How To Dress Like You're Holly Golightly
How To Dress Like Your Novel is a series in which we explore what Fashion Editor Raquel calls "the pursuit of literary aesthetic coordination." In this edition, Olivia channels the eternal favorite, one Miss Holly Golightly.
When Raquel launched our How To Dress Like Your Novel series last month, I let out a little cheer. Like her, I like to find aesthetic inspiration between the pages of literary creations or even from behind the screen. I love fashion, and rather than follow along on all of its trends, I like to pick and choose its elements which bring my imagination to life and add a little bit of material joy to the every day.
And what brings more joy to the every day than occasionally channeling one Holly Golightly? Very sleepy and getting ready to walk my dog this morning, I pulled on a long, drapey black dress and threw on pearls and sunglasses, and my boyfriend smiled and said it was very Breakfast at Tiffany’s of me.
While I’ve seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s at least a dozen times and have adored Audrey Hepburn since I was a child, I hadn’t actually read Truman Capote’s novella until a couple of months ago. I’d always been told that it was too dark or too sad or simply that the film adaptation was so much better than the book. Consequently, I wasn’t really expecting to be blown away by it, but I was.
I’ve been thinking about the story since then, wondering how it is that Capote’s Holly Golightly is even more moving than Audrey Hepburn’s and considering how the two come together to create the mythical character we all know to identify.
The heavy impact of the narrative (so much darker in Capote’s words than on the screen) aside, what’s stuck with me has been Holly’s aesthetic joie de vivre. Tassled ear plugs. Morning pearls. Gowns. Incredible twists.
Holly talks about the “mean reds” – so much worse than the blues – and I think that sometimes the best way to deal with those days where we feel down or drained or upset or wildly anxious is to appreciate the little, material things we can hold onto.
Ditch your pajamas or your jeans and put on your favorite dress – even if it’s made of jersey and not Givenchy. Throw on your favorite necklace. Put up your hair. It doesn’t matter if your day consists of walking the dog, going for tacos (sometimes croissants are boring), and then coming home to write all afternoon – like mine did today. It doesn’t even matter if your day just consists of lounging around. You’re bound to feel better wearing your favorite things.
Olivia Gündüz-Willemin is Editor-in-Chief of The Attic on Eighth. She is dedicated to reading her way through the world and trying to stay as calm as possible.