it
served you well.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I was able to, I think, maintain professionalism without
like freaking out because I was so young. Yeah you
know what I mean. I was so young, but yeah,
I felt so much older than these I mean kids,
they were really some of them were, you know, like
Kevin Richardson was not a kid, right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So that leads me to the next group, which is
the Backstreet Boy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But the Brittany. I want to touch on one seck
because after I did these few jobs working with Haley,
that is when that was the impetus for me going freelance,
really because I made so much money on those jobs
that I was like, what the hell am I doing?
This is creative, this is fun, Like I'm out in
(06:47):
the world. I'm not sitting in a fluorescent lit office,
you know, I'm not locked in a fashion closet. And
so this was sort of like I just felt alive, honestly,
And that is when I made the movie to go freelance,
like shortly after that, because then I got promoted and
then I and then I went freelance probably later that year,
(07:08):
left there as senior fashion editor. But it's important because
as senior fashion editor, I was styling a lot of
shoots for the magazine and all the covers. Sure, and
I met a lot of publicists and a lot of
pop stars and actors, Like that's when I met Gwen Stefani,
how she got on cover shoots Drew Barry. But that's
really how you got your foot into this, like music,
(07:29):
That's how I met the publicist love that later helped
would hire you to hire me so I made a
lot of connections there, and then after I was working
with Brittany, I worked with Brittany on my own a bunch.
I flew to the World Music Awards to Monaco for
twenty four hours. I thought I was never going to
work again, because I got there. I flew with her
(07:50):
and the bodyguards and like the team, and I just
remember like I had like no notice. It was sort
of like you're leaving tomorrow and she she has to
be out World Music Awards and Monica and you're going.
And I was so again, I was so young, so
it was like, okay, you know, I just never unpacked
a suitcase and like blah blah blah, and I went
and I remember getting there and I remember that the
(08:11):
managing team going, okay, everybody break, take a nap, take
a shower, whatever, And you know, me, Mary like, I
don't nap, I don't sleep. But what did I do?
I fucking blacked out. I blacked out. And the next
thing I remember is security banging on my door telling
me we had to leave. She was going on stage.
I had to get her ready. I'm by myself. I
(08:31):
had no assistant, like I was literally that was like
one of the most panicing for you in my life.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I can't even imagine it, but for you to fall
asleep that hardcore because I know you sleep like because
it lighted all night, worst sleeper maybe in the history
of the world, you must have been like truly exhausted.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
But that is that is really and it was terrifying.
I was like, she's going to miss her performance or
go on naked because I fell asleep, and I'll never
work again. And by the way, that was truly the
feeling and psychology that I had, probably for the rest
of my career was the was the like, if you
fuck this up, you're you're not working anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, that's it, You're just so you're working with Brittany.
How was Brittany then? Was she?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You know, she was great? This is the sort of
the beginning of her mega success. She was great, and
I think she was great. She was cute, she was bubbly,
she was fun. Was she collaborative with you? Did she
like getting dressed? Or was she stubborn? Uh? It was more.
What I very clearly remember was that I was trying
(09:41):
to I think make her a little uh, sort of
create a more what do I say fashion. I guess
maybe less sort of ripped everything, yeah, whatever, And I
was trying to do a little more fashion than I remember,
a little more polish. And I remember she was per
forming share song at the World Music Awards. You know
(10:04):
what's it? An? A rhythm to oh lad daddity mmm
mm hmm. Yeah, I remember the name of the song.
When the beat goes on, Oh my god, thank you.
My brain hurts from thinking about that. And she was incredible,
and she had like long hair, and I was like, Okay,
I'm going to give her this like very share like
(10:24):
kind of try to do this like Bob Mackie, like,
you know, just a very like whatever. And I just
remember it was this long, like I believe, if I
remember correctly from five hundred years ago, Donna Karen like
did this like custom like cature at that time, because
we used to do all these awards show dressing looks together,
(10:45):
like we would do custom things for clients. But she
was doing this very special. It was like this long
beaded like almost like a mermaid fishtail long skirt, and
and basically we put this top on her and I
just remember like two minutes before, two minutes before she
(11:07):
went on stage. She went in the bathroom and cut it.
She cut the guitar, She cut the guitar, She cropped
the top to just below her boobs. If I remember correctly,
I cried yikes. Yeah, I mean as the stylist. I'm
sure you cried.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I cried only because I was like, am I fired
from Donna Karen?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Now?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
For life? Have I ruined my reputation? Yeah? Did she
hate what I styled? But she looked incredible, she performed great.
