“YOUR TWENTIES
ARE ABOUT
FIGURING OUT
WHO YOU ARE
AND FINDING
YOURSELF”WORDS BY KATE WILLIAMS. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC RAY DAVIDSON. FASHION DIRECTOR: AYA KANAI. HAIR BY KRISTIN ESS USING ORIBE. MAKEUP
BY AMY NADINE FOR LANCÔME.
MANICURE BY TOM BACHIK FOR L’ORÉAL PARIS/CLOUTIER REMIX. PRODUCTION: FIRST SHOT PRODUCTIONS. *PRICE CONVERTED FROM USD AND CORRECT AT TIME OF PRINTLAUREN CONRAD LOOKS
UP AT THE WAITER. “Is the
turkey panini delicious? she
asks. He shakes his head no,
and her face falls. “What is...
better than delicious?” he asks.
“Oh!” she says, thrilled. “Then
I must have it!” We’ve met for
lunch in Topanga Canyon, a
vestige of wild Los Angeles,
both in terms of animals that
roam the hills and the locals.
The restaurant sits alongside
a babbling stream, and our
waiter – who proves to be, how
should I put this, a bit eccentric- says that if we’re lucky, we
might see deer, mountain lions,
rabbits, even a reptile or two.
“I caught a rattlesnake,”
he says, depositing a bread
basket on the table. “I took it
home, skinned it, and now it’s
drying!” I glance quickly over
at Lauren, fully expecting her
to be horrified by the place I’ve
brought her to. Instead, she
launches into her own snake
story. “We’re de-rattlesnaking
my house right now, actually.
My husband keeps saying we
should get a mongoose, but
I’m like, one, they’re illegal,
and two, then we’d just have a
mongoose problem.” Her eyes
go wide. “We’d be all pressed
up against the window like,
‘Oh my God, where is it?’”
LET’S BACK UP A SECOND
Lauren Conrad – she who at
age 18 first made her grand
entrance into the public eye
in the postcard-worthy scenes
of Laguna Beach followed by
the drama of The Hills, who
oversees the Pinterest-perfect
thelittlemarket.com and is
responsible for two beyond-
feminine fashion lines: Paper
Crown and LC Lauren Conrad
for Kohl’s (which included a
collab with none other than
Minnie Mouse) – is tackling
rattlesnakes? The image of it
stands in stark contrast to
her four-million-follower-strong Instagram packed with
f lowers, food and all the pretty
things... often cast in a light
pink hue. But then as a legit
lifestyle guru in a sea of celeb
wannabes (just see her books
Lauren Conrad Style and Lauren
Conrad Beauty – her ninth,
Lauren Conrad Celebrate, will
be published next year), why
shouldn’t she be taking on pest
control? If anyone can make
it look pretty, it’s this woman.
Our lunch is a welcome
break from Lauren’s move into
her new, mongoose-free home
in the Pacific Palisades, which
she reportedly bought for a
cool $6.2 million* and where
she lives with her husband of
a year, musician and lawyer
William Tell. Of her Rag &
Bone top and jeans, she says
she’s “wearing what I could
find out of boxes”. Still, she
looks every inch the style icon
and fashion insider – a move
that’s been quite deliberate.
“Television was just sort of
an accident,” she says. “I never
felt really strongly about it.
But fashion is something that
I feel passionate about. If I
hadn’t done TV, I still would
have ended up in the [fashion]
industry, but I wouldn’t be in
the position I am now. I saw
myself having a line and then
growing it as big as I could,
but I never imagined having
anything the size of my Kohl’s
line.” The collection is sold in
over 1,200 stores and online.
Back in September, she
unveiled a limited-edition
LC Lauren Conrad Runway
Collection in her first-ever
runway show for the brand.
“I love fashion shows, and f ive
years after the launch, it’s fun
to make a splash again.” >