Kelly Bensimon believes Alex McCord was “misled” into wearing her now-infamous “Herman Munster” shoes on “The Real Housewives of New York City” Season 4.
“When you’re in Morocco, don’t bring New York street clothes to Morocco,” Bensimon quips on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast.
“It’s a vacation destination. It’s not Broadway, so I think, again, sometimes she’s a little misled.”
McCord memorably wore brown leather wedged boots by Louis Vuitton during a 2011 cast trip to Morocco, where she clashed with both Bensimon and fellow “RHONY” OG Luann de Lesseps.
When the ladies eventually returned to the Big Apple, de Lesseps chastised McCord not only for her overseas behavior but for her questionable designer purchase.
“I was sitting in there, having a lovely moment with the ladies and you came in in your Herman Munster shoes,” she said during a contentious scene, prompting McCord to justify, “They’re Louis Vuitton.”
De Lesseps then offered a line that is now part of Bravo canon: “Even Louis Vuitton makes mistakes.”
McCord called de Lesseps “rude” to her face at the time and maintained the same opinion of the Countess when reflecting on the exchange in a 2017 interview with BravoTV.com.
“She’s just got this complete lack of self-awareness and this hard-charging nastiness,” she asserted. “Really arrogant, but also all about her. Absolutely unaware that she was being completely inappropriate and rude.”
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Never deterred by de Lesseps’ “Herman Munster” diss, McCord has held on to her Louis Vuitton splurge.
She even brought the shoes back to Morocco this January to film Peacock’s “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” Season 4 with Caroline Manzo, Vicki Gunvalson, Gretchen Rossi, Phaedra Parks, Eva Marcille, Brandi Glanville and Camille Grammer.
Bensimon, for her part, hopes McCord packed chic pieces to steal focus from her polarizing footwear.
“People always ask me when they’re traveling to exotic places what to wear,” she tells us. “That’s why I created my outerwear line called Enville [for Pologeorgis]. That’s how to dress when you’re traveling!”
The designer and real estate pro would love to impart more sartorial tips on McCord should the latter participate in a potential “RHONY: Legacy” series. (Negotiations are “back on the table,” an insider tells Page Six, despite a previous halt.)
“I haven’t seen her in so long, so it’d be fun to see her again,” she says of McCord, who currently lives in Australia with husband Simon van Kempen and their sons, Francois, 19, and Johan, 17.
But Bensimon wouldn’t mind if van Kempen skipped out on making any international trips to film.
“Without Simon, just by herself would be great,” she says, recalling McCord’s close dynamic with her exuberant spouse.
“She’s really smart. She didn’t need him in her ear. I think he was a disservice to her, to be honest,” Bensimon continues. “I think he just wanted to jazz things up and it’s not her personality, so it always seemed like so disingenuous.”
While Bensimon doesn’t remember van Kempen helping McCord make any best-dressed lists during their Bravo tenure, she applauds former castmate Sonja Morgan for her classic fashion sense.
“Sonja had really good taste. She looked really good. She had a very Ralph Lauren-vibe: blazers, white shirts, denim,” the model raves. “She looked great.”
Benismon was also impressed by de Lesseps’ personal style.
“Luann always looked good. Very well put together,” she says of her close gal pal. “She understands proportion. She always looked good.”
However, Bensimon wasn’t fond of de Lesseps’ noted penchant for statement necklaces, which the cabaret singer designed herself at one point.
“I mean, it was a lot. And a statement necklace is not for someone like her because she’s tall. She doesn’t need a statement necklace, she is a statement,” she tells us. “She’s beautiful.”
