April 26th, 2012

Boston’s famed Newbury Street was a little more fashionable yesterday afternoon, as “Fashion Star” judge and House of Harlow designer, Nicole Richie, stopped by the grand opening party of the new National Jean Company store.

The super-skinny star, who first became famous for her relationships with Paris Hilton and Lionel Richie—the former at one time being her best friend, and the latter being her adoptive father, has now come into her own as a successful fashion designer and a stable family life with husband Joel Madden, lead singer of Good Charlotte, and their two children, daughter Harlow Winter Kate Richie Madden (born January 11, 2008), and son Sparrow James Midnight Madden (born September 9, 2009). She currently runs two fashion lines—her House of Harlow vintage inspired jewelry, and her Winter Kate women’s clothing line.

Richie wore a black and white printed maxie dress, soft texture leather jacket with shoulder pads, mint green alligator clutch, and cobalt blue Christian Louboutin pumps. Though she was deign to talk about her recent television incarnation as a judge on the NBC reality show competition series, “Fashion Star,” where budding designers pitch pieces to buyers from high end department stores, she did remark on her opinion of Beantown. She told the Boston Herald she thought Boston was “a beautiful city, ” adding that she didn’t think Boston’s rep for being unfashionable was “an issue.”