Kimora Lee Simmons Takes Us Back In Time To 2005 | Refinery29 - video Dailymotion

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Refinery29 celebrates 20 years by going back to where it all began: 2005. The year that defined pop culture, fashion, and modern ambition.  This special episode of R29 The Rewind features Kimora Lee Simmons, who sits down with Refinery29 Chief Content Officer Brooke DeVard to revisit the year through Kimora’s lens.  Together, they unpack the rise of the Baby Phat empire, the influence of early-2000s music and pop culture, Kimora’s life at the height of it all, and how that moment continues to shape fashion, money, and culture today.  R29 The Rewind is an episodic series where we sit down with icons from every era to go way, way back and revisit the moments that shaped culture then and now.  ABOUT REFINERY29  Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/  SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29 Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29 Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/ Follow Somos on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29somos/ Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/

Transcript

00:05As you guys know, we're celebrating 20 years of Refinery29, so we had to bring it back to the

00:10year it all started, 2005. Tom Cruise was jumping on Oprah's couch, the first YouTube video had been

00:16posted, everyone was in a tracksuit, Rangelina just hit the scene, and Madonna was back with

00:22hung up. So, Kimora, welcome to Refinery29 Rewind. I was jumping too. Thank you. You were jumping too?

00:28Somewhere on some couch.

00:30I'm a mogul and a model, and best of all, I'm a mom. I'm Morley Simmons, and this is my

00:35life in the family.

00:39What was going on in 2005 in your life? You had two young girls.

00:42Well, Ming was 2000, Yoki was 2002. I went to New Jersey like the day of world trade. Actually,

00:499-11, I was in the city, and I was doing hair and makeup for Fashion Week. We were in

00:53the process of

00:54selling our penthouse right at the World Trade Center. We were in the process of selling it to

00:59Diddy. When all this stuff happened and it blew up, we were like, who owns what? Who owns what? We

01:04owned

01:05it, so we got stuck with it. I wanted to stay there the night before, but I remember I had

01:10just packed

01:11all the rooms that day, like the artwork off the wall, the towels. So I didn't have anything,

01:17like if I wanted to shower, and I had hair, makeup, and Mingi. So that was 2000, right?

01:22Yeah, 2001.

01:22Wasn't that 9-11?

01:24Yeah.

01:24Okay, 2001. So yes, I had just left the city for New Jersey, which is what I thought was like

01:30a little bit of suburbia, but it was fabulous. It was like, it was massive. Each floor was probably

01:36like 20,000 square feet or 15,000 square feet, and there were three floors. It was huge, and it

01:40had

01:40property. My point is that I thought this was suburbia. I'm from St. Louis, Missouri, so I thought

01:45this was like, the suburban dream. Something. This is it. Maybe if we had a little more space,

01:52we could spread out. This one only has the one TV room, so if the kids are having movie night,

01:56and I want to have movie night, where do we go? Someone's got to go to their room.

01:59Right.

01:59I just need more, you know, space.

02:02Y2K has been going for years. I'm shocked. I know. I love it.

02:06Well, baby fat is such a huge part of it. Such a huge part.

02:08You are on every mood board. I still am. That's what they say.

02:12Of course.

02:12I love it.

02:13See how they do me, these kids?

02:14And we had the bodies for it. Oh, let's talk about that. I bet you didn't have that anywhere

02:18in your notes, and we should talk about it. Let's talk about it.

02:21Because the bodies then were looking a little bit different. They were looking a little bit more

02:25like mine. This is a natural body, natural parts. They were looking a little bit more like yours.

02:29They weren't looking like cookie cutter kind of bodies, and we didn't have all of this stuff.

02:34It's not to say that it didn't exist, but we didn't have as much of the fillings and the fluffings.

02:40So girls, be careful. You don't have to do that. Everybody doesn't have to look the same.

02:45The same. And when you travel to other places and other cultures and other locations in the world,

02:50travel the world, get outside of your space, your mind. If you can't travel the world,

02:56get outside of your mind and look, read, study, learn. But women don't always look the same. And

03:01I think that's the beauty of us is that we're all different. I never, I didn't build a brand or

03:07build this thing for us as women and some men. I didn't build this thing for us to be like

03:13all

03:13looking the same. So that is something that was really big then. It was more of an individuality.

03:18And I feel like now we've kind of gone on to just to all do the same thing. Same hair,

03:22makeup, nail.

03:23Everyone kind of has the same face. I moved here three years ago from New York City and I was

03:27like

03:28walking around and I was like, so many people in LA look exactly the same. For sure. It's really uncanny

03:33actually. There was definitely more individuality in the 2000s. For sure. There was more individuality.

