He spent five seasons — and earned an Emmy — transforming average Joes and their average homes into works of workable chic. Now Jai Rodriguez has teamed up with Style Network to bring Ultimate Style to everyone with a taste for “the latest” and a half hour to spare every Saturday night.
Tapping the wisdom of fashion and lifestyle trendsetters wherever they happen to find them — on the catwalks and on the streets, in the salons and in their homes — Jai and his cohost, fellow beauty-on-a-budget guru Daisy Fuentes, use their own expertise to help you translate the trends into your unique style. Can’t keep up with the fashion mags? Now you can watch one instead!
You’re a kind of King Midas in the entertainment realm: Got your start on Broadway in Rent, which was — and still is — a huge success. Then came Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, which became a cultural phenomenon even though it launched on what was then a relatively obscure cable network. If anyone is qualified to tell me why I need to watch Ultimate Style, I’d say it’s you.
What’s so great about Ultimate Style, and one of the reasons I was attracted to the show, is that it’s really like a fashion magazine come to life, but more relatable and accessible for the everyday person. Between Daisy and myself, we’re used to working with everyday people, and also being among the Hollywood elite so there’s a nice balance there.
You’re talking about your cohost Daisy Fuentes, who has a line of clothing and lifestyle products at Kohls. And now Vera Wang is there too. Alice Temperley is at Target. Sarah Jessica at Steve & Barry’s. I have friends who insist that the trend is the death of designer fashion and friends who insist that it’s the second coming of designer fashion. Who’s right?
I think it’s great! When I called my family back home in Long Island to tell them that I was going to be working with Daisy on Ultimate Style, they were ecstatic. And I was like, “You remember her from House of Style or … ?” And they said, “NO! WE LOVE HER STUFF AT KOHLS! For them to really gravitate to her line is cool, because her line is really cool and stylish and hip, but for everyday people who wouldn’t necessarily splurge like I might on an outfit.
So Ultimate Style is for the Real Simple crowd AND the VOGUE crowd, too?
Absolutely. It’s shot the same week that it airs, so it’s very quick and will be really up to speed on what’s cool and hot and why. I think that one of the questions that I always ask is “Why is that so cute?” Or, “Why are people wearing they’re hair like that? What’s the real inspiration?” And we don’t just stop at the celebrities. We go into the salons and talk to the hairdressers and talk to the makeup artists and, really, the geniuses that are creating these looks that people are coveting.
It’s about exploring, getting out of your comfort zone a little bit and work something new. We have a segment on the show that’s basically that. It’s called, “I Would Never …” [and it’s] about people overcoming their fashion fears, whatever they are. For example, someone who’s never worn red lipstick. Or a girl who would never cut her hair.
I’m sure we’re going to have musicians on the show, and musicians make bold, daring choices when it comes to style. Certainly things that the average viewer would go, “I would NEVER … that’s actually cute … uh, maybe I would.”
And look at the stylists. They make bold, daring, over-the-top choices. So you take that and you take one piece of what they’re doing and you make that yours. Look at Pat Field. I mean, she’s always oooover the top with her looks, and it’s so fabulous. And then she toned it down a little for the girls of Sex & The City, and those girls now — it’s a frame of reference. It was a moment in history that was so well documented that now Sarah Jessica Parker has her own clothing line. And now they’re making a movie of the show. And it’s all from this wacky, zany woman’s ideas. I love that.
Is this all about the ladies, or will guys want to tune in, too?
That’s why I’m there — I’m going to make sure we’re not just talking about the lady-stuff. Because of shows like Queer Eye and a lot of other makeover shows, there has been more available to men in the fashion/style genre. And this is also a home and travel show, too … it’s not just about beauty. It’s really inclusive.
And there are so many stylish men right now, because if you pick up a copy of GQ or Esquire, they have a section about “how to get this look for less.” They have a look that you’d see in Vogue, but a little more butched-up. They have the retail price at, like $4,500 head to toe, and then they’ll have a section on how to do it for under $200.
We’re living in a time where men are encouraged to be every bit as fashionable as women. Five years ago, you couldn’t walk down the aisle of the pharmacy and see this vast selection of men’s grooming products like you can today.
