A few of you may not know that Nicole Richie’s dad is soul-music great Lionel Richie.
Perhaps even more of you may not be aware that she does a pitch-perfect impersonation of him. I was among you until recently, when Richie gave me an unexpected treat over the phone from her home on California, ahead of her visit to Dubai this week.
Lionel is a frequent visitor to Dubai, having performed here several times and when tabloid! has spoken to him, always shared his love for the UAE. I asked her if he’s told her about the city.
“I mean, I’m sure after talking to my dad, you know how spirited he is. He’s like [putting on Lionel’s voice] ‘Baby, I was supposed to go for three days, I ended up going for three weeks! I loooove Dubai’. That’s his whole thing, he loves Dubai, he thinks that he has a million friends there, he would probably move there.”
So did he recommend anything to do here? Uh, not so much. “He’s not a details-oriented person,” adds Richie.
One thing Richie will definitely be doing in Dubai is meeting the public at two sessions, to style them in pieces from her House of Harlow 1960 fashion collection, which is being sold exclusively in the UAE at the Dubai Shopping Festival’s Celebrity Pop-Up Shop down at The Beach in JBR. Things might just get turned on their head, however, because although the designer (she calls HOH 1960 her “day job”) is keen to share her opinion, she likes women doing their own thing, too.
“We’re going to have fun and play with clothes and different looks and be girls, and play with different colours and prints, and talk about the way that they make you feel. It’s just going to be a good time.”
Richie is one of the celebrities that try as you might, you approach with a perception in mind. At first she was the crazy Paris Hilton sidekick in The Simple Life. Then, she was the rather hard-edged fashionista and mum-of-two. Now, with her own show, Candidly Nicole, Richie’s somewhere in between — fearlessly taking potshots at her past and showcasing an unexpected sense of humour.
“I was able to go and be 100 per cent me,” she says of the show, which runs on her website and airs on VH1 in the US. “That was probably the biggest hurdle for myself, and it ended up being the biggest blessing, because when it got picked up as a TV show, the show already was what it was, and people already knew what to expect from the show, and it kind of gave me that confidence.”
Excerpts from the interview:
Q. Tell us about House of Harlow 1960.
A. I started it because I love the late 1960s and early 1970s. What I love about that time is music led everything. In turn, it helped people get in touch with who they were and feel that form of expression that isn’t really around anymore. People were dressing according to their expression, people were very in touch with themselves, there were no rules, there were no trends, people were just wearing and doing whatever they wanted. That’s the most fun thing about fashion, for me, and that’s how I use fashion, as a form of expression. So I wanted to bring that feeling back into fashion, especially for women. When they get dressed I want to them to throw out trends and throw out the rules. You can wear one jacket on one person and throw it on another person and it looks completely different. And that’s because we all have different souls.
Q. How involved are you with the label?
A. House of Harlow is definitely my day job. It’s non-stop, it’s all the time, I’m the creative director so I come up with the vision of where I want the brand to go, I have designers under me, I work with a great team obviously, but everything starts with me.
Q. Has it evolved, and where would you like to take it?
A. I think it’s evolving and changing because I am evolving and changing. Ultimately it will become a lifestyle brand. I just launched candles and that’s my first step into House of Harlow Home, which I am so excited about, I love interiors and I love decorating.
Q. Your web video series Candidly Nicole is so much fun.
A. I am having so much fun. It’s fun for me because this is my way of getting to learn about new things in such a hands-on way and have fun at the same time. I don’t watch every episode as it airs but I am telling you that we have so much fun actually doing it, it’s definitely the most fun that I have ever had on TV.
Q. How would you describe it? Is it scripted — because it comes across as very natural?
A. It’s not a reality show, not like I don’t know where I am going. This is a mission-based show, about me feeling like I am not always caught up on the latest and greatest, and feeling like a lot of people don’t always know. So I am like, ‘are you curious about this, because I am too?’ This isn’t me saying I know everything, this is me saying, I actually don’t know anything about this, and I feel like let’s just all take this journey together and learn more about this.
Q. With the title Candidly Nicole, is the show a way for you to take control of the public’s perception of you?
A. I try not to focus too much on public perception because I don’t think that it serves me, but when I did start the show, I started it as a web series because this is a new kind of show, it’s not reality, it’s not scripted. What I wanted to do was really talk about the newest things in life. It was my idea to start it out as a web series, just to see if people are even really that interested in things that I am. Because I started out as a web series, there was really a part of me that thought people are not going to watch it. I really felt safe. And the crew was very small, and I didn’t feel like “I am on this big set and shooting this big show.” I had complete creative control.
Q. What are your goals for 2015?
A. I’m using electronics a lot less. I have really bad technology karma and I really don’t think electronics are for me. I know I have to use them, but I don’t think I am on this earth to be a person on my phone or my computer all the time. I’m really focused on being present, and in the moment, and honouring the moment. Just doing what I am meant to do.
Q. What colour is your hair today?
A. My hair today is blue. It’s been blue for a while. I know the shade changes a lot and people think I colour it all the time, but it’s just one of those things, every time I wash it, it changes colour. I just dunk it in coconut oil and try to keep it as moisturised as possible. I wear it in a slicked-back bun a lot and first of all, I liked the slicked-back look but also I am trying to heal my hair.