03:38Yes. There was more flavor. There was more artistry, creativity. Some people do have it now. I'm not

03:45saying we don't have it now, but there was a lot then. It was a time for us all. Music,

03:49fashion, finance.

03:52I'm a wanted girl and everybody who puts this on is a wanted girl. Or maybe it's we want diamonds.

03:57I also feel like not having so much social media work to our benefit because you kind of had to

04:02be

04:02creative in your own lane. We weren't all looking at the same like feed. We had our version. We had

04:07the

04:07digital camera. We all know that. We used to charge the little battery. It wasn't blowing up on us.

04:12You'd bring your digital camera like to the club. Yeah. You guys didn't come up with the selfie Gen Z.

04:17We had a selfie there. As a matter of fact, I don't know. Now maybe Paris Hilton would say,

04:21actually I did it. Now I might believe that someone like that. Right. Or Brittany might say,

04:26I actually did it. I might believe that, but not today. I don't believe today they coined the term

04:30the selfie. This is crazy, you guys. Let's not be delusional. This is why you can't do away with history.

04:37This is why I'm sitting here right now because 2005, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2000, 1999, 1998,

04:44it, we shall not be erased. Audience cultural. So this is Vogue magazine from 1990, January 1990.

04:50So it had just turned 1990 and you were in here. I have so much to say about this. Being

04:57one of the

04:58girls that's inside this magazine, she's going to show you this picture. I'm a model inside this

05:04magazine. I'm a very prestigious model. I'm wearing Chanel. I was getting paid a lot of money.

05:11We, we tracked it back. I was probably a sophomore in high school. Okay. But look at this magazine,

05:17you guys see the cover. These are the supers. So that is why when people say, oh my God,

05:24you're a supermodel. I was not a supermodel. I was a child. I was carrying their like water bottle.

05:30Like they probably weren't talking to me. They were drinking alcohol. I was not. I was 13. They

05:36were 18 or whatever. Right. I was a top model. Okay. I was a model working girl. Here we are.

05:42On the runway. Drake said, if you were not in Vogue, let's not talk about it. That's what he said.

05:46So here we are. Dripping in Chanel. That's what it says. Dripping in Chanel.

05:51How did you find your way? Like, how did you? I found my way.

05:53You just figured it out because you were probably in very adult situations.

05:56Well, I was with an agency. At times I had a tutor. I was super close to my mom,

06:02even though she was not with me. And she thought, I think being in Paris and learning different

06:08languages and meeting different people from all over the world and this whole world of fashion,

06:14you know, that's better than like running around St. Louis and trying to sneak into the club

06:19too young, you know. Absolutely.

06:20I'm about passion and fashion. First of all, there's so many things here. I'm dripping in

06:24diamonds. That's a Hello Kitty head. I was the one to make the fine jewelry Hello Kitty,

06:30the only one to make that. I'm wearing that. I just did a deal with Hello Kitty. It's Hello

06:35Kitty by Camoralee Simmons and we designed fine jewelry for them. This is like the real definition

06:39of girl boss that you're seeing. Like I went to work. Yes, I had an amazing life and it was

06:44bigger than life and I loved my life. I loved my life, but I went to work every day. I

06:50made

06:50these clothes. I made this collection. I worked with my designers. My girls were right there with

06:56me. That's a great, that's a very empowering time for me. And I was a mom. Yes. And I was,

07:02yeah, that says a lot. And I think that's what women, that's what people identified with. Like

07:07there's always something, the fact that you're a young mom and I think a lot of them were too.

07:12As a lifestyle brand, so of course I had to put some dresses, some suits. I have to help the

07:16girls

07:16get to work. There's some canvas, some khakis, some twills. Like you can be baby fat in the corporate

07:21world now. The decision though to make a phone is so brilliant. So, okay, wait. Yes. I did a few

07:27phones. You know that, right? You did a few phones. Okay. Oh my gosh. By the way, we tried to

07:30source one

07:31for this shoot. We got priced out. It was, it's like $1,200 on eBay to get. They should stop.

07:36I have so many.

07:37So I had a few phones, some were Motorola, some were Nextel. One was, I was the first one to

07:46make

07:46the phone with the real diamonds around. It had a diamond bezel around the screen. This is crazy.

07:53Yeah. How do I make it? Come on. I need to power it up. Oh wait, let's see down here.

07:57It won't power

07:57up for sure, but I think we can. I had a razor, a pink razor. Okay. Like down, down to

08:03everything.

08:03Like this was my cat. Like this was. Oh, that was your cat? Yeah. And look, baby fat 2003. So

08:09that's when the phone came out. Like I'm obsessed. That was a big deal. And it has a little cat

08:14charm.

