Those of us who have closely followed Zoe’s career know that she lives, eats, and breathes fashion – this is a woman who counts Marc Jacobs among her best friends, after all.
While it would be easy to spew out hateful, jealousy-induced words about Zoe (she does have more Hermes Collier de Chien pieces than I could even begin to count!), I met Zoe in person at a dinner hosted by Diane Von Furstenberg to fete the designer’s successful Fall 2010 runway show, and she was one of the most gracious and friendly celebrities I’ve ever met.
Best of all, she spiced up her designer outfit with a sequined QVC bag she herself designed, making her one of the few celebrities to actually wear the mass market items she sprinkles her name on.
Long famed for styling A-listers including Kate Hudson, Demi Moore, and Anna Hathaway, the creations Zoe drapes on the bodies of her celebrity clients influence the trends that take shape the world over.
Perhaps even more impressive, however, is that Zoe has the unique ability to seamlessly glide from the world of celebrity styling, to the world of advertisement campaign styling, to styling highbrow fashion shoots for the likes of fashion cult fave Love magazine.
Although she’s too shy to admit it, Zoe has in fact become as much of a celebrity as the clients she so passionately dresses. With a line for QVC, a consulting gig with Piperlime.com, a witty daily newsletter called “The Zoe Report,” and a hit TV show under her belt – whether she gives into her family’s pleas to have a baby or not – she has sealed her fate as one of the world’s most influential trendsetters.
How did the Zoe empire begin? Believe it or not, it all started in New Jersey, where Zoe was born and raised under the strong influence of a fashion-forward mother.
Rodger Berman, her devoted husband and president of Rachel Zoe, Inc., came into the picture at George Washington University, where both received undergraduate degrees.
It wasn’t long after graduation that Zoe moved to Manhattan, and then to Los Angeles, to merge her passion for fashion and Hollywood.
A front row staple at all the major runway shows, Zoe got to put her design skills to the test when she teamed up with Judith Leiber for a handbag collection in 2006. That said, while Zoe may have an ardent love for Chanel and a die-hard passion for dressing the glitterati, she’s devoted to making style accessible to all.
In line with that, she penned Style A to Zoe, which hit bookstores in 2007, and last year she launched an incredibly successful collection of jewelry, bags, scarves, sunglasses, and outerwear exclusively sold on QVC.
A fashion maven if I ever saw one.
