Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
Speaker 1: in Heels for your weekly dose of glamor, inspiration and
Speaker 1: of course fun. Today is a monumental day in Climbing
Speaker 1: in Heels history. We have our first male guest on
Speaker 1: the show, which I normally don't allow, but he happens
Speaker 1: to be the King of heels and my best friend
Speaker 1: for over twenty years.
Speaker 2: The King, the Prince Brian Atwood.
Speaker 1: He is truly one of the most talented footwear designers
Speaker 1: in the fashion industry, and he's sharing his story with us,
Speaker 1: from ft and modeling to working with the icon and
Speaker 1: legend Gianni Versace himself. Brian's positivity is truly infectious and
Speaker 1: I cannot wait for you to hear more of his
Speaker 1: incredible journey.
Speaker 2: So Brian is my favorite, Leo.
Speaker 1: I also want to say that Brian is the first
Speaker 1: male to ever appear on Climbing in Heels.
Speaker 3: Okay, true, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: Yes, you are the first, not the last, the first.
Speaker 2: One we have let into this studio on the spot, okay.
Speaker 1: And I thought about it well because I thought it
Speaker 1: would be great to talk about the man who has
Speaker 1: designed heels for women that I have climbed in for
Speaker 1: the last twenty years. And you know, because obviously when
Speaker 1: I say climbing in heels, it's very tongue in cheek,
Speaker 1: but all the women that I've had on here, I
Speaker 1: really like to talk about the journeys of how we
Speaker 1: get to be who we are, right because that's a
Speaker 1: question I've been asked throughout my career is how did
Speaker 1: you become Rachel Zoe? And my answer is always like,
Speaker 1: no idea, There was not a plan. There was definitely
Speaker 1: not a plan.
Speaker 2: I just worked really fucking art and here we are.
Speaker 1: So I want to talk a little bit about your
Speaker 1: story because it is a really good one. And you
Speaker 1: came up in a time where it's like the height
Speaker 1: of fashion, literally the height of fashion. So you did
Speaker 1: go to college. I want to start there. You grew
Speaker 1: up where, let's share with everybody.
Speaker 4: Grew up in a southwest suburb of Chicago's Joliet, Illinois.
Speaker 4: Went to an all boy high school, so I didn't
Speaker 4: really study fashion barely.
Speaker 3: You know, I knew I loved art, so.
Speaker 4: That there was an art class, I was so excited
Speaker 4: that I'm like going to kind of get my creativity
Speaker 4: of course, you know, of course, always knew in my
Speaker 4: gut I wanted to do be in fact, do something
Speaker 4: with fashion.
Speaker 3: I was always so, like.
Speaker 1: You knew, coming up as a boy in suburb of Chicago,
Speaker 1: like fashion was clear to you.
Speaker 3: For sure, it was clear because because I was such
Speaker 3: a young I.
Speaker 4: Think my mother had a lot to do with it,
Speaker 4: because you know, we hear that so and so is
Speaker 4: your muse. I really believe that she was my muse.
Speaker 4: And I saw how she dressed. I loved her style.
Speaker 4: I would always watch the whole process that fascinated me
Speaker 4: of women getting ready. Yeah, and it's like the change
Speaker 4: and how they feel, you know, everything changes. You put
Speaker 4: on a lipstick, you put on a heel and earring,
Speaker 4: and I think I was captured by that magic and
Speaker 4: I wanted to be part of it. And you know,
Speaker 4: fashion then was all about clothing. It was you know,
Speaker 4: rarely about shoes they were. It was more the.
Speaker 3: Shoe was almost just to compliment the dress.
Speaker 4: It wasn't something like art, you know art, and we
Speaker 4: start dressing from our shoes up, you know, and then
Speaker 4: it all changed.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that was my.
Speaker 1: First I remember being with you in one of my
Speaker 1: houses one summer, and you like, You're like, can I
Speaker 1: watch you put your makeup on?
