Reality Heaven

She may have made some enemies on The City and earned herself a reputation as a snooty cow but there is no doubting Olivia Palermo's star quality. Her distinctive style has made her the toast of New York and glossy magazines galore and her feisty attitude appealed to many including me. So no surprise to hear that Madame Palermo has landed herself her own reality series which will show her life as a socialite fashionista about town and follows her launching her own fashion label. The show is in the very early stages so has not been picked up by a TV network. The gig is very similar to the one that Lauren Conrad has; the former start from The Hills is set to appear in a one-off reality show that features the launch of her fashion label called Paper Crown. The programme will be in the same mode of The September Issue and will be aired on MTV. The details of Olivia's own show are yet to be released and she only dropped the news last week during an interview in Vogue Espana and not surprisingly blogsphere and the rest of the media went into overdrive.

I am kind of over celebs launching fashion lines so the fashion projects by Palermo and Conrad do not really interest me but what I am into it is the reality shows themselves that depict the glam lives of these IT girls who appear to have it all. Looks, wonderful careers, great wardrobes and apartments and lots of fabulous friends. I mean who wouldn't want to live that sumptuous life? I loved watching Whitney in The City and other shows such as The Rachel Zoe Project and Kell on Earth are my 'not' guilty pleasures. So I cannot wait to see both Palermo and Conrad juggle working on a fashion line along with their personal lives in New York and LA respectively.

While I was researching the projects by Olivia and Lauren I came across this fantastic illustration in Bloomberg Business Week that looks at the pivotal points in Lauren's career. The model is created by Frazer Harrison and you can have a proper look at it here.

Team Kelly vrs Team Rachel

They are the two ladies of fashion but to be honest they could not be miles apart. One is based in LA the other NYC, one is blonde and the other has jet black hair and the other is girly girly while her counterpart is the complete opposite. However, one thing they share is a steely determination to succeed in a business that can be very brutal. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Kelly Cutrone and Rachel Zoe. Kel and Rach have very different styles and last week when I was watching their shows respectively called The Rachel Zoe Project and Kell on Earth I could not help thinking - have they ever met and if so they would get on? We all know that Kelly can be very abrupt but deep down that hard facade is a very caring and responsible mother while Rachel as sweet as she is can be very self indulgent and quite selfish. Check out the 911 on the Queen of fashion PR, Kelly and super stylist, Rachel.

Kelly Cutrone
Age - 45
Location - New York
Brand - People's Revolution, a powerhouse fashion PR, branding and marketing company that reps the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, Jeremy Scott, Paco Rabanne and many more.  They have three offices in LA, New York and Paris. Reality show, Kell on Earth which airs on Bravo and self help book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. 
Team - Kelly: Daughter, Ava, business partners, Robyn and Emily
Style - Black, black and more black! She is quoted as saying "I take no care in f**king appearance
Most likely to say - What the f**k is going on?
The 911 - Kelly moved to New York from Syracuse in the 80s with a degree in Nursing and a never die attitude. She quickly landed a job assisting PR maverick, Susan Blond who had Michael Jackson on her roster. A few years into the game and Kelly had already established herself as one of the players in her field. She went on to do PR for Spin magazine but then left to found her own PR company, Cutrone and Weinberg. However in the 90s she hit a bad spell after a divorce to Ronnoe Cutrone and relinquishing half of her PR firm. So she fled to California where she kicked a drug habit and found her inner self. A few years later she made her way back to PR and eventually New York. Kelly is renowned for her sheer determination kick ass no bullshit taking attitude. She got her big break in The Hills where she was seen giving Lauren Conrad a hard time over tickets for the Felder Felder show at LA fashion Week. Her role in the show progressed when she offered Whitney Port and Lauren jobs at People's Republic. She also appeared in The City as Whitney's mentor and ended up offering her another role at People"s Revolution. 

