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00:00I am Corey Murray, Deputy Editor of Essence Magazine, and this is the Emmy Award-winning
00:08host of the Tamron Hall Show, starring Tamron Hall.
00:19Let me say Emmy Award-winning again.
00:24Daytime host, talk show.
00:26Actually, and I saw a little blurb, you now are going to be considered in the news category,
00:30correct?
00:31Yes, it is.
00:32It's been great being under the umbrella of ABC for now three seasons, and since we are
00:39a New York-based show, and I've been a journalist for 30 years, it's a natural fit to be under
00:45the umbrella of Kim Godwin, who's the first black woman to lead any network news division
00:52in the history of news.
00:55Yes, and so a partnership with myself and Kim Godwin, I felt, was a marriage made in
01:01fashion and smart heaven, so there we are.
01:05Because they were like, Tamron's talking about serious things.
01:07They were like, yeah, she's going to go there with the COVID and the people not wearing the
01:10masks, so we may as well.
01:11But I've known Kim Godwin for a long time, and the fact that she is a pioneer in 2021 in
01:19the news industry as the first black woman to hold that position, and that I was the
01:22first black woman to ever anchor on the Today Show.
01:25It was just, it was the universe conspiring to keep us where we are supposed to be, and
01:32that was together.
01:33Love it, love it.
01:34Talk about universe conspiring and keeping things together, because while you are a serious
01:39journalist and we want to get our facts straight from you, but this girl slays, right?
01:44Always top to bottom.
01:47And you have a little collaboration that's in the works right now.
01:51Can we talk about it?
01:52We collaborate with SACS, so when I moved to New York, it was 12 years ago, and I am
02:00a person that I love for life, so to speak, so I've had the same best friend since I was
02:05four years old, and I walked into SACS and got a credit card, because I couldn't buy what
02:12I wanted, and I became very close with a person who worked there.
02:18Her name is Kiriaki, and we forged a bond when I first moved to New York, and in fact,
02:25when I attended my first White House Correspondents Dinner, I went into SACS and I said,
02:29I don't know what to wear.
02:30I have nothing to wear.
02:31What do I do?
02:32And she found my very first White House Correspondents Dinner dress that I ended up
02:37wearing, so over the years, I built a relationship with them, and now they pick out and help us
02:43with the fashion, because the expectation, I didn't think that people were going to keep
02:48like expecting and expecting, and so now I'm in that no-fail zone, so we needed SACS help
02:54along with Eric Neiman, my stylist, so they team up to put me in beautiful dresses like
02:59this Alexander McQueen, which is about two sizes too small, but nevertheless, I will suffer
03:05through this 20 minutes.
03:06You will suffer.
03:06You look amazing.
03:08And our goal was really with daytime television was to push the fashion envelope, so we do a
03:14series on the show called Up and Coming Fashion Designers.
03:17I grew up in a small town in Texas.
03:19My mother was a single mom at 19, so the majority of my clothes were made by someone.
03:24I had my aunt Lottie Mae, because I'm from Texas, so there's everybody with a Mae, Katie Mae,
03:29Lottie Mae, Vanessa Mae, and they made all of my clothes my entire life, because we didn't
03:35have the ability to walk into a department store.
03:37So I, with the show, wanted to give love to the people who still have the Vogue patterns
03:42in the boxes who make clothes, but also bring a level of fashion to daytime television that
03:50reflected me, but also reflected Essence Magazine and all the greatness that you've shown me over
03:57the years of what black beauty is and what black beauty can be.
04:01So I take great pride in what I walk out on that stage with, because I know I'm representing
04:07Essence, I'm representing you, and y'all will tell me if my sleigh is off, so sex better
04:15come with the sleigh, and that's what the collaboration is about.
04:18It's a celebration of black beauty, black excellence, and at the end of the day, what I grew up seeing
04:24in the pages of Essence Magazine, which were beautiful black men and women presenting ourselves
04:30and our true state, because we set the standard for fashion, and they, being the world, follow
04:37us.
04:38Well, I've got to ask, is this something that, speaking of that small town in Texas, is this
04:41something that you dream?