We all went to this big dinner with Prince Albert,
my god, and at that that was the beginning of
my very surreal life. Yeah. Really, and that's twenty years.
(11:46):
Jumped you to Backstreet Boys, which yes, same same management.
It was with the Firm, a place called the Firm,
which had Enrique Backstreet and Brittany and I want to
say in sync, but maybe that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
That wrong. For millennial girls like me, you were either
Backsheater and sink and there was no Well, it's.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Like are you Edward or are you Jacob? Of course
yeah yeah. And now with summary term pretty, it's are
you Conrad or are you Jeremy.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean, it's just it goes on forever. Doesn't it
Backstreet Boys equal to basically Beatlemania beyond in terms of
like beyond the logistics of them traveling touring being right,
it must have been so insane to not only have
one very famous client, but five very famous I.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Can't really explain what was happening.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Now. You didn't do correct me if I'm wrong. You
didn't do the Backstreets back music video, right, the one
where they're like Phantom of the Opera and it's like
the dance like the Thriller vibes where they're That.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Might be right when I started, because you started with
the Millennium album. Was that my first? Or was that
my last? Into Millennial that I literally cannot remember? You
can't remember. I have to watch that video, okay, but
I very very remember.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Very like Michael Jackson Thriller inspired, they're like dancing, it's
like sort of a haunted mansion vibe.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
What do I feel like? What were they wearing? I
could tell by what they were wearing, Like, did they
look like I styled them?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
No? Because it was so theatrical, right, so like AJ
has like the Phantom of the Opera mask on it,
right point, like Brian, I think it was Brian is
like a werewolf man. Like.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It was very, very theatrical. I did so many music
videos with them, and we did think, like there's nothing
we didn't do, so it's possible. But I remember Millennium
because that's the all white else. Oh well, yeah, I
remember that like it was because I remember walking into
my hotel room. I had been prepping for so long.
(13:51):
And what you have to remember and I need people
to try and like visualize what my life was with Backstreet.
Imagine five kids different like anyone who has five kids.
You could have ten kids and not one of them
would be like sure, not one of them would dress
the same, not one, right, And that's what it was like.
(14:13):
And it was like five guys that I loved honestly deeply.
I was so close with them. They were like brothers.
And Kevin was like a friend because I think we
were the same age. Kevin was the light, the other
one yeah group Yeah, and Kevin kind of felt like,
honestly like the dad of the group, you know, and
(14:35):
he and I hung out. I loved his girlfriend wife, Kristen,
and you know, I went through so much with all
of them. I would say Nick was the baby and
really felt like the baby, you know, and I genuinely
think I just remember white ray black, but like Millennium
(14:56):
obviously was all white. But I remember ideating with that,
and I remember saying like, it's a new century, it's
a new like everything should be clean, everything should be new.
And I remember like creating that and saying like, they
need to look modern, they need to look cool, they
need to clean, they need to like look cohesive. And
(15:17):
that was the biggest thing that I focused on with them,
was cohesion, because I felt everyone needed to have their
own style and their own take on the concept, which
they did, sure, and that was the challenge, right, But
like we would have if it was five guys. I
(15:37):
swear to god, I had a minimum of five racks
per guy. Yeah, so I would stand there with, you know,
fifty racks of clothes and white, overwhelmed white, white, Doulce white,
Gucci white, yeah, you name it, white, Zara white, everything white,
everything right, Calvin white. You know that's insane. Yeah, it was.
It was overwhelming, that's insane. My wardrobe budgets were And
(15:58):
remember in those days, it was not like computer based.
We didn't have like the cell phone world like it
wasn't like that. So there was like Star tax phone,
so we were not I was not doing expenses on
a phone. I wasn't taking notes. Everything was paper, everything
was taxis, everything was food, paper, receipts, everything. So if
(16:19):
I had like one hundred thousand dollars wardrobe budget, two
hundred thousand dollars wards budget, I had to account for
every penny of that. And the worst part is a stylist,
as any stylist will tell you, is you have to
lay out that money and then you wait and you
wait to get reimbursed. Oh, it's a terrible model. That's terrible.
(16:40):
It's a terrible business model. Literally, it's a terrible business model.
So every bit of my free time that I didn't
have was spent taping or glu sticking, TAXI receipts, food receipts,
tailoring alterations, shipping, purchasing. You know, I had to purchase
a lot of stuff. I had a lot of stuff
custom made. I would be like down on a street
(17:02):
getting random like things for a j like feather things,
or like I would I would get like embroidered or studded,
Like I would buy a leather vest and have someone
in a street, just like add studs to it, or
grammets on the shoes or denim rip it up. I
would tie things to like a car and drive so
they would get beaten down. I would wash them. I
(17:24):
would just try and.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Like wear things down T shirts. I would teasting. Remember
the Hi die.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
You name it? Oh my god, I need the job.
