Olivia Palermo Gossip!
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Olivia Palermo: New York doll
London Evening Standard - Melissa Whitworth
19.11.10
Truman Capote called them swans. Briton Hadden, the co-founder of Time magazine, coined the term socialite in 1928. For the social commentators of the 1960s they were the jet set. The British tabloids named them 'It' girls. And whatever 'it' is, Olivia Palermo has it in abundance. At 24, she has turned a series of photo opportunities at New York parties and charity galas into a lucrative career; her moment in the light of popping flashbulbs has become a brand-building exercise par excellence. In a few short years, she has rocketed from doe-eyed Upper East Side ingénue to international fashion figurehead.
Poised and as focused as a laser beam, she appears much older than her years, something she says she owes to surrounding herself with older friends. At the restaurant in The Standard hotel in her native New York, she orders an iced cappuccino and politely refuses food. Her face is doll-like, with huge brown eyes, dimples and perfect skin. Her outfit – and it's really her outfits that have won her hordes of young fashion-hungry fans – is so perfectly put together that even in a city like New York, where women are assiduously groomed and preened, she turns heads. She is wearing a cream shirt designed by Carine Roitfeld's husband Christian Restoin, leather shorts from Tibi, a Topshop belt, sky-high heels by Kurt Geiger and statement costume jewellery.
'You need to have a long-term plan,' she says of her rise to fame. 'You can't look at it like a deer in the headlights and only think about being in the moment. From the very first day I decided to start all of this I thought, "This has to be lasting. How is this going to work in 15 years?" That's how I look at it.' What insightful business sense, I say. 'Well, I'm a New Yorker,' she replies.
What her career will look like in 15 years, however, she won't say. She doesn't want to 'jinx' any upcoming projects by talking about them. But the strategy does involve acting – she plans to take classes – and designing, when the right collaboration comes along. This is the strategy of a woman who knows how to cash in on her moment and turn her beauty, ambition and love of fashion into a business.
Olivia first gained notoriety on account of her über-b*tch role in the MTV reality show The City. The show was a spin-off from The Hills, which starred a young student and later Teen Vogue staffer, Lauren Conrad, and her decorative friends as they attempted to make it in LA. The more urbane sequel charted the heady life of an up-and-coming fashion designer, Whitney Port, and her interaction with New York's fashion mavens, such as Palermo, who was working at American Elle magazine. Olivia's on-screen transgressions included refusing to wear Guess clothes to a Guess party, not showing up to conduct an interview, snubbing Port and being rude and dismissive of Erin Kaplan, the head of PR at the magazine.
'I am the furthest thing from a b*tch. It's a scripted reality show,' she says of the process whereby producers set up altercations, feed lines to the stars, and reshoot scenes to emphasise conflict and drama. 'I was just playing a part. I don't like to say that it was all due to editing but I think editing does a very interesting thing.' (Not interesting enough, apparently, since plans for a third season have recently been cancelled.)
But it all really started for Olivia with society photographer Patrick McMullan, the documenter of New York nightlife. Wannabe socialites routinely scan his website, where he posts party pictures, to count how many times they've been snapped. 'Everything kind of worked out really nicely,' she says. 'Patrick took my picture [in April 2006], and my girlfriends and I were getting involved in various New York charity
fundraising events. That's where it all started. I have always been one to give back whenever I can, absolutely. Any chance I get to help.'
From a few photo opportunities at the right parties, courtesy of McMullan, her prominence in the diary pages rose and invitations flooded in. Next, she did what all ambitious New York fashionistas do: she hired a publicist. And then there was a well-timed scandal that landed her name in the New York Post's Page Six gossip column. An anonymous website called Socialite Rank popped up in 2006 and started ranking New York's It girls, with points awarded for outfits and frequency of attendance at prestigious events. It pitted Olivia as the rival to the city's number one It girl Tinsley Mortimer, the pretty blonde daughter of a wealthy Virginia rug salesman who married into New York society (the two rivals reportedly had a run-in at a charity fashion show, where Mortimer allegedly bumped into Palermo deliberately backstage and made her lose her footing). 'Next time you think about skipping that certain gala, wearing that unknown designer, dating some weird band member, beware,' the website wrote. 'We're watching. And your ranking is on the line!'
