Lauren Bacall’s Studied Carelessness

 

 

There are certain people in the world that can completely change the energy of a space by striding into a room. Lauren Bacall was one such woman.

The queen of the side eye and style icon in the truest sense of the word, Lauren Bacall, was lost last night (August 12) at the age of 89.

Bacall had a gentle grace to style and described her overall look as “studied carelessness”, which certainly resonates with modern-day street style bloggers. She was truly on the forefront of contemporary effortless dressing. I will forever see her leaning over a mantle dressed in a white half buttoned up shirt, tucked into high-waisted pants, sideways glancing at some mysterious and alluring object in the corner with a cigarette dangling out of her mouth just begging to be lit.

According to a profile of the star, which appeared in American Vogue in 1959, the actress believed that you shouldn’t have to “do too much to clothes,” just wear them. She called upon designer Norman Norell for many of her outfits and for shoes, a Paris shoemaker called René Mancini, just as today’s bloggers look to their selected designers for partnerships and original creations. She was an early adopter of the jumpsuit and coveralls trends still rocked by today’s fashion elite. I mean the girl worked cutout dresses and bandeau tops in the ‘40s. You don’t get much more badass then that.

Did you know she was discovered by Diana Vreeland, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, at the age of 17 and, in 1944, debuted on the magazine’s cover? Even after covering fashion mags and being exposed the glittering pomp of Hollywood’s golden age, she maintained a sincerity and playfulness to her style that blossomed over her entire life. Her legacy as a style icon and one of Hollywood’s brightest stars will endure long after her death.