Rachel Zoe’s empire is crumbling: is it because she’s an awful businesswoman?
We always have new photos of Rachel Zoe and her son Skylar coming in, but I rarely discuss them these days because… no one else is really discussing them. You know? Like, I would make Rachel Zoe the lead link, but no other site is even talking about her. Zoe was never a huge “celebrity” in the way that people discussed her often on blogs and in magazines, but she was famous enough to have across-the-board name recognition, and she was famous enough to build her own brand. Unfortunately, my own apathy towards Zoe these days belies an across-the-board ambivalence when it comes to Rachel. According to Page Six, Zoe’s empire isn’t doing very well at all. Interest in Zoe seems to have already “peaked” and now she’s on the way down…?
Rachel Zoe’s clothing empire might soon be in shreds — sources say her line isn’t selling well in stores and her Bravo reality show may also be in trouble. The pin-thin stylist-turned-designer has become a household name from styling A-list clients including Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway and Demi Moore, and through her Bravo reality show, “The Rachel Zoe Project.” Last summer, she launched a clothing line with Chinese retail giant Li & Fung.
But despite the large promotional platform of her Bravo show, we hear the line isn’t doing well at stores including Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, with industry insiders snipping that interest in the line has “peaked.”
We hear Li & Fung “is panicked” about Zoe’s collection, and there are also rumblings that “The Rachel Zoe Project” may not return to Bravo for a fifth season.
To add insult to injury, sources tell us that Zoe’s assistant, interior designer Jeremiah Brent, is getting his own reality show on the network. Brent, who redecorated Zoe’s Hollywood home on the show, appeared on “Zoe Project” in Season 4, having been fired and rehired by Zoe and her husband, Rodger Berman.
Brent appears to have moved on and started his own business, Jeremiah Brent Design, as shown by photos of his office on Twitter. He would be the third Zoe assistant to get a reality show, including Brad Goreski (“It’s a Brad Brad World”) and Taylor Jacobson, who appears in Oxygen Network’s upcoming “Hollywood Unzipped: Stylist Wars.”
A rep for Zoe, who will show at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week, didn’t comment. But Alan Chartash, the chief strategy officer for Li & Fung USA, said: “We’re very happy. Apparel launched a year or so, and since that time, we’ve launched footwear, handbags and we’re launching a line of jewelry exclusively with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. We’re supportive of Rachel and the continuation of the brand. Like any clothing line, it ebbs and flows, but we’re very happy with the apparel sales.”
I haven’t watched The Rachel Zoe Project in a long time – pretty much since Brad left. Brad definitely grounded the show, which is such a weird thing to say about a dude like Brad. Much like LeAnn Rimes, Rachel Zoe gives Virgos a bad name – I see myself in some of her anal-retentive-ness, and in her tunnel-vision of “I’m the only one who can do this the right way, step aside.” But after the exodus of staff and Zoe’s consistent ability to spread herself too thin and get “overwhelmed” by all she has taken on, she might need to face it: she’s an awful businesswoman, a terrible boss, and she lacks the ability to manage an empire. She’s a micro-manager, a nit-picker, she’s detail-oriented, and she has a horrible time trying to see the “big picture.” Time to pull back from some of her projects and maybe just focus on styling for a while? Because, though I’m loathe to admit it, she is a talented stylist with an encyclopedic and nearly photographic memory, and she does have an “eye” for her clients.
Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN.