Speaker 2: You're like, I love this part. You're like, I love
Speaker 2: the transformation.
Speaker 1: I'm like, good, because I'm about to be transformed. I
Speaker 1: need to transform right now. And I love that you
Speaker 1: loved that, because I don't know that many people that
Speaker 1: like the dress is one thing, but I thought that
Speaker 1: was super interesting that you loved seeing like the natural
Speaker 1: beauty into what they become in that moment, because that's
Speaker 1: the chameleon part of it, right right.
Speaker 4: And I think everyone wants to pretend at some point,
Speaker 4: you know. You know with guys, that's different. What are
Speaker 4: you putting gel in your hair? I mean you can
Speaker 4: do kind of whatever, but women have It's just it's
Speaker 4: really art. And I just loved the whole, the whole transformation.
Speaker 4: It got me really excited to see.
Speaker 2: And so then you went to f I t right,
Speaker 2: you went to Well.
Speaker 4: First, because you know, I knew at such a young
Speaker 4: age what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted
Speaker 4: to move to New York and go to fashion school
Speaker 4: because that's what you just you did the dream. And
Speaker 4: so my parents were like, okay, let's agree on something.
Speaker 4: So they both went to like SI Southern Illinois University.
Speaker 4: So they said, why don't you go there like a
Speaker 4: like a college, like just not.
Speaker 2: Right like yet your bachelor, Like let's.
Speaker 4: Say a normal school, like to see what else you
Speaker 4: might want to do.
Speaker 3: So I said, okay, cool, we'll do that for two years.
Speaker 3: Two years comes around, I'm like, guess what two years
Speaker 3: did it? Got the bachelor? You know, the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I want to go to New York. I know that.
Speaker 4: And even down in the college there were some kind
Speaker 4: of fashion courses that I could take. I mean, but
Speaker 4: it wasn't a fashion No, it was not a fashion school.
Speaker 4: So so I think and that was good and that
Speaker 4: was a great experience for.
Speaker 3: Me to be in.
Speaker 4: And you know, I just knew I wanted to start
Speaker 4: my fashion career.
Speaker 3: So moved to New York whens F. I t literally
Speaker 3: you ever?
Speaker 2: Were you ever like the poor fashion student? Are you always?
Speaker 2: Prince Brian.
Speaker 3: Ray too?
Speaker 1: Like this, like this scene in the David Beckham documentary
Speaker 1: when she's like we were middle class. He's like, your
Speaker 1: dad was driving a role choice or whatever.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was hilarious And no it was not I was.
Speaker 4: I would say, I was just enjoying.
Speaker 2: I wasn't like you were starving.
Speaker 3: No. I had a.
Speaker 4: Great New York experience, you know, just everything New York
Speaker 4: had to offer, whether it was club life, fashion, excitement,
Speaker 4: it was like I just took it all in the city.
Speaker 4: Was like I was a sponge. So it was so
Speaker 4: exciting to be here, be there, and you know, I fell.
Speaker 4: I'm in love with it ever since. I can't get
Speaker 4: enough of it.
Speaker 1: Nos like it honestly. But then, okay, so how does
Speaker 1: the King Johnny Fersacchi? How how do you go from
Speaker 1: fashion student and f I T to Brian Ott? Was
Speaker 1: that now works for Giohnny BERSACEI Donna Tella? Like how
Speaker 1: does that?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 4: While I was at f T, I think towards the
Speaker 4: end this is kind of like what you hear all
Speaker 4: happens all the time, but who knows.
Speaker 3: If it does.
Speaker 4: So an agent saw me out, whether I was at
Speaker 4: omar saw me out. I think I was either at
Speaker 4: a restaurant or a club, and they're like, oh, you
Speaker 4: should think about modeling.
Speaker 2: So she's the most rgeous person I've ever seen. He
Speaker 2: needs to make money doing this and so.
Speaker 4: Exactly, and I'm like, oh, I can do this, I
Speaker 4: can make money travel and like New York is going
Speaker 4: to be there.