Next the site ran a story with the headline: 'Exclusive! Olivia Palermo Loses Her Mind and Shocks Socialite World!' It called her the 'social-climbing heroine of the moment' and posted a letter she had supposedly written to New York's society girls apologising for being too pushy. 'I know I have gotten off on the wrong foot with many of you and there may even be some of you that do not like me,' the letter said. 'But I feel that those feelings are more a creation of websites like Socialite Rank, rumours and gossip than they are to [sic] your own experiences.' Except Olivia didn't write the letter. Her father, a real-estate developer, hired a powerful lawyer and a month later Socialite Rank disappeared from the web. Palermo somehow came out of the incident smelling of roses.
Of the backstabbing and bullying she says, 'It's something I have always experienced since I was a kid. I have always been taught to rise above it and be the bigger person. That's the best advice I can give someone. It's a part of life, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'
Olivia manages to be both friendly and guarded at the same time. While she politely bats off questions about her rise to fame, her eyes light up at the subject of fashion. She gives considered, careful answers with the well-to-do diction of the Upper East Side. She doesn't base her career – or her look, for that matter – on anyone else's. 'I'm me,' she says. But she does count Rosalind Russell, the star of the 1940 film His Girl Friday, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant as her style icons. She is fronting advertising campaigns for Mango and Hogan, and is muse and collaborator to several designers including Tommy Hilfiger. She is signed to the Wilhelmina modelling agency alongside her boyfriend Johannes Huebl, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls.
'I come up with everything on my own,' she says of her collaborations. 'I have a great team, but for the most part I make all my own decisions. I set the tone for how I want to run my business.' One thing she doesn't mind being called is an It girl. 'I love it! You want to see an eclectic group of people and fresh faces [in fashion]. It girls have always been there. Growing up on the Upper East Side, that's probably where I get it from, seeing all these older ladies who are just so elegant and polished. I love 1950s and 1960s glamour, to me that's the ideal of fashion. I just love that era and I look to it for inspiration, always. I think it's important to have that Hollywood glamour in our culture today because you can't just have pop culture.'
Of her much-applauded style, she says, 'My best, favourite outfits are things that I have put together in two seconds. When I travel to certain cities, I know what their overall look is so I can adapt. For example, in London I always know to take a leather jacket because things are more edgy. In Paris, having a blue and white striped shirt and a really elegant chiffon dress make one more at ease. Then in New York you are always a bit more polished because we are so work-driven – you just need to have that pulled-together look.'
She counts her mother, an interior designer – 'I definitely get an eye from her' – as one of her style inspirations. Also, her aunt Linda Donahue, who spent 25 years working in the couture department of Doyle, the New York auction house. 'I had a good childhood. I had very supportive parents who were always encouraging me to do what I wanted to do and that has helped me as an adult.'
Her parents divorced when she was still at school, so she split her time between the wealthy town of Greenwich, Connecticut, where her father lives, and the Upper East Side with her mother. She attended a school in the city for children with learning difficulties. 'When I was younger I had a learning disability,' she says. 'But I have overcome it. You get through it.' Then, in 2007, her father lost a claim for bankruptcy after it was reported he owed $2.75 million to a creditor and had been missing alimony payments. Her university education has been peripatetic; she is currently reading media studies at The New School, a university in New York which includes the prestigious Parsons School of Design among its colleges. She also studied in Paris at the American University. 'It's taking a long time, but I think I can take some time with it. I am trying to balance everything. I know that I can go back and I will. I take every other semester off and then go back.'
She and Huebl, her German boyfriend of three years, spend more time in Europe than in New York, she says. They met through mutual friends in New York and keep up a hectic travel schedule, never going longer than seven days without seeing each other. They share an apartment in Brooklyn, and own a dog together, a Maltese called Mr Butler. In the winter months, the couple spend as much time skiing as they can and flee to Utah, Vermont and Switzerland. 'Anywhere that has a powder of snow, I am there,' she says.
'He is very supportive of me,' she says of Huebl, 'always helping me with business ideas and directions and focus. I am more the creative one. He is more business-focused, so we are a good team. He is from a very top-notch family, that's for sure. My parents love him.'
Of the next 12 months, she says she is still mulling over some new fashion collaborations. 'I want to try a little bit of everything, designing is a serious focus. Acting as well. I would like to try it and I don't know how successful I will be at it. But designing and finding the right company is the next step. I look at it all and I am learning constantly from it, and it will help me with anything that I do moving forward.'
