A Day in the Life of Jenni Kayne, California’s Favorite Cashmere-Wearing Lifestyle Guru

The cornerstone of being a lifestyle guru is that you must have a lifestyle that people want. One that walks the fine line between envy—envy implies an undercurrent of resentment, a will-come-to-your-house-with-pitchforks-if-you-mess-up energy—and defeated acceptance, where the way you live is unfathomable, untouchable. (See: anyone with a gigayacht.) And the best tightroper in the business might be Jenni Kayne, the California-based, well, lifestyle guru.

She has a clothing line, Jenni Kayne, that sells attainable, aspirationally priced cashmere sweaters and suede clogs that look like they belong to a Nancy Meyers heroine. She has a home decor business, Jenni Kayne Home, featuring bouclé and soft neutral furniture that embodies cozy, quiet luxury. She has Oak Essentials, a clean skin care line that includes a moisture-rich balm and Blue Tansy lotion. And she has three books with Rizzoli—her latest, Pacific Natural Everywhere, is out this week. Across its glossy pages are earthy modernist homes across different Pacific regions, from Big Sur to New Zealand.

All together, Jenni Kayne makes around $140 million in reported revenue. What makes it so different from all the other cashmere, chairs, and cream out there? Everything about it simply exudes a calm, rustic California ease. Kayne embodies it herself too: The Los Angeles native resides in a modernist home, designed by the famed architect Vincent Van Duysen. It’s filled with cream furniture, wood-beamed ceilings, modern art, and seasonal blooms (in February, that’s white tulips). In the mudroom are an array of gardening hats, and outside the door are several pairs of what Kayne calls “gardening clogs”—rubber shoes to throw on to peruse the grounds, which include an in-ground pool, oak trees (protected in LA), a meditation area on a redwood stump, and a barn with goats, ponies, and a rescue pig. There’s also a cold plunge out there somewhere.

Here, a day in the California-charmed life of Jenni Kayne.

6:45 a.m.

Kayne wakes up. She drinks Sarah Wragge Wellness Alkalize Greens in water and makes a chai latte with almond milk. Then its time for her skincare routine. She uses their balancing mist, peptide serum, vitamin C, and ritual oil, from her own line Oak Essentials.

7:15 a.m.

First, a school run—then, a doctor’s office run: one of Kayne’s three children is sick. Afterward, she does pilates in her at-home studio. Usually, if she has time, she’ll go ride her horse, Mezze, at the local equestrian club. But today, there aren’t enough hours before the workday begins.

9:00 a.m.

Shower and skincare refresh—including adding Merit’s cult favorite mineral sunscreen. For an outfit, she chooses a Jenni Kayne turtleneck and a jacket from The Row.

9:30 a.m.

Her team is over at her house, giving a walk-through to an interiors editor who is interested in seeing the house, which is considered an architecturally significant one in Los Angeles. Her gentlemanly Spinone Italiano, Tag, follows along as they mill about her cream furniture, gazing upon her coffee table books (which include Rose Uniacke at Home and another on Richard Diebenkorn).

9:45 a.m.

Kayne goes outside—gardening clogs on—to feed her farm animals, including a mini horse named Jelly, a donkey named Walnut, a goat named Radish, and a pig named Moo. “It’s part of the kids’ chores to take care of them,” she says. “I think being around animals and having responsibility is really important.”

10:30 a.m.

She drives to her office in Santa Monica in her Range Rover with her giant Yeti (filled with water and a hydration tablet) and the music on. “I love listening to Spotify mixes that my sister, Maggie, makes. They’re under DJMAGGIE FRESH.” A Polo Ralph Lauren baseball hat sits on the dashboard.

11:00 a.m.

She arrives at the office for a meeting with Lauren Harris, CEO of Oak Essentials. The specific details are off the record—but it’s full of business buzzwords like “deliverables,” “launch preparation,” “ongoing expectations,” and “dialogue.”

11:45 a.m.

Next up is a meeting with her public relations department about her press tour for Pacific Natural Everywhere. Kayne puts a thick black pair of glasses on as they walk through potential stops—Palm Beach, Charleston, Nashville, and Chicago. They also need to discuss the launch party event, which she’ll host at her home. She inquires about the table layout and the menu. (She approves of the entrées—ricotta spinach gnudi and roasted chicken with fresh citrus salsa.)

1:00 p.m.

It’s off to Brentwood Country Mart to do merchandising meetings at her two stores. “Are we putting moss up there?” She asks one of her store associates, who walks her through the space. (Which included, yes, moss.) Later, over at Jenni Kayne Home, she’s asking how their new three-wick candle is selling. “I just pop in and like to surprise people,” she says.

1:30 p.m.

Lunch at A Votre Santé, a Brentwood all-day café that’s been a neighborhood staple since 1987, with this reporter. “I’ve been going here for 20 years,” Kayne says, ordering their Oaxacan scramble.

2:30 p.m.

Kayne’s back working at her office. “Every afternoon is different. I’ll have work meetings, catch up on emails,” she says. “On days that I can, I’ll handle school pickup.”

5:00 p.m.

Back home with the kids—and they’re on barn duty, “tucking in the animals for the evening,” she says.

6:00 p.m.

Dinner with her husband, Richard, and three kids. Well, maybe not all three kids: “We have family dinner most nights, but at this point my kids are all on different schedules, so it’s not all of us every night,” she says. They make an Asian ground chicken and broccoli dish and rice with Japanese sweet potatoes. (It’s a riff on a recipe from Pamela Salzman, who Kayne says “taught me how to cook.” Although Kayne doesn’t whip out the cookbook every night, she’s often supplementing homemade meals with Indian, Mexican, or Thai takeout.

9:00 p.m.

Kayne begins to wind down—reading, a bath, and a cup of Doctor Stolberg Rest + Digest Tea, followed by water with Moon Juice’s Magnesi-Om powder and Bio.me’s fiber supplement. Then comes all the creams. “I love my evening skin care routine.” She reaches for many of her Oak Essentials products at night too. “I also love to use my red-light mask in bed—I have the one from Omnilux, and I’ll use that while I sip on a cup of tea,” she says.

10:00 p.m.

Kayne’s bedtime.