Is Whitney Port the New Carrie Bradshaw?Whitney Port has left The Hills of Los Angeles for The City—her very own NYC reality show. But in her search for love, success and fame, can this bubbly blonde TV star be the next Carrie Bradshaw?
By Sara Cardace
"I've had to buy scarves and gloves and hats and things I never, ever wanted to buy," moans New York City's latest import, Whitney Port, the fresh-faced fashion girl of MTV reality hit The Hills. The sleepy-eyed blonde is ruminating about her first winter in the Northeast, far away from the swaying palm trees and fake tans of her native Los Angeles. "I'll probably end up putting lotion all over my body and wrapping myself in Saran Wrap like Madonna," she laughs, referring to the lengths the Material Girl has gone to protect her skin from the elements. "But it's fun shopping for a winter wardrobe!" she adds, radiating the glass-half-full optimism that is her default posture. This is, after all, a young woman adept at living her life on-camera—she knows how to appear hyper-poised yet cool and casual, friendly and yet never really vulnerable. She's sort of like a beauty pageant contestant, only playing in the much higher sweepstakes world of reality TV.
Walking through Chelsea Market on a brisk November day, she draws little attention from West Side office workers on their lunch breaks, as she blends into the crowd with her chic downtown uniform of black leggings, slouchy butterscotch suede boots and a gorgeous leather-and-knit Diane von Furstenberg trench. Of course, even the outfit is a calculated move—she's working in public relations for DVF, both in real life and on TV. Whether or not Whitney's simply being herself, playing a character or living some hybrid of fact and fiction, the 23-year-old should take advantage of her relative anonymity while she still can. She moved here this past summer to star in The City, MTV's newest reality show, which premieres December 29 and chronicles her escape to NYC from L.A. Even though her solo show has yet to debut, the lack of recognition is surprising, considering three million viewers tune in to watch The Hills, a pop-culture phenomenon that's impossible to avoid. Everyone from gossip Web site Gawker.com to Entertainment Weekly recaps episodes online, New Yorker critic Nancy Franklin waxed philosophical on its cultural importance and even Anderson Cooper asked on CNN's 360°, "Who is L.C.? Is she the one who's dating the…what is his name, Chester or something?" (Answer: Her name is Lauren Conrad, she is Whitney's co-worker and confidante and she is not dating Spencer, the "evil" husband of Heidi. You're welcome, Anderson.)
With The City's focus on friends, fashion, love life and nightlife—and with her caramel curls and joie de vivre—Whitney just might end up being NYC's new Carrie Bradshaw. And if history is any indication, she should be a success. Back in 2004, MTV premiered a semi-scripted reality show called Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, which followed the romances and squabbles of a group of rich California teens much like their fictional counterparts on the then popular soap-drama The O.C. The breakout star was hyper-glossy beach girl Lauren "L.C." Conrad, whom MTV went on to give a spin-off show, The Hills, in 2006. That series, chronicling everything from Lauren's fledgling fashion career to a sex-tape scandal to spectacular flameouts with her best pals, was a ratings blockbuster. The season three finale, which aired in May 2008, was the most-watched show in its time slot among the coveted 12- to 34-year-old demographic. And though all the characters on the series have evolved into quasi-celebrities, Whitney, for all her leggy, girl-next-door appeal, didn't seem like the obvious choice for her own spin-off. After all, she's not a cartoon character like the Barbie-esque Heidi Montag, melon-breasted Audrina Patridge or icy, scheming Lo Bosworth. Nope, mild-mannered Whitney managed to steer clear of drama and keep her private life off-screen. In a way, she just seemed like a normal girl—which apparently was shocking enough for MTV to reward her with her own gig.
"I kind of stay out of those [on-screen overly dramatic] situations, or at least I try to navigate through them so they don't get blown out of proportion," she explains. "Also, I had a boyfriend when I first started, and we made a conscious effort not to show our relationship on-camera." But this time around, the trailer for The City—which shows the fashion-world hopeful indulging in steamy make-out sessions with various mystery men, everywhere from industrial rooftops to misty street corners—proves that Whitney's personal life will be put into sharp focus. "I can't completely neglect that part of my life this time," she says, her eyebrows knitting together for just a second before she brightens back up. "But I figure, why not—maybe I can teach people things by my mistakes and my, I don't know, journey? Hopefully?"
