Inside Alice + Olivia in Highland Park Village, dozens of mainly white Highland Park women sip cocktails and chat among themselves. A DJ is blaring pop music, while nicely dressed men walk around offering Champagne to the guests. Everyone is seemingly relaxed while the night's guest of honor, Nicky Hilton — yes, that Nicky Hilton, granddaughter to Barron Hilton and heiress of the Hilton Hotel fortune, who is reportedly worth $50 million — was in the middle of the store working.
She laughs about it later, telling us, "I was putting price tags on (the shoes)," she says. "I'm working!"
Those shoes are part of the Nicky Hilton x French Sole Spring 2021 footwear collection, which include espadrilles and ballet flats. It's her first line that is 100 percent sustainable, which means the nine-piece line was "crafted using organic, recycled and animal-free materials," according to a news release, something she says she's always been conscious of when shopping.
Hilton says she believes fast fashion will eventually be dead because customers are "smartening up" to how harmful it is on the environment. Plus, there are now more sustainable brands than ever.
"I consider myself to live a pretty sustainable life," she says. "It's something that I've wanted to do in my business as well. I just think we're producing way too much, and we all have to do our part to make this world a better place for future generations."
On Thursday, Hilton was wearing a long skirt, delicate white top, and some white ballet flats from her line, while the women inside Alice + Olivia were dressed in their typical Highland Park attire — designer heels paired with brightly colored dresses.
"I just think we're producing way too much and we all have to do our part to make this world a better place for future generations." – Nicky Hilton
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"I love Dallas women," Hilton says. "I love how it's very go big or go home. It's very bright, and they love to dress up."
These looks are quite the contrast from the ones for which she's best remembered, those Hilton and her sister Paris rocked in the early 2000s. Those days, when Nicky and Paris club-hopped and dominated the tabloids, it was all about low-rise jeans, halter tops, and Louis Vuitton bags, which are actually making their way back into streetwear.
"I love it," Hilton says about the early 2000s trends coming back. "History always repeats itself, and fashion is no exception, and I love seeing all these 2000s-inspired looks. It's fun. It's very nostalgic."
Hilton says she still has some pieces from those days, but some were stolen in a burglary, possibly connected to the infamous Bling Ring burglaries. Along with low-rise jeans, the girls and women of the early 2000s are also getting their redemption arc. With recently released popular documentaries, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton have been put under a new light and fans and the media have begun evaluating how they treated young women in the spotlight.
Nicky Hilton was featured as a talking head in Paris' documentary, This Is Paris, released last year, in which Paris revealed some childhood trauma and explained she was actually in on the dumb blond jokes that dominated her reputation and career.
"I love that all these women are using their voice and standing up for themselves," Nicky Hilton says. "I think there's been a big mistreatment of women in Hollywood for a very long time, and people are fed up, and I think lots of these social justice movements like Times Up, Me Too ... and people are being vocal and they aren't taking it."
