5 things you should know about Claire Underwood,

the tv style icon du moment

Move over, Carrie Bradshaw. There’s a new icon on TV who is causing quit a stir with her style and character out in the real world. We are, of course, talking about Claire underwood, the female leading lady in House of Cards. The hit series keeps millions of people glued to the tube deep into the night and others not being able to leave their sofa for an entire weekend.

Now, in the third series where Claire is portrayed as the most stylish and sexy First lady ever, she completely steels the show. Everybody loves Claire. Her character is being analysed by TV-journalists in talkshows. Newspapers and blogs cannot not stop writing about her while hairdressers are overdosed with requests for the ‘Claire-cut’. Today we share 5 things you have to know about this hype.

robin makes claire

Actress Robin Wright is very involved in Claire’s character for which she received a Golden Globe. “There are mornings when the writer Beau Willimon, Kevin en I decide that a scene just isn’t going to work. Then while I’m in make-up the scene is rewritten. The lines I have been stamping into my head for the past weeks must simply be forgotten and I have to replace them with ten sheets of new ones within an hour”, she tells Vrouw.nl. “It’s great: I have tob be on my toes all the time.”

The stylist

This season Robin Wright has brought in her own personal stylist, Kemal Harris, to style and do the costume design for Claire Underwood. “I put a lot of time and effort into thinking about Claire’s outfit. This helps me understand her better. I am especially pleased with what she is wearing in the new season. I like being involved: let’s make the sleeves three-quarter, add a belt, take off the buttons, or turn the A-line into a pencil shape”, states the actress.

designers

The inspiring wardrobe of Claire Underwood consists of beautiful designer pieces, among them Ralph Lauren – the grey gala dress she wore at the state banquet, Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Altuzarra, Michael Kors, Derek Lam, Giorgio Armani, Alexander McQueen – de blue buttoned dress she wore in Russia, Dolce & Gabbana and MaxMara. Every item has been adjusted and stylist Kemal Harris also designed some pieces herself using a mannequin made with the measurements of Robin Wright.

Claire-cut

Claire’s characteristic androgyne hairstyle is in high demand at the hairsalons. Robin herself never dreamed this coupe would become a hype. “I just cut off my heavily damaged hair. It had been bleached too often for previous roles. It simply had to come off. But it works for Claire”, she tells Vanity Fair.

Inspiration

Claire Underwood is constantly compared to other presidential style icons like Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Obama. About the inspiration of the character of Claire, stylist Kemal Harris tells WWD: “On the mood board you will find pictures of Lauren Bacall and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. We often start out with a design from the forties and fifties and then add a little sniff of Audrey Hepburn for example. Claire is more of a modern day princess Diana and less of a Jackie Kennedy.”