Speaker 3: New York is always there and amazing.
Speaker 4: So I said, okay, so let's do this, and I
Speaker 4: really use that as a vehicle to travel the world
Speaker 4: meet the designers I wanted to work for, because how
Speaker 4: else can I get so close? And like say, oh,
Speaker 4: by the way, you know, modeling is just something I
Speaker 4: used to get here to meet meet you or whatever.
Speaker 4: So I remember, you know, I was in Milan, and
Speaker 4: you know, my there was like, okay, how long are
Speaker 4: we going to like fly around.
Speaker 3: The world, and you know, yeah, yeah, kind of has
Speaker 3: to have Well.
Speaker 1: It's hard, I think as a parent, because you want
Speaker 1: your child to have this experience. It's also terrifying, I
Speaker 1: think as a parent, like are they going to get
Speaker 1: like taken advantage of or are they going to get
Speaker 1: lost in a country?
Speaker 4: Like yeah, And then you know, and you're like, as
Speaker 4: a model, you can really kind of travel and work wherever.
Speaker 4: If you want to go to Spain, you can get
Speaker 4: an agent in Spain and you can live and whatever.
Speaker 4: So you know, I handrod out my resume. I hand
Speaker 4: wrote out my resume because I was like, okay, modeling
Speaker 4: has I forget how many years, five or something, and.
Speaker 2: You were smart enough to know that it has an end.
Speaker 4: Date, yes for sure, And I knew that that's not
Speaker 4: what I wanted to do. So I literally hand wrote
Speaker 4: out my resume and I delivered it to Versace Prada.
Speaker 4: I think I delivered it to Tom Gucci, who was
Speaker 4: just like the house that I could see myself in.
Speaker 4: That always meant something to me. And you know, I
Speaker 4: was like when I was a young kid, I had
Speaker 4: a paper route I was and I remember I bought
Speaker 4: my first Versace shirt, which was a black linen shirt.
Speaker 3: It was three hundred dollars that Neman Marcus.
Speaker 4: That could have been like fifteen hundred dollars back then,
Speaker 4: but I was like, this is like gold. And that's
Speaker 4: kind of why Versacha was kind of my first pick,
Speaker 4: like just to go there. And then I dropped the
Speaker 4: resume off to the person I was always speaking with,
Speaker 4: the age, the modeling, the casting person. So Versacea called
Speaker 4: me in. I had to be the day of or
Speaker 4: the day after I dropped it off, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: I have an interview with him, and it was I
Speaker 4: always compare it to like the draft or something you're
Speaker 4: kind of like an art you're a young artist, and
Speaker 4: stuff like this rarely happens. And all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: Picasto calls you into a studio and asks you, Okay,
Speaker 4: here's the job. And I remember walking through a park
Speaker 4: park Simpione and Milan, like, holy it, I am now
Speaker 4: not just living in Milan, I am working for Gianni
Speaker 4: Versace and this has started like the dream. And I
Speaker 4: remember it was the best school ever and I was
Speaker 4: working close hired to work with Donatella on versus Women's
Speaker 4: And then I didn't really get into shoes, even though
Speaker 4: as an adolescent I was always sketching shoes and feet,
Speaker 4: but I had no idea what that meant.
Speaker 3: But it wasn't until Johnny.
Speaker 2: Therapist would have a party with that for sure.
Speaker 4: Yes, it wasn't until Johnny asked me to create shoes
Speaker 4: for the couture his nineties. It was at ninety six
Speaker 4: ninety six Okuatur And I'm like, you just say yes, yes,
Speaker 4: It's always the right answer, and then.
Speaker 3: You just deal with it, and you if.
Speaker 2: You panic after you say.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, just say yes and then it all kind.
Speaker 4: Of work out, figure it out. And actually, before I
Speaker 4: moved to Milan. I went to this kind of I
Speaker 4: was like, am I doing something crazy?
Speaker 3: And you know, in a good way.
