Rachel Zoe is arguably the first celebrity stylist to gain fame in her own right, invited to premieres, followed by paparazzi and having her own legions of fans – and critics – alike.

Zoe (pronounced Zo not Zoe) shot to international fame when she became embroiled in the size zero debate. The 35-year-old was credited with transforming Nicole Richie and Mischa Barton into bug-eyed sunglass and maxi dress-wearing A-listers. Critics claimed Zoe, very slim herself, had encouraged her clients to emulate her thin look, which she has denied.

Rumoured to charge around $6,000 a day for her services, last year Zoe agreed to appear in a reality series which follows her and her team as she styled celebrities, attended premieres and broke up spats between her two assistants, Taylor and Brad.

Since falling into fashion ‘accidentally’ Zoe has built up a styling empire and now acts as a consultant to websites and brands. She is credited with helping to revive the struggling Halston brand and was recently flown in to style one of Julien MacDonald’s shows.

Already screened in the US, the show had over a million viewers and has served to heighten Zoe’s fame there.

On the eve of the show's UK TV premiere we asked our Timesfashion Twitter followers for their questions for Zoe.

JASMINCALLE @TimesFashion - Ask Zoe how she got started

It was actually a fluke, I was a sociology and psychology major at Washington University and then I became a fashion assistant at a teen magazine called YM. I was there for three years and I left as senior fashion editor to go freelance. I was 25 years old. I wanted more, to be challenged. I was completely obsessed with my job and everything that relates to fashion.

I have spent the rest of my career trying to work out all the different channels that I can do my job. Writing a book, doing a TV show, consulting and styling, doing the ad campaigns and fashion shows. It’s exhausting but I’m not one of those people who is going to stop and think ‘look what I’ve done’. I’m always thinking, 'what’s the next?'. I get restless.

GoodGirlNNS @TimesFashion - Rachel Zoe is amazing. Ask her how she got such big name celebs as clients n her relationships with designers.

Sometimes it’s a fluke and you meet on a shoot, or you have mutual friends. I think it’s something that works organically. There isn’t a certain ‘way’. Are you a match? Do you get each other? That sort of thing. I didn’t set out saying that I wanted to be a celebrity stylist, it just happened, I’m very fortunate that the women I work with inspire me to do what I do.

I couldn’t really say who my favourites are. I love them all for completely different reasons and they’re all such totally different women and so they’re all just amazing. Some are more fashion forward, some don’t really care about fashion. Some, we work very closely with and we do personal styling for everyday life, for some it’s just for special events, it’s just very different.

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