The Background

Some fashion icons grow from humble beginnings, others start a little further up the ladder. Olivia Palermo, born February 28^th 1986, grew up on New York’s Upper East Side. An area of the city known for its high concentration of wealth and privilege, Olivia comes from suitably rarefied stock.

After attending university in Paris and classes at the Parsons School in New York, Palermo soon made a name for herself as a bona fide New York socialite. Snapped out and about, Palermo’s wardrobe started to gain some serious column inches.

Olivia’s fame really took off when she landed a guest role on reality TV show ‘The City’. An East-Coast spin off from hit show ‘The Hills’, Olivia was filmed working alongside main draw, City star Whitney Port.

But ask most people about Olivia Palermo and it’s her style that has really got her noticed. The mix of high-fashion with classic shapes has put Palermo on the watch-list for every fashion magazine, and this April, Olivia was asked to be the ‘Today I’m Wearing’ girl for www.vogue.com. Chronicling every outfit for a whole month, the feature has predictably been a resounding hit.

But what is it that has Olivia Palermo riding high on everyone’s style radar?

The Look (and how you can get it)

Google photos of Olivia and one thing becomes very apparent: she’s not shy about showing off her legs, and frankly – who can blame her?

Olivia is adept at working proportion. Look at those same pictures, and you’ll spot a common thread: when the legs are on display, everything else stays covered up. Whether it’s with blazers, cardigans or jackets, it’s a simple style equation (probably the simplest there is), but when Olivia shows off one half, the other gets more modest treatment. It’s what keeps her look in the ‘cute and chic’ territory: no matter what she’s spent on a particular outfit, it never looks cheap, and that’s why. It’s all about balance and pay-off. A little style restraint goes a long way.

Olivia’s love of shorts has been exhaustively dissected on fashion spreads, and she’s proof that this season’s hottest must-have can be work-able. Whether it’s for night or day, shorts are a Palermo staple – much more interesting than the micro-mini.

Another favourite is the jacket. Whether it’s a blazer, cropped or heavily embellished for night, you’ll see every kind of look on Palermo’s back. The most important buy for S/S 2010, Olivia was partly responsible for its re-emergence as a style essential; pairing Isabel-Marant style tweeds with shorts for day, and a heavily embroidered blouson jacket by Topshop at London Fashion Week that had everyone dashing to their nearest branch the morning after.

Olivia isn’t afraid to cross-over a favourite look from day into night. It can be super-sharp neutrals for work, to a softly tailored cover-up with an emerald-green dress. It’s taking an element of the unexpected and making new classics. Shorts for evening, embellishment for day: it’s all part of the Palermo experience.

The last piece in the puzzle is Olivia’s love of accessories. Put simply, you can’t fail to notice the accents - they get equal billing with the main pieces and that’s the whizz-kid part.

Shoes and bags are the jewel in the crown for Olivia’s wardrobe. With leg-baring outfits, navy day shorts are paired with daring, boundary-breaking sandals to lift a nautical look into something truly fashion-forward. Olivia keeps the overall silhouette classic, but pumps it up with the shoes. It doesn’t always have to be heels either. Olivia scored serious attention for her silver Sergio Rossi brogues, triggering a wave of high-street copies.

Olivia’s loyalty to her accessories really shines through in her choice of bag. In an age where some celebrities make it their mission never to be photographed with the same bag twice, Olivia is conspicuous by her absence of ego.

Her go-to accessory is the Gemma bag by Chloe. A neutral colour in a classic shape, ‘Gemma’ is the perfect companion to Olivia’s work-horse wardrobe. Challenging the stereotype of the ultra-consumerist socialite, Olivia’s choice of bag is not only smart, it’s bang on trend.

 

 

The bag that goes the distance is now the option that’s most in favour. Even Olivia’s Hermes Birkin offers a master-class in doing un-conspicuous consumption.

On this point, getting the perfect day-bag doesn’t have to mean mega-bucks: you can find decent bags in stores like Reiss and All Saints, plus the leather and suede designs at high-street stores like Zara and Topshop. Keep an eye out for high-street designs that stand on their own merit – don’t feel obliged to buy something because it’s a dead ringer for its designer equivalent. Try to source bags in neutral colours with a killer detail, like a buckle or a fastening. It gives you an instant style upgrade, no matter how much or how little you spent.