Speaker 4: And I went to this celebrity psychic and I still
Speaker 4: have that cassette tape.
Speaker 3: Who knows, you know when they recorded things on cassette tapes.
Speaker 4: And I remember she was like, You're going to be
Speaker 4: famous for something to do with feet. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: here's your two hundred dollars or whatever. This is not
Speaker 4: my dream, this is not what's going to happen. And
Speaker 4: she goes, I don't know, maybe you're going to do
Speaker 4: a Nike ad. Because I was a model back then.
Speaker 3: She was like. I was like, okay.
Speaker 4: She goes, do your feet her something about feet, right,
Speaker 4: and I was okay. And then after all this, I'm like,
Speaker 4: where's that tape? I need to listen to that tape
Speaker 4: again because.
Speaker 3: It all like kind of revolved around feet.
Speaker 4: Sure, it revolved her ound feet and you know, the
Speaker 4: Cinderella factor I call it.
Speaker 1: I mean, but like, actually, I mean I think that's
Speaker 1: the thing. And I think, like when I met you
Speaker 1: probably around that time. Yeah, I just remember, like you
Speaker 1: made the most gorgeous shoes, and I think you I
Speaker 1: think you launched your own brand shortly after that, right.
Speaker 4: In two thousand and one, right after God, yeah, right right.
Speaker 4: I launched it March two thousand and one. Then the
Speaker 4: whole world collect, you know, you know, and I thought
Speaker 4: of it. I said, well, it can only get better
Speaker 4: because we've been through hell, so I said, you just
Speaker 4: got to stick with it.
Speaker 3: Every thing eventually will come back.
Speaker 4: So it's never a great time to do something, just
Speaker 4: do it, and you know, it worked out.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's interesting because I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of the people that have been
Speaker 1: on this pod, myself included, you know, we talk a
Speaker 1: lot about sometimes not being supported on our journeys. Sometimes
Speaker 1: there's a lot of petty jealousy with women, and I'm wondering, like,
Speaker 1: did you ever experience that coming up?
Speaker 2: Were there people that like tried to take you down?
Speaker 2: Were they jealous of you?
Speaker 1: Or was it so small at that point that there
Speaker 1: wasn't really that stuff happening.
Speaker 3: You mean, like in the industry like Double War's.
Speaker 1: Product kind of stuff, like, you know, just a lot
Speaker 1: of petty girl shit like no, I mean, you.
Speaker 4: Know, no really, because we're also like young and new,
Speaker 4: especially in the office because versat your office was I
Speaker 4: was the only one who spoke English, so it was
Speaker 4: a great way for me to learn Italian. You're just
Speaker 4: forced with it because I said, I'm not going to
Speaker 4: be that American sitting at a table just saying and
Speaker 4: not knowing what's going on.
Speaker 3: I am going to learn it very basically, you know.
Speaker 4: And you know, we were all in the same boat
Speaker 4: and cut and more excited than backstabbing each other.
Speaker 1: Of course, you more had the experience of like it
Speaker 1: was almost like this young like incubator of a group
Speaker 1: that just all loved each other.
Speaker 2: And you're still friends with a lot.
Speaker 4: Of them now, rightsolutely absolutely. And you know fashion always
Speaker 4: has drama, of course, we always and you know, and
Speaker 4: and that being the small, the small family business that
Speaker 4: it was. It was Johnny's Donatella en Santo, So it
Speaker 4: was just that that was your school and all the
Speaker 4: you know, team that was around them, but it was
Speaker 4: it's really smallest. Yeah, it was great at the same time,
Speaker 4: the same time.
Speaker 1: Of course, and then when Giohnny died and DNA Tella
Speaker 1: came in, you were still there.
Speaker 2: You stayed there for a while after.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was I was with Donatella when the whole
Speaker 4: thing happened, we were and that was the weirdest thing
Speaker 4: because you know, it being such a small, like a
Speaker 4: family company, felt you felt really part of that. It
Speaker 4: was kind of like your Italian family. And and when
Speaker 4: that happened, we were in Rome and I remember sitting
Speaker 4: on the floor with Donatella.
