There was a time when Nicole Richie’s public image felt inseparable from spectacle. The early 2000s version of fame she embodied, defined by paparazzi frenzy, reality television and accelerated trend cycles thrived on noise.
Two decades on, her presence reads differently. Quieter, more deliberate and notably grounded.
Which is precisely why her appointment as the new face of Nude by Nature feels less like a celebrity endorsement and more like an alignment of ethos.
marie claire spoke to Richie about the campaign, titled ‘Nothing Cleaner than Nude’, where she describes her current chapter as one of fully inhabiting her many roles including mother, creative director and muse.
It is less about reinvention than integration, a shift reflected in the beauty philosophy she now gravitates toward. Nude by Nature’s skin first approach and emphasis on natural beauty speak to a broader industry move away from transformation as spectacle and toward care as small, consistent acts of self care.
Her connection to the brand is not incidental.
“I have a handful of friends in Australia so I have been familiar with the brand for quite some time,” she says.
“I think that their messaging is really important in this moment,” she continues. “Celebrating women for who they naturally are on the inside and outside.”
Richie frames the partnership as rooted in values rather than visibility. She speaks to the importance of paying attention not only to what we apply to our bodies, but to what we consume more broadly.
The framing situates beauty within wellbeing rather than alongside it. In an era where clean beauty rhetoric is often flattened into aesthetic, her language gestures toward something more considered.
There is a self awareness in how Richie reflects on the beauty codes she once helped popularise. “I never like saying never, but I do not know if I would do coloured extensions again,” she laughs. “I appreciate that I loved them in the moment though.” She also wishes her 2004 self would “stop over tweezing” (don’t we all) and “take time to pause and pay attention to your body.”
Motherhood, too, reframes her understanding of beauty culture. Watching her teenage daughter navigate image and influence, Richie meets the moment with perspective rather than fear. Beauty, she suggests, is most meaningful when treated as experimentation and self expression.
“One of the best things about youth is that you can explore all the things. Women and girls, we should have fun with beauty, it’s a form of self expression.”
Creatively, her work with House of Harlow continues this grounding impulse. Stones, crystals and forms drawn from the earth remain central to her creativity. “I love things that come from the Earth.”
It is a tactile counterpoint to beauty culture’s digital acceleration. Grounding, slow and materially anchored.
Richie’s alignment with Nude by Nature does not announce a new era so much as clarify the one she is already inhabiting.
Nude by Nature is currently available in Chemist Warehouse, Priceline, Myer, Big W and select independent pharmacies Australia-wide.