Her reticence about going the full-reality Monty makes sense, given that Whitney never aspired to be on-screen. "Never once did I ever really think about being on television, having this attention—it was never something I wanted to do," she explains, firmly. Having grown up in Los Angeles as the third of five children (her father ran an apparel company, while her mother was a housewife), Whitney graduated from the University of Southern California in 2007 with a degree in gender studies (no doubt helpful when dissecting such issues as Lauren's dating dilemmas). Earlier that year, she was pursuing a career in fashion and "working at Women's Wear Daily as a fashion intern, when I found out that [the L.A. office of] Teen Vogue was looking for interns," she says. "I had an interview and then got a phone call from MTV a couple of days later. They were like, 'We're shooting this documentary-style TV show about girls growing up in L.A. and the fashion industry, blah blah blah' and I was like, 'OK, that's interesting, whatever,' " she says, only somewhat convincingly. "And the next thing I knew they wanted to cast me on the show. But I was really just trying to get the job at Teen Vogue!" Whitney insists that it wasn't until she had her second interview with the fashion mag that it hit her she was really going to be on TV. "I walked in, and then Lauren walked in. And that was…'Oh my god.' Because of course I knew who she was from Laguna Beach—I mean, I wasn't living in a bubble. I was like, 'I'm totally on her spin-off show!' " Whitney exclaims, falling for just a moment out of her regulated tones and into the excited, natural speech of the Valley girl she is.
And now, Whitney's got a whole new life: city, apartment, job and friends-castmates, including hipster photographer Erin Williams and socialite Olivia Palermo, who also works at DVF. Her new social circle (not to mention their wine-soaked dinner parties, A-list party-hopping and, yes, enviable wardrobes) may call to mind the Charlottes and Samanthas of yore, but it bears mentioning that Carrie Bradshaw—who, as a freelancer in her thirties, had a mortgage and mountains of credit card debt to worry about—would be less than ecstatic about the current recession. Perhaps it takes women as young as Whitney and her carefree cohorts to let us relive those frivolous, halcyon, spend-crazy days of Sex and the City. "We all need clothes, obviously, but to be fashionable right now is an extra," Whitney says.
For a girl who's "always wanted to be a fashion designer" there's no better place to make it all happen than at the Meatpacking District offices over which Diane von Furstenberg presides. "It's been great," Whitney gushes. "I've only gotten to work with her a couple of times, for a span of maybe five to 10 minutes, just because she's so in and out, you know? But I got to see her spring fashion show, which was awesome. I actually worked backstage!"
Whitney's also in a romance with smoldering Australian expat Jay Lyon, a folk-rock singer. "Jay's roommate was modeling in a fashion show that [I worked on] in August," Whitney shares, after a moment of measured hesitation, "and one night he invited us back to the bar in Chelsea that they live on top of, and Jay was singing with his band, Tamarama. I left [for L.A.] the next morning and didn't see him for a month but we kept in touch, and then I got this job offer, and then the rest is history." Whitney couldn't be happier trading California dudes for a Manhattan man. "I was recently in L.A., and I couldn't help but think, 'Oh my gosh, everyone is kind of the exact same here.' You have all these guys in the entertainment industry who are just trying to be smooth and super-cool. The guys [in New York] are [still] trying to be cool—guys do that everywhere—but they're more confident and they know what they want." That said, there's one thing she hopes boys don't want: "I'm constantly thinking, 'Does this guy really like me?' " she says of meeting new men. " 'Is he just trying to get on the show?' "
One thing that's not on her mind right now is most of The Hills crew. "I still talk to them now and again—obviously, we've been part of such a big thing together, so we're close in that way—but I was never too close with Audrina and Heidi," Whitney confesses. "But Lauren and I talk. If anybody knows what I'm going through right now it's her." Lauren is indeed a role model, having survived her own spin-off and launching a fashion line—a torch she's passed to Whitney, who recently debuted her own moderately priced line of floral, flirty dresses and separates, called Eve & A. (It should be noted, however, that trendy L.A. store Kitson had to donate much of Lauren's collection to charity after it failed to sell, while New York magazine referred to Heidi's line as a "monstrosity.")
"Because you're on a television show, you're opening yourself up to criticism that an unknown designer wouldn't necessarily get," Whitney muses. "I was nervous [about the line failing], but at the same time you have to realize that everyone's entitled to their own opinions, and you just take it as it comes," she says, sounding like a cross between Miss America and Hillary Clinton in the last days of election '08.
Carrie Bradshaw once pondered, "When it comes to life and love, why do we believe our worst reviews?" Whitney, however, is determined to tune out her critics, saying, "I've never really noticed anyone giving me a hard time. Maybe they are and I'm just naïve. But I figure if I just stay true to myself and I am the Whitney that I've always been, people will look at me not as Whitney from the show, but as a human being."
he's so hot!
.