Speaker 3: We had all the models cards.
Speaker 4: Because we were doing Done, which was a fashion show
Speaker 4: they did on the Spanish Steps in Rome, and Giohnny
Speaker 4: had already flown because it was after the show, the
Speaker 4: couture show.
Speaker 3: He flew to Miami, which she always did, like okay.
Speaker 4: I'm done, I need because so we did the room
Speaker 4: show and then I remember we were just chatting and
Speaker 4: picking out models.
Speaker 3: They were also like cute boys and girls. We're all
Speaker 3: just that one, that one, that one.
Speaker 4: And then all of a sudden, Santo comes in the
Speaker 4: room and screams her name to like get you know,
Speaker 4: they're urgently and I've never heard.
Speaker 3: That tone, and I was like, Okay, something's up.
Speaker 4: And then I think someone minutes after that, they turned
Speaker 4: down the news.
Speaker 3: And you know, it was shocking to see.
Speaker 2: It was like it was like, yeah, it was like
Speaker 2: this is like a fever.
Speaker 3: Dream that is, it wasn't real.
Speaker 4: And then all of a sudden when I saw like
Speaker 4: the stretcher and I saw the arm of Johnny, like
Speaker 4: it came off the stretcher or something, and that's the
Speaker 4: arm I remember seeing every morning in the office. Like
Speaker 4: he would always he called me Brianino, which means little Brian,
Speaker 4: like like a child like. He always said, you're here
Speaker 4: to leave, Brianino, You're here to learn, take it all in.
Speaker 4: And I would always go in the office early because
Speaker 4: I just loved being.
Speaker 3: Around the energy.
Speaker 4: I was like, yeah, of course, obsessed with just being
Speaker 4: in that element, okay, and in that moment it all
Speaker 4: felt real and you could hear pin drop. Every No
Speaker 4: one knew how to deal with it or what happened.
Speaker 4: It was just bizarren and the office was like a
Speaker 4: morgue for probably three weeks, and I remember when someone
Speaker 4: turned on music and then it was.
Speaker 3: Just like, you know, this is yeah happening.
Speaker 4: You know we have to and actually, if Donna tell
Speaker 4: us first show, I remember everyone was very emotional and
Speaker 4: then before the show started there was this butterfly flying
Speaker 4: around and to this day, even Sante Dorazzio Dona Tella,
Speaker 4: we all know that was Johnny coming in.
Speaker 3: To UH to make no to tech on things.
Speaker 4: And it still get chills and emotional because I know
Speaker 4: it for a fact and it's still like magic.
Speaker 3: It was great.
Speaker 1: And I think that's right around the time that I
Speaker 1: met you, because it was Donna Telly's show when I
Speaker 1: met you. I think it was I had worked with
Speaker 1: Johnny right before he died on I don't remember which client.
Speaker 1: It might have been like Cameron Diaz for Shreck. We
Speaker 1: were doing something I can't remember, but you know, I
Speaker 1: think coming up in that and I think I think
Speaker 1: something I try to really express to the younger generation
Speaker 1: now with all these like flex days and vacation and
Speaker 1: like whatever, and they're like and they always go, how
Speaker 1: are you successful? And what do you say? You were
Speaker 1: the first one there and the last one to leave.
Speaker 1: It didn't matter what you were being paid. You always
Speaker 1: answered the phone like if they needed you. It was
Speaker 1: like it was like boot camp. It was like fashion
Speaker 1: boot camp, right, but the best boot camp and taught
Speaker 1: you everything, you.
Speaker 4: Know, make yourself indispensable if if that's possible, as much
Speaker 4: be the you know, just be the best that you
Speaker 4: can be. You know, who cares it's an hour later
Speaker 4: or something, or you have to do something, but they
Speaker 4: can never say you didn't try or didn't do what
Speaker 4: was required.
