Team Kelly vrs Team Rachel

They are the two ladies of fashion but to be honest they could not be miles apart. One is based in LA the other NYC, one is blonde and the other has jet black hair and the other is girly girly while her counterpart is the complete opposite. However, one thing they share is a steely determination to succeed in a business that can be very brutal. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Kelly Cutrone and Rachel Zoe. Kel and Rach have very different styles and last week when I was watching their shows respectively called The Rachel Zoe Project and Kell on Earth I could not help thinking - have they ever met and if so they would get on? We all know that Kelly can be very abrupt but deep down that hard facade is a very caring and responsible mother while Rachel as sweet as she is can be very self indulgent and quite selfish. Check out the 911 on the Queen of fashion PR, Kelly and super stylist, Rachel.

Kelly Cutrone
Age - 45
Location - New York
Brand - People's Revolution, a powerhouse fashion PR, branding and marketing company that reps the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, Jeremy Scott, Paco Rabanne and many more.  They have three offices in LA, New York and Paris. Reality show, Kell on Earth which airs on Bravo and self help book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. 
Team - Kelly: Daughter, Ava, business partners, Robyn and Emily
Style - Black, black and more black! She is quoted as saying "I take no care in f**king appearance
Most likely to say - What the f**k is going on?
The 911 - Kelly moved to New York from Syracuse in the 80s with a degree in Nursing and a never die attitude. She quickly landed a job assisting PR maverick, Susan Blond who had Michael Jackson on her roster. A few years into the game and Kelly had already established herself as one of the players in her field. She went on to do PR for Spin magazine but then left to found her own PR company, Cutrone and Weinberg. However in the 90s she hit a bad spell after a divorce to Ronnoe Cutrone and relinquishing half of her PR firm. So she fled to California where she kicked a drug habit and found her inner self. A few years later she made her way back to PR and eventually New York. Kelly is renowned for her sheer determination kick ass no bullshit taking attitude. She got her big break in The Hills where she was seen giving Lauren Conrad a hard time over tickets for the Felder Felder show at LA fashion Week. Her role in the show progressed when she offered Whitney Port and Lauren jobs at People's Republic. She also appeared in The City as Whitney's mentor and ended up offering her another role at People"s Revolution. 

Rachel Zoe

Age - 39

Location - LA

Brand - She dresses A list stars such as Kate Beckinsale, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson and Debra Messing. The Rachel Zoe Report debuted on Bravo in 2008 and is a huge success and is now on its third series. Her book, Style A to Zoe gave us a lowdown on how to look great on the red carpet and every other aspect of your life. She is extending her brand by launching a clothing line. You can even keep up with Rachel Zoe by subscribing to her ever stylish newsletter or going to her website.

Team Rachel - Husband, Rodger, Brad Goreski and assistant Marissa (Taylor departed due to acrimonious circumstances).

Style - She can be seen in flared jeans, heels, huge sunglasses with Starbucks coffee in one hand and her Blackberry in another.

Most likely to say - Rachel's quirky catchphrases are pretty much folklore and she can be seen exclaiming "I die!" and "Simply bananas."
The 911 - Rachel was born and raised in New Jersey and after graduating from Georgetown University, Rachel worked as a stylist for Gotham and YM magazine and then broke into celebrity styling by working with a young Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. She and hubby moved to LA where she hit pay dirt when Nicole Ritchie (who was riding high from her fame in The Simple Life) asked her to style her. Rachel is one of the most influential stylists in the world, she turned round the careers of Nicole Ritchie and Lindsey Lohan in a flash and created the look that is now referred to as Zoebots. Large sunglasses, over-sized handbags, skinny jeans and ballet flats. Pretty soon everyone wanted to know who the lady was behind these looks and Rachel began to be featured in magazines and newspapers. In 2007 her book was launched which went on to top the New York Times bestseller list and she was offered her own TV series.

They have amazingly careers; extremely successful companies with a vibrant team, their own reality shows as well as best-selling books. Kelly Cutrone and Rachel Zoe are both admirable ladies and wonderful role models. Me thinks that Bravo TV has been really smart in snapping them up. 

So are you Team Rachel or Team Kelly?

Whitney in the City

So Whitney Port made her debut in her new show, The City which aired last night on MTV with a bumper edition. The City is a spin off of the popular so-called reality show, The Hills which is set in LA and in which Whitney is a co-star. After spending many years as an intern at Teen Vogue and stylist at PR company, People's Revolution as well as lending a sympathetic ear to the doe eyed Lauren, Whitney has swapped LA for NYC. She lands a plum job as PR for Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) and moves in with her old mate Erin Williams in a cool apartment in the Gramercy area of Manhattan. The perks of moving to a new city means meeting new people and checking out exciting bars and restaurants. We are introduced to Whitney's co-worker, the divine Olivia Palermo who is a high profile socialite or social as she prefers to be called. Olivia is quite clearly the catalyst to Whitney as Heidi is to Lauren in The Hills but with much better connections. Erin offers the fun factor and a lending ear particularly when it comes to guys. Talking of guys this is where the intro to The City differs from The Hills in that the guys are featured in the opening credits. One of then is Jay Lyons, a musician who Whitney met when she came to NYC for her job interview. She is quite clearly smitten with him but whether he feels the same way about her is to be seen. Then there is Adam Senn, a restaurateur and Jay's flatmate who is new to NYC as well.

This new reality show has been covered extensively in the media and blogsphere which is no surprise considering the phenomenon of The Hills. Aesthetically, The City is definitely easy on the eye and with the almighty Big Apple as a backdrop, how can you go wrong? As a TV show the plot leaves a lot to be desired; a considerable amount of time was spent on Whitney's love life. Is Jay a two-faced, two-timing snake? The answer is that Jay lacks so little charisma and presence that it was hard to care. Aside from her first day at work and New York Fashion Week, very little is seen of Whitney in her workplace which is very worrying as it was Lauren and Heidi's glam jobs that made The Hills the success it is. Olivia is a very different proposition; yes she has a life fuelled with dinner parties, lunches, fashions shows and celebrity galas but she has an edge to her that makes her interesting. For a start she is described as a real life Blair Waldorf; she even has her own publicist and is constantly being mentioned in gossip blogs and newspapers and she even has a fan blog that focuses on her life. Rumour has it that she runs her own PR agency which would make sense as she is trying to build her brand. I would say that The City has a long way to go before it earns the right to be called the reality version of Sex and the City. Still it was good to see Kelly Cultrone in the programme and more interesting are the reports that Kelly is to get her own show.

Check out the official blog for The City here.