Anyone who experiments with their style has had someone tell them, “I would never wear it, but love that on you.” And yet I have a feeling perennial It girl Devon Lee Carlson probably hasn’t ever heard that.
Carlson has a way of wearing things long before they become trends. It’s either because she has an uncanny ability to predict the future or she is the impetus that propels certain things headfirst into the fashion zeitgeist. When she styles something, people aren’t intimidated by it or afraid it’s something only she could pull off. Instead, they instantly want to imitate it. She wears clothing so well, it makes people see their own closets differently.
And so of course she attends New York Fashion Week and this year is even a guest of Balenciaga’s at the Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women Dinner on Monday night. When I ask her how she picks out a look for an event like this, I should expect that her answer will be “It’s honestly pretty simple.” When she saw a photo of the draped chainmail Balenciaga gown that she would end up wearing, Carlson tells me, she knew immediately that she needed it. “I love the way it looks when I walk … it looks like liquid silver. I’m obsessed.”
Carlson’s looks for Fashion Week somehow always look natural, as if they could have been plucked right from her walk-in closet in Los Angeles. It’s because even when she is being dressed by someone else, she is drawn to pieces that align with her personal style. “This dress is like an extremely elevated version of a fun going-out dress,” she says of the Balenciaga. “I gravitate towards girly things. I just dress for my younger self and wear whatever I want.”
Balenciaga, though, also makes it easy. Carlson says she is always entertained at the brand’s shows: “They make fashion fun, which I enjoy seeing. I like that there’s an undertone of irony and humor, which allows people to express that side of their personalities when they wear the clothes.” She is also sure to note it’s all very L.A. “I love a good hoodie. Also … they make cute bags.”
The brand is actually responsible for one of her favorite and first major fashion memories. “My first designer bag I ever got was a black City bag, and it’s my most used bag,” she says. “It is so special to me, because my mom ended up getting the white one to match me, and City bags have always been our thing.” It is also one of those items that Carlson started to wear again, years after its prime status as an It bag but years before people started to become re-obsessed with it. But then, that’s no surprise—that’s just the Carlson effect.
Tara Gonzalez is the Senior Fashion Editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Previously, she was the style writer at InStyle, founding commerce editor at Glamour, and fashion editor at Coveteur.