Speaker 3: You went more, You did more, always more.
Speaker 2: Always more. And you know something I want you to share.
Speaker 1: I think that I think is important for entrepreneurs that
Speaker 1: listen is you know, having your own business, having your
Speaker 1: own brand. It's it's a lot, it's a lot, and
Speaker 1: you know there's highs, there's lows. There's the lowest, the
Speaker 1: lowest lows, the highest hides, even.
Speaker 2: When it's not your own business.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: But the thing about you that.
Speaker 1: I always say, and I said it in my Instagram
Speaker 1: post for your birthday, is like I have never once
Speaker 1: seen you discouraged. I've never seen you look or feel defeated,
Speaker 1: and I've never seen you bring a negativity to anything
Speaker 1: you do literally anything, but like even if it's like I.
Speaker 2: Mean any time, maybe.
Speaker 1: The closest thing is like when you're over like an
Speaker 1: event and you don't want to be out anymore, you're like,
Speaker 1: I'm done, like basta, I'm going.
Speaker 2: Out like but typically you.
Speaker 1: Bring your energy and like your love and your positivity
Speaker 1: first and foremost to everything. I feel like you have
Speaker 1: a gratitude, Like I'm the opposite in terms of like
Speaker 1: I'll look at the forecast, I'll be like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I have to cancel my gott I have to do this.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's training. Oh my god, nobody's gonna come.
Speaker 2: Oh my got it.
Speaker 1: And you always go out it like it's going to
Speaker 1: be fine, It's going to be fine. And I want
Speaker 1: to I want to talk about that because I want
Speaker 1: to understand where that came from. I like to take
Speaker 1: that from you when I'm with you, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: even matter if it's like a bad restaurant, if it's
Speaker 1: like your food sauce, You're like fine, Like everything is
Speaker 1: fine all the time, but you mean it genuinely. It's
Speaker 1: not disingenuous. And so I think even when the sky
Speaker 1: is in fact falling, you continue to power through with
Speaker 1: a positivity that I think is very infectious. And and
Speaker 1: I want to understand where that came from because it
Speaker 1: applied to your business and everything else that you do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think that it definitely came from
Speaker 4: childhood and with my upbringing with my mother.
Speaker 3: I think that is magic. She is magic.
Speaker 4: She's a matriarch as you all can imagine and we
Speaker 4: love her so much. I think that, you know, I
Speaker 4: remember a poster I had on my wall, this beautiful
Speaker 4: lion must have been a lion or something, and that
Speaker 4: I loved and it said, it's hard to be as
Speaker 4: humble when you're as good as I am or something.
Speaker 3: And it was just funny because.
Speaker 4: I don't know what that kind of just said, just just.
Speaker 3: Kind of and just kind of be humble. And nothing
Speaker 3: is that horrible.
Speaker 4: There's even though there's so many, so many horrible things,
Speaker 4: at some point there has to be some light and
Speaker 4: whether it's dismal, whether it's a speck of light, just
Speaker 4: you know, look to that to find your energy, because
Speaker 4: it's so easy to get in our head and get
Speaker 4: deep and dark and not be able to come out
Speaker 4: of it. And you know, and that's when you have
Speaker 4: to step away, go to a quiet place. And you know,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to be like all, go be quiet
Speaker 4: with yourself, because it does make a difference. It does
Speaker 4: when it's too much, when the noise outside is too much,
Speaker 4: and it can be too much a lot of the time.
Speaker 4: You know, just go somewhere quiet, whether it's walking on
Speaker 4: the beach, walking, you know, going into your bedroom and
Speaker 4: putting on headphones and listening to white noise or something
Speaker 4: something quiet, calm the mind, because the mind is a
Speaker 4: strong tool that can, you.
Speaker 3: Know, really take you to you know it dark.
