We fell for 22-year-old Stella Maxwell the modern way: through her Instagram feed. With a dress sense best described as Spice Girls meets S&M-lite by way of a Harajuku dolly, the baby-faced model has appeared in multiple Vogue titles, starred in campaigns for Anna Sui, Jeffrey Scott and H&M and been snapped by controversialist Terry Richardson. Belgium-born, New Zealand-raised and LA-based, Stella’s style is as eclectic and worldly as her upbringing – which is why she's the subject of this week's The Debrief Dissects.
Lesson one: Chokers can look good
There are two women that makes should make you want to wear chokers: Leandra Medine and Stella Maxwell. They’re annoyingly hard little necklaces to find, but they’re well worth the search (we regularly comb Etsy and eBay). Just ’90s enough.
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**Lesson two: Naff band tees look ace with pencil skirts **
Stella's style legacy could be the girl who's made One Direction band T-shirts edgy. How? By taking a super-girly pink 1D tee, rolling up the sleeves, adding a matching leather pencil skirt and choker. (See below). It's our new favourite uniform. Especially with muted skate shoes – new sneaker brand Eytys is a good place to start.
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Lesson three: Even short-haired girls can wear plaits
You may not be able to do fishtails and plaited crowns with a bob, but you can still do diddy little plaits, like Stella does with her signature, peroxide quiff. Approach corn-rows with caution – difficult to pull off when you aren’t ridiculously cute, but a few little plaits secured into a top knot can be brilliant.
Lesson four: It's time to get on board with crop tops
Citing Molly Ringwald in Pretty In Pink as her muse, Stella’s all about the glittery crop tops (ASOS has a good selection) and knotted logo tees, which she pairs with worn-in low-rise denim and Converse. If you don’t possess Stella’s stellar (pun totally intended) midriff, worry not: opt for a pair of high-waisted denims and flash just a band of flesh.
Lesson five: Offset the kitsch with masculine bits
She may love tiny tees and tight necklaces, but Stella says she’s actually quite “boyish”. She’s addicted to Doc Martens (their tractor-tread soles are balanced by her milky-skinned peachiness), bomber jackets (try this Airforce MA1 Topshop one) and shedloads of black leather.
Lesson six: Bargain buys can look better than Celine. (Sometimes)
You’re about as likely to see Ms Maxwell in head-to-toe Celine as you are Olivia Palermo in ripped fishnets. That’s kinda why we love her. Yeah, we’re all secretly lusting after that Christopher Kane dress, but Stella shows that brilliance can also be born out of some battered denim and vintage kimonos (we love this chiffon floral one). Praise be.
Follow Pandora Sykes on Twitter @PINsykes
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.