A while back, I started an occasional series of posts about my fashion idols - a sort of greatest hits of their best looks and trying to pin down the ‘formula’ to their great style.
I covered Zooey Deschanel, Mollie King and Millie Mackintosh in preious posts, but today I’ll be writing about a ‘hall of famer’, which is what I call the style icons I’ve added into the sidebar of this blog!
Today I’m posting about Leigh Lezark, who is an enduring fashion icon for me.
If you don’t already know who she is, you’re bound to have seen her face in coverage of glossy fashion parties. She’s a model and also a DJ with The Misshapes, and a major socialite.
Like most of my style icons, she’s quite glossy and fairly minimalist, preferring bold shapes, clean cuts and either monochrome or strong jewel tones, which combine with her pale skin, jet black bob and piercing blue eyes to give her a dynamic and head turning look.
Here are her finest sartorial moments and why I love her style so much:
1. She’s rock n roll at heart
Leigh has a rocker edge to her style that speaks to the rocked out teenager that’s never quite left me. This usually translates to lots of black, lots of leather, and a lean and dramatic silhouette.
That lean, mean, panther-like assertiveness that accompanies her choice of clean shapes and luxurious fabrics really packs a punch.
This is how the inner me looks. This is how I would ideally look if I didn't have a cake-addiction and 'generous' thighs. This is how I'd like to look, but don't. Lashing of leather, black, tailoring. Lean, powerful and absolutely no-nonsense.
But she combines that raw edge with a really restrained, lady like vibe –bold cuts and luxurious fabrics. I personally adore this clash of edgy and uptown girl - it’s the perfect style in my opinion.
Assertive dressing in an indecisive world. Delicious.
2. She’s a Chanel muse (and obsessive)
It's a weird thing to have a 'favourite' fashion house when you can't afford to buy their clothes anyway, but the label I'd be most likely to wear if my bank balance was a bit heftier veers between Balmain and Chanel.
Chanel just has the edge. I adore their bags, their jackets, their boucle suits and camellia accessories.
Leigh is a longstanding Les Fidèles De CHANEL (a brand ambassador of sorts, in the chicest way possible), and she counts ladies like Jen Brill, Poppy Delevigne and Caroline Sieber (another of my personal style icons) as her contemporaries in this.
And while the closest I'm likely to get is by buying their lipsticks and perfumes, Leigh is a living, breathing muse for Karl Lagerfeld.
I'm guessing she's drawn in by the precise tailoring, uptown feminity and dash of rock and roll, just as I am. But the difference is that Leigh's clean aesthetic actually helps to inspire the brand itself, and that's pretty special.
3. She knows how to use colour for big impact
But when she does use colour (little and not very often), boy does she do it well. She goes for two options to let her colours shine. Number one is to use a punchy, jewel bright tone in a graphic shape.
The second way Leigh uses colour is more subtle. It involves going back to her grungy routes and using the sludgy, dusky tones of that palette. But when she does this, Leigh always goes tone-on-tone, which ensures that the overall look remains polished.
As a result, her use of colour never looks like a mistake. Blocking out outfits with sludgy tones like blue-grey, greenish-grey and dusky rose works because Leigh keeps the whole outfit in that tone. It's never 'too much'. Just like her famous glossy black bob, it's always immaculate and well thought out.
4. Her shoe collection is insane
Leigh is a woman who knows the importance of shoes in making or breaking an outfit. In the words of the lady herself: "Usually the shoe complements the outfit and I decide on which pair to wear based on the look. Unless it's a real statement shoe—then, the look needs to balance them out."
These shots are of Leigh's actual shoe closet, and show just how lovely her collection is. As you might expect, the majority of them are black (her favourite shade), but there is the odd curveball with some pattern or colour.
When she wears those, the rest of her outfit is typically pared-back (and usually black), allowing the shoes to take centre stage:
"I can't deny my love for shoes. Some of my favorite brands are Givenchy, Louboutin, CHANEL, Versace, Viktor and Rolf, Gucci, Mugler, Dior...the list can go on and on." Who wouldn't kill to have that list of designers among the shoes in our wardrobe?
5. Her style is timeless
The restrained colour palette. The sharp tailoring. The elegant silhouettes. The very best thing about Leigh's style is that its a look that will always be current. From the roaring 20's to the sleek 50's and power-dressing 80s, there's no decade that her efforrless style would jar with.
She's certainly experimental, but only within the confines of a rigid set of rules she made for herself and its those rules that keep her style on the interesting side of classic.
Leigh has found a style formula that works for her and its perfectly honed. She's never predicatable, but one thing you can say about her style with certainty is that it will always work - this is woman with an impeccable style record, due to a tried and trusted formula.
It all adds up to Leigh being the essence of chic. The style queen of my heart. Sharp, intelligent, and impeccably well turned out.
FINALLY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS REAL FASHION AND STYLE ICONS!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post!
xx