My 2013 Celebrity Icon List

The end of the year is a time for list-making: the best of, worst of, most interesting, biggest blunders, etc., etc.  In that spirit I’ve made a list of my top three celebrity style icons.  I won’t say they’re the most stylish women I know, because I think real style begins at home, and we learn it from people we truly admire, like our family members, friends, and peers.  Famous ladies have an unfair advantage---they have personal stylists, makeup artists and hairdressers on call around the clock, plus they have access to ultra-expensive designer clothes, many of which are given or loaned to them simply for the prestige it brings to a brand when it is worn on a famous figure.  Still, celebrities give us ideas and help set trends. So for what it’s worth, here are three women I’ve really enjoyed watching in 2013.

Cate Blanchett

Honestly, sometimes I have trouble remembering that she’s human and not the mystical elf she plays in the Lord of the Rings movies!  Here’s a lady who knows how to translate paleness into modern beauty, while still preserving a kind of historical loveliness.  She takes chances---I don’t always like everything she wears---but she’s always interesting to look at.  If I see her on the cover of a magazine, I'll be sure to pick it up and look at her pictures.  She recently pulled off a cape, and that’s not easy.  She looks great in queenly attire, but she can also thrill in simple black dresses.  She could be one of us…if we were elves or ruling an empire!









The Duchess of Cambridge

Kate Middleton never makes a mistake!  With every ensemble she hits one out of the park.  (Sorry, I don't know what the appropriate cricket metaphor would be!)  She can dress softly or structured and look gorgeous either way.  She can wear jeans and a sweater in the morning, then don a glittering evening dress at night, and somehow make both looks seem perfectly natural.  Style-wise, I think she is a great role model for the young women that I teach, because she proves that being tasteful is beautiful.  My ladies could learn from her that wearing a hemline at the knee is not a signal that you have enrolled at Bob Jones University.  Looking young and fresh and polished doesn't mean chasing the latest trend or showing excess skin; the Duchess of Cambridge takes 'lady-like' and makes it work for today's 20 to 30-something woman.


The Duchess faced a real challenge this year; not only was she expecting, but she struggled at first with a very public bout of extreme morning sickness.  I can't speak from experience, but from what I gather, being pregnant and ill doesn't generally lend itself to fashion triumphs.  Luckily for the Duchess, she had great medical care (something I wish all women, everywhere, had) and she rallied so that she returned showing mothers-to-be how a baby bump could be stylishly managed.  No hideous 'baby on board' t-shirts for her!  Even more impressive was her choice to don a simple blue polka dot dress dress for her first appearance with her new son, as she and Prince William took the baby home from the hospital.  A lot of gals would have buried their bodies beneath tents of fabric or a concealing coat.  She was unafraid to show the contour of a perfectly healthy figure after such a big event.


Prince William may be the heir to his grandmother's and (eventually) father's throne, but the Duchess of Cambridge has definitely inherited Princess Diana's status as the queen of fashion.



Michelle Obama

First ladies are almost always fashion icons.  Fifty years beyond Camelot, my mother still holds Jackie Kennedy sacred.  It's perhaps unfair to expect so much from someone who isn't elected to be our head fashionista, and who very well might prefer to be doing something other than being judged on her attire every time she goes out to walk the dog.






Still, Mrs. Obama pulls it off with aplomb and humor.  She's more than a First Lady, she's a Mom-In-Chief, urging us to eat right and get our exercise.  Like many middle-aged mothers, she doesn't have an absolutely perfect figure, but what she does have is a keen sense of what she looks good in---plus a willingness to poke fun at her own 'mom-ness.'  If you don't believe me, check out her now famous "Evolution of Mom Dancing" with Jimmy Fallon.  I wonder if, back in the White house, Malia and Sasha were covering their eyes and whining "stop it, you're emmmmmbbbbarrrasssing us!"



Mrs. Obama has also been a blessing to many young American fashion designers.  She can pull off couture, but she never forgets that simple, fresh looks---looks that average women who shop at Target and Talbots can achieve---are the best.  There's often a 1950s vibe about her clothes, with lots of structure up top, fitted waists, and big skirts.  Her 2013 holiday dress at first glance might have come from the era of Mad Men, but look closely and you see the very modern twist that grounds it in this century.









And, call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure that this emerald green Marchesa evening gown, which the First Lady wore to this year's Kennedy Centers Honors, may get a spot of its own, in one of those 'Top Dresses of History' lists.


So who made your 2013 list?  And who do you think we'll be discussing this time in 2014?