Speaker 4: It can be quickly, if, if, if every If you're
Speaker 4: feeling punched, you know, feeling beaten up, or things aren't
Speaker 4: working out, and you're like why why, I think it's
Speaker 4: very important to step away and take a minute, take
Speaker 4: as long as you need, but definite it helps tremendously
Speaker 4: and then it always changes your outlook on it.
Speaker 1: It is in neat to you. I feel like, because
Speaker 1: you've had this since I met you. But I also
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, I think we've all been through
Speaker 1: our shit, right, We've all been on our downs in
Speaker 1: our and our ups, and I feel like you always
Speaker 1: come up smiling. Does it become like a conscious effort
Speaker 1: that you make to do that, like, do you if
Speaker 1: you find yourself going I can go dark here, but
Speaker 1: I'm not going to because I think that's important for
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs honestly, right.
Speaker 4: And I know when you can easily do that and
Speaker 4: focus on the crap of a situation and turn it
Speaker 4: into you know, a lot more, it's like, all right,
Speaker 4: do I want to focus on that and feel like
Speaker 4: that It's just it's kind of a choice sometimes.
Speaker 3: Of course, and you know, not easy. But I think
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: I've noticed it enough so that I can stop it,
Speaker 4: change it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can change it.
Speaker 4: And I think that if you can notice it, you
Speaker 4: you definitely get you know, how to change it then, because.
Speaker 1: I would I would like to share that with everyone,
Speaker 1: and I'd like to take that from you, because every
Speaker 1: time I'm with you, I'm reminded that you could turn
Speaker 1: this into a happy moment. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: so intense about something, you know, And I think, like
Speaker 1: that's something I'm working on this year.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's sort of like find the light, right.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds so corny, but I think it's
Speaker 1: really important, and I think it's really important in business
Speaker 1: and it's really important in life.
Speaker 4: And it's completely true. They don't just make this stuff
Speaker 4: up from you know. This isn't something that.
Speaker 2: Like cliche exists for a reason.
Speaker 4: Actually, right, they do exist, and it is inside you.
Speaker 4: You can you know, be your own you can be
Speaker 4: your own magic, create you know, it's all in tility.
Speaker 4: You just have to get gets muted down it. It
Speaker 4: gets clouded a lot, so we kind of ignore it.
Speaker 4: We forget that the ability is inside of us. Just
Speaker 4: have to listen to it and know one time is
Speaker 4: to step away for a second.
Speaker 1: So what is next for mister Brian out with Prince Brian, Like,
Speaker 1: what are you most excited about right now in your life?
Speaker 2: And go forward? Besides living in Halston's former house.
Speaker 1: In Higher Island, which is so we love that in
Speaker 1: New York City of course, just.
Speaker 4: Really focusing on, you know, relaunching the brand and all
Speaker 4: of this, you know, making beautiful shoes.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: There are different different things that I'd like to do
Speaker 4: as far as you know, fashion has changed, you know,
Speaker 4: fashion has changed so quickly and exciting as well. But
Speaker 4: just need to really focus on what I love doing,
Speaker 4: and that's creating beauty and.
Speaker 3: That I will continue doing.
Speaker 2: And we need your magic. We need your magic for
Speaker 2: as many people as possible.
Speaker 3: Absolutely put them back on a pedestal.
Speaker 2: And we all have to climb in Brian outwood heels forever.
Speaker 2: So by the way I.
Speaker 1: Do as illustrated on my Fire Island excursion, I know
Speaker 1: I kept those babies on. I love you so much
Speaker 1: We're going to do quick rapid fire before I let
Speaker 1: you go.
Speaker 3: You ready? Oh my god?
Speaker 2: Okay? Coffee or tea coffee? Who's your hero?
Speaker 3: My mother?
Speaker 1: Make me weep right now? I already know this answer.
Speaker 1: Southern Italy or Southern France Italy. And you're going to
Speaker 1: say that favorite dessert.
Speaker 3: I mean, I love it all. I mean termasu is
Speaker 3: like right up there.
