Sunday, October 2, 2011

Rachel Zoe Project – Bah-Nan-Ahs

I found myself watching back to back episodes of season 4 of the Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo! I love that viewers get to watch this time during Rachel’s pregnancy because I think she looks the best she has ever looked. Being 8 months pregnant has given her the weight she really needed to fill out her face and make her look radiant and beautiful. Normally, I think she looks tired and older than she really is when she is stick thin. I just hope that now that she has had the baby she will consider keeping a bit of the weight.

The other thing I noticed that I hadn’t noticed before is that she looks like she has had some Botox in her forehead but not in her chin area where I feel she needs a little something. I guess I never noticed it before because I could only focus on the bags under her eyes, the mark of a true stylist as anyone in the fashion industry knows.

I have to say that I love Rachel and hope to one day follow in her career footsteps but there are definitely a few things that I would do differently.

First, I would like to say that Rachel’s LA style is not really for me. I am an east coast DC girl so I tend to lean more on the conservative side of the fashion spectrum. Rachel loves the ease and flow of the 70s era where I am more of a fan of the 40s, with the structured suits and polished hair and make-up.

Secondly, being an African-American woman I think that Rachel could benefit greatly with more diversity on her staff, you know someone like me. I could guide her through the world of urban fashion. I think that she could use with more influences like Kimora Lee Simmons Baby Phat collection as well as the amazing local DC designers KAS (http://www.kascollectioninc.com/) and Andrew Nowell Menswear (http://www.andrewnowell.com/). These designers know how to do urban with edge and luxury.

Talking about these last 2 local designers brings me to my final point of what I would do differently from Rachel. I would support local designers and do what I could to elevate their collections to an international level. I believe that someone that has that much influence in the fashion industry should be doing more to seek out amazing local talent and mentoring them to the next level.

In spite of these differences I will say that Rachel and I do have quite a bit in common. We both love the drama and artistry of couture and love high art designers such as the late great Alexander McQueen, Prabal Gurung, and Alexander Wang.
Now back to the gossip of the show.

I adore the new guy Jeremiah that she hired. Not only is he adorable, talented, and has a great eye but he seems like his going to be a great asset to the Zoe team. I feel that he will not become a media whore like Taylor and Brad were. Oh the drama those 2 created in the first 3 seasons. Of course it made for great TV but they were annoying and let the cameras make them loose site of the main goal of styling.

Jeremiah also thinks outside of the box in a thoughtful manner, really wants to please Rachel, and most importantly is willing to learn the fashion industry from the ground up and who better to learn from than the amazing Rachel.

On the other hand Joey is the epitome of every gay stereotype that I hate. I should first say that I started my career as a dancer and have been around gay men all my life. Most of my men friends are gay and I love them all but this Joey character (I call him that because it is so obvious that he is playing a character) is so over the top and flamboyant that it takes every ounce of my strength not to reach through the TV and slap the shit out of him. I liked it better when we only saw him every few episodes sitting quietly doing Rachel’s hair and make-up; interjecting every once in a while on Rachel’s wardrobe. Now that they have decided to make him more of a main character on the show I am seriously considering hulu’ing the show so I can skip all sections he is in.

I know this is just a shot in the dark that the incredible Rachel Zoe would actually read my little blog but on the 1 and a million chance that she does I have 2 pieces of advice for her and the Bravo! producers of The Rachel Zoe Project:

1. Hire me to diversify your staff, I have been in this business for over 15 years and have incredible knowledge of fashion history. I know your favorite color is white but if you don’t diversify your staff people are going to think that you are prejudice and you will never get amazing African American and Latina stars on your client roster. I know you are currently styling Eva Mendes but what other ethnic stars are you styling?

2. Give Joey less air time because I feel that he is offensive to the gay community. So many gay men are doing their best to not become the stereotypical gay man that the hetero world pigeonholes them in. I believe that Joey just sets gay men back on the evolutionary scale.

Stay Fashionable and ABsolutely FABulous!

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