NEW YORK, USA KELLY CUTRONE Single Mother & Sassy CEO 130 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELLIOTT MORGAN 131 Page_130-137.indd 130 06.11.12 01:56 Page_130-137.indd 131 06.11.12 01:56 BY TREY TAYLOR talent for “talking all day and putting that’s out there thinking everybody’s ligion the [concept of the] feminine got set my work and my home up in the seven days, forty hours and thirty two people together.” Her party-girl life- against women. I have been put in a po- kicked out. Before that, we had Mother same space, and that got rid of a lot of minutes deleting unread emails.” So for style mirrored the (less violent) pages of sition through my work and through Earth and Father Sky, and we had the the panic of having to get up and leave me, being a good mom, it was really im- American Psycho, with restaurant reser- being in the public eye where I’m one of male/female Shiva Shakti, and in most and go somewhere and then not see my portant for me. If you want to be a hero vations and club appearances being the the only people who’s on TV where you religions, the feminine gets separated daughter when she came home, like a in the workplace and a loser at home – conclusive tokens of status. see a woman work in a sense that when away from the male. In most cases, [the lot of New York moms. I’ve also raised I’m gonna be a hero at home and a loser Known for owning up to a breed of you look at Sex and the City characters female] is made less than [the male] or a bohemian child, so I let her stay up in the workplace! I felt like I had a lot to nasty superlatives, Cutrone has crash- – those are !ctionalized characters; and not given the power to speak and repre- later than most parents probably let give and a lot to learn, so to me it was landed in every venture she’s taken on. you look at Suze Orman. That’s all an sent. We look to the animal world. We their kids stay up on the weekends, for like a proper teaching, a proper path. What she learned early on was how older generation. All of a sudden, you look at a mother wolf, for example, or sure! She doesn’t go to sleep until 9:00 Wanting to be a good parent, never to to pick herself back up, which could see this one [woman] working – peo- a bear – they’re !erce; [they possess] all or 9:30 during the week, which can yell, never to be abusive, and not to hit very well be the reason this renaissance ple are like, “Oh, she’s a bitch. She’s a the aspects of the feminine: !erceness, be seen as a little late, because I like to my child, to really listen to her with an woman has docked on The New York witch.” Meanwhile, if you watch a foot- ruthlessness; [they’re] com- open heart. Times bestseller list, rede!ned reality ball coach or an Olympic coach running passionate, abundant, fer- I have lots of friends elly Cutrone and Naomi Campbell were television, and succeeded in raising her a team on the !eld, they’re seen as be- tile, loving. in New York who have headed to The Vault, a club in New daughter, Ava, while heading People’s ing these amazing coaches going to take raised really cool kids. I’ve York’s Meatpacking District, which, in Revolution, the PR company she found- care of business and when chicks do it in Discovering she was preg- watched so many parents the late ‘80s, was an area known mostly ed when she was just twenty-two. fashion it’s like, “She’s a power bitch!” nant on September 10, in New York, people who Kfor its offbeat characters and transves- Cutrone !rst encountered sexism at I think it’s de!nitely hypocritical, for 2001 – a day before 9/11 have gone before me, and I tite population. That meant hailing a ten years old, when she decided the best sure. At times, I think if you went and – Kelly was delighted. The knew there was something cab wasn’t the easiest of feats. After way to hang out with all the cute boys you hooked a lot of people up to a lie de- notion of single mother- to be said for raising open- several cabs cruised by, the pair grew was to join them in their own game. tector test and you said, “Do you believe hood was intense, espe- “I think a lot of people hearted, outspoken, privi- increasingly impatient. Finally, Naomi She became the !rst female umpire in that women are inferior to men?” They cially since that week was leged New York kids. To managed to delay a driver long enough her town of Camillus, New York. The would say no, and then they would fail fashion week, and People’s treat them in a cool, bohe- to hear that he “doesn’t pick up drag moms booed her. the test. Revolution was producing hate powerful women. mian way, and to really be queens.” Naomi was furious, ran in She ran into this opposition again I think if people aren’t actually say- a record number of shows. with them and have a pact front of the cab, and – slamming her !st when she !rst appeared on MTV’s The ing it, many people hold it in their hearts Not to mention the father, Why do they? and be a pack, you know? down on the hood of his car – howled, Hills, where her !erce persona and no- and a lot of people in this world think Ilario Calvo, was overseas That’s what I do with Ava “Do you know who I am? I AM A SU- nonsense attitude polarized viewers. that to be feminine means to not talk after they had split three I think they buy into so it’s easy for me. I love my PERMODEL!” It was this particular This continued on The City, where she a lot and to be pretty, to be pleasant, months into the pregnancy. daughter so I enjoy spend- episode during which Kelly had an guided Whitney Port with business ad- agreeable, and to go along with things, After consulting a doula ing time with her. I’ve never epiphany, a moment of clairvoyance. vice and background cheerleading. Then and to look nice and I think that those (read: birth coach), Kelly the concept that taken a vacation without She knew then and there that she had Kell On Earth, her own reality show are all adjectives and concepts that are focused all her energy on her. I’ve never been like, ‘I absolutely no sense of self. Her whole that exposed of!ce dynamics and was a associated with what it means to be a becoming a single mother, women should be seen need to get away from her!’ life was based on, “Hi! What do you true showcase of her talents of wheeling ‘good girl’, or a ‘nice woman’. If you are and brought her daughter On New Year’s and Christ- do?” At that point she sold her company and dealing. Now, with a stint as a judge a woman who speaks up, you’re a witch, Ava into the world all on and not heard. “ mas I want to be with my for a nominal fee, and packed her bags on America’s Next Top Model and a a bitch or a dyke. If you look at some- her own. Ava is now ten child. I want to be with her for a journey of self-discovery. couple of New York Times’ bestselling body like Anna Wintour – who’s accom- years old, and Kelly has in the summer, to go swim- Fast-forward to a two-year stint as a how-to’s, she is not only powerful, but plished so much. You look at someone managed to juggle owning ming with her, hang out tarot card reader on Venice Beach – her is remunerated for sharing her cut-and- like Steve Jobs and then Anna Wintour. and managing her company and go shopping with her. answer to the revelation of her mid-life dry opinion. You look at the dialoguing about Steve while being a mom. Sometimes I love going out crisis. She describes what was missing Jobs and the dialoguing about Anna with my friends and not from her life as “a relationship with the Trey Taylor: You once said, “I think Wintour. Anybody who works for Steve Trey Taylor: You’ve man- having my child there but Divine”. As with everything that she has that people hate women. And I don’t Jobs knows the guy was a killer and that aged to be both a mother for the most part we do a lot taken on, Cutrone became an excep- think they like powerful women…” he ran his team into the ground, right? and a top professional for a of stuff together because we tional reader and soon began consulting Why do you think people are fearful of But he was like, “A genius! Amazing! good portion of your career. A lot of fe- spend quality time with her when I get like each other’s company! for high-rolling Hollywood housewives powerful women? He’s Steve Jobs!” Then Anna Wintour, male professionals sacri!ce a lot of time home.