It's too great. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
One of my personal favorite music videos that I'm obsessed
with you working on is mister Enrique Glecia's Hero.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Oh my God, that song, that video.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I would wait for TRL because I thought he was
so gorgeous, and I also like the drama of the
song in that music video with like Jennifer Love Hewitt
and Mickey.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Rourke with no idea.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I was obsessed with that that.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Is video and that song. That experience was perhaps one
of the craziest experiences of my styling career of my life. Yeah,
I will remember that video forever for many reasons. That
and another Enrique video where he met Anna wife that
is so funny. And another Enrique video where I styled
(18:27):
him with Whitney Houston. Oh and that was unforgettable.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I want.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And her daughter came to set. But Hero was a
stressful job. So hero was crazy because it was this director,
Joseph Kahn, who at the time was the yes, the guy.
I worked mainly with Joseph Kahan. I worked with Francis
Lawrence a lot. He did a lot of the video
so now directs like very major emotions. Yeah. That video
(19:02):
was in Palm Springs at the MERV Griffin Estate. Okay,
if I remember correctly, we stayed at you know, one
of those great hotels. I remember getting there like two
in the morning. We had to be on set at
four thirty. A prop stylist actually died on their way
to set. It was the absolute saddest thing because she
(19:25):
drove off the ledge. There was no railing on the
location we were going to we were shooting, if I
remember correctly, like August twenty seventh or August twenty something
like that desert in the middle of the desert. It
was just one hundred and four by seven am. Oh
my god, Alia died. Alia died. You got the news
that we got the news that she died while we
(19:47):
were on set in the desert, because she was also
shooting a music video in the Caribbean. Rage yep, yeah,
pay cash and so it was all these weird, weird energy. Yeah,
Mickey work was there. I was in a hotel hotel
with Mickey York and that was wild wild he by
(20:09):
the way, he couldn't have been sweeter to me. For
the rocker and Jennifer love Hewittt. I had known because
we had done a bunch of shoots together, because I
think she had done like Party of Five. I had
met her through like y Am and then I and
then I became her stylist for a bunch of things,
and so I was doing her and Enrique, and you know,
(20:32):
Enrique is one of the most professional people you've ever known.
He he just is and he would show up. He
is by far and away the most handsome and charming.
Love that person. Everything you want Enrique to be. He
and Moore and me styling. Loves to hear that me
styling Enrique as much as I would try and make
(20:52):
him a little fancier at times jeans yep, vintage Levi's
like vintage jeans hoodie type. I got him to go
sometimes from a baseball hat to a beanie, which ended
up being like a signature. So that was a moment
I loved him. I still love him. I always love him,
and I styled him for the video where he met
(21:14):
his wife Anna Kornakova, and I styled her as well.
And I remember so clearly standing behind the monitor because
I was obsessive about obviously everything and like I looks
close everything. But I had the thing with me beyond styling.
I would always I really did everything in terms of
like I watched the lighting, I watched the angles. I
(21:36):
would suggest to the directors how it might work better. Yeah,
I would sit in all the time. I would try,
you know, like I was so in it. You were
very present every part of it. But I remember standing
behind the monitor and I remember looking at the director
and looking at Enrique's team, this guy Fernando at the time,
(21:57):
and I was like, I was just pretty real in
this one. This may go passing video.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Everyone might be going on and they've been married for
a long time and together ever since that. Oh I
love that so much. Okay, rounding out your iconic music
video moments, we have to talk about Jessica Simpson. Okay,
we have to talk about these boots were made for walking.
I mean, you fully dressed her like Daisy Duke, right,
(22:24):
she had because that the song was for promotional for
the movie.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
That was amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I just had it with long extensions in Yeah, Ken
Pavis is the tiniest denim shorts you've ever seen ever,
ever and like a midriff tank.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Top she looks, and a big belt belt right, that
belt needs to understand, because I think it's so important.
If you don't know what stylists do, what I need
to explain to you is that when you look at
that video of Jessica Simpson and you look at okay,
she's wearing these cowboy boots, a big belt, these little
denim shorts and this crop top. Okay, great, and I
(23:03):
think we did cool earrings if I remember correctly. She's
so good in that video, honestly. Yeah. But what nobody
knows is that to get to that look, there was
literally fifty belts laid out with different buckles and different straps.
