Lea Michele Talks Her 'Comfortable' Mom Style as She Teams Up with Kohl's for a Touching New Campaign (Exclusive)

Michele and Sarah Hyland are collaborating with the retailer for its “Where Families Come First” platform

Lea Michele has a sweet new partnership.

The actress and mom of two, as well as actress Sarah Hyland, are collaborating with Kohl’s on its new “Where Families Come First” platform which celebrates every iteration of the idea of family — and the meaningful moments both big and small that bind us together

Specifically, the stars front the retailer’s new “When Life Gets Real, Start Here” campaign which spotlights the joy of everyday experiences by depicting candid, relatable snapshots where loved ones bond.

For Kohl’s, which has been in the business of meeting families’ needs with its vast assortment of products for more than 60 years, there’s no better fit to help capture these life events than Michele, who recently welcomed her second child with husband Zandy Reich, and Hyland, who married her longtime boyfriend Wells Adams in 2022 (the couple shares a dog, Boo).

It’s also a full-circle moment for Michele, 38, and Hyland, 33, who were both ambassadors for Kohl’s iconic Candie’s campaigns.

Related: Lea Michele Shares First Glimpse of Baby Daughter Emery Since Birth Announcement as She Celebrates Turning 38

“I'm really, really excited to be part of the Kohl's family again,” Michele tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“I believe I did my first campaign with them 2012 for Candie’s — and I remember getting the call and being so honored to be a part of what is now such an iconic campaign,” she recalls.

Michele, who took PEOPLE exclusively inside her getting ready process, reminisces on how different her life looked more than a decade ago.

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“I was so busy working on television and living in California,” she remembers. “I’d really uprooted my life back in 2008 — left New York City and came to California — and immediately started working on TV. It was such a huge life change for me, but I really fell in love with living and working there.”

“Now here we are years later, I am living back in New York and doing this campaign with Kohl's that’s really focused on where I'm at in my life right now as a wife and a mother, and that really shows how Kohl's can really be there for you just during all the different stages of your life. It’s so exciting,” Michele continues.

The star, who was pregnant during the shoot, is thrilled about the timing of the campaign, too. “Being pregnant and getting to take these photos and have that encapsulated to look back on is really cool,” she says.

Twelve years ago, in Michele’s Candie’s ads for Kohl’s, the fashion spoke to the time.

“It was all about high shoes with bright colors,” she says. “The higher, the better. I don’t even know how [I walked], but I remember at the shoot being like, ‘This is exactly my style,’ and I remember feeling so pretty."

She thinks back fondly on that fashion era. “It was so specific to what the trends were back then. I love so much seeing those photos of the campaign, because it really felt so authentic to who I was back then and the style of shoes that I loved to wear.”

Michele’s life, and style choices are “completely different now,” she says.

“It's changed so much for me since then. When I was pregnant with my son [Ever Leo], it was 2020, so during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I wasn't really leaving the house. Now I have an almost four-year-old and it is totally different being out and about, running around, chasing after my toddler.”

When she’s not on red carpets, Michele prioritizes comfort. “That's what's so great also about this campaign — it just shows me in this new phase of my life. I’m so grateful for all of the comfortable clothes that I got to wear on the day of the shoot. During my first pregnancy, we were just at home. Now it's like, ‘oh, wait, what do I wear? How do I leave the house and look put together, but feel comfortable?’ It's just been such a different experience.”

Though, some of the photos there are fun nods to her memorable Candie’s shoot. “The pictures on the stairs were a throwback to the Candie’s photos. I did one on the stairs back in 2012 for that campaign, and then we did some now with me pregnant,” Michele explains. (Fun fact: photographer Yu Tsai, who shot Michele for this campaign, also shot her Candie’s images all those years ago. “He was really so great at capturing these moments,” Michele says, adding, “I love him so much.”)

Kohl’s “When Life Gets Real, Start Here” goes a step beyond personal style to also showcase additional items that make these moments happen. For it, Hyland and Michele both curated digital storefronts featuring collections of their favorites from Kohl’s — and some of Michele’s can be seen throughout her campaign images, among them the Nine West Half Zip Sweater Pullover and Straight Leg Sweater Pants she wears in images on the stairs, as well as the Children's CRCKT Front Zipper Backpack she’s holding in those same pics.

And in her kitchen shots it’s easy to spot more items she loves, such as the Food Network™ Farmstead 10-pc. Nonstick Ceramic Cookware Set and Striped Woven Tea Towel 2-pack,   Hamilton Beach 10-Speed Smoothie Blender and JanSport Big Break Insulated Lunch Bag.

At the end of her shoot, Michele says she wanted to take “everything” from the set. “There was this Women's LC Lauren Conrad Fitted Blazer, and, even if you're wearing just a simple black maxi dress, throwing on that blazer made me feel like I looked put together. Finding those little things right now that I know I can walk out of my house and be like, ‘Oh, I feel like I look nice right now,’ really makes me feel good.”

Meanwhile, Hyland's new campaign images also have fun flashes back to her Candie's ads from years ago, such as the one below where she's seen biking with Adams. Hyland famously rode (with herself) on a bicycle built for two in one of her images. Her storefront also features her must-haves now.

“I am so grateful that this shoot mirrors my [current] style and where I'm at in my life right now,” Michele says. “Kohl's really supports all of your family needs and is there for you for all of the different stages.”

“We started the day doing some shots in the kitchen, and that's where I really spend so much of my time at home. We made sure that everything felt super authentic to what I actually do in my day-to-day life,” Michele shares.

“We started the day doing some shots in the kitchen, and that's where I really spend so much of my time at home. We made sure that everything felt super authentic to what I actually do in my day-to-day life,” Michele shares.

“Every morning, I pack his lunch and snacks, and it really does bring me so much joy. And, one of my favorite things that I do with my son is to either cook together or to sit down at the dinner table together. It was a really big part of why I wanted to come back to New York: to be closer to our family because all of my most memorable family moments growing up centered around the dinner table and just being in the kitchen together and smelling my grandmother's food.”

Michele is focused on “soaking up” this precious time, even on days when she’s short on it. “[The other day] I was running around and I knew I was only going to have a short amount of time with my son at the end of the day, but I ran to the market and I got brownie mix, and it was like the simplest little thing. I came home and I was like, ‘Do you want to bake brownies?’ And he was so excited. It literally took 20 minutes, but it was just so great to have that little time to do something special together.’

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The star says the days of following trends are behind her. There are some pieces that for her will never go out of style. “I feel like Jelly sandals are back and I love them. I feel like they’re just easy to just slip on,” she says. Michele says she’s also team high-waisted jean. “I'm a high-waisted jeans kind of girl.”

For her, if there’s one word that sums up her reunion with Kohl’s, it’s “grateful.”

“I'm just so grateful to be a part of the Kohl's family and to have this opportunity to show this wonderful arc from me of being a Candie’s girl back in 2012, to now being a mom; going from being so excited to wear my Candie’s shoes that are however many inches tall, to now being super excited about the baby clothes and items. Those are the things that I'm excited about now, and just knowing that Kohl's is there to help me, and to have this time of my life documented in this amazing campaign, I feel super grateful.”

Shop Michele and Hyland's curated collections now.

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