Rachel Zoe

Age - 39

Location - LA

Brand - She dresses A list stars such as Kate Beckinsale, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson and Debra Messing. The Rachel Zoe Report debuted on Bravo in 2008 and is a huge success and is now on its third series. Her book, Style A to Zoe gave us a lowdown on how to look great on the red carpet and every other aspect of your life. She is extending her brand by launching a clothing line. You can even keep up with Rachel Zoe by subscribing to her ever stylish newsletter or going to her website.

Team Rachel - Husband, Rodger, Brad Goreski and assistant Marissa (Taylor departed due to acrimonious circumstances).

Style - She can be seen in flared jeans, heels, huge sunglasses with Starbucks coffee in one hand and her Blackberry in another.

Most likely to say - Rachel's quirky catchphrases are pretty much folklore and she can be seen exclaiming "I die!" and "Simply bananas."
The 911 - Rachel was born and raised in New Jersey and after graduating from Georgetown University, Rachel worked as a stylist for Gotham and YM magazine and then broke into celebrity styling by working with a young Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. She and hubby moved to LA where she hit pay dirt when Nicole Ritchie (who was riding high from her fame in The Simple Life) asked her to style her. Rachel is one of the most influential stylists in the world, she turned round the careers of Nicole Ritchie and Lindsey Lohan in a flash and created the look that is now referred to as Zoebots. Large sunglasses, over-sized handbags, skinny jeans and ballet flats. Pretty soon everyone wanted to know who the lady was behind these looks and Rachel began to be featured in magazines and newspapers. In 2007 her book was launched which went on to top the New York Times bestseller list and she was offered her own TV series.

They have amazingly careers; extremely successful companies with a vibrant team, their own reality shows as well as best-selling books. Kelly Cutrone and Rachel Zoe are both admirable ladies and wonderful role models. Me thinks that Bravo TV has been really smart in snapping them up. 

So are you Team Rachel or Team Kelly?

Fashioning February: Kell on Earth - Review

Watching The Hills and The City over those years gave me an insight into what PR maverick, Kelly Cutrone did for a living but it never really showed how she did it and why. Ms Cutrone reps for 46 fashion brands and is responsible for producing back to back shows every season for her clients at New York and London Fashion Weeks. Every February and September is crazy as hell for Kelly and her team at People's Revolution what with recruiting models for shows, putting together seating charts and sending out invites to shows and after parties. Dressed head to toe in black (what else?) Ms Cutrone resembles a raven who would devour you relentlessly if you ever tried to hurt her loved ones. In the anticipation for the launch of the show I was expecting a reality show which focussed totally on Kelly’s very snarky personality; you know those shows which feature the protagonist reflecting in their deep thoughts. Instead we have a very entertaining programme which reflects the buzzy, ever so manic but exhilarating nature of the fashion business. We also get to see another side of Kelly as mother to seven year old Ava who is as cute as a button. The scenes between the two are quite endearing but what impressed me about Kelly was her attitude to motherhood. Her business and home is based in her four level block in Manhattan and she created this haven so her world can centre around her daughter. This kicks ass to the myth that women cannot succeed in business and bring up babies at the same time or that they have to sacrifice one for the other.

In Kell on Earth we meet the real players of People’s Revolution ie the ones who did the real work while Whitney and Roxy waltzed around all day gossiping about their trivial problems. There is Robyn Berkely who is Kelly’s right hand and a partner at the company. She lives and breathes fashion so much that she forgot to find somewhere to live when the lease for her apartment expired and now inhabits a room one of the floors in the People’s Revolution building. Like Kelly, Robyn has very high demands and will not tolerate mistakes. The pert, Emily Bungert is also a partner at the firm and is a feisty madam from the Midwest who tells it like it is. Stefanie Skinner, is Kelly’s former PA who has just been promoted to junior executive and is struggling to stay above water to meet the demands of her bosses. She is a tough cookie though and is not frightened to fight her corner even against the mighty Kelly. Then there is Andrew Mukamal, Kelly’s new PA and the only male in a room full of strong and opinionated women. His love of fashion and goth like dress style makes him a big hit with all members of staff who he can be seen lending a listening ear to.

