STYLE SCOUTING PODCAST: EMERGING STYLE SCENE IN DOWNTOWN LA

Wednesday May 25, 2016

WITH CELEBRITY JEWELRY DESIGNER ZOE CHICCO

zoe chicco jewelry — photo by Sarah Murray for The Style Scout

KNOWN FOR BEING THE QUEEN OF LAYERED JEWELRY, ZOE CHICCO'S LINE OF WEST COAST COOL IS BORN IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES.

Five minutes after I walked into her downtown Los Angeles studio I felt like I'd known her my whole life. She’s insanely easy to talk to, direct and extremely funny. Zoe is the kind of woman you want to have a glass (or carafe) of wine with. Despite her well-known line (she sells at Shopbop, Neiman Marcus and more) and her large celebrity following (you’ll often see "it" girls in her pieces) her down-to-earth energy felt almost Wisconsin-like. Before I even turned on my recorder, she candidly shared what it's like to hire your husband as your partner and the real, real deal of owning a fashion company in today's competitive landscape.

This week we're podcasting from her LA studio located in downtown LA. It's the beginning of a three part Los Angeles series on Style Scouting. Over the next three weeks we'll explore three happening LA neighborhoods, each through the eyes of a local tastemaker who'll take us behind the scenes. Downtown LA has been on my style radar for the past six months. After I read this NYT article...and then this one, and talked to multiple people who've visited recently, I knew we needed to explore further. If you ask friends who live in Los Angeles, downtown doesn't exactly have the rep for being trendy or cool, in fact when Chicco first moved her studio downtown there wasn’t a restaurant in blocks...flash forward to today’s emerging art and food scene, a few cool shops, the Ace Hotel and a food market you’ll never want to leave.

Download my Style Scouting podcast with Zoe from iTunes here (and shop my favs from her collection below.) If you follow me you know I'll try and take the wall hanging down if it looks like I could swing it as a necklace:) Big. Bigger. Bold. Bolder. I walked into my meeting with Zoe wearing two larger than life cuffs on each wrist that I'd recently bought in India, but I have to say, after seeing her at work, I may be changing my game. She makes the trending delicate, layered look incredibly enticing with masterful combos are easy to pair and wear.