And nothing is going to stop Palermo from moving forward.
London Evening Standard - Melissa Whitworth
19.11.10
Truman Capote called them swans. Briton Hadden, the co-founder of Time magazine, coined the term socialite in 1928. For the social commentators of the 1960s they were the jet set. The British tabloids named them 'It' girls. And whatever 'it' is, Olivia Palermo has it in abundance. At 24, she has turned a series of photo opportunities at New York parties and charity galas into a lucrative career; her moment in the light of popping flashbulbs has become a brand-building exercise par excellence. In a few short years, she has rocketed from doe-eyed Upper East Side ingénue to international fashion figurehead.
Poised and as focused as a laser beam, she appears much older than her years, something she says she owes to surrounding herself with older friends. At the restaurant in The Standard hotel in her native New York, she orders an iced cappuccino and politely refuses food. Her face is doll-like, with huge brown eyes, dimples and perfect skin. Her outfit – and it's really her outfits that have won her hordes of young fashion-hungry fans – is so perfectly put together that even in a city like New York, where women are assiduously groomed and preened, she turns heads. She is wearing a cream shirt designed by Carine Roitfeld's husband Christian Restoin, leather shorts from Tibi, a Topshop belt, sky-high heels by Kurt Geiger and statement costume jewellery.
'You need to have a long-term plan,' she says of her rise to fame. 'You can't look at it like a deer in the headlights and only think about being in the moment. From the very first day I decided to start all of this I thought, "This has to be lasting. How is this going to work in 15 years?" That's how I look at it.' What insightful business sense, I say. 'Well, I'm a New Yorker,' she replies.
What her career will look like in 15 years, however, she won't say. She doesn't want to 'jinx' any upcoming projects by talking about them. But the strategy does involve acting – she plans to take classes – and designing, when the right collaboration comes along. This is the strategy of a woman who knows how to cash in on her moment and turn her beauty, ambition and love of fashion into a business.
Olivia first gained notoriety on account of her über-b*tch role in the MTV reality show The City. The show was a spin-off from The Hills, which starred a young student and later Teen Vogue staffer, Lauren Conrad, and her decorative friends as they attempted to make it in LA. The more urbane sequel charted the heady life of an up-and-coming fashion designer, Whitney Port, and her interaction with New York's fashion mavens, such as Palermo, who was working at American Elle magazine. Olivia's on-screen transgressions included refusing to wear Guess clothes to a Guess party, not showing up to conduct an interview, snubbing Port and being rude and dismissive of Erin Kaplan, the head of PR at the magazine.
'I am the furthest thing from a b*tch. It's a scripted reality show,' she says of the process whereby producers set up altercations, feed lines to the stars, and reshoot scenes to emphasise conflict and drama. 'I was just playing a part. I don't like to say that it was all due to editing but I think editing does a very interesting thing.' (Not interesting enough, apparently, since plans for a third season have recently been cancelled.)
But it all really started for Olivia with society photographer Patrick McMullan, the documenter of New York nightlife. Wannabe socialites routinely scan his website, where he posts party pictures, to count how many times they've been snapped. 'Everything kind of worked out really nicely,' she says. 'Patrick took my picture [in April 2006], and my girlfriends and I were getting involved in various New York charity
fundraising events. That's where it all started. I have always been one to give back whenever I can, absolutely. Any chance I get to help.'
From a few photo opportunities at the right parties, courtesy of McMullan, her prominence in the diary pages rose and invitations flooded in. Next, she did what all ambitious New York fashionistas do: she hired a publicist. And then there was a well-timed scandal that landed her name in the New York Post's Page Six gossip column. An anonymous website called Socialite Rank popped up in 2006 and started ranking New York's It girls, with points awarded for outfits and frequency of attendance at prestigious events. It pitted Olivia as the rival to the city's number one It girl Tinsley Mortimer, the pretty blonde daughter of a wealthy Virginia rug salesman who married into New York society (the two rivals reportedly had a run-in at a charity fashion show, where Mortimer allegedly bumped into Palermo deliberately backstage and made her lose her footing). 'Next time you think about skipping that certain gala, wearing that unknown designer, dating some weird band member, beware,' the website wrote. 'We're watching. And your ranking is on the line!'
