Photo Credit: Getty Images // Stefanie Keenan
If you followed my adventures on Snapchat & Instagram last week (@iamfashionlaine), you saw me capturing that wonderful morning spent in the beautiful and amazing converted JCPenney house in LA in lieu of Eva Longoria’s new home collection! While we all may know and love Eva through a wide array of different contexts from her acting skills, to her knowledge in creating delicious restaurants like Beso, to her wildly amazing sense of style, it’s safe to say, she has easily made the world fall head over heels with her one way or another.
Yet… Eva Longoria with JCPenney and a home collection? At initial thought, you may think that THAT might be a stretch and a random match made in the celebrity brand endorsement world. It just sounds too good to be true that Eva could be knowledgable in just about anything else, because really can someone have that many talents? Yet alas, as you’ll soon come to see (and read from the below), you’ll realize, it’s actually not so far off or random at all. And that yes, Eva is actually indeed an undercover wonder woman who can conquer any field that she wants to.
Down to earth, humble, and a true appreciator of her roots, it’s easy to see from my interview below why Eva Longoria is so obviously loved by all, and featured as today’s Inspiration. (And on top of that, her new collection is so freakin cute, I need a piece of it in my life already!).
Fashionlaine (FL): What inspired you to do this whole collection and why with JCPenney?
Eva Longoria (EL): A big secret is that I’m very domestic and that I sew. A lot of people don’t know that about me. When I was young, my mother always told me “be sure you make a house a home”—wherever you go. She didn’t care how crappy the apartment was, “you better make sure it’s nice”. I couldn’t afford throw pillows or curtains, so I would go to the fabric stores and get the cheap materials and make my own curtains and own throw pillows. And I did that for many years, even when I could afford my own throw pillows, I’d still make my own because I would want to put my own design and own material. So eventually, my friends loved my throw pillows and said “you should do your own line”, and this was way before I was famous. And I thought to myself “oh, that’s what I want to do.” And this particular line is inspired by my travels all over the world. I get to go to so many places and see different textiles, textures, and patterns. So I thought what if I could curate everything I find all over the world and make it accessible for everybody.
Any why JCPenney (JCP)? I grew up with JCP. It was one of the biggest department stores in Texas and so it was a really big deal and super fancy and the place where you’d save up your money to shop at. Growing up with JCP, I find now that it’s a super accessible store with great price points and that’s exactly where I want to be. And it has a very broad audience—not only with Hispanics but with everybody. JCP was my first credit card! So I kind of have a long history with them.
FL: Who are the style icons that inspired you to create this line? Or who did you look to for inspiration?EL: My mom! I don’t have a lot of role models and icons in bedding. But what I did see was a whitespace. There wasn’t enough color in bedding departments, or there were crazy patterns that felt old and there was nothing really in between. There wasn’t a good thread count that reflected a modern house today with modern classic patterns that could be contemporary in contemporary houses. So that’s what I wanted to do.
FL: Have you done any redecorating for Jose?
EL: No! He’s the decorator. Pepe is the frustrated interior designer.
FL: Do you go to him for some ideas or advice?EL: Yes. I’ll show him everything and he’ll be like “that’s very nice, that’s a little busy”. Yeah, I think he was interior designer in his past life.
FL: Has your mom given you any advice or feedback about the new collection?EL: Oh my mom loves it. This one (in reference to the bedwe were sitting on) was actually named after my mom– Mireles which is my mother’s maiden name. Some of my best memories of my mom is when she would put me to bed, calming and rubbing my head, tucking me in. And I just feel like the yellows and the greys recreate that feeling she gave to me. And I always feel like your bedding should always say something. Purple / lavender is a healing feeling but also sexy, the blue Mediterranean inspired one gives you a feeling of inviting you to relax. I think your bedding should just always call you and make you feel like you want to dive into your bed because you love it so much.
FL: Would you ever consider expanding out to a fashion line?EL: Yes, absolutely. We’ve actually been in talks about it. Home is very organic to me because I love to cook and want to expand this home line first going into bath and more window treatments. Then branching into kitchen and home and cookware and flatware and all of that fun stuff. But with clothing, I sew so much clothing as well that it would be an organic evolution.
FL: I’m surprised you haven’t done that yet and this is your first collection!EL: Clothing is an interesting and difficult market. I saw this whitespace for this line and home, and clothing is a very crowded space right now. Especially with celebrity clothing, and so I kind of wanted to wait for those waves to pass. It was like when the celebrity perfumes came out to, and the celebrity this, and celebrity that! I didn’t want to be the one of the many—I wanted to find a unique voice that’s needed in the marketplace.
FL: You’ve worn a lot of dresses from your good friend Victoria Beckham. What would you give her from your collection? What do you think she would like?EL: Yes! I think she would love the Marrakech because she is super modern and clean lines. She doesn’t like a lot of patterns and prints and so I think she would like the Marrakech the best. It’s simple.
FL: Are you having a lot of fun with Victoria while she’s here?EL: Yes! She just left! But yes, I love April because it’s her birthday and all the fun stuff we get to do when she’s here. She misses LA. But I would too!
What do you think?