You cover the hot-spot clubs and restaurants, too. Are you a foodie?
I’m a big foodie! I think going to restaurants and having a delicious meal is better than sex! I don’t care if you put Brad Pitt in front of me. If I am going to have a great six-course meal, I don’t care. Food is way more important.
You started out as a stage entertainer and you still are [check out Rodriguez’ debut single “Broken” at Airgo.com]. Does this whole, huge fashion and style element of your career feel like a natural progression, or a really cool “side effect?”
It feels like a natural progression. I mean I started out singing and dancing, but now it’s so hard to deny the hosting, to deny the fashion thing. It’s interesting how immersed I was in the fashion world [on Queer Eye] when I was talking about designers and talking about fit and talking about what looks good and why for so many years that you can’t walk away from it. It really stays with you and then it becomes a part of who you are so innately that you forget that other people consider you someone they can go to for fashion advice.
I don’t know everything … but I know how to find out. And I think that’s a key thing. Education is so key. Learning how and learning where is actually easier that saying I just can’t do it.
Where do you keep your Emmy?
I was living in New York my whole life and I moved to L.A. about a year ago. And I had all my things shipped but I was scared to have that shipped. So right now it’s living in the recording studio in New York on the big mixing board with [producer Jimmy Greco’s] Grammy stuff. I’m starting to feel some separation anxiety now because I keep talking about it!
Need a fast fix for your most urgent holiday fashion dilemmas? Here’s Jai’s advice:
I’ve got a dozen parties to go to and can’t afford a new outfit for each — help!
The best thing to do is go someplace where you can get really cool, cheap accessories — a necklace on a great shirt or blouse can completely change the whole look. If you’re a dude, go to H&M. I just bought a necklace there for $3.99 and I love it.
For men, you can wear almost the same suits and get away with just switching the shirt and/or the tie. Or just ditching the jacket and putting on a vest. There are so many ways of accessorizing a look to make it entirely different. For the holidays, a great scarf — one of those indoor/outdoor scarves — not a knit scarf — but a woven scarf. I love a vest. I think a vest for the holidays is very chic.
My man hates dressing up for the holidays. Or for anything.
The best thing about men is that men can get away with wearing a great pair of dress slacks with a button-up, a very cool belt and some great sneakers or Vans and [they’re] dressed up, but they don’t feel stuck in a shirt and tie. In this day and age, if you’re going to a family affair or a cocktail party, it is perfectly fine to do that. I think that’s the biggest misconception, especially in middle America, is that to be dressed up, you have to have a shirt and tie. And if you’re going to family affair or a cocktail party, in this day and age, it is perfectly fine to do that. There are so many dress shoes now that are built like sneakers because they know men don’t like to dress up. Carson says all the time, “shoes are the things you do not want to scrimp on.” Spend a little bit of money and buy a quality shoe that is going to last you six, seven years and hold on to that.
Guys don’t want to wear a tie and they don’t want to wear the shoes, and I think if you tackle those two things — you’ll be fine.
Sounds good, but how do I get him to shop?
No guy likes to go to the mall — so you have to tell them you are going somewhere else. Tell them you are taking them to the steakhouse for a nice little lunch. And then after lunch, suggest that you go strolling around. Because now they’ve been fed. They have a little something in the belly and they’re happy. Then just strooooll into a department store — but pre-scout the location first to make sure they have cute clothes.
What’s the most common holiday fashion faux pas?
My biggest peeve is when I go back to Long Island for the holidays and [busts out his best New Yawkah accent] there’s all the fabulous Christmas sweatahs with the sequins and snowmen and buttons that light up! That doesn’t do very much for me.
I’m a very simple, traditional Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel kind of Christmas guy. It’s culture shock when I go home to Long Island and, you know, there’s the string of lights hanging off the mirror in the bathroom and the plastic Santa on the doors and I’m like “ohhhhhhh Gawwwwdd.”
Unless you have kids. The holidays take on a whole new meaning then, so it’s okay to dress like someone out of Sesame Street.
Is that a style … or no style at all?
That is called, “More is more.”