Next the site ran a story with the headline: 'Exclusive! Olivia Palermo Loses Her Mind and Shocks Socialite World!' It called her the 'social-climbing heroine of the moment' and posted a letter she had supposedly written to New York's society girls apologising for being too pushy. 'I know I have gotten off on the wrong foot with many of you and there may even be some of you that do not like me,' the letter said. 'But I feel that those feelings are more a creation of websites like Socialite Rank, rumours and gossip than they are to [sic] your own experiences.' Except Olivia didn't write the letter. Her father, a real-estate developer, hired a powerful lawyer and a month later Socialite Rank disappeared from the web. Palermo somehow came out of the incident smelling of roses.
Of the backstabbing and bullying she says, 'It's something I have always experienced since I was a kid. I have always been taught to rise above it and be the bigger person. That's the best advice I can give someone. It's a part of life, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'
Olivia manages to be both friendly and guarded at the same time. While she politely bats off questions about her rise to fame, her eyes light up at the subject of fashion. She gives considered, careful answers with the well-to-do diction of the Upper East Side. She doesn't base her career – or her look, for that matter – on anyone else's. 'I'm me,' she says. But she does count Rosalind Russell, the star of the 1940 film His Girl Friday, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant as her style icons. She is fronting advertising campaigns for Mango and Hogan, and is muse and collaborator to several designers including Tommy Hilfiger. She is signed to the Wilhelmina modelling agency alongside her boyfriend Johannes Huebl, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls.
'I come up with everything on my own,' she says of her collaborations. 'I have a great team, but for the most part I make all my own decisions. I set the tone for how I want to run my business.' One thing she doesn't mind being called is an It girl. 'I love it! You want to see an eclectic group of people and fresh faces [in fashion]. It girls have always been there. Growing up on the Upper East Side, that's probably where I get it from, seeing all these older ladies who are just so elegant and polished. I love 1950s and 1960s glamour, to me that's the ideal of fashion. I just love that era and I look to it for inspiration, always. I think it's important to have that Hollywood glamour in our culture today because you can't just have pop culture.'
Of her much-applauded style, she says, 'My best, favourite outfits are things that I have put together in two seconds. When I travel to certain cities, I know what their overall look is so I can adapt. For example, in London I always know to take a leather jacket because things are more edgy. In Paris, having a blue and white striped shirt and a really elegant chiffon dress make one more at ease. Then in New York you are always a bit more polished because we are so work-driven – you just need to have that pulled-together look.'
She counts her mother, an interior designer – 'I definitely get an eye from her' – as one of her style inspirations. Also, her aunt Linda Donahue, who spent 25 years working in the couture department of Doyle, the New York auction house. 'I had a good childhood. I had very supportive parents who were always encouraging me to do what I wanted to do and that has helped me as an adult.'
Her parents divorced when she was still at school, so she split her time between the wealthy town of Greenwich, Connecticut, where her father lives, and the Upper East Side with her mother. She attended a school in the city for children with learning difficulties. 'When I was younger I had a learning disability,' she says. 'But I have overcome it. You get through it.' Then, in 2007, her father lost a claim for bankruptcy after it was reported he owed $2.75 million to a creditor and had been missing alimony payments. Her university education has been peripatetic; she is currently reading media studies at The New School, a university in New York which includes the prestigious Parsons School of Design among its colleges. She also studied in Paris at the American University. 'It's taking a long time, but I think I can take some time with it. I am trying to balance everything. I know that I can go back and I will. I take every other semester off and then go back.'
She and Huebl, her German boyfriend of three years, spend more time in Europe than in New York, she says. They met through mutual friends in New York and keep up a hectic travel schedule, never going longer than seven days without seeing each other. They share an apartment in Brooklyn, and own a dog together, a Maltese called Mr Butler. In the winter months, the couple spend as much time skiing as they can and flee to Utah, Vermont and Switzerland. 'Anywhere that has a powder of snow, I am there,' she says.
'He is very supportive of me,' she says of Huebl, 'always helping me with business ideas and directions and focus. I am more the creative one. He is more business-focused, so we are a good team. He is from a very top-notch family, that's for sure. My parents love him.'
Of the next 12 months, she says she is still mulling over some new fashion collaborations. 'I want to try a little bit of everything, designing is a serious focus. Acting as well. I would like to try it and I don't know how successful I will be at it. But designing and finding the right company is the next step. I look at it all and I am learning constantly from it, and it will help me with anything that I do moving forward.'
And nothing is going to stop Palermo from moving forward.
