Rachel Zoe lunch at Business Chicks

Last week, thanks to my day job, I went to see Rachel Zoe at a Business Chicks lunch. I’ve been lucky enough to go to a few of these events now (thanks again to my day job!), and this one was a highlight.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the event beforehand because, while I’m interested in clothes and fashion, my interest in design sort of comes to a crashing halt at the end of the 70s. While I spend most of my disposable income on clothes, I’m hardly a “fashionista.” I’m pretty good at spotting genuine Black Milk from a mile away, and am well-versed in the names of a multitude of dresses from PinUp Girl Clothing, Trashy Diva, Collectif and Tatyana, but I do not know my haute couture at all. And actually, a lot of the time, unless they’re vintage-inspired, I don’t have a lot of interest in learning them (except for shoes. I’m okay at spotting shoes).

I also wear heart-shaped glasses, so you know... 

I also get really angry when people judge others on their clothing choices and don’t think it’s up to anyone to say (in public) what others should and shouldn’t wear and I, mistakenly thought that’s what a stylist might talk about. I don’t like those columns in magazines that rate celebrities’ red carpet outfits as hot or not and I don’t like it when people ask others to discuss their top fashion don’ts. And this is because, since I started dressing in vintage clothes, I discovered something really important; that if you feel good in something, wear it and to hell with what anyone else thinks (more on my thoughts on this are coming, I’m just trying to gather them in a succinct way!).

Epic seats for Epic!

I guess it was because of my lack of designer-knowledge, and my worries about being told what not to wear, I went in expecting to have my nerves grated. But what I got was pleasantly surprised. Rachel approached the question: “Is there an age limit for fashion trends?” in a really diplomatic and interesting way, and her answer essentially matched my opinion: if you feel good, wear it. She did give some advice for people wanting to dress in flattering cuts for their body shapes, which again, I think she approached in a great way. She prefaced the advice by saying it was super-general and she gave solid advice (all except for plus sized ladies, which in her defense, I actually think the question was phrased wrongly in the first place) and capped it off with a “just have fun with it.”

Colour me impressed!! The more she spoke, the more I felt myself relax into the event and enjoy what she was talking about. She’s into vintage, and while her wardrobe is probably mostly vintage couture (she was wearing a vintage Givenchy dress) she talked a lot about how she thinks people can look stylish at whatever their budget and I really liked hearing that (and of course, vintage lovers are all right in my book, even if I will probably never get the chance to own or even wear vintage couture).

What was also interesting was to hear her talk about balancing work and home, her entrepreneurial vision and how she’s diversified her business from being a celebrity stylist to multiple business platforms. From what you guys see here on my blog, you might not realise that my day-to-day work is in business marketing, and Rachel’s story interests me on how a creative person has come to be at the helm of what is a business empire. With all the balls that I juggle these days (pinup, blogging, editing, marketing, writing, baking…), I like the fantasy that one day, I might be at the helm of a business empire too!