04:43I mean, I know you, like you said, you have 30 years as a journalist, but is this something
04:47you thought, like, I'm going to be working alongside, like, couture?
04:51No, no, I wore dickies before it was fashionable.
04:54Listen, no, I never could have imagined the life I have, as I said, you know, I'm 51, so
05:02I would look at it.
05:03Woo, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa.
05:06In five days, I wish.
05:08My body's 101, you know, and I had my first child at 48.
05:13My son Moses is two years old, but I grew up looking at Essence Magazine and all of these
05:19beautiful images.
05:20I never thought it would be me, I mean, I wore braces for seven years, I was not the
05:25kid they were betting on, but nevertheless, looking at Essence Magazine, what you create
05:32now and what was created then, inspired me in ways that I could not have ever imagined.
05:38So, no, I didn't expect, I was the underdog, I was the goofy kid that could fight, that nobody
05:44was with, they thought, it's not going, it can go either way with this one, but it wasn't
05:48going to be this way, but thank God I'm here and have this position that I have and can
05:53reflect the legacy that you create with Essence and the legacy I grew up reading about.
05:59So, what, I know, shout out.
06:02What type of looks do you associate with your signature style?
06:06Oh, what looks, you know.
06:08Because we know your hair is signature.
06:09Yeah, so my haircut, funny enough, and I think I shared this with Essence, I went to Temple
06:14University in Philadelphia, and I had a boyfriend who was obsessed with Anita Baker.
06:19This is pre-Halle Berry, and he's like, I love Anita Baker, and I loved him, but he loved
06:25Anita Baker.
06:27He lost.
06:28But I went home to Texas my freshman year.
06:32I had big Texas hair, big Texas hair.
06:35And I went home, and I told my hairstylist, Carla's House of Beauty.
06:39Again, that's how Southern I am.
06:41Carla's House of Beauty.
06:42I was like, Carla, you got to cut my hair, and she cut my hair like Anita Baker, like
06:47the song, Haircut Like Anita Baker.
06:48I was like, I want to be Anita Baker.
06:51I came back.
06:51He had a whole other girlfriend, whatever.
06:53But you won.
06:55I won.
06:56He still calls, and I'm married.
06:59But I got my hair cut, and then some years later, I was in Chicago on air, and a young
07:05man who was here, Johnny Wright, walked up to me.
07:09And I was at an event much like this, and he came up, and he said, I do hair in my mother's
07:15basement, and I had a dream that I was going to do your hair.
07:19Wow.
07:20And I said, okay.
07:22I just fired my hairstylist.
07:23That's funny.
07:24And he said, I really know I can do your hair, and I'm just starting out.
07:29And I said, okay, you can do my hair, but if you F up my hair, you won't do business in
07:33this town.
07:34I said it.
07:35I swear to God.
07:36And Johnny's right here, y'all.
07:36I thought I wasn't going to tell the story.
07:38Johnny had a big airflow.
07:40He was full of life, lived on the south side of Chicago, and he started doing my hair.
07:45And other than when he did Michelle Obama's hair for eight years and your hair, has he
07:49ever departed my life?
07:50So he crafted my hair and styled my hair, and that was the beginning of my confidence
07:56because I love long hair.
07:59Listen, one of the people that work with me, she has ombre, beautiful hair down, like the
08:05Nicki Minaj length that costs you a lot of money.
08:07I'm doing that eventually because I love the creativity that hair can bring.
08:12My fashion, as I said, my mother was a 19-year-old single mother, but my grandfather was born in
08:171901, and he was a sharecropper.
08:19But he kept a pair of Stacey Adams.
08:22And so that was a part of my culture as a southern black woman that every Sunday, the
08:29women and men in my life would walk out the door, casket ready, meaning you clean from
08:34the top to the front.
08:36Who cares what the back looked like?
08:37But this was casket ready.
08:39And so that was the culture that helped me appreciate fashion.
08:44Yeah.
08:44You know, my family's also from Texas.
08:47Yes.
08:47And one thing I remember when I came east was the newscasters.
08:52They really had a certain look.