Olivia Palermo, pseudo-nemesis of Whitney Port from the now-defunct The City is landing her own reality show that will follow her every move.
Olivia wants to follow in the steps of Lauren Conrad as Olivia's new show will document her life as a socialite, as well as her current modelling gigs for Mango and Matches.
Olivia's new show is still in the pipelines and has yet to be picked up by a network, this reporter thinks maybe the Style network, Oxygen, or even E! might be interested if not MTV or VH1.
For many of us, we all know Olivia Palermo as the girl who wreaked havoc in Whitney Port's life with either guys, friends, and even Whitney's clothing line.
From there, Olivia went on to Elle wreaking even more havoc around Joe Zee and Erin Kaplan who had their hands full with The City star.
All in all, Olivia is not one to win the hearts of the American public, but can she turn that around and make us fall in love with her like Lauren Conrad?
11/23/10 The Examiner
Olivia wants to follow in the steps of Lauren Conrad as Olivia's new show will document her life as a socialite, as well as her current modelling gigs for Mango and Matches.
Olivia's new show is still in the pipelines and has yet to be picked up by a network, this reporter thinks maybe the Style network, Oxygen, or even E! might be interested if not MTV or VH1.
For many of us, we all know Olivia Palermo as the girl who wreaked havoc in Whitney Port's life with either guys, friends, and even Whitney's clothing line.
From there, Olivia went on to Elle wreaking even more havoc around Joe Zee and Erin Kaplan who had their hands full with The City star.
All in all, Olivia is not one to win the hearts of the American public, but can she turn that around and make us fall in love with her like Lauren Conrad?
11/23/10 The Examiner
^ I mean thats how it seems to me - Do the 'American public' really take things like The City seriously and believe that Whitney is the hard done by do-gooder in real life and that Olivia is exactly as she is portrayed?
Whenever I read things about Olivia in the UK publications it's always vaguely acknowledged that the City is just fake and that it's all for entertainment purposes only and nothing more.
Whenever I read things about Olivia in the UK publications it's always vaguely acknowledged that the City is just fake and that it's all for entertainment purposes only and nothing more.
^ I think a lot of people just accept whatever these 'reality' shows portray...I spent many summers right near where 'Jersey Shore' is filmed, and there are almost no people acting like that- certainly not all the time; it's a character in a story, not real life... 
Caroliiine
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I have doubts about Olivia's new show being successful, but hopefully she can prove me wrong. Reality TV stars are built based on their personality, and (to the public), hers is kind of cold and unfriendly. Girls like Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian, and Lauren Conrad succeeded in becoming 'stars' because they were known for being sweet and friendly. The Jersey Shore/Real Housewives stars aren't known for their nice behaviour but none of them have really branded (with perfumes, books, clothing lines) and if they did, I doubt they would be successful because their fame is built on tackiness/drama and nobody wants to support someone they don't like.
Olivia sounds like she wants a career similar to LC (who writes, designs, does cameo acting, and is generally seen as one of the more respectable reality stars), but LC was successful because she was marketed as the girl-next-door, the girl you want as your BFF (so of course you'll buy her book!), which Olivia isn't.
Olivia sounds like she wants a career similar to LC (who writes, designs, does cameo acting, and is generally seen as one of the more respectable reality stars), but LC was successful because she was marketed as the girl-next-door, the girl you want as your BFF (so of course you'll buy her book!), which Olivia isn't.
yeah but LC isn't on the same level as Olivia in that I really doubt she would ever front a Matches or Hogan campaign or a major high-street retailer like Mango. In terms of high-fashion, Olivia is well in there.
And the girl next door thing hasn't worked out amazingly for Whitney. of the two, Olivia's name and style are more internationally known and followed.
Despite Olivia's 'tv personality' she had followers irrespective of her personna but based purely on her style. You couldn't same the same for LC. Everything about her is based on her Hills portrayal and facade
And the girl next door thing hasn't worked out amazingly for Whitney. of the two, Olivia's name and style are more internationally known and followed.
Despite Olivia's 'tv personality' she had followers irrespective of her personna but based purely on her style. You couldn't same the same for LC. Everything about her is based on her Hills portrayal and facade
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f63/olivia-palermo-gossip-86793-9.html#ixzz16Eo47BSW
Lauren isn't marketing herself to highstreet. She's appealing to the everygirl and succeeding on a remarkable level at branding herself across multiple platforms. Lauren's Style Book is a NYT bestseller. People aren't buying her clothes or Style book because she was so nice on The Hills. They're buying it because they like her accessible style. I can totally see Lauren expanding into a whole lifestyle brand a la Martha Stewart based on her casual California image.