There was maybe thirty pairs of cutoff denim shorts, maybe more.
(23:23):
To make sure they were the right fit. We would
have tailors on set that would make them shorter. To
make them shorter, then free them so they look vintage
cowboy boots. I mean one hundred pairs, oh my god,
and like the t shirts. I mean, you know, I
would run up and down Melrose and Librea and go
all the thrift stores. And you know, it's not what
(23:43):
it looks like. That's all I'm saying. Well, the simplicity of.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, denim shorts and a tanked up and whatever,
I think to an outsider goes, oh, that's so easy.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Anyone could do that now.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
But the amount of a approvals it takes to get to
the final outfit and.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Getting the final outfit and then keeping it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know, you're shooting these music videos for more than
one day, most likely keeping them looking good, having multiples
to put on if she rips it or drops whatever
on it or whatever. It's it's more than just a
pair of shorts and a tank top.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Oh yeah, it's it always is always, it's always. Oh
key dokey.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I'm gonna go rapid fire right into our listener Y
two K questions. Okay, this covers a lot of different
sort of like Y two K E topics, but let's
do it.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Let's do a rapid fire. Okay, okay, Question one, who
is the nicest star from that era that you dressed?
I gotta tell you, I mean, you know, the Backstreet Boys,
like I said, were literally it was like it was
like almost like I was their sister. Yeah, slash mom,
you know that always was with them. Enrique, he's an angel.
He's an angel. You we're so close, Like I love that.
(24:54):
You're too nice to know it's true. I would honestly
tell you because anyone that was a nightmare, like I
didn't have time for honestly, yeah, you know to do it.
It was nice. And Jessica and I were like related
literally yeah, like I was part of the Simpson family
at one point. Oh my god, I love that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Okay, who do you wish you could have styled from
that era? But never got to? I think you could
do like music or otherwise. I mean maybe j Lo
Jalen right, because.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
That was like her Jenny from the block. Yeah, you
know you know who else I feel like.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
And I don't even know if you have worked with her,
but like talking about like more nineties whatever, But Alicia Silverstone,
I did share horoit.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
I work with her.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I styled for different shoes, Harrow Smith's music, right, those
music videos. Yeah, but I feel like she and I
feel like she could have been like a client of yours.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Like no brainer, just with her like aesthetic.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Okay, what accessories from Y two K stand out to
you the most? Like when you think about just accessories
and having to like have a thousand options of blank,
what is it?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
God, I'll be honest with you, Like I should remember coats, coats,
like jackets and like and like accessories, I mean hats. Yeah,
there was a lot of hats.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I feel also with jackets. Y two K had an
interesting big fabric.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, it was that techie. It was the that's why
I keep going like scuba gears. It was neoprene. Yes,
it was a lot of neoprene, a lot. But the
thing with me, though, truthfully, I think I'd never succumbed
to the oversized cargo pant and the like the sneakers
(26:52):
with the big socks and stuff. And I think that's
why in its resurgence, I'm like, no, see, I didn't.
I didn't like it. The I was trying to go
against the crop top, you know what I mean. So
I think for me, I was shifting into like the nineties,
like this sort of minimalism and the chic and then
the sort of like over the top, and I you know,
(27:16):
I was just about pretty. Yeah, but for guys, to
be honest, my vibe was like just look hot, yeah,
Like and to me hot was Brad Pitt and thelm
and Luise Like yeah. To me, it was always trying
to make the guys, especially with like Enrique, it was
that like, no, like look like Johnny Depp with Kate Moss,
(27:36):
like beat up jeans, cool belt, beat up like Chelsea boots. Yeah,
and and like a cool like leathers or swede jacket
with a vintage tea Like to me, that was cool. Yeah.
And that's where I was trying to take the guys
because that's where all of like young Hollywood, that was
(27:56):
the young Hollywood vibe. Yeah, And so I was I
was able to do that with Enrique. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, we got this question a couple of times. Oh
my god, why did thongs become popular?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And hy two k oh my god. It was like
a thong. It was like a thong craze.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I mean, there was even the song Paris Hilton.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You know, I don't think we've talked about Paris Hilton here, yeah,
like Nicole and everything, because we're talking about music, But
I mean I think Paris was like Juicy Sweats, which
was the biggest y two K fashion. That's a thing,
like I can't we can't forget that. That was Jalo
Madonna and like the whole velvet track suit of like
(28:41):
my friend Pam Levy and Gila that created the Juicy
track suit and that was like rhinestone like bedazzled track suits,
be dazzled jackets, kits in you know, the bedazzled everything.