08:53Is there something that you had to overcome?
08:55And like, I know what y'all tell me what the newscaster look is, but I wanted, when did
09:01you start giving them a slice of tamarind?
09:03Well, so I remember being a reporter in Texas, and it was 103,000 degrees.
09:08Yes.
09:09And a news director told me I couldn't take off my jacket because it wasn't professional.
09:14He was in an air conditioner.
09:16And I was outside.
09:18And I thought, well, this isn't, well, how am I measured by whether I have sleeves on or
09:23not?
09:23That's absurd.
09:25And I'll be honest, Michelle Obama with the sleeveless look that became the iconic look,
09:31I was like, well, they're not going to give me a look.
09:34The first lady got no sleeves.
09:36So I started to have my style evolution at that point.
09:40But of course, over time, people would say, well, I remember one year on the Today Show,
09:45I wore a little short dress, and people started tweeting saying, what are you doing in my
09:52granddaughter's dress?
09:53What are you thinking about?
09:55Five years later, I wore the same dress.
09:57And they're like, oh my God, Tamarind Hall, I want that dress.
09:59Because people oftentimes, once they get to know you.
10:02But I think, you know, one of the tricks that I used to use in fashion, particularly when
10:07I would co-anchor with someone I didn't like, and you can rewind the tape and you'll figure
10:11it out, I would always wear bright colors, because I knew it would blow them out, because
10:16brown skin can absorb the color.
10:18Yeah.
10:19And so there would be people, do not tweet this, that would sit next to me that were
10:25not necessarily the most supportive people.
10:28And I would wear yellow, red, orange.
10:31You were over there just shining, shining, shining.
10:33I knew my skin could handle it.
10:35Yes.
10:36What other tips did you...
10:41Melanated.
10:43What were some other tips that you, you know, besides the sleeveless, that you adapted to
10:49become your signature look?
10:51You know, I just, at some point, as I said, I'll be 51 in a couple of days.
10:57I just took Tina, Beyonce's mother.
11:01She said, dress to your body, your most powerful part of your body.
11:07And she said, when she would dress Kelly, Kelly had great abs.
11:10Beyonce had great legs.
11:11So I said, what is it that I have that I could illuminate?
11:16I still don't know what body part it is, but I know my short haircut allows me to be bolder,
11:22you know, from the neck down.
11:24So I kind of, we build looks from the top down.
11:28I have a great style team, Johnny Wright, Jessica Smalls, who's a beast of a makeup artist.
11:34She does Janelle Monae, and it's phenomenal.
11:37Eric Neiman, who is my stylist, I've worked with for many years.
11:41And you build relationships like with us in this business.
11:44I met Eric before I had the show that I have now.
11:48There are many great memories after Prince passed away, who I was very close with,
11:53and really picked out most of my clothes for many, many years.
11:58After Prince left this place, Eric dressed me the first time I did a red carpet after that.
12:06And I was super nervous.
12:08I didn't know what to wear.
12:09And Eric picked out the dress that I ended up, interestingly enough,
12:12wearing to the White House Correspondents' Dinner for Barack Obama.
12:15So, you know, it's come over time.
12:16But you have to dress to your comfort level, but also to your weapon.
12:21What is your weapon?
12:23You know, if it's your eyes, if it's your arms, whatever it is, if it's your walk.
12:28I have a garbage walk, so I don't dress to that walk, right?
12:31And so I dress to disguise the walk, but dress to your weapon.
12:37And that's the same thing I do at my talk show.
12:39What is my weapon, right?
12:41I can't sing.
12:42I can't do a lot of things.
12:43But I know, I think I can do a good interview.
12:46And so my weapon is what you're doing right now, listening and talking to people.
12:52So the same things I use in my talk show every day, my weapon of listening.
12:56We just aired my interview with Michael K. Williams, which was one of his last before he passed away.
13:01Rest in peace.
13:02Rest in power.
13:02God bless.
13:03And, you know, I ran into Michael in Brooklyn right before he passed.
13:07And he said, look, you're the first show that I've been on where they actually heard my story.
13:12And it was a confirmation to me that was my weapon.
