Why Don’t You… Get Dressed the Olivia Palermo Way

‘Why Don’t You’ is my weekly tribute to legendary editor Diana Vreeland who penned a column of the same name for Harper’s Bazaar for 26 years begging, “Don’t just be your ordinary dull self. Why don’t you be ingenious and make yourself into something else?”

Some people just make me so sick. Their their skin never breaks out. Their outfits are always styled impeccably so without giving the appearance of trying too hard. Lipstick always on, nails never chipped.

You know those girls. Just ugh with their perfection.

Olilvia Palermo is one of those people for me. I read Net-A-Porter’s The Edit’s cover story featuring her hungrily, hoping that maybe a little bit of what she has, will rub off on me.

I don’t know, osmosis through the MacBook screen or something.

Obviously it didn’t, but a few gems stood out to me that I think I can take and use myself. And I know that you all love her as much as I do (this post, though old, is one of my best performing on the site) so I figured I would share.

“My mother and grandmother are very pulled together,” she told The Edit. They never leave the house without being completely, 100% presentable and that was instilled in me at a very young age.”

“I enjoy clothes, and I love getting dressed in the morning and feeling fully pulled together before leaving the house,” she told Lucky magazine’s Jenna Gottlieb. “My mom and my grandmother have always been like that. It’s just how I am. So that was instilled in me at a young age. It was basically, ‘Don’t leave the house in sweatpants—not even to go to the grocery store.”

Here, here!

And with that, I would like to present 6 ways we all can look a little more polished, straight from the horse’s mouth.

1. “I always say, ‘it’s not about how much something costs.’ What’s great is what’s great. You can get a pair of Paige jeans for $200. It’s about mixing and matching.”

2. “Keep rolled sleeves in place with very thin hair elastics.”

3. “Double-sided tape on broken hems”

4. “If you’ve lost a bit of weight or are feeling fluffy, reach for a skinny belt,” she said. “A lot of time proportions are really important—people fluctuate in size, sometimes they’re a little thinner and a belt can really change that and give you extra tightness,” the newly-wed said. “It just helps to keep it all together.”

5. “Take a razor blade to a sweater if it’s bobbling—it take the balls off.”

6. “Keep some long thread with you—it’s really good incase a necklace breaks.”

What do you think of Olivia’s style tips? Will you use any of them? You do you hate (not really, but really) for always appearing so put together?

The post Why Don’t You… Get Dressed the Olivia Palermo Way appeared first on Channing in the City.