When I meet her publicist of
10 years, Barbara, the next day,
as well as Jillian, the editorial
director of her website, Olivia
palermo.com, however, they are
more forthcoming. ‘She zip-locks
everything when she’s travelling,’
says Barbara, miming a zip-lock
bag. ‘Foundations in one zip-lock,
makeup brushes in another...’
‘And then she pops the zip-
locks inside these monogrammed
pouches that she has,’ chimes in
Jillian. ‘We’ve all been inspired
to do the same.’
As though to prove the point,
Barbara gets out her phone and
shows me a pap shot of Palermo
in an elegant white jumper and
skirt. ‘See that?’ she says. Barbara
swipes left and a second later, a
bedroom selfie of Barbara appears
in the same outfit.
‘My style has changed a lot,
too, since I started working for
her,’ adds Jillian. ‘There’s so much
I have learnt from her about style.
There’s a nuance to everything
she does. For example, I’ve learnt
the importance of tailoring. When
people see her in high street they
wonder why it doesn’t look the
same when they wear it. But it’s
because she gets most things
tailored – even high street.’
It may not surprise you to
learn that the sort of woman who
gets her Zara trousers tailored
comes from a family with an eye
for detail. Palermo’s mother, Lynn,
is an interior decorator, and her
aunt worked in the couture
department for Doyle auction
house for 25 years.
‘I grew up going to antique
roadshows and trade shows and
auction houses so I was very
aware of fashion from a young
age,’ she tells me.
At school, however, it was
sports that Palermo gravitated
towards. And indeed at one pointshe had high hopes of becoming a
sports commentator after college.
‘I was very studious at school. I
was very into sports.’ There’s a
pause. ‘You know, everything was
a bit harder for me because I grew
up with a learning disability.’
It’s the first time she has ever
spoken about this. When gently
pressed for more information she
retreats at lightning speed.
‘I don’t want to go into details
but... what was wonderful is that
people can be very creative in
different ways. And we [she refersto her childhood friend Jonathan
Simkhai, a designer, to whom she
was close at school] really strived
to be creative and that evolved as
we got older...’
Straight out of college, though,
she was cast in The City, a frothy
precursor to the scripted reality
shows that have since followed.
The show created a glacial
princess villain out of Palermo,
who worked in the PR department
of Diane Von Furstenberg. I ask
her if that moniker has been hard
OLIVIA WEARS to shake off. She goes quiet. >
(OPPOSITE PAGE) SCARF: (WORN AS TURBAN) BANANA REPUBLIC. ROBE: THE FINE COTTON COMPANY. (THIS PAGE) JUMPER: PRABUL GURUNG. BRIEFS: HANES.COM.
COSMOPOLITAN June 2017 25
celebrity