Ellen DeGeneres’s Next Career Move Might Surprise You
Talk show host, comedian, award show hostess with the mostess, TV star, beloved cartoon fish voice, cover girl, dancer. Those are great and all but the next title Ellen DeGeneres is adding to her impressive resume is the one we’re most excited about: designer of your future favorite lifestyle brand, E.D.
Pronounced “Ed,” (wife Portia de Rossi’s nickname for Ellen), E.D. will premiere as a “gift-oriented capsule collection,” just in time to make it on everyone’s holiday wish lists this year. But this is more than just a diffusion line backed by a smiling celeb, this is the first step in Ellen’s budding creative empire. And total domestic domination with lines planned for your home, your closet and even your pets. As she put it in an interview to WWD, “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t want it to be the biggest brand name that you can imagine.”
Somewhere, Gwyneth and Reese and Blake are shaking in their organic flour-dusted Loubs. And Wal-Mart is all, “Should we be worried?”
E.D. will have an all-star team behind it, with J. Christopher Burch (the man behind C. Wonder) as a partner and assorted other big players behind big brands like Isaac Mizrahi, Target and Macy’s on the board.
Having worked with JCPenney and CoverGirl, and surely with an understanding of what the massive audience of Americans already tuning in to her daily wants, we suspect Ellen’s lifestyle takeover will be more in the style of Target than Goop. Especially if Ellen’s aim is “biggest brand name you can imagine” big.
Burch and DeGeneres project a full E.D. launch for the spring with items for your home, garden, clothing and accessories for men and women + products for pets and pet lovers. And don’t get intimidated by Ellen’s own multi-million dollar mansions and exquisite interior design — “My goal is that people can have a beautiful house, a really comfortable house, without only being able to afford [very expensive] things,” Ellen shared with WWD. So you just might be able to shop pieces that reflect Ellen’s own home style for a price point in your budget. Where do we subscribe?
With its debut on the holiday horizon, this seems like pretty fabulous timing considering the funny lady is already at work on Ellen’s Design Challenge, her six-episode design show set to air on HGTV in 2015. On EDC, competitors will have 24 hours to sketch, design and build furniture. Maybe now they’ll also be vying to see their creations on the shelves of the thousands of E.D. stores across the country.
What do you think of Ellen DeGeneres’s next move? Share your thoughts below!
(h/t WWD)
