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Hold onto your wigs and keys
for this one: Rachel Bilson–the prime-time television
clothes horse and one of the most Googles names in trendy
celebdom–has no stylist!
And just in case you're still
standing on two feet after that bombshell: those worst-dressed
lists that terrorize so many Hollywood starlets? Bilson couldn't
care less.
“I don’t believe
in regrets,” she dishes, on her wayhome from a “quick”
day-long fashion shoot for Genlux magazine. “I go to
Sav-On in Cookie Monster slippers, you know?”
Since she broke big playing Summer on Fox’s The OC,
Bilson, 23, has had plenty of opportunity to sell out her
vintage-laden Valley Girl fashion roots for the chance at
a first-name relationship with Fraser over at Kitson. That
temptation is sure to grow, now that she’s nailed her
first big film project: a remake of the Italian comedic drama
The Last Kiss, co-starring Zach Braff, due to start filming
in early summer.
To a small degree, fame has
sucked Bilson into the orbit of modern luxury; she has a soft
spot for Jennifer Nicholson and the retro-femme flounce produced
by the Jerusalem-born Rami Kashou. And she loves the flowing,
soft shapes by rising New York clothier Derek Lam.
“He’s great because
he’s got his own thing going on,” Bilson explains.
But still: J. Lo Bilson is
not. She does not worship at the altar of designer logos,
instead preferring to slip into a pair of black-and-white
Romeo Gigli peep-toe pumps from the 1960s. And her fashion
hero is no supermodel, but her mother, an eclectic dresser
who knew every little vintage boutique around their North
Hollywood neighborhood and who instilled in Bilson a strong
love for the luxurious, but also the gently worn.
“My mother is amazing
when it comes to style,” she gushes. “She’s
the first person to mix and match her earrings. She has a
funky sense of style; she’s the best.”
In other words, Bilson likes
a little history in her wardrobe. She prefers that her clothes
take their cues from a bygone era…perhaps one in which
boys blew bugles and gals wore giant hibiscus blooms in their
hair. Her tastes aren’t cheap. Upscale little boutiques,
like the eclectic, Japanese-run Shabon on Beverly Boulevard,
take up a lot of Bilson’s
shoe-shopping time.
“I’m obsessed with
shoes and bags,” she admits. “I’m a size
five-and-a-half shoe, so I can find a lot of vintage shoes.”
Even Bilson’s social life
runs more NoHo than Hollywood. Despite a well-documented relationship
with photogenic co-star Adam Brody—a coupling that could
garner a ton of free publicity with just one well-timed appearance
at Guy’s—Bilson swears she’d rather stay
in. (Bilson’s home, like her clothes, has a retro panache:
she lives with her best girlfriend in the Los Angeles neighborhood
of Whitley Heights, in a Spanish-style bungalow built in 1923.
“The silent-movie stars had their homes in Whitley Heights,”
Bilson says.)
And when she does venture out,
Bilson insists, she’s more likely to bang her head at
a rock concert than stuff an 80-person entourage into a paparazzi
trap.
That said, she did attend the
Marc Jacobs store openings in Los Angeles in March, gliding
the red carpet and even looking a bit starstruck.
“Well,” Bilson says,
“he does make beautiful clothing.” — Leslie Gornstein |