Celebrity designer Rachel Roy stopped by Nordstrom last week to promote the launch of her Rachel Roy Shoe Collection. We sat down with the easygoing "it" girl to talk fall fashion, houndstooth prints, and, of course, shoes.

Why shoes now? You've been designing for over five years now but this is your first foray into footwear.

Rachel Roy: With apparel you have tons options and styles, but shoes are different—there's only so many styles of shoes. I finally felt that I have the basic footwear shapes that I'm comfortable with and I can design from there. Shoes are really the bones of an outfit, they're a necessity.

So do you start with the shoe and then build an outfit from there?

Unless I just got a great new pair of shoes that I'm excited to wear, I don't tend to start there. I dress for my mood. Sometimes I feel more skinny so I'll wear a certain thing, or I want to feel a bit more beautiful so I'll dress extra feminine. Sometimes I have a big meeting and dress to feel powerful.

I don't dress for the weather really, I think most of us serious fashion girls don't care about that. We just grab an umbrella and pack an extra pair of shoes.

What's your favorite shoe from the collection right now?

I really love the 'Ana' pump. It's a houndstooth heel and it's so strong and pointy and bitchy.

Houndstooth is a neutral to me—it's that classic. The other day I mixed two patterns and then put on my houndstooth shoes. I guess that makes it three patterns, but I don't think of it that way.