7 style lessons you can learn from
CARINE ROITFELD
The fashion month has started. Yesterday the gong sounded in the classroom of Fashion Week Netherlands and then it continues in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. This is a time when the word ‘understated’ is temporarily parked and ‘everything out of the closet’ is the motto. I always find it inspiring to take cues from my fashion icons.
Today I kick off with Carine Roitfeld, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris and current creative director of Harper’s Bazaar. Because if anyone never makes a slip-up… maakt…
The leopard print is always a good idea
No, no, no, it’s not tacky. Yes, it is if you combine it with other animal prints like Veerkamp, but if it’s your only printed item, a leopard coat is for example the perfect fashion week outfit. Then you can look nice and casual with such a leopard piece, a good bag, and a sturdy shoe, and you are completely ready for the front row.
More fitted skirts
The knee-length, fitted pencil skirt is a slasher. It exudes professionalism, is ultra-feminine, instantly fashionable when you combine it with previously mentioned and later to be mentioned items, and of course, it is synonymous with s-e-x. You can't go wrong.
The scarf
A simple blouse is of course too bourgeois for Carine. She spices up her outfit with a long scarf that she ties around her neck. It can also go over a shirt with a wide neckline. It gives your whole look a rocky and feminine effect and it also camouflages any potential wrinkled neck. Which Carine doesn’t have of course, but just in case.
These shoes then
Carine loves feminine and that also applies to her shoes. A standard pump is not for her. Carine dictates the shoe with a strap. One around the ankle breaks the image of the leg. Yes, that may sound a bit abstract, but when you see it, you immediately understand what I mean. Under such a pencil skirt, it can otherwise be very long and a lot of leg until something happens again.
You wear the jacket like this
I have written about it often. Fashion girls wear their jackets over the shoulders. And we all learned that from Carine. Why does she do that? It looks so chic. It means you don’t have to lug around heavy shopping bags and that you can quickly walk from your chauffeur-driven car to the location without having to bike for half an hour to the Grand Palais. You convey all that with one action: you don’t put your arms in, but under the sleeves. Life can be so straightforward.
Outfit in one color
That gives your look so much class and style. It’s nice if it’s not a ‘complete set’, but you have chosen different items yourself. Make sure you stay within a color palette.
Nice and transparent
Carine really loves that, just like leather by the way. Transparent blouses for example. A small but noticeable bralette underneath and possibly that scarf around the neck. And yes, then a leather skirt to the knee and a pump with straps. Et voilà.
