Lauren Conrad

Before the fashion lines, books, and polished public image, Lauren Katherine Conrad was a girl from Laguna Beach, California, with an early eye for clothes. Born on February 1, 1986, to Jim, an architect, and Kathy, she grew up with two younger siblings, Breanna and Brandon. Conrad first talked about wanting a career in fashion when she was in the sixth grade. Her father later said she “wasn’t a great student” and was not especially interested in school, but that the family came to see she was an artist whose real love was fashion.

Conrad came to national attention in late 2004 through MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, a reality series that followed her and her friends during high school in their hometown. Alongside Lo Bosworth, Kristin Cavallari, and Stephen Colletti, she became part of a new kind of celebrity shaped by cameras, teenage friendships, and televised conflict. On the show she was often called “L.C.,” a nickname she later said she disliked. The first season focused in part on a love triangle involving Conrad, Cavallari, and Colletti, and on the tension between Conrad and Cavallari. Looking back, Conrad described the lifestyle created by the series as “definitely a different way to grow up.”

After graduating from high school in 2004, Conrad attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for one semester, where she met Heidi Montag. She later moved back home and transferred to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, though she did not graduate with a degree. Her move to Los Angeles in 2005 led to The Hills, the spin-off that followed Conrad, Montag, Audrina Patridge, and Whitney Port as they built lives in the city. Conrad starred in five of the show’s six seasons, from 2006 to 2009, and during its production she and Port interned at Teen Vogue under Lisa Love. Conrad said they had to interview successfully for those positions, “regardless of what the cameras wanted.”

The Hills made Conrad one of the most visible faces of 2000s reality television, but it also showed the strain of living privately in public. Her friendship with Montag deteriorated after Montag began dating Spencer Pratt, and Conrad later ended the friendship after suspecting Montag and Pratt were responsible for rumors involving Conrad and her former boyfriend Jason Wahler. She also said her brief dating storyline with Brody Jenner had been shaped by editing, and in 2009 she stated that producers had pressured her toward a reconciliation with Montag. By the end of her time on the series, Conrad wanted to leave in order to pursue other opportunities. In 2010, MTV considered a new series focused on her career, but did not pick it up after Conrad preferred not to film her private life.

Outside television, Conrad built the fashion and lifestyle career she had long wanted. In 2008 she premiered The Lauren Conrad Collection, then ended it the next year after underwhelming sales so she could learn more about the industry. In fall 2009 she launched LC Lauren Conrad with Kohl’s, later expanding it to include bedding and limited-run collections inspired by Cinderella, Minnie Mouse, and Bambi. She also founded Paper Crown, co-founded the fair trade online store The Little Market with Hannah Skvarla, and published nine books, including the L.A. Candy and The Fame Game trilogies. Her words often return to loyalty, trust, and self-possession, the same concerns that followed her from reality TV into adulthood. As she put it, “A good friend is all about trust and loyalty.”