Olivia is the toast of the fashion world but outside of that world, does she have the appeal or relatibility to succeed in non-fashion platforms? How many fashion It Girls actually become household names? Every 5 years or so a new one comes along and when she ages out of the role or a new girl comes along she's forgotten. Whatever happened to Cory Kennedy?
I see Olivia continuing to front clothing and beauty campaigns and doing collaborations until her shelf-life expires and the next hot thing comes along. She will have more success overseas where beauty and style are enough to land someone a magazine cover in the absence of a hit tv show, movie or singing/acting talent. Simply dressing well is not enough to land a major U.S. magazine cover--people have to like you. When her time is up I hope she has saved her money and/or married well. Olivia doesn't strike me as someone who actually wants to put in the hard work it takes to run a business and build a fashion line from the ground up like Lauren.
Lauren isn't marketing herself to highstreet. She's appealing to the everygirl and succeeding on a remarkable level at branding herself across multiple platforms. Lauren's Style Book is a NYT bestseller. People aren't buying her clothes or Style book because she was so nice on The Hills. They're buying it because they like her accessible style. I can totally see Lauren expanding into a whole lifestyle brand a la Martha Stewart based on her casual California image.
Olivia is the toast of the fashion world but outside of that world, does she have the appeal or relatibility to succeed in non-fashion platforms? How many fashion It Girls actually become household names? Every 5 years or so a new one comes along and when she ages out of the role or a new girl comes along she's forgotten. Whatever happened to Cory Kennedy?
I see Olivia continuing to front clothing and beauty campaigns and doing collaborations until her shelf-life expires and the next hot thing comes along. She will have more success overseas where beauty and style are enough to land someone a magazine cover in the absence of a hit tv show, movie or singing/acting talent. Simply dressing well is not enough to land a major U.S. magazine cover--people have to like you. When her time is up I hope she has saved her money and/or married well. Olivia doesn't strike me as someone who actually wants to put in the hard work it takes to run a business and build a fashion line from the ground up like Lauren.
^^I wouldn't go out of the way to meet either one of them--and I actually love Lauren. I'm just not a starstruck person. I don't need someone's handshake or autograph and I'm not going to trip over myself to meet someone because they're pretty and I like their outfits.
Caroliiine
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Yes, but that's what sells her stuff. Her clothing line is full of stuff you could buy from Forever 21/Charlotte Russe/etc. People buy HER line because they like LC. Similar to Britney Spears' line for Kohl's or Miley Cyrus for Walmart. The clothes are so generic and you can buy it anywhere but people are making the line a hit because of the person endorsing it.
If Olivia's not going to appeal to the masses and focus on people who have a bigger interest in style/fashion, it's going to be a struggle because she'll have to compete against 1. designers and 2. other celebs/fashionistas more popular than her who are also designing stuff. And the fashion world is not short of celebrities wanting to design stuff (Emma Watson for People Tree, Nicole Richie for House of Harlow, Kate Bosworth for JewelMint) so she will have to work hard to stand out.
Well fair enough and I agree on some points but personally, if Olivia wanted that kind of an appeal she probably should've/would've said no to The City. Lauren is big in the US but she isn't big in the UK whereas, and this is my point, Olivia is. Actually, I feel like she's far more bigger on a European scale. The decisions she has made so far are taking her in a completely different route to Lauren. I really don't get the appeal with Lauren Conrad, to me her fifteen minutes have gone on way too long and I'm an everygirl and so are my friends and she doesn't appeal to us. And really? I'm sorry but I believe that it's her portrayal as the girl-next door good girl that has made her. Olivia's style IS accessible - in terms of generic fashion, Lauren wins but in terms of the fashion that is followed by fashion consious teens, it's Olivia. She's wearing Topshop, she's wearing Kurt Geiger, she is making good outfit/brand choices so as to appeal to a certain market. She probably will fall into obscurity in a few more years but at least she's actually interesting and has style that I also find interesting instead of bland and safe.