Finally, the only way you know a bag’s for you is if it gives you that ‘must-have’ fever. Don’t love it? Don’t buy it. Accessories are a brilliant way of stamping your personality onto an outfit – so don’t sell yourself short.

The cornerstone of Olivia’s look is her ability to mix and match, and Palermo does it so well it could practically be her mantra.

 

 

Olivia is known for being able to blend the best of the high-street with luxe additions. To prove the point, Olivia once turned up to a New York charity event wearing a Diane Von Furstenberg jacket, YSL Tribute sandals and a skirt from American Apparel.

Fit and finish are the most important issues to consider here. When pairing a statement jacket with a more affordable skirt, look at the fabrics. Do they go well together? As for fit – ignore the label and go for what works on your body. Don’t get hung up on sizing – often switching up or down a size is the key to making luxury and bargain work in perfect harmony.

Also apply the theory of mix and match to different fashion genres. Olivia once paired a faux-fur scarf with boyfriend jeans and it brought a whole new freshness to the boyfriend, slouchy trend that made Olivia an instant stand-out.

Look at colour and texture: sometimes pairing a soft grey cardigan with a gold metallic dress is just what you need to apply your own twist to black tie dressing. Think laterally: developing a personal style is knowing what suits you – not just your body, but your lifestyle. Feel uncomfortable being too pristine? Butch up summer florals with leather gladiator sandals, or soften a tailored look by teaming it with harem trousers. Keep your style on its toes and don’t be afraid to try something new: that’s the way personal style works. It’s you, plus know-how and a helping of (simply) divine inspiration.

The Summary (What Makes Olivia a Modern Fashion Icon)

·         The holy trinity of mix and match: proportion, texture, colour

·         Accessories (spend on pieces that last, rather than flash-in-the-pan)

·         Think outside the dressing-up box (knits for evening, glamour florals, faux fur with ripped jeans)

Olivia is often credited as a real-life Gossip Girl, blending Serena’s sex appeal, with Blair’s loving attention to detail and Jenny’s too-cool-for-school street attitude. But the fact of the matter is Olivia has created an entire image around being different: she is nobody’s follower. Frank Sinatra sang about it, and in New York, there really is something to be said for doing it your way. In a city of uber-groomed women, Olivia stands out because she’s a rule breaker. When it comes to style, Olivia is the real deal.

With Palermo, the genius is in the detail. The hair and make-up is always noteworthy, but never distracting. Her accessories become part of the outfit, rather than bolt-ons.

But the best thing about Olivia is that the look is never too perfect. There’s nothing in Palermo’s wardrobe that can’t translate to real life: brogues, blazers, shorts and day-bags: not exactly the stuff of unattainable dreams.

The beauty of Olivia’s look is that it not just works on a budget: it flourishes on it. Olivia is famous for her championing of high-street design. Topshop and H&M are just as prolific features of Olivia’s wardrobe as the big designer brands.

Despite her lofty beginnings, Olivia’s look is anchored in reality and that’s why we love watching what she’ll wear next. She may have come from the Upper East Side, but her look is pure City Girl: smart, sophisticated and sartorially, just impeccable.

HELEN TOPE

This spring, when Karl Lagerfeld chose to debut a slew of Russian-styled beauties at his Chanel Couture show, he pre-empted a trend that has been so often revived it has its own language. Russian-inspired fashion has been revisited numerous times over the past decade, swinging from rustic folklore to new-money glamour.

A lot has been made of Russia’s very recent initiation into the fashion world. Up until the late 1990’s, Russia (in fashion terms) was left out in the cold. A follower of populist street style, and not the best of it either, Russia lagged behind the rest of Europe for decades.

Then something began to happen. The economy began to flourish: the rich became richer, and the seriously rich became so wealthy a new term had to be invented for them: oligarch. An old word, but now endowed with a very new meaning.

The Russians, flush with billions of dollars, suddenly had the spending power to indulge every one of their fashion fantasies. This manifested itself as frenzy for the blockbuster labels: Dior, Gucci, and YSL. The super-rich suddenly became fashion’s best customers.

The unique beauty of Russia also hit the spotlight with new faces being snapped up by modelling agencies – girls from the Eastern Bloc whose sharp, piercing eyes endowed any designer’s work with cool, Slavic intensity. Girls such as Natasha Poly and Natalia Vodianova became the modelling world’s top players. In the space of ten years, Russia had gone from off-the-radar to bang-on-target.