13:16And so I do the same thing with fashion.
13:18What is my weapon?
13:19Color, you know, structure.
13:22I can't walk, but I can walk in a long dress when others might fall, you know.
13:27And so those are my weapons.
13:29Wow.
13:29And so that now that makes a lot of sense why there's so many Pinterest boards dedicated to you and what you wear on the Tamron Hall Show.
13:36So who are some people outside of your circle and the people you've met that you admire, their style, and why?
13:43Oh, my gosh.
13:44There's so many people.
13:46I, oof, that's a big question because the list, Janelle Monae.
13:50I mean, I think what she does structurally is absolutely stunning.
13:55Rihanna, beast.
13:57I mean, there's nothing that she, everything she structures and how she puts it together, other people can't.
14:04Where I love seeing someone in something that other people can't instantly wear.
14:09I love, I love the identity of time period.
14:13Like I'm, I see you in your white Kangol and the hat.
14:16That is a beast to me.
14:17Like I love hats.
14:19I love things that other people are afraid to wear.
14:22You know, and it goes back to my talk show.
14:24You know, when, when I was fired from the Today Show and Megyn Kelly was hired, I was like, what can I do that she cannot do?
14:31Listen out.
14:32And that's the same thing I try to do with fashion.
14:34List it out.
14:36You and your purple.
14:37Everybody can't walk out in it.
14:38I'm just going to be honest.
14:39I couldn't.
14:40But what is, what is the thing you can do?
14:43And you incorporate that in fashion and you incorporate it in what you do.
14:47You, we all have weapons.
14:50And what's in your toolbox?
14:52So for me, that translates to your profession.
14:55That translates to fashion.
14:57That translates to how I live my life.
14:59And that's what you do.
15:00Your hair.
15:01As soon as we walked in, I saw Corey's hair.
15:02I was like, man, look at here.
15:05That's a, with the weapon here.
15:07I'm trying to get the courage to go short like you.
15:08No, it doesn't.
15:09You know what it is?
15:11It, you, you don't lack the courage.
15:13It's not, this is meant for you.
15:15Yeah.
15:15You know, I, I believe the universe conspires to give us everything we're meant to have.
15:20If you really want it and your hair was very different, but you want it to do something
15:26new.
15:26That haircut found you.
15:28I found a boy at 18 who found this haircut for me and I found my husband somewhere else.
15:32All that.
15:33The universe conspires to give you the look you want, the job you need, the love you
15:38need, the friends you need.
15:39It's all connected.
15:40It's all connected.
15:42Now, do you have a couple of favorite designers?
15:44Because if I'm correct, you are wearing a black designer on your ear.
15:48Oh.
15:49These are, uh.
15:49These are sisters.
15:50Yeah.
15:51Sis loves purple.
15:52This is LL Cool J's wife.
15:53Yes.
15:54I love, so I don't go, my, my one thing you will always see me in is hoops.
15:58And I, I've always worn hoops.
16:00It was inspired by Sade and Jodi Watley, who was a guest on our show.
16:04And then once I read an awful article where someone referred to these as slave earrings.
16:11It was a big article.
16:12It was a big article some years ago.
16:14And I didn't know there was a connotation to hoops, right?
16:18Like, like, that somehow that was seen as what black girls wear.
16:23And the minute I read that, I said, oh, it's done.
16:27You'll never, you will, you will see me in the casket with hoops on.
16:31And so I didn't realize the power in hoops and how afraid people are to wear big hoops
16:36and how intimidating.
16:38And once I learned that there was, for some, a threatened, uh, that this was threatening,
16:44I amplified it.
16:45So Sis wears purple.
16:47Amazing.
16:47And Simone, I love her hoops.
16:49I love all, everything that they represent.
16:51These shoes are 15.
16:53These shoes are probably older than some of you in here.
16:56Um, super old.
16:57I keep a lot of, I have a, a lot of vintage clothing.
17:00I own one of my heroes with Lena Horne.
17:03I own a lot of Lena Horne's clothing.
17:05Um, we have style me after Diane Carroll, Diana Ross, um, everything.
