The shoe must go on.
Jennifer Lopez was meant to be in her hometown of New York City today, where she was going to launch her new (and very good) footwear collection with DSW. Instead, like many of us, the hottest woman in the world is working from home. In her case, that means calling me from her house in LA, where the sounds of her laughing twins (Emme and Max, 12) echo in the background.
“If I sound out of breath, it’s not because I’m sick,” she vows. “It’s because I’m working out!” (Weight training, FYI.) “My [DSW] sneakers have quite a lift in them, actually,” she says. “You know the sneakers with the really sick bottoms, like Balenciaga? That’s the kind I like. I mean, I’ll always take an extra half an inch if I can get it. Absolutely.”
We think of J.Lo as a stiletto icon—the bedazzled platforms in Hustlers, the nude pumps in The Wedding Planner, the 5-inch sandals she throws into the ocean singing, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” But the high school track star insists “I was a tomboy growing up. And even when I was a dancer in my late teens and early 20s, it was all about Doc Martens, Timberlands, and combat boots. And I’m from the Bronx, so I’m kind of a born sneakerhead—where I come from, your sneakers say a lot about you. It’s a big deal, what kind you’re wearing, how you style them. So sneakers are a big part of the new line. Believe it or not, I do wear them a lot.”
Okay, so even J. Lo is self-isolating. But what exactly does ‘work from home’ mean when you’re a global icon? “There’s so much to do, right?” She laughs. “This situation, if we’re lucky enough to be healthy—and if you are, be grateful—but if you’re healthy and home, it’s a real reset button for so many of us. To be honest, for me, working from home is reading scripts, developing new projects, even working out and learning new dance routines. Because now, you can use the time to prepare. At some point, hopefully soon, we’re going to bounce back. We always bounce back. And so we need to use this time to get ready to come back even better… Nobody wanted this to happen, but if it has to be this way, you can take advantage of the time and work to get better. But do that work from home,” she says firmly. “This is such a difficult time for everybody. There are so many people who are sick. We just want to contain it and work from home. Even my kids are working from home and they’re 12! They’ve got virtual school now, and we’re all home together, which I’m really happy about. To me, there’s no greater luxury than getting to spend real time with my kids.”
And PS, the kids are why she went viral on TikTok. “They love it, so they’re always encouraging me to use it. They love when I do! But for me, I swear, TikTok isn’t a social media app, it’s a dance app. You click around, you find a new move you want to learn, and you do it. You can do it with your kids, you can do it with your parents or your friends. If you’re stuck at home right now, you can go on TikTok and practice dancing, which is always something that makes your mood better. I’m all about it.”
0 Comments