Inside Reese Witherspoon’s Style Empire: The Totes That Make Her Hug Strangers, Being a Boss, and More
Not many people get to celebrate two birthdays in one year, but our reigning Best Dressed Woman, Reese Witherspoon not only turned 40 in March, but her fashion and lifestyle brand Draper James celebrated one year in business on May 5. And the star and her team haven’t slowed down since the launch. “We’re just always working, working, working,” Witherspoon tells PeopleStyle in this week’s issue. “If I’m in L.A., I’m on Skype. If I’m in New York, I’m at the offices. When I’m in Nashville, I’m at the store. It’s busy, but it’s so great. You make mistakes, and then you correct yourself.”
Since in getting into fashion, she’s learned how to stay in her lane. “It’s important to not be afraid to say, ‘I don’t know how to do that.’ Sometimes an idea doesn’t work. Sometimes things don’t sell when we thought they were going to. But then, we had no idea that we were going to sell 3,000 “Totes Y’all” bags in a year,” she says. “One of the greatest and most exciting things happened when I was on vacation in Florida, and I saw a woman walk down the street with one those bags. I stopped her and hugged her!”
In addition to Draper James, Witherspoon has a production company, Pacific Standard, which she founded in 2012. And there are some similarities between both businesses. “I’ve been working collaboratively with other artists all my life,” she says. “When you’re on movies, you’re talking to writers and directors trying to shape the story and characters. In Draper James meetings, we try to connect a story to a product. We create things that remind us of our southern upbringings and want everything we put out there to bring you joy and be something you’ll have forever.”
She thinks DJ has excelled in a few areas. “Anything that had a southern saying on it people really responded to,” she says, “Like the coasters and mugs with sayings on them, and the ‘Tell me something good’ cocktail napkins.” She’s also seeing success with dresses. “I feel like we really nailed a certain silhouette,” she says.
Witherspoon has also nailed the idea that each of her brands should empower women; Draper James works with Girls Inc., and Pacific Standard aims to create more narratives and jobs for women in the film industry. “I definitely think that strength coexists with femininity and [being strong] doesn’t mean you can’t be girlie,” she says. “I’m really trying to help push that within my own industry, and it’s fun! I mean, part of the reason I did Legally Blonde was because I loved the idea of this character who loved to dress up and have her nails done, but she also wanted to be taken seriously and was a really hard worker. I think most women feel that way. Just because you’re a woman in a position of power doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate being a woman.”
Reese Witherspoon Didn’t See Herself in Scripts…So She Found New Ones
After snapping up the rights to the books Gone Girl and Wild, and turning both into hit films complete with Oscar nominations, Reese Witherspoon has become, per the Wall Street Journal, an influential literary tastemaker in Hollywood.
“I started looking to books as source material because I saw the movies that were coming down the pipeline, and the characters that women were playing were really lackluster,” Witherspoon told ELLE.com on Friday (April 15th) at the Tiffany Blue Book gala, where she sported a $10 million diamond necklace from the collection. “I love stories; I love complex, dynamic women who aren’t necessarily likable, but they actually have so many different dimensions. And I think that’s how women really are, and I think that’s how they want to see themselves represented on screen.”
Witherspoon, who just turned 40, celebrated with a star-studded party where she sang “Sweet Home Alabama” accompanied by Keith Urban on guitar, and Taylor Swift also performed.
“I’m in a really great place,” she says of the milestone. “I’m thrilled to be doing what I do, which is tell stories in this world, and starting a new business, which is a great challenge for me, but it’s also incredibly exciting,” she said, referring to her production company with partner Bruna Papandrea. “I’m working with great women whom I love and respect; Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz.” That project is Big Little Lies, a series Witherspoon is also producing for HBO, based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name. “I’m having great time! I mean, I have to say, this 40 thing is not so bad!”
As previously posted about, Reese is going to be taking part in a speaking tour in Australia this year; the director of the event, Jacqueline Nagle, explains why she chose Reese to headline the talk. Watch Jacqueline talk about her choice on her official Facebook page, or in the video below. The 2nd video below explains what Reese will be doing during the event.
Last month, it was revealed Hollywood superstar Reese Witherspoon would be coming to Australia for her first ever speaking tour.
And Jacqueline Nagle, the Queensland mother who persuaded Reese to travel Down Under, told Sunrise on Wednesday why the Legally Blonde star was chosen to headline her $2,000-a-head event for women in leadership, titled the Simpatico Conference Series.
‘What I wanted was somebody who brings everything to the table,’ Jacqueline said of the 40-year-old actress-turned-producer, who will serve as keynote speaker for the events scheduled for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in July.
Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage asked how she expected an Oscar-winning star like Reese to ‘be inspirational to the average, everyday working Aussie woman.’
Jacqueline, who’s career has spanned several industries, replied: ‘If I just wanted a Hollywood superstar, there are hundreds we could have chosen.
‘But what I wanted was someone who brings everything to the table. So it’s about being an Oscar- winning actress, absolutely.
‘But it’s also about the fact she has her own production company, she has her own retail business, she is a working mum.
