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MY GLAM LIFE
JULIA Haart has traded in her ultra orthodox life for a very ultra-luxe one.
The Netflix star gave The U.S. Sun a tour of her lavish $65 million penthouse, in the fancy New York district of Tribeca.
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Among the highlights was her walk-in wardrobe, featuring a Clueless-inspired closet with its own secret mechanism.
Julia even has a live-in French butler who attends to her every whim, from making her favorite sugar-free snack to assisting with technical window shade difficulties.
Greeting us in his European accent, the butler led us into the bi-level penthouse, which had a different piece of modern art at every turn.
They include a made-to-look-like-it-was-about-to-fall-down chandelier with a monkey holding on.
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There is also a bright red dining room and an oversized walk-in closet, the stuff every fashionista’s designer dreams are made of.
This glam girl is definitely a Gucci and Chanel girl - with some pricey pieces in the $3,000 to $10,000 range.
Aside from the enviable size of the space, which features an island in the middle and rows of shoes and handbags, the best part is also the most hidden one.
The pint-sized powerhouse has plenty of low-cut, thigh-high minidresses and see-through styles — but how is she to reach it all?
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The designer explained that her spinning clothes racks — which are similar to the ones in Cher Herskowitz's in Clueless — weren’t fully doing the trick.
“I am vertically challenged. I am five feet tall and half an inch, of which I'm very proud," she told The U.S. Sun.
“When we were building this house, I wanted a closet that would be easy for me to reach my clothes.”
Calling necessity the mother of all invention, Julia’s wish for a more accessible way to go through her wardrobe came true with the press of a button.
The whole top of her closet moves down to the bottom row, to help Julia's short stature.
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"I had a lot of fun designing this. And I’m very grateful to the Italian craftsmanship that enabled this to actually happen," she said.
"Now I have an ascending and descending, rotating closet."
Julia also has a glam area - with Dyson hair styling products, makeup, and Ameon skincare products, a brand with which she recently partnered.
She also shared the Ameon product she is obsessed with: a posh 'ice cube' she credits with keeping her looking young.
“This is a little ice cube that’s chock full of delectable ingredients for your skin," she said.
A pack of nine Glow Manifesto ice cubes sells for $55, and they're stored in the freezer.
"I put this on in the morning before I put on any makeup — because it’s an ice cube, your pores open a little, the ingredients seep in, and then you know what ice does — ice shrinks your pores," said Julia.
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"So you look refreshed and awake no matter how few hours' (sleep) you got last night.
"I love it and it’s very soothing — it kind of gets meditative cause you have to do it slowly, it melts slowly."
Julia, who recently launched her shapewear line Body by Julia Haart, also showed us around her plush kitchen.
Although she has a fully stocked built-in wine cooler, Julia's favorite feature is more morning focussed.
“I'm obsessed with coffee, so I make my own little Starbucks here,” she said.
Showing off her coffee machine — plus an array of pods and condiments — the loyal dark roast devotee also explained how she ditched her stack of Starbucks cups for an eco-friendlier solution.
She now uses only a reusable pink cup which she nursed throughout our morning together.
It’s no surprise this non-stop star needs her caffeine — after all, as she told me, this is Julia’s comeback moment, and she’s not stopping any time soon.
There's two things you will not find in her kitchen: sugar or salt.
Citing how at 52, “water retention is a thing,” she strictly uses a potassium substitute.
“It’s unbelievable, it tastes the same — and it doesn’t bloat your boat,” she said.
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Though she stocks M&M’s and other sweets for guests, Julia only consumes Lakanato brand monk fruit sweetener herself.
"The reason I love monk fruit is that it’s not a sugar substitute. It doesn’t have fructose or sucrose. It’s the skin of the fruit that is so sweet," she said.
"If you’re going to get a teaspoon of sugar you can get a teaspoon of monk fruit and you’ll never know the difference.
"If you have like aspartame or stevia or Splenda you have that terrible aftertaste. And also it’s not an equivalent.
"One teaspoon of sugar or one teaspoon of Splenda is not the same thing."
Some of her French butler's homemade specialties include blueberry scones and Fig Newtons, Julia’s most requested treats.
The reality star got real about why the non-sugary sweets are her favorites: “I like desserts that have a lot of bread in them."
I can attest that the hostess with the monk fruit mostest — she will not leave any guest leave unfed — has the best scones, Newtons, and coffee in town.
Her butler and home chef doesn’t just keep the household up to stylish speed — he knows just how to keep Julia’s day running smoothly.
When she forgot her favorite lipstick brand in her closet, he was on hand to run downstairs and get it for her.
He also came to the rescue when she was having difficulty opening the shades to show off her expansive views of the water.
In between working on his computer in the kitchen, her son Shlomo was also on hand to help his mom pick out the shapewear from her closet for a shoot.
The entrepreneur, who has made it her mission to empower other women, looked most at home behind the red lacquer desk in her office - with matching Gucci chairs.
The spiritual reality star also had some of her favorite sayings around the space.
"Exhale the past, breathe in the future," read one miniature standalone plaque.
This is, after all, where the designer gets her creative juices flowing — and that translates into some very fashionable shapewear designs.
Forget her posh, high-tech closet — Julia lit up when she took out not one, but two, Pantone color wheels.
"I love colors, I’m a big color girl," she explained.
"Usually, once I decide what pattern and style I want, I want to play with the colors.
"And I always use Pantone because that way it’s a very discernible, specific color and you know that the color you want is the color you’re going to get."
Opening her desk, she took out dozens of blue drawing pens and supplies, which come in handy for her favorite activity: drawing.
Julia’s wheels were definitely turning as she gave us the scoop on her secret new project which will require those color wheels.
"In addition to shapewear, our next season, we are going to have our first-ever swimwear shapewear.
"[They'll have] real compression material, an actual shapewear garment, but no one will ever know because it’s going to feel, look, be as thin, a waterproof as your bathing suit."
She also gets to start her day with one of her favorite people — the Statue of Liberty.
Leading right off of the kitchen is her outdoor patio, with surrounding views of the Hudson River.
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While eating an organic breakfast — most likely with a Fig Newton or scone on the side — Julia says she gets to “say hello to Lady Liberty every morning — it’s pretty nice.”
Just don’t expect to see something in her home that looks familiar to anything you have ever seen in a Pottery Barn catalog — including the multi-toned blue mosaic table that she had made from a piece of stone she found somewhere.
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