“It’s bad feng shui to have dead things in your house,” says Bianca de la Garza, admiring an arrangement of flowers that’s nearly as vivid as the print on her Topshop dress.
De la Garza, the longtime TV anchor who signed off last year and now hosts her own show called “Bianca Unanchored,” is in the kitchen of her South Boston condo being interviewed for a feature on the lifestyle blog “Lux & Concord.”
“Would you believe the flowers are always here?” she asks blogger Kaitlin Madden.
De la Garza isn’t taping an episode of her own show today, but she looks camera-ready: the cascade of blond hair extensions, the black eyelashes of a Bond girl, and, always, spiked heels. (An embroidered pillow in the living room reads: The higher the heel the better the day.) De la Garza is put together today because she’s leaving soon to go to a reception at the Boston Harbor Hotel and then to Sam’s at Louis for a bite with her bestie, Elisha Daniels.
“I do have some crazy long days,” she says, “This isn’t one of them.”
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As cohost of WCVB-TV’s “EyeOpener” newscast, de la Garza used to wake up at 2:45 a.m. Not anymore. Now she’s available to get her daughter, Danica, off to school or to a violin lesson afterward. At the moment, the 9-year-old is curled up with an iPad on the sofa. It’s striking how little Danica looks like her mom. With the dark hair and eyebrows of her father, WBZ-TV’s David Wade, she’s Lourdes to de la Garza’s Madonna. (Wade and de la Garza are divorced.)
“Dani helps me with all my choices, don’t you, Dani?” says de la Garza. “She has a keen eye.”
And there are a plenty of choices. When she occupied the anchor desk, her closet was mostly full of solid colors and monochrome patterns. And never anything too revealing. Now, as she rebrands herself, de la Garza, 37, is taking more chances. On Facebook and Instagram, she posts playful, sometimes provocative photos of herself in a bathing suit or a short, extra-snug skirt, often holding a Dunkin’ Donuts cup. (The company is a major sponsor of the show.)
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“I’m just being myself,” she says. “My goal on the show is to not repeat one shoe.”
The show, focused on celebrity, fashion, and nightlife, launched in January, and airs Saturday at 11:30 p.m. on ABC affiliates in Boston, New Hampshire, and Portland, Maine. It’s an unenviable time slot — opposite “Saturday Night Live” — but de la Garza says she’s pleased with the show’s progress.
“It’s like a start-up. It’s exhausting and exciting. I created a media company,” she says, referring to her Lucky Gal Productions, producer of “Bianca Unanchored.”
After Madden and the photographer leave, de la Garza takes a seat in one of the two white leather chairs that face the flat-screen TV. She moved into the building a year ago and furnished the place with an assist from her friend, interior design consultant Bill Emery: Stark carpet, Mitchell Gold sofa, Keith Haring print, canary-yellow chair upholstered in velvet, and, next to it, a contraption that resembles a seventh-grade science experiment.
“I’m addicted to that thing,” she says of the aroma diffuser. “I can’t get to the spa, so I bring the spa to me.”
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De la Garza, it seems, has a delicate sense of smell. When she was considering living here, her first concern wasn’t privacy or parking.
“You know when you smell other people’s cooking?” she whispers, leaning closer. “I didn’t want to come home and smell what 5C is having for dinner.”
De la Garza makes a quick change, donning a fuchsia A.L.C. skirt and top and a pair of silver Giuseppe Zanotti mules, and summons an Uber. She’s joining supporters of the Hot Pink Party, an annual benefit for the Breast Cancer Research Fund, at a kickoff event at Boston Harbor Hotel.
The small gathering doesn’t last long. Afterward, de la Garza is approached by one of the guests, John Fisher, the former Saucony CEO who lectures now at Boston College. He shows her a picture on his phone of his daughter, who bears a slight resemblance to de la Garza.
“Are you blonde?” he asks.
“I am now,” she laughs, striking a mock pose.
From there, it’s off to Sam’s with Daniels, a stylist at Neiman Marcus whose fashion sense de la Garza seems to value as much as her friendship. Daniels, wearing a kaleidoscopic Valentino dress and pink Chanel eyeglasses, has been de la Garza’s unofficial wardrobe consultant since her days at WCVB.
“Did you get the Versace I sent over?” says Daniels, sipping a glass of sauvignon blanc by a window overlooking the South Boston waterfront. “And what about that Zac Posen? Will you wear strapless on air?’
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De la Garza smiles.
“Of course,” she says, “as long as the ladies don’t spill out.”
Mark Shanahan can be reached at mark.shanahan@globe.com.