17:12I, I love it all from nails on.
17:14If I could wear super long Cardi B nails, you would see me in them.
17:17But I couldn't pick up the two-year-old without probably stabbing him.
17:20So, you know, I celebrate all of that.
17:23And in particular, as I said, we celebrate up-and-coming fashion designers on the show regularly.
17:30And I'm so proud to say the majority of them are fashion designers of color.
17:35When they come on the show, they sell out.
17:37And that, if that's my legacy, and if that's my gift to the fashion world, I will take it every day.
17:43Oh, my God.
17:45I've got it.
17:45Going back to the hoops, one of my favorite memes is, if you're having a bad day, put your hoops on and some lipstick and keep it moving.
17:52It's true.
17:53Listen, I read that Rihanna said, put a bright lipstick on.
17:57I once read that Beyonce say, wear big earrings.
17:59So I just do both.
18:01And I do that.
18:03And that's, for me, a big deal.
18:04I wear my hair most of the time off-air, natural.
18:08Some years ago, and I didn't even know that was a big deal, but I went out on this adventure in the wild with this guy Bear Grylls.
18:14And they took me to Utah for this television show.
18:17And I got back from the set, and I didn't have anyone to do my hair at the show that I was working on.
18:25And I said, I'm not going to sit up and wrap and roll, because I do the wrap and roll foam and all that.
18:29I don't have the energy.
18:30My flight had landed, like, at 4 in the morning.
18:32And I wore my hair natural on air.
18:34And one of my dear friends, Al Roker, was on set.
18:36And he said, this is a big deal.
18:38You're wearing your hair natural on the Today Show.
18:40And I'm thinking, it's 2018.
18:42This could not be a big deal.
18:44And the next thing I know, they were like, you're trending, because your hair is natural on the Today Show.
18:50So there are so many things that I underestimate in the power of the beauty world that people still don't understand.
18:59And that was one of them.
19:00And so we've worn my hair natural on the talk show.
19:05You know, there are days that I have a relaxer.
19:08There are days I don't have a relaxer.
19:10Today, I do.
19:12But I go back and forth with it.
19:14But I just think style is an evolution.
19:15And how it's defined for me, and this is, again, not a plug, is greatly determined by what are in the pages of what I see in essence.
19:24As a cutting-edge, you know, publication that reminds us of the range of beauty that we're able to present.
19:32And that's what you do.
19:33Thank you so much.
19:34Okay, we have two seconds left.
19:36So one of the things I've learned from you is I'm going to wear my hoops.
19:39I'm going to keep my hair slayed.
19:41And I'm going to find some structure in my clothes.
19:43Structure.
19:43Structure and Spanx.
19:45And Spanx and bright colors.
19:47Yes.
19:48Structure and Spanx.
19:48Now, when does the Saks collaboration start?
19:51It started now.
19:53Most of what you've seen in our season already is from Saks.
19:58Larry Curran, their digital team, they've been incredibly supportive in making sure that I have a wide range of fashion,
20:06that we're able to mix different designers.
20:08I don't have a loyalty to one designer, but I love the range of it.
20:13So Saks has been great.
20:15Stella Jean, who's a darling friend of mine from Rome, she is Haitian, Italian, a groundbreaker, a trailblazer.
20:23They carry her line, and she is a beautiful Haitian, Italian, Haitian.
20:30She would correct me on the right.
20:31But she has a beautiful line that you can find at Saks as well.
20:36So I love that they elevate designers that others were probably cautious, but then carry the traditional.
20:44This is a McQueen.
20:45You can't get it wrong with a McQueen unless the zipper breaks.
20:48And so, for me, the collaboration with Saks has been important so that my show and I am able to have this wide range.
20:58We do 187 shows a year.
21:01That's 187 looks.
21:04I can't get one wrong without y'all telling me.
21:07So thank God for Saks.
21:10Thank you so much, Tamron.
21:13Thank you so much.
21:13Thank you, everybody.
21:15Thank you, Corey, an amazing deputy editor for Essence.
21:19And thank you all for attending.
21:21I appreciate it.
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