Style: Lookbook 54

July 29, 2008


Artist Emily Larned is extremely smart (she studied at Yale). She is also extremely stylish. We spoke to her about about her latest book Lookbook 54 a couple of issues ago, a project where she combines both these talents, taking the most ubiquitous piece of clothing ever invented (the white tee), and tricking it out in as many ways as possible with nothing but binder clips, safety pins and duct tape. What's extra special about the whole thing is that she manages to create fifty-four new identities in the confines of one shirt, everything from "Mecca" (tee worn hijab style, look 54) to the "Elizabethan" (tee ruffled at the neck, look 42). There's even a clever flirtation with accessories—delicate little gold bracelets made from paperclips. Emily models all fifty-four looks herself and if you pull the book apart you get awesome back-to-front views of each look. We've been dying to play with it since Emily lent us the prototype, but her professor wanted it back so our white tee customization dreams went 'pon hold for a bit. Now it's up for sale on her site, ready to be pulled apart anew and road-tested in the office for real. Hopefully our XXLs will never look the same again.

Posted: July 29, 2008
Style: Lookbook 54