Zee - Thats what fashion is: lessons and stories from my nonstop, mostly glamorous life in style

THATS WHAT FASHION IS

LESSONS AND STORIES FROM MY NONSTOP,

MOSTLY GLAMOROUS LIFE IN STYLE

JOE ZEE

with

ALYSSA GIACOBBE

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS

ST. MARTINS PRESS

NEW YORK

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TO ALL MY
READERS AND VIEWERS,

because without you guys, none of this
would be possible or worth it

TO ROB,

for making coming home always the
best part of my busy schedule

We keep moving forward,
opening new doors, and doing new things,
because were curious and curiosity keeps
leading us down new paths.

WALT DISNEY

Theres only one very good life,
and thats the life you know you want,
and you make it yourself.

DIANA VREELAND

Ready for the red carpet before red carpets existed (circa 1977).

I WILL NEVER FORGET THE NIGHT I LEARNED THAT OSCAR DE LA RENTA HAD DIED.

There are a few reasons for this. The first, of course, is that Mr. de la Renta was, and always will be, a fashion legend, a man who dressed thousands of VIW (very important women), including all the first ladies of recent history, from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama, to Oscar winners and chart-topping pop stars. He was also a personal inspiration to me, so his death was an even deeper loss. Mr. de la Rentas reputation throughout the fashion world was unwavering; he was always gracious and welcoming, no matter who you were. In essence, a true gentleman. He was classy and classic, and working with himwhich I did on a number of occasions, including twice in the Dominican Republic, his home country, and several times back in New Yorkwas always a rich and rewarding experience. From Mr. de la Renta, I learned about how to treat people and what sophistication in style truly meant. (And yes, he was always Mr. de la Renta to me, and not because he insisted on that formality but because I had so much respect for the regal way with which he approached fashion.) But really, despite all my memories of his remarkable character, that night was also another example, for me, of all my worlds coming seamlessly together.

A world where I would again balance everything I love to do.

It was a fairly calm and quiet evening back in October 2014 when I found out about Mr. de la Rentas death in a fairly unconventional way, even for me. A few years earlier, I might have read about it online in my morning news feed. Now I was the one helping to create that morning news feed. Five months prior, Id left Elle magazine and accepted a new position as editor in chief of Yahoo Style, where I set about launching a new digital fashion magazine for one of the worlds largest tech companies. There, my vision was to marry my favorite conventions from my vast print experienceoriginal photography, shooting covers, and bold, provocative imagerywith the quick practicality of the web: delivering real news, stories that captivate the reader, in real time. That October night, my site, Yahoo Style, had been live for close to a month when I got that call. Breaking news for us, up until that point, had consisted mainly of Fashion Week coverage and store openings.

Mr. de la Rentas passing would be a different story.

It was 6 p.m. and I was driving through Los Angeles from Beverly Hills (where I had been doing an interview for an upcoming story) to downtown LA, racing to meet my friend Sophia Amoruso, the founder and CEO of Nasty Gal and an entrepreneurial hero for young girls, for dinner. For those who know anything about the layout of LA and its massive traffic pattern during rush hours, you know that crossing from Beverly Hills to downtown at that time, especially on a freeway, is strictly reserved for those brave souls with patience and stamina. So I was already on edge and fretting about arriving late to dinner when my cell phone rang through my cars Bluetooth. It was Anderson Coopers office.

Hello, said the sweet but somewhat frantic producer on the other end of the line. Im calling from CNN, and I wondered if you can confirm for us that Oscar de la Renta has died? Do you know if thats true? Confirm? True? Died? I can still hear those words ringing in my ears. I remember thinking, I have no idea, and though I knew Mr. de la Renta had been ill on and off, I had believed that he was on the mend.

Are you serious? I replied. No. I havent heard anything but Ive also been driving through LA for the past hour and have not looked at my phone or a news feed. What happened? She very nicely explained to me the rumors that had been whizzing around their newsroom and she was reaching out to me now to see if I could shed any light on this situation or just confirm his death. But I couldntnot without real facts. I knew I needed to call my staff back in New York right away. If Mr. de la Renta had indeed passed away, we had to write his tribute, and fast.

I hung up and almost immediately got another call from another CNN producer for Don Lemon who had the time slot after Anderson Coopers. Finally, I decided I had to pull over and scan my emails, and thats where I saw one from ABC News. It was true: Mr. de la Renta had died, and my heart sank. I knew I was going to be late for dinner but this required my immediate attention. It was now a personal and professional situation for me. I had lost someone I truly admired and respected but I also had to cover it as news in real time. It was all new territory for me.

I dialed one of my editors back home in New York. It was late but it was also an emergency, and in the Internet world, you never stop working. We chatted quickly about what a good man Mr. de la Renta was and how the tribute I wrote should be personal because I just couldnt see honoring him any other way. We decided, in an effort to be fast and to get me to dinner on time, I would dictate to this editor while I drove. Multitasking: the story of my life. And my fashion career has always taught me how to handle it well.

Just tell me what you remember and love most about him, my editor said. Ill string it together right now and send it back to you to look at.

Less than an hour later, I would be sitting at dinner at Bestia when that finished story came through on email. I excused myself and ran to the bathroom (so as not to be rude at the table, of course), scrolled through the text quickly, typed a few notes, and off it went. That memorial tribute would be up on my site and live in less than a minute for hundreds of millions of people to see. Back at the table, though, I confessed. I told Sophia, my dinner partner, about all the balls I had been juggling that night on my way to dinner and she, of all people, completely understood. If there is one thing the fashion industry prepares you for, its creative juggling. Wearing many hatsfiguratively and literallyis the very foundation of finding success in my industry, and after more than twenty years of laying that foundation in the fashion world, Im now prepared for the frontlines of any battle. Consider me that ultimate style-obsessed, multitasking ninja, nodding and saying yes to everything that crosses my path and always delivering my best on it. Iand Sophiaknow that accomplishment well. A feeling we both really love.