5 minute read
FEATURE STORY
It’s hard to imagine that the impeccably groomed woman on Zoom, effortlessly elegant in Gucci’s pale blue poplin cat button-down, ever had a bad-girl phase. And well, that’s because she hasn’t. If there was ever multicolored hair or strategically hidden piercings in her past, Nicky Hilton isn’t owning up to them.
Instead of the wild child, she’s always been the good girl. It feels more natural, so she embraces it.
With that particular ethos at her back, it’s only natural that philanthropy would be as instinctive to her as breathing. “[Giving back] is sort of in my DNA,” she confides. “My great-grandfather, Conrad, set up the Hilton Foundation in 1944 and left most of his wealth to it. [The Hilton Foundation seeks to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantages throughout the world.] And to date, they have given away nearly $2 billion to nonprofit organizations. So whenever I’m doing a project, whether it’s design or anything in my personal life, I always try to incorporate elements of giving back.”
This is actually how one of her latest ventures, a collaboration with Bauble Stockings, came to be. “I saw these cute little miniature stockings in a store, and I put them on my Instagram. The owner [Kate Stewart] direct-messaged me and we got to talking, and she said, ‘I have guest designers, would you want to do a collection?’ And then I just fell in love with her whole mission. She employs hundreds of women in Haiti, and they create all these mini-stockings that are hand-done needlepoint. She’s raised so much money and has put many of her employees’ children through school. With our collaboration, we’re going to be donating a percentage of sales to Animal Haven, which is the local animal shelter in New York, which I sit on the board of. It was a really feel-good project.”
The holidays have always been a feel-good time for Hilton in general. She can’t help but look forward to Christmas in L.A. every year, when her mother morphs into Mrs. Claus and transforms the family’s Bel-Air mansion into the North Pole, or that, as of last year, her husband dressed up like Santa himself, complete with a sack of toys that he lugged across the manicured lawn past a stand of palm trees. But mostly because she’s always associated the most wonderful time of the year with giving back. “Growing up, my mom would take us to the Los Angeles Mission homeless shelter in downtown L.A. and we would prepare dinner for all the people living there,” she recalls, adding, “We’ve also done things with the Starlight Foundation, where we’ve invited all the families back to our home and just had a day of games and fun. I really enjoy doing those things. It makes me feel good.”
So call her crazy (and here I’m being sarcastic), but Hilton likes to feel good. She knows she’s always had a lucky lot in life, and she refuses to take it for granted — especially during the pandemic.
“The word that comes to mind when I try to explain how the last year has made me feel is gratitude,” she says. “I just feel really grateful for everything that I had — my health, all the time I had with my family, that I was more in touch with my friends. I also felt very appreciative of the small things. I remember walking down the aisles of Whole Foods when it reopened, and I was so happy to be there, even with my gloves, my mask and the fact that I waited 30 minutes to get in. The small things matter. I think there were definitely good things that came out of this; there were a lot of silver linings. It put a lot of stuff into perspective.”
Not that everything was easy — wrangling two young children to participate in Zoom schooling was “wild torture” even for the hardiest of hearts, and, as a businesswoman who thrives on personal connections, communicating virtually was a drag. But in general, she has no complaints.
“I’m in my home, my safe place. And I know I keep going back to gratitude — it is not lost on me that I’m able to have this home, and I have my health. I have my family. I do what I love. I have my animals [cats Mac and Cheese] that I love. So yeah, the cliché is true. Home is where the heart is,” she says.
And she doesn’t just mean her house, either. Although she was born and raised in L.A., she considers herself a ride-or-die New Yorker now. She is part of the fabric of the City that Never Sleeps, where she can sit quietly at one of her favorite cozy hotel bars — the Mark, the Bowery, the Crosby — sip a skinny margarita and watch the world go by.
“What I love about New York the most is the people. It’s the melting pot of the world. There’s just something for everyone; it’s so diverse. There is so much culture and art and food and fashion — it truly has the best of everything,” she declares, adding, “I am born-and-bredL.A., but I love New York. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I think it’s just the most fun, energetic, cool, resilient city in the world, and I take it very personally when people knock it.”
When I wonder if she’d use those very adjectives to describe herself, she shrugs one elegant shoulder and says, “I mean, why not? I’m a New Yorker, after all.”
XOXO — Nicky.
NICKY HILTON
“I like to think of myself as an eclectic sort, a style chameleon. When I’m in L.A., I really embrace that boho laid-back look — a blousy top, floral dresses and gladiator sandals. When I’m in New York, I like to do that gritty city look: leather pants, motorcycle boots, chunking it. I’m always mixing it up.” “I always get inspired during my travels. I’m constantly taking pictures of people on the street and in the airport. I mean, if you’re in Paris, the girl on the subway is the chicest person in the world.” “My favorite style comes from London. I love going to the antique stores, to Savile Row. I just find everything so inspiring and beautiful there.”
