Chatting With Kristin Cavallari

It is safe to say that Kristin Cavallari is far from her days on MTV’s The Hills. She is now a wife, mother, designer, entrepreneur, and the list goes on and on. Cavallari just released her fall collection with Chinese Laundry, and it will leave you lusting after every pair on the shelf. Somehow, between caring for Jaxon and Camden, designing her next collection for Chinese Laundry, and rooting for her husband, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, Kristin had time to sit down with us and chat shoes, The Fabulist, and Chicago.

Congratulations on your fall collection with Chinese Laundry! Where did you get the inspiration for this collection?

Well, with every line, I want my shoes to be trendy, while still being affordable . I think it’s important for girls to know that you don’t have to spend $900 on a pair of shoes to look and feel great. Everything in my line, for the most part, is a staple. They’re all classic shoes that you’ll wear forever. But, you know, we still have the trendier items like the thigh-high boots which are one of the biggest pieces for fall.

What is the design process like?

I work with Shana, over at the Chinese Laundry design team. She’s really great about knowing the hot colors and that sort of thing, and I just send her all of the inspiration I gather throughout the year. After that, we just come up with everything together, I tweak everything, and then I always have the final say on every shoe. It’s fun.

What is the best, and most difficult, thing about designing a shoe collection?

The hardest part is that even if I love a shoe, it’s ultimately up to the buyers, so take Nordstrom for example, to decide if they want it or not. There was one shoe in particular that I am obsessed with, but they didn’t want! I tried to bring it back again, and push for it, and they still don’t want it! It’s hard! I could love something, but it really doesn’t matter. The best part is being able to design the shoes that I love and seeing girls wear my shoes and see how happy they are. It’s the best feeling in the world.

How do you like Chicago, has it influenced your sense of style at all?

For style alone, I like that in Chicago you can actually wear boots and jackets and layer, and all that fun stuff that you can’t do in California. I guess its influenced my line in that I have a lot more boots and booties than I probably would if I was still living in California, just because I wouldn’t even be aware of it. Chicago has been great, the people are all so nice. I like having seasons even though it can be pretty brutal come January. Even right now, the leaves are all changing and we don’t get that in California. And my family is here, my Mom is here, so that’s really nice. Especially with babies too, they help out a lot.

You’re hosting E!’s “The Fabulist,” what is your favorite thing about hosting “The Fabulist?”

It’s a lot of fun, we talk about all the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. It’s everything that I love talking about, and it’s great because, you know, I think when you initially hear about the show you think it’s just about fashion, but there’s a little something for everyone because we do talk about trends and food and travel and all kinds of things. It’s fast paced, it’s thirty minutes, and you’re left with a ton of knowledge.

You are always one step ahead of everyone else. What can we expect to see from you coming up?

Well, for my shoe line, we are working on Fall 2015, so we are working far ahead. We actually were just looking at Spring samples yesterday, which was fun. I just launched a jewelry line about two weeks ago with Planet Blue out in LA, it’s called Emerald Dove and I’m working on a couple other things, but nothing that I can really talk about yet.

Photos: Kohl Murdock