Southern Living magazine have named Reese one of their Innovators Changing the South, saying:
Reese Witherspoon
Of course we swooned when we heard that one of our favorite actresses, one who hails from Nashville, was opening a storefront and online store. But when we saw the gorgeous pieces Draper James offers, from charming accessories and dresses to classic choices for Southern decorating, we really fell in love. Even better? Draper James prioritizes made-in-America, made-in-the-South products, and the company is continually working to make the offerings even more authentically Southern.
Reese Witherspoon’s New Role: Power Broker The actress has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most influential literary tastemakers in the book-to-screen business
Reese Witherspoon was frustrated. It was 2011, and the screenplays coming across her desk had one bland female character after another. Defined as wives or girlfriends, they were nice, respectable and, for an actor interested in character work, boring. She was drawn much more to the protagonists of the novels and memoirs she curled up with at night.
“My husband said, ‘Honey, you read more books than anybody I know. Why don’t you just option some and turn them into movies?’ ” Ms. Witherspoon recalled in a recent interview in Santa Monica, Calif.
In short order, she teamed up with producer Bruna Papandrea, launched an independent production company called Pacific Standard, and went on the hunt for challenging female characters. The pair quickly demonstrated that they could sniff out best sellers. They scooped up their first two books—Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, “Wild,” and Gillian Flynn’s thriller, “Gone Girl”—before they were published. In July 2012, just five months after the company was launched, the books hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list at the same time—in the nonfiction and fiction categories, respectively. Together, the films earned three Oscar nominations and grossed more than half a billion dollars.
Since then, Ms. Witherspoon has emerged as one of the most influential literary tastemakers in Hollywood. Her regular book recommendations on Instagram send Amazon rankings soaring. At a time when book adaptations remain a crucial segment of the film industry, Pacific Standard is an increasingly important player in the book-to-screen business. She and her partner have also invited some authors to adapt their own books, in the hopes of bringing new writing voices to film and television.
Reese Witherspoon to visit Australia on speaking tour
Oscar winning Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon will visit Australia and New Zealand in July as part of a speaking tour.
The Legally Blonde star will be the headline speaker for The Simpatico Conference which aims to inspire women “to be more ambitious, self-aware, and confident”.
The US actress and film producer will visit Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland on July 12, 14, 16 and 18 respectively.
Tickets are not cheap – the two-day Australian program costs from $1997 for “The Delegate” package including meals and drinks, or for an additional $500 you can also get preferred seating and a VIP reception and photo with Witherspoon.
Witherspoon, who recently turned 40, owns a film production company called Pacific Standard which produced Gone Girl and also Wild. She also has her own clothing brand and is active in charities including Save the Children and Childrens Defence Fund.
“Reese Witherspoon embodies the philosophy of The Simpatico Conference. She is talented, intelligent, passionate, diverse and committed to making a difference,” said Simpatico Connection managing director Jacqueline Nagle in a statement.
“We are bringing a lineup of six incredible women who will inspire each delegate to be more ambitious, self-aware, and confident.”
Witherspoon’s last visit to Australia was in 2011 to promote her film Water For Elephants. In February she was filming her new HBO series Big Little Lies in Malibu, and is also set to join Matt Damon and Christoph Waltz on the movie Downsizing.
* The Simpatico Conference is on July 12-13 at the Brisbane Convention Centre; July 14-15 at Dockside Pavilion Darling Harbour in Sydney, and July 16-17 at Peninsula Docklands Convention Centre in Melbourne.
Anna Paquin to Star in Reese Witherspoon-Produced ABC Pilot ‘Broken’
Anna Paquin will topline ABC’s drama pilot from scribe Meaghan Oppenheimer and exec producers Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea, Variety has learned.
The project that had formerly been untitled is now called “Broken.”
“Broken” follows a ruthless Dallas divorce attorney, Gemma (Paquin), as her life begins to unravel when her emotionally damaged, love-addicted sister resurfaces, triggering self-destructive tendencies and exposing long-hidden family secrets. Paquin’s character is described as one of the most sought-after divorce attorneys in Dallas.
Having made a fortune off of the heartbreak of wealthy Texans, she has no desire to look back, but beneath her carefully constructed facade are layers of vulnerability, self-destruction and deeply buried trauma.
Paquin joins a cast that includes T.R. Knight, Blair Underwood and Penelope Ann Miller. Underwood will play James, Gemma’s boss and sometimes lover; Knight will play Mark, who is competing with Gemma for the same position; and Miller will play Elizabeth Hamilton, the wife of a Texas oil billionaire who is seeking revenge after having been left for a woman 20 years younger.
The soapy drama hails from Witherspoon and Papandrea’s Pacific Standard shingle and ABC Studios. Oppenheimer (“We Are Your Friends”) will serve as a co-exec producer on the pilot, which she penned.
“Broken” marks Paquin’s return to television as a series regular, after her starring role as Sookie Stackhouse on HBO’s “True Blood.” She will next star in A&E’s hotly anticipated “Roots” revival miniseries, which debuts this Memorial Day.
The Morning Show (2019) Seasons 1 & 2 available now on AppleTV+
Season 3 coming in 2023 Role: Bradley Jackson Genre: Apple TV+ Series - Drama News / Info / Photos / Official Site
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Reese Witherspoon
The Morning Show (2019)
