MICHELLE WILLIAMS
HER STYLE LESSON: YOU CAN BE SWEET AND SEXY
Actress Michelle Williams is the queen of demure dressing. Of this red-lace overlay Erdem dress with three-quarter-length sleeves, Campbell says: “She really hit it out of the park.”
“The sleeves are amazing,” agrees Lyndley. “Long sleeves like that are also great for older women. It’s important that the sleeves be tight on your arms to show that womanly shape.”
“Ladylike elegance was one of the biggest trends in 2010,” adds Mills. But to keep from looking “like Grandma,” she notes that Williams paired the dress with “no jewelry, which helps modernize it.”
Williams’ sequined, bow-tied Azzaro frock also drew raves. “There’s nothing more festive than a bow on a dress for holiday!” Campbell says. If you choose the sweet-but-sexy route, take note of Williams’ short platinum hairstyle: “Both the color and the cut definitely modernizes it. At any age, you can use both of these looks as a guide,” says Campbell.
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BLAKE LIVELY
HER STYLE LESSON: LAYER UNEXPECTED FABRICS
The “Gossip Girl” actress pairs casual with fancy, creating a modern look that’s perfect for the party season. With a shrunken leather jacket thrown over a frilly dress, “she’s doing hard and soft,” says Sally Lyndley, a fashion stylist who has worked for Vogue and served as a consultant for Victoria Beckham on her last collection. “The key is unexpected mixes of texture.”
Lively’s sequin skirt/denim shirt combo is another example of this fancy/casual mix. “For holidays, it’s fun to add sparkly adornments to your outfits — whether it’s a great pair of sequined leggings or a sequined skirt,” says celebrity stylist Francesca Mills.
But everyone agrees on one thing: Lively’s style is for the young. “If you’re in your 20s, definitely use Blake as your style icon,” says Stefan Campbell, creative director of Bravo’s “The Fashion Show.” “But if you’re over, try to resist.”
ALEXA CHUNG
HER STYLE LESSON: FEMINIZE MASCULINE CLOTHES
British style guru Alexa Chung favors androgynous looks, taking menswear and making it sexy. Take this Phillip Lim tuxedo she wore to the Met Ball and paired with chunky, strappy heels and a romantic string bow. No one mistook her for a waiter that night.
“The point of menswear is not to look like a boy,” explains Mills. “You want to look like you’re borrowing your favorite piece from your husband or boyfriend and mix it with feminine pieces.”
Slim pants help make this silhouette look especially feminine. “They’re tapered, they’re skinny,” Campbell says. “And the beautiful string bow really softens it up — it would have been so wrong if she wore it with a necktie.”
But Chung’s heels are the style touch that make this look work. “With a really strong men’s look, it’s important to do something quite sexy and feminine on bottom,” says Lyndley. “These are a little bit of a fetish-sex shoe — there are two or three buckles and a pointed toe.”
Chung pulled off the same menswear trick when she wore this white-collared shirt with a black miniskirt. “The wonderful thing about Alexa is that she can be covered leg-to-ankle and still look sexy,” says Campbell. “This season it’s almost sexier to be covered up — it leaves a lot more to the imagination. In the wrong environment it could be a little Wednesday Addams, but she has the perfect skirt length — short.”
If you want to dress like Alexa, “you can get ’70s shirts and shift dresses at Screaming Mimi’s, my favorite vintage store in the city,” suggests Lyndley. “And at TopMan [the men’s counterpart to TopShop], they have great skinny tuxes for guys that look great on girls.”
OLIVIA PALERMO
HER STYLE LESSON: PILE ON BIG ACCESSORIES
She might have been the meanest girl on “The City,” but this young socialite knows how to accessorize, whether it’s a punky studded belt paired with an asymmetrical cocktail dress (like this Matthew Williamson number, right) or armloads of bangles.
“She always has great jewelry,” says Lyndley, who worked with Palermo on a campaign shoot last month. “A lot of it is her mom’s. She always has a great watch, a great bracelet, three or four chunky rings and drop earrings.”
“Accessories can be really powerful,” adds Mills. “You don’t need to go out and buy a new dress — you can get a really cool belt, a great clutch or a pair of earrings and modernize your look from last year.”
Pointing to Palermo’s golden ensemble (below), Campbell says: “This is a mixed-media look.” He advises readers to mix away — as long as all the pieces are in the same color family.
CAREY MULLIGAN
HER STYLE LESSON: LONG
HEMLINES ARE LOVELY
Up-and-coming actress Carey Mulligan favors sophisticated silhouettes with knockout touches, like this long-length Preen dress enlivened by electric-blue suede YSL platform pumps.
If you’re pulling a below-the-knee dress out of your closet this year, think about adding a similar punch of fun: “Bright footwear is a great place to add color, and it looks fresh and new,” says Mills. “If you’re going to wear a long skirt, definitely wear a high-heeled platform pump. Not a bootie, because you don’t want to break up the line. You want to keep your legs looking as long as possible.”
“The attitude in her eyes matches the attitude on her feet,” raves Campbell, who also approved of her sleek hairstyle. “If her hair was big, it would throw off the proportion. If you’re going to make an accessories statement, don’t make a hair statement.”
Mulligan triumphed again at the “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” premiere wearing an elegant Nina Ricci dress with a twist at the waist. “It’s a totally intellectual style,” Lyndley says. “She doesn’t feel like she has to show off her legs or boobs. Those kinds of silhouettes also work if you’re older.”
Once again, Mulligan used her hair to complete the look. “If it was in a boyish side-part [as it was in the previous look], it would have been a little dowdy. But here, her hair is wild and free, and it balances out the emphasis at the waist, with the floral adornment,” Campbell says. “It’s about the balance between restriction and freedom.”
TAYLOR SWIFT
HER STYLE LESSON: MAKE YOUR HAIR YOUR ACCESSORY
Whether her Rapunzel-like locks are in long princess curls, a soigné updo or a stick-straight blowout, they change her look every time. You won’t even need to shop for a dress if you try something unexpected with your tresses.
“Hair can be your best accessory,” says Mills. “It can totally transform your look. It just depends on your mood.” Swift looks romantic in white lace with her hair down, but the ironed-straight look transforms her into a latter-day Brigitte Bardot-style sex kitten.
Lyndley advises to put your hair up if you’re wearing a strapless, sleeveless or halter-style dress: “An updo is great when you want to show off your shoulders and neck,” she says. “Then you can also wear a great necklace.”
For bold looks, like the jeweled Collette Dinnigan dress Swift wears, “straight hair is a minimalist thing, great for tuxes or graphic dresses,” says Lyndley, adding that keeping hair long and loose “goes great with bohemian looks.”