But this time round, fashion’s obsession with what Russia has to offer has gone a little deeper. Beyond the spending lust of the super-rich and the excitement of a nation discovering it’s in with the cool kids, fashion has turned its attention to what Russia really has to offer. Not wealth or prestige, but history.

Russia’s cultural heritage is virtually limitless. The lure of names such as Chekhov, Tolstoy and Pushkin – these create instant images in our head, and they are just the tip of the iceberg. Russia is so frequently plundered for reference points by designers simply because there is so much to choose from.

 

This autumn, designers took an anthropological leap from the Asian-inspired colours of the summer, and transported themselves to the Russian Steppes. The Russian influence this year runs the full gamut, from the aristocrat to the peasant.

Never one to do things by halves, John Galliano created a parade of Mongolian princesses in dreamy, diaphanous gowns overlaid with serious heirloom jewellery. The models walked through snow flurries, as if they had stepped from the pages of a history book. Whether you call it fashion or theatre, this spectacular collection showcased the very best of Galliano: bold, romantic and utterly enchanting. Galliano, who rarely removes his ‘couturier’ hat for his ready-to-wear collection, applied the same level of expertise to create an extraordinary lesson on tackling the breach between the fantastic and the mundane.

 

It is this philosophy which informs other collections, although not in such a literal way. Employing the axiom ‘fashion as fun’, Erdem created Slavic nuances, with delicately-laced dresses (black on red for a 19^th century feel) and embroidered coats begging for a proper winter to be shown off at their best. The models were featured with a matte red lip and hair pulled off the face into a top-knot. If you’re not a gold mini-dress kind of gal, Erdem offers a stylish alternative on how to do festive.

Erdem, once a fashion secret, is beginning to gradually emerge as the choice for people who want cutting-edge clothes without having to sacrifice their girly leanings. Erdem indulges your inner 5-year-old with girlish charm, but still keeps it ‘fashion’ to satisfy your grown-up alter ego (she’s footing the bill after all).

Kenzo, a label that is perhaps better known for its fragrance stable than its clothes, has also taken the Russian trail with incredible results. It has created a collection that explores Russia by day. Ornate textures are grouped together to create a look that is both covetable and chic.

 

 

The highly-decorative velvet panels on this belted blanket-coat show how ornate and luxurious can work for daytime. The judicious application of detail and knowing when to pull back has created a sartorial halfway point between fantasy and reality. Russian culture, after all, doesn’t like drawing division lines between poetry and prose, and why should you? A woman’s life in clothes should be a marriage of both.

It is this willingness to explore the middle ground that makes the Russian trend so appealing. If you really want to, you can go all out and immerse yourself in the romance of Dr. Zhivago (sans the tragedy). This season forms a fusion of Russia’s finest, from a master-class in layering different textures, to the drama and escapism of a full-on Anna Karenina moment (again, avoiding the bit about adultery and throwing yourself under a train).

The high-street has followed suit, with stores such as Topshop and Monsoon offering user-friendly, densely-patterned folk dresses. They can be worn solo, with a fur gilet or fully modernised with a fitted biker jacket and ankle boots. This look has legs, which is why it has made the transition from couture (Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier), to high-street almost fully formed. No translation necessary.

The Russian look is the antithesis of much of what is on offer this season. Its archaic romance is worlds away from the ‘street warrior’ look or the sharp-shouldered 80’s glamour prescribed by Balmain.

It’s tough to imagine Posh or Cheryl Cole buying it, but the Russian trend has a lot going for it. It may not be the newest look out there, but it does have experience on its side. It provides an education in dressing for effect – not to impress others – but to allow you to revel in the process of making choices based on fun. Remember that?

This is not dressing as a mode of warfare, but instead taking fashion back to its roots – back to the days where dressing up used to be fun. Fashion should be fun – not an exhausting merry-go-round of struggling to be the first to wear a new shape of heel or trouser leg. It can be serious and functional, but what we really need right now is a reminder of what fashion was, what it is and what it could be again.

Don’t take it too seriously this season. Pull on the trapper hat and Valenki boots and simply enjoy being part of the fashion journey. How far you want to travel – well, that’s entirely up to you.

 

 

HELEN TOPE