Below is an excerpt from the cover story, Good Night, Giggles by Mike Albo, in the August issue of InStyle magazine. It is available on newsstands and for digital download July 11.
Zooey Deschanel could be America s sweetheart if she wanted to be. But a sweetheart has to be sugary and pastel-natured—and the 34-year old actress has an edge to her sweetness. For one thing, she is fiercely independent—god forbid you ask her if she wants kids. Like every woman is dying to give birth! I don t think so. Nobody asks guys that, she says, gaining steam. And you go into a supermarket and every tabloid is like, Pregnant and Alone! Stuck in the 1950s ideal of how a woman should live her life. This brings out the fiery feminist in me, she pronounces.
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Deschanel is also no shrinking violet when it comes to work. The actress and musician approaches the business of being Zooey with a commitment of a company head. Let s consider her 2014 schedule: In March she finished seven months of shooting New Girl s third season, then traveled across the country to promote To Tommy From Zooey, her capsule collaboration with designer Tommy Hilfiger. Then she went to Canada to film The Driftless Area, a dark comedy co-starring Frank Langella and Anton Yelchin. After that it was off to Moroocco to film Rock the Kasbah, a comedy with Kate Hudson and Bruce Willis. And in a few weeks she returns to L.A. to shoot Season 4 of New Girl. In the middle of this madness, Deschanel found time to record a new album from her indie duo She & Him with songwriter-guitarist M. Ward. Oh, she s also one of the founders of the popular lifestyle site HelloGiggles.com (she launched it with two pals).
Related: Love Zooey s style? See this slideshow of her best looks ever.
If there is anyone to blame for Deschanel s entrepreneurial spirit it would be her parents (a cinematographer and an actress). Growing up in L.A. s Pacific Palisades, she would go from one project to the next “drawing in one corner, writing or sewing in another. I was lucky to have parents who were really, really supportive in terms of creativity. We only went clothes shopping twice a year, but every single day of the week I had something else I was learning to do.”
Staying so busy is one of the things that keeps her grounded despite her fame. “I’ve seen a lot of people turn—sometimes it unlocks who they really are. They turn into celebrities who are separate from themselves. That’s OK, but I just don’t want to be like that, she says. I have to be normal. My mother wouldn’t let me be any other way.”
For the full story on Zooey Deschanel, pick up the August issue of InStyle, available on newsstands and for digital download July 11.
Have a lot of holiday parties on your social calendar but don t know what to wear? InStyle s Senior Market Editor and Digital Correspondent Dana Avidan-Cohn has figured it all out for you. Today, she stopped by Hallmark Channel s Better Show to help pick the best polished holiday looks for every kind of party, whether it s a casual get-together or a fancy New Year s Eve bash.
Once you leave grade school, you ve probably never thought about competing in a spelling bee again in your life. Not so for 40-year-old Guy Trilby. The angry-at-the-world character is portrayed by Jason Bateman in the star s directorial debut Bad Words, now playing in select theaters. In the film, he finds a loophole in the National Quill Spelling Bee contest rules and contends for the number one spot, competing against a group of fun and obnoxious little squirts, including one who he befriends, Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand, who you may remember as Abu Nazir s lost child from Homeland season one). Kathryn Hahn plays the fiery reporter trailing the case. I ve worshipped Jason since forever, Hahn told InStyle when we sat down with the cast at the Toronto International Film Festival. The fact that he took a chance on me to be his unromantic leading lady was very exciting. The following is an excerpt from our conversation.
There s no denying it—Ashley Greene has a killer complexion. But there s no easy shortcut to getting her glowing skin. At the Bulgari and Save the Children pre-Oscars party earlier this week, the actress let InStyle in on her skincare routine, which she described simply as quite extensive. 
Olivia Wilde got engaged to Saturday Night Live funnyman Jason Sudeikis in January, and so far, the wedding plans are still in the very early stages—think: non-existent. I wish I did [have plans], the actress told us at last night s New York launch of Half the Sky Movement: The Game, a Facebook game that helps empower women and girls. Right now, I’m just enjoying being engaged. The dress, the honeymoon, and the ceremony location are all still to be determined, she said—though a New York wedding would be ideal —citing a very good reason for her play-by-play planning delay. I haven’t had time to think about it, she said. We’ve been too busy. But we’re very lucky to be busy, so that’s the other side of it. 
With Jaguar’s new online platform FEEL XE, Sandé will write a song about “the feeling of exhilaration” to support the reveal of Jaguar’s new XE sports sedan (pictured above). How? By asking the public, quite simply, “What makes you feel exhilarated?” Using #FEELXE, users can then try their hand at songwriting via social media by tweeting, Instagramming, or Facebooking what makes them feel just so. “I just want to capture feelings of excitement and things I haven’t thought of or experienced before, Sandé said. A song always comes from a conversation—I look at this as one massive one.”
Who needs the sky when you can look down and see the stars on Mathieu Mirano’s galactic gold-flecked ankle booties? For his fall 2013 presentation during New York Fashion Week, the designer debuted these gold-toe capped stiletto heels, and shared this sketch exclusively with InStyle.com so we could see his process. If NASA ever redesigns their spacesuits to include a stiletto heel, these would be them, Mirano told InStyle.com of his footwear. NASA, are you listening?