Speaker 1: Okay. I also know this platforms or knee high boots.
Speaker 3: Oh, platforms for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's your biggest pet peeve?
Speaker 4: But I do it also procrastination, So I mean that
Speaker 4: is and like being late, but but.
Speaker 2: You're both of those.
Speaker 3: Yes, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, okay, okay, what advice would you give your twenty
Speaker 1: year old self?
Speaker 3: What would I give my twenty year old self?
Speaker 4: I think really just continue to never compromise your integrity,
Speaker 4: never compromise what you believe in. And I think that's
Speaker 4: also what Johnny told me to, and that's part of
Speaker 4: the whole school of being in the versace. You know, Todd,
Speaker 4: the realm is he always said you're here to learn,
Speaker 4: never compromise. I learned it from him because people loved
Speaker 4: and hated his stuff, so it was.
Speaker 3: True, you know.
Speaker 2: But he kept doing exactly that.
Speaker 3: And he didn't care. He kept doing it.
Speaker 4: And I think that war designer or someone who is
Speaker 4: in the creative field is something very important because you
Speaker 4: can always be persuaded or tend to be like, oh well,
Speaker 4: it's not fitting into this box. Sure, but if you
Speaker 4: fit into that box, you're competing with everyone who's already
Speaker 4: in that box. Do something different that is very you
Speaker 4: and have a voice, have you know, say what you
Speaker 4: want to stick to.
Speaker 3: It always always, and it is hard.
Speaker 4: It is hard, and it takes a lot of guts
Speaker 4: because you might not People might not appreciate it instantly,
Speaker 4: but I think they always come around to it. Yeah
Speaker 4: they do, Okay, sided Sorry, that's.
Speaker 2: Perfect Martini or Margarita.
Speaker 3: Margarita, you could be on the Newlyweds.
Speaker 1: By the way, might out what's another career you would
Speaker 1: want to try us too?
Speaker 4: Architect or rock star. I don't know which one comes first,
Speaker 4: but I think.
Speaker 2: I couldn't be more different, by the way.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 4: I always think I'm a good singer, but probably not,
Speaker 4: probably architect first. I also wanted to be a plastic
Speaker 4: surgeon because I love creating beauty, so I thought i'd
Speaker 4: be really good with the face, so all right, sorry, Okay,
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 2: Okay, ask permission or ask forgiveness.
Speaker 3: Forgiveness probably.
Speaker 1: Rule still apply to Prince Brian. Okay, who is your
Speaker 1: Hollywood crush?
Speaker 4: Oh my Hollywood crush. Let's see who's your free past
Speaker 4: with Jake Henry Cavill? Probably okay.
Speaker 2: And what about a woman.
Speaker 3: I mean, Angelina stunning or past icon?
Speaker 4: I think probably Marilyn still fascinates me for some yeah,
Speaker 4: I think, uh yeah.
Speaker 3: Instagram TikTok Instagram.
Speaker 2: Okay, I love.
Speaker 4: You, Oh my god, I love you. You're my icon, baby,
Speaker 4: you are my icon. Baby, you are right there.
Speaker 2: You are my icon, and I love you so much.
Speaker 2: I love that I got to do with you this year.
Speaker 3: Me too. It was so fun.
Speaker 2: Love having you. I love that you're the first honorary
Speaker 2: guy to ever be on Climbing and Heels.
Speaker 3: It's only appropriate.
Speaker 2: It's only appropriate, it really is. I love you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to my friend Brian for being
Speaker 1: the first male guest on Climbing and Heels. Tell me
Speaker 1: if you want more, because I think I have to
Speaker 1: add more boys to this because there are so many
Speaker 1: men in my life that I love and respect and
Speaker 1: would be so incredibly inspirational.
Speaker 2: For all of our listeners.
Speaker 1: I really love Brian's advice about saying yes and figuring
Speaker 1: it out later. I'm actually going to take his advice.
Speaker 1: I will see you all next week on the pod.
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