And Lauren isn't appealing herself to highstreet? Isn't Kohls a US high-street shop? I've been there, it's like Matalan in the UK. She's cheap, easy fashion. It's worked for her, the same formula was used for Whitney and it hasn't panned out the same for her.
We'll just agree to disagree. I'm not Olivia Palermo's no#1 fan but I just take The City and The Hills for what they are - ott entertainment.
^The clothes are so generic and you can buy it anywhere but people are making the line a hit because of the person endorsing it.
Yes- like Jacqueline Smith at K Mart- with about a Zillion Dollars in sales for many years now!!
I can definitely see Olivia in a Kohl's or even Macy's sort of line- a little above average in market but accessible to most people, and I'll bet she would be there to do a great job promoting the hell out of it, too! I'm sure there are plenty of young women who would love the New York Socialite connection out in Indiana or Florida...
Yes- like Jacqueline Smith at K Mart- with about a Zillion Dollars in sales for many years now!!
I can definitely see Olivia in a Kohl's or even Macy's sort of line- a little above average in market but accessible to most people, and I'll bet she would be there to do a great job promoting the hell out of it, too! I'm sure there are plenty of young women who would love the New York Socialite connection out in Indiana or Florida...
Kohl's is like a mid-range department store in the U.S. It's more mainstream. I guess it's a step up from Target probably in the same range as Macy's or JC Penney's all of which are below Nordstrom's and Bloomingdales.
I don't know how the girls are doing abroad but Lauren has been on a lot of magazine covers overseas in places like Mexico, Japan, Sweden and several Slavic countries.She's on the cover of Italian Cosmo right now. They're usually re-prints of her US editions but that she's appearing on magazines abroad shows her appeal is not limited to the States.
No matter how Lauren is portrayed people aren't going to buy her clothes or style book if they don't like the way she dresses. I've seen plenty of commentary amounting to "I don't really like Lauren but I love how she always looks pulled together." People love Snooki from Jersey shore but if she put out a style book I don't see too many people running to pick it up.
Olivia's style is way more posh than the average US teen--even the fashion conscious ones. Even if she's wearing topshop her style reads "ladies who lunch". There is such a small segment of women in the US who have a need to dress that way. I can see girls aspiring to dress like Olivia but when it comes down to what actually suits their day-to-day life --which doesn't likely include cocktail parties and premieres-- they are probably looking more to someone like Lauren.
^^ Olivia's style is way more posh than the average US teen--even the fashion conscious ones. Even if she's wearing topshop her style reads "ladies who lunch". There is such a small segment of women in the US who have a need to dress that way. I can see girls aspiring to dress like Olivia but when it comes down to what actually suits their day-to-day life --which doesn't likely include cocktail parties and premieres-- they are probably looking more to someone like Lauren.
Couldn't the same be said for Ralph Lauren, and his $3Billion in sales??
Couldn't the same be said for Ralph Lauren, and his $3Billion in sales??
Teen Vogue’s 50 Best Dressed Celebrities of 2010, top ten:
1) Alexa Chung
2) Emma Roberts
3) Carey Mulligan
4) Kate Bosworth
5) Lea Michele
6) Camilla Belle
7) Kristen Stewart
8) Taylor Swift
9) Olivia Palermo
10) Rachel Bilson
bloginity.com
1) Alexa Chung
2) Emma Roberts
3) Carey Mulligan
4) Kate Bosworth
5) Lea Michele
6) Camilla Belle
7) Kristen Stewart
8) Taylor Swift
9) Olivia Palermo
10) Rachel Bilson
bloginity.com
Couldn't the same be said for Ralph Lauren, and his $3Billion in sales??
Ralph Lauren makes most of his money from his lifestyle brands--housewares, bedding, luggage, perfumes..etc. Plus his brand runs the gamut from casual polo shirts to Oscar red carpet worthy gowns which means his brand encompasses everyone from college students to ladies-who-lunch. Aside from that, I'd never put Olivia and her "brand" in the same category as RL who worked hard to get his empire. Ralph Lauren is a business man. Olivia is a pretty woman who wears nice clothes.
I see Olivia being a perennial muse and collaborator. She does not seem to have the work ethic to run a traditional company and build a brand from scratch like Ralph Lauren.
I do wonder how long US Vogue will continue its embargo against her. She has never been featured in the magazine and has yet to get an invite to the Met gala despite being ever-present on the social circuit. I don't see how Vogue can still be team Tinsley after her disasterous reality show.
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