Blake Lively On Why She Chooses To Be Her Own Stylist

Leigh Nordstrom

Updated March 16, 2018 at 8:26 AM

One of the (many) perks of being a celebrity is having a professional call in and select a wardrobe of fancy labels for your every public appearance. But for Blake Lively, the rare star who does all of her own styling, doing her own wardrobe is a chance for creative expression (and a release for “control issues”).

“It’s a lot of work – I mean, it’s not hard in that we all dress ourselves every morning. So once you have the clothes, you just pick out what to wear like any other human being does. But it’s easier because you have access to clothes and so it’s not that hard,” Lively explained Thursday evening from Barneys New York, where she was on hand to celebrate the retailer’s capsule collection with Tod’s. “The hard part is going through all the fashion shows and screenshotting all the looks you like and calling them in. I have an assistant who helps in calling in the looks. But a lot of it is I have relationships with the designers.”

Case in point: her Met Gala look is already in the works. “I just sent Lorraine Schwartz and Christian Louboutin my dress, and said, ‘Ok let’s do something special,’” she said. “They’re making something custom for it. So it’s kind of nice, because I have a bunch of artists around me who I have direct relationships with. It’s sort of a group effort with that. I rely on people who do that for a living rather than outsourcing it to someone else.”

For the Barneys x Tod’s event, she chose a gunmetal sweatsuit, which she selected based off the Tod’s handbag she was given for the event.

“There are these exclusive bags, which I love, and this is the one I wanted to wear, so that sort of helped set the palette,” she said. “And then, I don’t know, you just try on things. Like I tried on what Martha [Hunt] is wearing and it was just terrible – but on her it looks beautiful and chic. I was like, ‘that’s how that’s supposed to look!’” she said, motioning to Hunt’s marigold trench and trousers look.

Her sweatsuit, however, was doing the trick. “This is comfortable and a little weimaraner-y. Like a high class weimaraner; but let’s be honest, all weimaraners are high class,” she said of her outfit. “I could do one of those Sharper Image videos – do you remember those? I’ll be doing one of those later, as the entertainment.”

As for why she chooses to be her own stylist?

“Probably because I have control issues and a big ego – that’s probably the honest answer,” she deadpanned, before turning serious. “I just like it. I love design and I love fashion and it’s a way to be creative. In my job I get to be creative, but it’s over a period of time and so many other people are involved, whereas this is a beginning, middle and end, and I get to be creative and there’s an end date in the near future. It’s the same reason why I like doing my friends’ hair and makeup or cooking – you get to be creative and finish it. Whereas with my job you do it and then two years later it’s finished. It probably goes back to the control issues; it’s like, ‘Ok I did it, I completed it, it’s done!’”

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