Blake Lively Style: A Natural Style Icon

Blake Lively has been a fixture on best dressed lists for quite a while now, but to hear her tell it, it's all just one big coincidence. Here, we uncover some of her style secrets.

There is absolutely no denying that Blake Lively cuts a stunning figure; the long blonde hair, the picture-perfect figure, and clothing choices that run the gamut from sleek and sophisticated to tomboyish and louche. Whatever she decides to wear, it always just seems to be pitch-perfect and effortless.

Lively herself has been asked about this very point on several occasions. In an interview with Lucky Magazine, she revealed to us that she rarely if ever “thinks about how other people will respond to how she dresses”, instead opting to make her sartorial selections reflect the way she feels on any given day.

While it would be easy to write this kind of comment off as typical evasive celebrity banter, in Lively’s case, all evidence suggests that it also just so happens to be true. Blake Lively style says effortless, personal and sensible.

However, that is not to say that Blake Lively does not possess a certain amount of sartorial know-how or a healthy dose of personal style; she absolutely does. Despite her best efforts to play-down her own fashion prowess, we’ve detected a few re-appearing themes in Lively’s sartorial game.

Mix it up: Keep things feminine, yet just a bit undone

One thing you will always notice about Blake Lively’s day to day style is that she rarely steps out with perfectly straightened, sleek glossy hair. Lively’s signature mane is quite often left natural (even if in this case “natural” took a team of experts a bit of time and a whole lot of product to achieve).

Lively’s hair looks lived-in, and sports just the right balance of texture and windswept sexiness to keep it from looking too “done”.

Lively’s less is more approach to her hair is actually a perfect complement to her quirky mix and match style. You will often see her decked-out in what she herself has been known to refer to as her “Princess” attire, in which she pairs items that are seemingly “totally inappropriate; a beaded purse and a gorgeous pair of crystal heels just to go to the grocery store.”

Lively’s innate ability to mix unexpected pieces is not only reflected in her personal style, but in her entrepreneurial know-how as well. Her latest web venture, a fashion and lifestyle website called Preserve, is practically an online monument to her unique personal style.

The site boasts everything from thick, artisan-crafted, Southwest-inspired ponchos to hand-tooled leather satchels and stackable crystal and brass cuffs; all of which carry Lively’s unique bohemian bent, leaving no question to who may have curated this collection of treasures.

Don’t fear a full-on commitment to glamour when the occasion calls for it

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Blake Lively’s red carpet appearances are usually nothing short of breathtaking. Lively knows her frame well, having had to endure several costume changes per episode back when she was filming Gossip Girl. In fact, Lively changed clothes so often in those days, she once told Lucky Magazine that she felt like she “used to try on clothes for a living”.

Clearly, all of those costume changes have paid off for Lively; she is one of the few celebrities in Hollywood who does not employ a stylist, yet always manages to turn up to events looking as picture perfect as ever.

One of the things we appreciate the most about Blake Lively’s red carpet style is her ability to take classic, sophisticated designs and wear them in a sleek, sophisticated, yet thoroughly modern way.

Some of the best examples of Lively’s uniquely elegant red carpet style are her Met Gala appearances.

In 2014, Lively played her sartorial hand extremely well in a nude-toned Gucci gown (for whom she is also a brand ambassador). The figure-hugging gown was a page torn directly out of the Old Hollywood playbook, and Lively even departed from her usual undone, cascading golden locks to embrace a more polished, “starlet” look that hearkened back to a more glamorous bygone era.

The effect was positively sensational, and in an instant she wrapped the fashion press tightly around her little finger.

Looking back a bit, it’s easy to see that this was not simply a one-off. Lively took a similar tack at the 2011 Met Gala, when she cleverly chose a Chanel couture gown from the 2009 collection. The Grecian-inspired dress was a total knockout, and channeled all of the luxury and glamour of an Art Deco masterpiece from the late 1920s.

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While there are clearly more than two elements to the secrets of Blake Lively’s unique style, to cover them in one article would simply be impossible. However, Lively’s unique ability to mix and match, and her no-holds-barred red carpet style are definitely two of her most prominent sartorial features, and ones that can be appropriated quite easily by just about anyone.

Now, if only we could find a way to appropriate her legs…

About the author

Kristin Buchholz-MacKillop

Kristin is an American writer based in the Scottish Highlands. She is a saxophonist, an obsessive tennis player, a U.S. Air Force Veteran, and holds a Master's degree as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. She is the author of the online style blog highlandfashionista.com

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