Jessica Alba saunters into a restaurant in the theater district wearing a heavy fur-lined coat over her Carolina Herrera blouse and billowy trousers. Under the icy winter chill she steps out of a tinted-window SUV in her power heels, which seem to stomp in unison with every paparazzi shot.
They’ve been stalking her every move while she’s been in New York, documenting her every appearance, from “CBS This Morning” to the Wendy Williams show to every outfit change, from Doo.Ri to Erdem.
Jessica Alba, hot movie star, is now Jesica Alba, 30 years old and mother of two. It seems like years since she’s been out and about sans kids or hubby Cash Warren.
But for Alba, her packed schedule of interviews and TV appearances across the Big Apple has been all about business. She’s here promoting her first entrepreneurial venture, The Honest Co. and honest.com, a line of nontoxic, eco-friendly diapers and biodegradable wipes.
Also in the lineup: organic bath and skin care and green cleaning products. The diapers are even decorated with patterns like ice cream cones, anchors, gingham patterns and skulls. The skulls were her idea. “I was like, I love Alexander McQueen so I thought there just needed to be skulls,” she says. “Almost like an homage.”
Alba speaks softly about her new passion. Though in photos she seems to have a stare that projects an unapproachable demeanor, she smiles and giggles often. While confident in the way she approaches her answers, she’s reticent when asked to take credit for anything she does, from her own baby care line to her red-carpet style.
In a lavender Gucci gown at the Golden Globes, she had just been named one of the best dressed at the awards show. “Mr. Brad Goreski has certainly helped me,” she said, crediting her new stylist, the ex-assistant to Rachel Zoe and now star of Bravo’s “It’s a Brad, Brad World.”
“He’s great, he’s so sweet. I worked with the same stylist from age 18 to last year and I was going on this press tour so I was like, I need someone. So I called up Joe Zee [Elle magazine’s creative director\] and he was like, ‘There's this amazing new stylist and he’s so sweet.’”She met with him and hired him on the spot.
“I don’t like people who talk bad about other people. I like someone who’s not, like, catty. Not a bad thing comes out of his mouth about anyone. In fashion people tend to be competitive. They start saying nasty things and I don’t want that energy around me or my children.”Alba takes pride in protecting her two daughters, Honor, 3, and Haven, 5 months, which is one of the reasons she started the company.