From A to Zoe

Bravotv.com: Have you seen the new RZ videos on Bravotv? They're really great montage videos...

Oh my god.

Actually in one video you say 'Oh my god' 56 times in under 50 seconds...

Shut up. [Laughs] Oh my god. OH. MY. GOD. That is amazing. So embarrassing.

Most important question: What did you think of Brad's short shorts?

You know what it's like I don't even think about it anymore. I'm so numb to Brad's ensembles that I barely even blink any more. It was kind of hysterical when we called the meeting and he walked in literally in a bathing suit. I was like, 'Are you going to Malibu? Where are you GOING?'

He loves it.

He loves it. Loves to show his legs.

Well it was a combination of things, when you do an editorial shoot, especially for something like V, you get to have so much fun. It's a creative dream for me when I get to do great editorial shoots. I just finished a great cover shoot for Harpers Bazaar in New York. It never gets tired - the creative aspect of the job. It terms of my mind being really stimulated by what I see all the time and being able to actually use the pieces I see on the runway all the time.

Was it your idea to have the shoot in the gym? How much control over the shoot did you have?

It's tricky. The idea came from Stephen Gan, the creative director of V. He's one of the most brilliant minds in this industry. He loves over the top. He's just a real force in this business. He's someone I admire. When I was hired to do that V shoot, he said to me, 'You know Rachel, I'm thinking xanadu," and I thought 'oh my god, that's genius.' That's a time of my life I lived through and loved that time period in fashion. So I got to translate that with clothes from the fall runways, like Marc Jacobs and Louis Vitton. That was just amazing.

Do you work with Jessica Stam a lot?

I know her socially; I've worked with her a few times. She's obviously one of the supermodels of our time. She's just such a great girl. She just gets it and we have so much fun. I kind of melt for that face. Those eyes and that spirit and that porcelain skin. She seemed like the perfect person to do this story.

And then there's Leandro. You and Brad sort of lost it over him...

That was the funniest thing ever. That was also direction from Stephen, it was something that he and I talked about. A lot of times now in fashion, models are very skinny with long hair...I think the idea of this is because it was Xanadu and we were using a gym setting - I was kind of hoping for a gym that was a little bit more colorful than that one - but the idea was to juxtapose how porcelain and pretty she is with this really hunky guy! Which was great. So much fun.

So things come to a breaking point with Taylor. And you're expanding your brand with QVC, so you decide to bring Taylor to help. Were you planning to do that? Or were you just looking for tasks to keep her happy?

I have always, always wanted Taylor involved in the creative aspect of developing my product. Truthfully a lot of that development happens in New York, but my team is based here. There's a lot that goes on on the East coast, and I can't always have Taylor come along. There's a lot involved there. I think that it's something where Taylor and I, we really are simpatico. She does carry out my vision for whatever it is we're doing. I don't really worry when Taylor's covering a job. I mean I do want her more involved in product development, but I also want her to be more excited about it. The thing about Taylor is she can talk until she's blue in the face, ' I want this, I want that,' but at the end of the day, she needs to SHOW me that she does want it.

Was Taylor happy with her new position?

I think she was. I think you see in this episode that she really enjoys getting more involved.

We see you picking out fragrances...you liked the Hollywood one?

Well the fragrances had working names; none of them had actual names. My fragrance wouldn't be any of those names. So it was more as a reference point for the actual fragrance house that was working on it.

Any news on the fragrance?

Not yet. I can't talk about it yet. It's something I think I want to do perfectly, but it is a lot of time. More time than I anticipated.

Keep us posted!

I will.

So how is your vertigo?

To this day The vertigo still rears its head unfortunately. When I'm under a lot of stress and anxiety it comes out, which is horrible.

You make the decision to let Rodger take over...

That's something Rodger and I have been talking about for a really long time, for many reasons. He's still involved in his company. But it's something that seemed like the logical thing to do. Because there's no one I trust more than him. It just works.

How did Team Zoe handle the news? Were they shocked?

I really don't know. You can never tell with them. So I think that it's somewhere where no one knows me or my business the way Rodger does. That's it. It just seemed like the perfect thing to do.

So we've come to the end of another season. Any final thoughts?

Well I'm really, really glad that people loved it as much as they did. I think people learned even more this season than last season. I think it was a much better done season - visually I think it was better. I loved that I got to take everyone to Paris. That was great. I've been stopped on the street quite a bit with fans saying, 'Oh my god, I wish I could have been in Coco Chanel's apartment!' Really exciting.