About Gabrielle Johnson
When shopping finally becomes an Olympic event, editor Gabrielle Johnson is pretty sure she’ll take home the gold medal for Canada – after inquiring about the availability of other colours (lilac? chartreuse?) and politely requesting a discount. Every week, she shares a glimpse into what’s on her style radar.
Meeting Joe Zee
life/style t.o.: joe zee interviewcanada, Toronto
(Dec.07.11)
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Elle magazine Creative Director Joe Zee
I've been a big Joe Zee fan ever since I first watched him prevent Erin Kaplan from ripping off Olivia Palermo's head on The City (RIP). But Joe is more than just a peacekeeper. He also happens to be the Creative Director of Elle magazine, an über-successful stylist and the host of reality TV show All on the Line — and he grew up in Toronto.
I sat down with Joe a few days ago to chat about celebs, his hit show, and what every Canadian woman needs to survive winter.
Gabrielle: Tell me about All on the Line, in which you help struggling designers find success.
Joe: I loved the idea because I think it was really authentic and genuine; for the first time, we could portray the fashion industry on TV in a way that it hadn’t been portrayed before. It's not about The Devil Wears Prada or Ugly Betty or red carpets and flashbulbs and glitz and glamour, but about blood, sweat and tears and hard work, and that it's not that easy to be a designer. You can't just sew something and cut something and somebody will say, “Oh, I’m going to end up on the racks of Neiman Marcus.” It doesn’t work that way.
Is helping to further the careers of designers something that really matters to you?
Yes! I am so passionate about it. I think if you watch the episodes, I'm tough on them and I'm honest with them, but only in a way where I feel like, “I know you can be better.” And someone called me a “tiger mom,” but I think it’s really because I know they have it in them and they were being lazy or they were holding themselves back and I was like, “That’s not acceptable to me.” I push myself every day and I think they have the ability to push themselves. If you’re going to invest every single penny you have, max out your credit cards, borrow from friends and family, and mortgage your home, you'd better give it everything and more. You cannot sit back and say, “It’s not going to work.” And that’s really why I think I love doing this.
What are your thoughts on television vs. magazines?
I’ve done magazines my whole adult life, twenty years now, and I feel like every month I tell a story in a magazine. I tell a story through fashion, through pictures, through ideas, and I think with television I’m doing the same thing. I’m really telling the same story; I’m just telling it with moving images and people and characters and stories. It’s an extension of me in terms of storytelling. So I love my magazine and I love television. I love the synergy they have together.
How do you manage to balance the two? You're incredibly busy.
I am so busy! You don’t know, I woke up at 4:00 am today and flew here and I have to fly back to New York in an hour. I just do it, though. I think I’m really good at multitasking. I’m really good at doing multiple things at the same time. If I couldn’t do that, this would never happen. If you give me a thousand things to do, it’ll all get done, but if you give me one thing, it will never get done.