21 Questions with... Kelly Cutrone

Accomplished author, TV star, founder of People’s Revolution and our September guest editor, Kelly Cutrone, answers our quickfire questions.

When I get dressed in the morning I think… I love my black.
The one item of clothing I could never live without is… black leggings.
My current favorite piece to wear is… black.
Every woman’s wardrobe should include… black.
If you looked at my phone you’d see… a lot of really amazing friends, a who’s who of the coolest people in the world that I also love.
My beauty essentials include… moisturizer every day. I love Restorsea moisturizer. I also love Tracie Martyn’s face cleanser — the Amla cleanser. It’s genius and [the box is] purple and it offsets all my black.
The last thing I googled was… a grocery street in Upstate New York.
If my days had one extra hour I’d… meditate.
My guilty pleasure is… sleep or gluten — I’m trying not to eat gluten.
I’m dying to splurge on… an Amelia Earhart enamel antique lamp. The base of the lamp is Amelia Earhart, and over her head is a balloon like a parachute. And it’s $2,400.
On a typical Saturday night, I… am having family dinner at my country house with my daughter and my friends.
I’m most excited for fall because… I’m a Scorpio and that’s my time of year. Cha cha cha.
When I’m stressed I… stop breathing.
When it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I do… duh, not enough.
My biggest fashion pet peeve is… the misuse of the word couture.
My one style regret… a ‘fro perm in 1977.
When it comes to picking models for America’s Next Top Model, I look for… potential, wanting to model and a great story. If you have someone who comes in at 5 feet 10 inches, knows all their angles, is totally charming and takes a great picture, they don’t need to be on our show. We take people who have the potential to be models and take them to their fullest capability. There has to be a weekly reward. The show wouldn’t be so great if everyone was from Moscow and amazing supermodels. We look for potential and the willingness to go through the week and a great story.
My fashion and style inspiration is… I don’t really look outside. There are women who are amazing. If I have to pick a woman who is the coolest person I know, it’s [photographer] Mary Ellen Mark. She’s kind of genius, an amazing photographer. She wears her hair in braids. She has such a cool look. She’s just unstoppable, and every decade of her life she’s been incredibly beautiful and incredible.
How do you feel about being a style icon… I think that I’m not a style icon. I think if anything, I’ve encouraged people to be themselves. I think there’s something awesome about getting dressed up; I did that in my 20s and 30s. I’m into all black now because it’s practical. When you’re young, you should express yourself. What I want is some autonomy in my day. I can go to a wedding, I can go to a black tie party, I can go to a funeral, I can go to a job interview — I’m ready to go. It’s a diamond bangle and a change of shoes.
When hiring people, the qualities I look for are… I guess their ability to communicate. And also a sense of loyalty. Confidence, but with humility and openness. If someone’s too wound up or too uptight, they’re not going to do well.
The best advice I ever got was… from my mom, she was like, know how to read and have good manners [and] you can go anywhere in life.