So I think we can't like not mention that because
I think you're a part of Christina Aguile like all
of them. And Christina was opening for Backstreet Boys at
(29:03):
the time.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh my gosh, that's so crazy because she obviously went
on to be her own.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Massive success story.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
So yeah, the thongs like coming out of the pants
with black hairs, and then we did the the low
sung jeans.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
It's almost like the thong craze happened because the jeans
were just too low.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yes, it was god awfully low. And just to be clear,
I want to be clear, I was not an advocate
for that, sure, sure, you know, I mean I think Paris,
like I have such a clear visual of when I
met her with like the cropped bleached white platinum hair
in like a pink velvet sweatsuit with like so low
(29:40):
but she looked so hot, you know. Yeah, and she
was so sweet and friendly. Honestly, yeah, but kits In.
I just keep thinking about kits In. Oh yeah, it
was the craze. Okay, next up then eyebrows. Just why
just why is this? I tell you why? Because that
started because of like Calvin Klein, John Galliano, all the nineties, Supers,
(30:05):
Kate Moss, they all did it. It would tweet their
eyebrows off. It was part of the minimal the you know,
the minimalism movement, and it was all the nineties with
Matt Brown makeup, you know, very neutral palette, Matt Matt lips,
thin thin eyebrows, very wafy movement, yep, and very minimal
(30:27):
no bells and whistles, no jewels, very clean. It was
the Kate Moss Calvin movement. Honestly. Yeah. And Kate Moss,
like I mean she was like sixteen, I know, I
mean she she changed the whole.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I mean, some of us millennial girls are paying for
the overtweezing to that.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I would like to proudly say that my mother. I
have to thank my mom for not letting me do that.
That's good because I still to this day have eyebrows.
Blessed you made it out, you made it out of
white to k with Listen. I don't have my nineties
two thousand eyebrows, but I still have eyebrows. Fair okay, Doki.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Last question, who was your most stubborn client from Y
two K? Doesn't mean mean or difficult, but who was
the most stubborn when it came to like getting dressed
or wearing what you recommended or you know.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
When I think about it, it's like this sort of
like the Lindsay Miss Nicole. We had so much fun,
so they weren't. I'm thinking about my music world, Like
I mean, Brittany, I would say definitely was the one
who would sort of like change from whatever my well
after you told me that cutting the couture story. Yeah,
(31:44):
I mean I think Brittany was definitely probably the one
that you know did that. And I think I'm thinking
about some of the Backstreet boys, like we really collaborated.
I mean, AJ and I had so much fun because
he was the most like out there, you know, yeah,
would he was the most costume me.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
He was like a he was like the well, like
the bad boy of the back show for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
So he was like the Risks taker, Yeah right, the
most incredible voice. And Kevin was like dressing like my brother.
It was fun. It was like chasing him to put
clothes on him. Oh my god, that's I mean, because
he's just like running around enjoying. And Brian was like
a gentleman, you know, and Howie was a doll.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Okay, this is your final question. What was your go
to look in the Y two k era when you
were on set, when you were traveling, when you.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Were black and jeans, Like I would wear dark jeans,
I'd wear light flare obviously. Yeah, always dark and some
kind of like black, probably ankle boot, you know, some
kind of boot and like a like a like a
black like leather jacket. I had like a hundred black
leather jackets and that was like my jam, your go to. Yeah,
(32:50):
stylists always need pockets. Yeah, I think of it so funny.
Pocket it was so fast. I'd like think about what
I was even wearing. I can't even like, yeah, I
never thought about me right, well, because you said you
like I kept a suitcase pack, so you're just like
bringing the same things over and over. I'm sure, so weird.
I flew a lot of private planes. I remember. Oh
(33:12):
that's fun though. I was on private planes very young.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Did you witness anyone have a total meltdown on a
private plane?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Of course I did spill it. Nope, who ever, honey,
I witnessed more meltdowns between ninety eight or ninety seven
and two thousand and eight. Seven, twelve, my wheels are turning,
(33:39):
and thirteen my styling wave was filled with melt.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
We're at our time for today that you have just said,
you have just cued us up for Part two Meltdowns.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah, Part two of this podcast, the Meltdown, The Meltdowns.
Thanks for listening everyone, all right, everybody, thank you so
much for listening to Climbing and Heels. If you haven't already,
please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the
(34:13):
iHeart app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You don't
miss a single episode this season, and be sure to
follow me on Instagram at Rachel Zoe and of course
the show at Climbing in Hills pod for the latest
episodes and updates. I will talk to you so soon
and have a great week month
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