I find it very interesting watching Kelly at work because then I think of Rachel Zoe and how very different they both are. Rachel is very girly girly and Kelly is not, Rachel is also quite touchy feely with her staff and something tells me that Kelly would collapse into a big heap of black lycra if anyone tried to hug her. However what the two women have in common is their passion for fashion, obsessive eye for details and demands for perfection. In a nutshell, the reality show was surprisingly good; pacey enough so you can get caught up in the drama but not too over melodramatic that you lose touch with it. While shows like The Hills and The City have presented a fairytale look at working in fashion, Kell on Earth knocks that tooth right on the head. Kelly’s book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You was released this week much to her dismay which she described as hell on earth. The book is aimed at women who choose not to have the conventional lifestyle ie getting a degree, getting a great job, getting married and having a baby and yes in that exact order. It acts as an empowerment tool for women who are just a little bit different. 

Kell on Earth airs on Mondays on Bravo TV at 10.00pm.

Kell on Earth

Those of you watch The Hills and The City will know that Kelly Cutrone does not joke. The PR Guru takes no prisoners and does not mince words when she has something to say. She is no doubt one of the most entertaining and enigmatic characters in the two hit reality shows. Lauren Conrad who The Hills was based on and Whitney Port who is the star of The City just pale in comparison to Kelly. So it was of no surprise last year when I heard that good old Kelly is getting her own reality TV show. Aptly titled Kell on Earth, the programme will focus on her company, People's Revolution which reps fashion designers and stylists such as Jeremy Scott, Paco Rabanne, Vivienne Westwood, Sass & Bide and the legendary Patricia Fields.

Kell on Earth airs on 1st February on Bravo TV and I cannot wait to see it.  With a book due out in the same week it looks like Kelly will be a very busy lady.

Check out the clip above and tell me what you think of it.

The Hills: Alive and Kicking

The O.C may have only been around for four years but it certainly made it's mark and when the teen drama shut down shop in 2007 it left behind a few things. For a start the birth of Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson as style icons and the introduction of the creator, Josh Schwartz to TV heaven. However in my eyes the main legacy of The O.C is the fact that it became the inspiration of The Hills. For it was the lavish lives of the teenagers of The Orange County that led to the reality show, Laguna Beach and it was here that we met the likes of Stephen Colletti, Lo Bosworth and a certain Lauren Conrad. The pert Lauren left Laguna for the heights of LA and moved onto her own reality show The Hills and the rest is history. Over the last five years we have been caught up with the drama and tribulations of Lauren's world. We have cried with her, laughed with her, laughed at her and watched her fall out with friend after friend.

Now Ms Conrad is about to say goodbye to her life on the small screen and will move onto new pastures new. Such as? I hear you ask. Well for a start she has penned a book called L.A. Candy and is about a young lady who moves to the city of angels and ends up on reality show. Wow, I wonder how long it took her to come up with that concept? But you know what? I can't wait to read it. Going by the spiel on the HarperCollins website, this book has all the qualities that I look for in my fiction. Fun, drama, glamour and with the odd bit of fashion thrown. L.A Candy hits the stores on 18th June but if you can't wait till then you can read an excerpt on TeenVogue. Quite fitting considering Lauren spent a great deal of her vital years there. HarperColins have signed Ms Conrad to write three books for them so look out for more literary works from Laguna's finest.

So with the commercial success of The Hills, other characters from the show have taken the opportunity to work on other projects. First we have Brody Jenner with his diabolical reality show, Bromance. She-devil boss, Kelly Cutrone has been granted her own reality show called Kell on Earth and is also writing a self help book to young women on how to rule the world. I am sure it will be riveting as Kelly is. Oh of course lets not forget Whitney who is riding high with the success of her own fly on the wall series, The City. Looks like the hills are alive and kicking.