Jessica Rich, is an American shoe

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and fashion expert who is known for creating women's shoes that incorporate PVC design elements as her signature style. Rich is also a host and former

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

personality. She is known for her appearances on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's ''

Real Chance of Love ''Real Chance of Love'' is an American reality television dating game show featuring two brothers, Ahmad "Real" Givens (born on January 8, 1982, died on February 21, 2015, aged 33) and Kamal "Chance" Givens, (born on March 25, 1981), of the rap ...

''.

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

is Rich's

great-aunt An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. Known alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in other cultures and families may refer ...

Early life

Jessica Rich was born and raised in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. She is the daughter of Janice Denise and Eric Willis. She has four siblings. Her father was the early tour and road manager for

, who is also Rich's

Career

Television/film

In 2008, Rich participated in

's reality series ''

'', a dating show featuring brothers Ahmad "Real" Givens and Kamal "Chance" Givens. Hannah Birkmann missed her. She was known on the show as Rabbit because Real likened her to an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

Jessica Rabbit Jessica Rabbit is a fictional character in the novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' and its film adaptation, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. She is depicted as Roger's human toon wife in various Roger Rabbit media. Jessica is renowned as one of the ...

. Rich has appeared as a fashion expert and host on ''

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created ...

'', ''

KTLA Morning News The ''KTLA 5 Morning News'' is an American morning television news program airing on KTLA (channel 5), a CW- affiliated television station in Los Angeles, California owned by the Nexstar Media Group. The program broadcasts each weekday morning f ...

'', '' Hollyscoop'' and others.

Fashion and footwear design

In 2015, Rich launched The Jessica Rich Collection, a clothing line favored by celebrities, musicians, reality television personalities, and performers. In late 2017, Jessica debuted Transparent by Jessica Rich, her first line of shoes. Her signature aesthetic, in all of her collections, is the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) components in her footwear design, a material that is appealing for its design versatility and ability to be worn with any color clothing. Rich most commonly sells styles with a heel height of 120mm and a gold heel or gold sole her shoes are manufactured and purchased wholesale. Some of the footwear line's celebrity clientele include the

Kardashian The Kardashian family, also referred to as the Kardashian–Jenner family, is an American family prominent in the fields of entertainment, reality television, fashion design, and business. Founded by Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner (née Hough ...

sisters,

Bella Thorne Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series ''Dirty Sexy Money'' (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series ...

, Ashanti,

Blac Chyna Angela Renée White (born May 11, 1988), known professionally as Blac Chyna, is an American model and socialite. She originally rose to prominence in 2010 as the stunt double for Nicki Minaj in the music video for the song "Monster" by Kanye ...

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...

La La Anthony Alani Nicole "La La" Anthony (née Vázquez; born June 25, 1979 ) is an American television personality and actress. In the early 2000s, she worked as an MTV VJ on ''Total Request Live''. She was the host of the VH1 reality television reunion ...

Vanessa Simmons Vanessa Jean Simmons (born August 5, 1983) is an American television personality. Her family is featured in the MTV reality show ''Run's House''. She was recently the host and judge of '' Project Runway: Threads''. Early life Simmons is the olde ...

Sasha Banks Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado (born January 26, 1992) is an American professional wrestler and actress. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sasha Banks. Banks previously wrestled on ...

Tamar Braxton Tamar Estine Braxton (born March 17, 1977) is an American singer and television personality. Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut a ...

Heidi Klum Heidi Klum (; born 1 June 1973) is a German-American model, television host, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Victoria's Secre ...

Jelena Karleuša Jelena Karleuša ( sr-cyr, Јелена Карлеуша; born 17 August 1978) is a Serbian singer and media personality. Born and raised in Belgrade, she rose to prominence upon the release of her debut album ''Ogledalce'' in 1995, which was su ...

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

Tami Roman Tamisha Akbar (born April 17, 1970) better and professionally known as Tami Roman, is an American television personality, model, businesswoman and actress. Roman first gained fame on '' The Real World: Los Angeles'' in 1993. After making cameo ap ...

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry (; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Mis ...

Ally Brooke Allyson Brooke Hernandez (born July 7, 1993) is an American singer. She is a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony. Brooke began to establish herself in 2017 as a solo artist, featuring on Lost Kings' " Look at Us Now" with rapper ASAP Ferg. ...

, and

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus (, ; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper and songwriter. She first gained popularity as an influencer on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to early 2017, she appeared as ...

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

wore Rich's first design, the Fancy Stiletto, to a 2018 VMA after party paired with a skintight blouse and leggings from the Versace Pre-Fall 2018 collection. Lopez also wore Rich's shoes to events promoting the 2019 film '' Hustlers''. The collection has been featured in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', ''

Footwear News ''Footwear News'' (sometimes referred to as ''FN'') is a weekly print publication on the topic of women's, men's, and children's footwear. Founded in 1945, its coverage is for the fashion design and fashion retail industries. It was originally pub ...

'', ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'', ''

InStyle ''InStyle'' was an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith. In February 2022, it was announced that InStyle would cease print publications and move to a digital-only ...

'', ''

Us Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to American Media Inc ...

'', and ''

E! News ''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and primarily reports ...

''. In 2019, Rich launched a collection of men's footwear focused on an androgynous aesthetic and featuring singer, songwriter, and producer Jon B. as the brand ambassador. The collection is sold via the company website and in various boutiques throughout the world. The first Jessica Rich Collection brick-and-mortar location opened in 2018 on

Melrose Avenue Melrose Avenue is a shopping, dining and entertainment destination in Los Angeles that starts at Santa Monica Boulevard, at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. It ends at Lucile Avenue in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of Beve ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

located next to Fairfax High School. In August 2019, Rich announced her collection would be available in select

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

stores.

References

External links

*
The Jessica Rich Shoe Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Jessica 1984 births Living people African-American fashion designers People from Grand Rapids, Michigan American women fashion designers 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people