08:15I was giving the girls a lot. It has a diamond cat charm. And I have a phone. It's the

08:20pink

08:20baby fat by Camorley Simmons. It's got wonderful applications. It's got applications from my last

08:25fashion show in case the girl wants to do a little shopping. Okay. I'm going to take out a phone.

08:29Okay. Another phone? Another phone. So here's the challenge. Is this real? This is real. We're

08:35going to see if you remember T9 texting. So this is the prompt. Your assistant is nowhere to be found

08:40and you're heading to an event in five minutes and you need to know like, where are they? So

08:45text as fast as you can. Oh, what? This is crazy. It's not easy. Wait, first of all,

08:52I can't even see. Oh no. Wait, hold on. Wait, how do I go back? Okay. Hold on. I'm going

09:02to say hello.

09:06New message. New message. Oh, H. Okay. Wait, E. I'm getting it. This is crazy. My assistant is

09:14never going to answer me back. I tried to say hello. How'd you do? I wrote it, but it looks

09:20like

09:21mojito. So I do know how to use it. It looks like helito. I was trying to say hello, but

09:25hell is good

09:25too if she left me stranded. How did you make this work? This is crazy. I know we have, we

09:30have the

09:30right charges, but this, this is really, this needs to be in a museum. What we created, and I say

09:36we,

09:36because we did it together was a lifestyle. It was a movement. We were empowered girlies and young,

09:42and young guys too. Yes. We were, you couldn't really stop us. And I feel like I, I think I

09:48hope

09:49I showed that. And I, I, I hope I taught other general, the next generation, the incoming classes.

09:57I hope I taught them that like, you're not under the, the pressure or the thumb or whatever the foot

10:04of like some, whatever you fill in the blank, some powerful rich man. Yeah. I had one of those.

10:11They're cute, but you're not, we're not going to sit here and act like that. I didn't just get

10:16off the plane from Perry. We're not going to act like I don't speak different languages. He speaks

10:21nothing like what, barely English. Like, no, we're not going to do that. So you, I, it was a time

10:26for

10:26us that you could start businesses. It was people of color, beautiful people of color. We were everywhere.

10:32The music, the, the sound was ours, the relationships, the culture, the pop culture

10:37on the big screen, what you wore, you know, how good your ass looked in those jeans. And you could

10:44say that then and not catch a case. I mean, it was a time where I'm trying to give you

10:49all of the,

10:49no, it really was. It was a time. Adjectives here. I love tomorrow. I love baby fat. I love

10:55the style. I love how it's funky and sexy and still really fashion forward. You know,

11:00it's everything that a clothing line needs. Okay. Now this is a hundred percent from the year.

11:05I look sweaty at the end of the night, but I looked really good at the beginning of the night.

11:08Glowy. This is a classic DNG leopard print. I think it's leopard, cheetah, leopard,

11:15like slip dress. I still have it. I still wear it. I can fit it. I love that dress. It's

11:20so

11:20timeless and classic and sexy. How did you become like so synonymous with animal print? Like, how did

11:27you decide that was your signature? I think because it was something that the high end fashion houses

11:32use so much. And when I'm bringing it to street wear and to the girls that are buying an $80

11:38pair of

11:38jeans, I'm trying to give them all the fashion, all the flair. It's giving very like Italian Riviera.

11:46It's giving a French Chanel door knocker earrings, which are really, you know, coming from our culture.

11:53Right. So it's really kind of a back and forth. I was going to say, the black girls have the

11:56bamboo

11:56earrings. The black girls have the bamboo earrings and the costume pieces. So I kind of wanted to

12:03have that kind of pay homage to us, but also to bring them elements of high fashion.

12:09Right. If you can't get that couture suit, you could get this pair of jeans. If you can't get that

12:13six figure watch, you could get this. Right. So it was a lifestyle and I wanted them to be aware

12:19of

12:21just how much they influence fashion and how it kind of is reciprocal.

12:25I see everything that we as girls need in our life to do what we got it to. With these

12:30guys,

12:31with our jobs, with whatever. So I hope to give that to the women in a sexy, affordable way.

12:41There's been so many fashion moments, so many business moments, so many television moments over the

12:45years. We are just, it's a pleasure to get to know you better and to see you continue to thrive.

12:51I mean, for the past 25 years, we've been making history, so we can't wait to see the next 25.

12:55Thank you. Yeah. Happy birthday. Thank you. Oh my gosh. Thank you very much.

12:58All right. Happy birthday, you guys.

13:00Refinery29 Rewind. Thanks for watching.

13:04Baby, fat, young, fly, stylish to shit.

Kimora Lee Simmons Takes Us Back In Time To 2005 | Refinery29

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