I would say every single piece she owns is a statement piece, and she combines statement pieces quite well. It's a fantasy wardrobe and I suspect she didn't pay for her clothes but got them for free as a perk of her position.

Honestly? I suspect I'd probably look like I was trying too hard if I had her wardrobe. Then again maybe that's my own insecurity. Maybe I feel, deep down, I don't deserve a closet full of one-of-a-kind statement pieces.

Sorry to bring down the thread, but that was my knee-jerk reaction. I feel that way flipping through Vogue. It depresses me. It's not just the rail-thin models; it's the clothes too. "You could have this if you were rich ... oh, but even if you were rich enough to afford these clothes, they'd look silly on you, so just forget it."

That's why I limit my magazine viewing to only when I go to get my haircut every 6 weeks. Fashion mags totally mess with my head and leave me feeling very negative about myself.

ETA: I find it far more inspiring to come to YLF and see women with average figures wearing clothes off the rack and within my budget, and combining them in creative and playful ways. Seeing the "accessible" is quite delightful to me!

I love her style, thanks for sharing with us! I find it very inspirational. I do agree that this is a wardrobe full of gorgeous and probably expensive statement pieces, which is not practical for those of us on a reasonable budget; however, I think we can still find a lot of inspiration here. I love how she juxtaposes shape, textures, colors, and patterns.

I LOVE the outfit Jonesy posted. Mainly because I think I could potentially copy it!

Well...not exactly. Let's just say that I do not have the Prada jacket. But you know..I DO have the sheath dress. Totally. So I'm thinking...maybe there's a way I can do a similar outfit for Writersfest. Plotting here...

She dresses very French. What wonderful eyes,legs and hair! I can see how you might swoon over her fabulousness. But I'm not a cutting-edge fashion girl, myself. While I can appreciate the aesthetics of her shoes, for instance, I would never want to be the one to have to walk in them. She certainly does appear to have limitless resources, and I've never been one to try to attain something so vastly far beyond me! Even if I had the money to buy whatever I wanted, it wouldn't be those outfits or this style - because I think her style suits HER to perfection. It goes with the eyes, the legs, and the hair - the complete package. Much like I think Carolina Herrera or Anna Wintour suit their personal style. I think that if we're honest we would find that the fashions that knock us out when worn on other people just wouldn't be the same on us.

Thanks for this thought-provoking post. I can see your attraction to her style, even though she doesn't inspire me in the same way she does you. But I've had similar style crushes. (Personally I am most taken with 4, 10, and 13!) As I perused the photos, I was actually reminded of Angie a little bit--perhaps with the fuller skirts that she styles so beautifully here. Anyway, I agree with the comment that her sense of proportion is amazing. And--perhaps this is related--she seems to keep one thing focal in each outfit, whether it is a particular piece (like the coat in 4) or the play of pattern (as in 10). Yes, all of the elements are carefully chosen, but they seem to support the overall focus, so I think composition is key to her look. She seems comfortable in looks with a lot of different moods.

Thanks for posting this Mochi! Very thought provoking. I also sometimes find my outfits boring compared to these fashion superstars, even though I must say I am not one bit drawn to high heels and miniskirts! She is, obviously, stunning, with a knockout wardrobe, a perfect model's body, and talent for styling. As well she should be, as that is her job.
Regardless, I do think there are aspects that can be translated to real people with less access to these kind of designer cutting edge pieces. Take #13, which I connected to, for example. I would wear the tunic dress longer and the grey heels shorter, but could try a dress like that with short boots and a single silver bangle and see what I thought of myself. Or just pick up the colors, or see how she uses accessories. My style crush, by the way, is Valentina di Pinto:
http://blameboogie.blogspot.co.....pinto.html
I wonder what you think!

So I gave it some more thought, and here is what I can come up with. I always feel silly trying to analyze fashion because I consider myself so unqualified, but hey, I am allowed to try too...

On silhouette:
Even though she experiments with different silhouettes, I would say her old-reliable appears to be the fit and flare shape that suits her long, relatively straight body so well. She also shows off her great legs quite a bit. In the rare case that she does wear something more simple, it really allows the natural beauty of her hair and face to shine, but I think she loves clothes too much to worry about that and while I don’t want to pretend to be in her head, I could imagine that she can take her beauty for granted.

Generalization: find your best silhouette but don’t be afraid to experiment once in awhile. You don’t always have to maximize flattery of your figure/best features.

On color palette:
Someone mentioned that she is quite restrained here. I don’t think that is true in that she seems to wear a rainbow of colors. However, they do seem to fall into a similar range of mutedness and weight, which makes them easy to combine. Specifically purples (lilac?), yellows (from gold to mustard, okay not shown here, but plenty of photos on the web), and greens (from moss to jade) are coming to mind as colors she easily combines with each other or neutrals (counting red as a neutral, hah!).

Generalization: like others said above, finding someway to restrain yourself in color such that a large portion of your wardrobe can play together to come up with creative new combinations.

On footwear: well, she is definitely an impractical shoe wearer, clearly not someone pounding much pavement. Shoes are a big part of her personal look, but maybe one can just observe how their details play with other elements of her outfit in terms of color, ornateness, pattern, etc. Certainly they are no after-thought but another statement piece added to the mix.

On composition:
Like Janet, Suz, and Claire put into words for me (and I wouldn’t have realized it myself) but almost every item is a statement piece that she somehow manages to combine in a way that is not overwhelming. She is a harmonious maximalist when it comes to composition. I think the problem with applying that to a normal life is that one would need to be content with repeating outfits because pulling off these complex compositions again and again would require a huge wardrobe to draw on and it would be hard to get your money’s worth out of individual items in terms of cost per wear.

I think at the end of day what I would take home about her style is the way that she pays attention to the details of disparate items and allows them to play off of each other. Actually what I have realized by thinking about her style is that there are several aspects about this that I actively aspire to. I really love compositions that combine textures, colors, and patterns that play off each other in a thoughtful way. I am not much of a basics girl. I have a hard time buying something purely because I perceive it to be practical. Almost everything that I buy is a little statement to me, obviously within the realms of my non-grandiose lifestyle.

Thanks, Mochi, for bringing this up. It has been really interesting to read everyone’s comments and to think harder about this.

Oof, busy weekend and lack of computer access--but managed to check in as well as reflect on the comments. When I get a chance I will go back and really pore over her outfits some more. It's pretty funny--I had just been posting on the ideal of a small, disciplined wardrobe, and here I am lusting for the most maximalist assembly of clothing you can imagine! Well, we don't have to be rational all the time, do we?

Drive-by, abbreviated commenting on the comments!

Krista--yes, your comments sure have resonated with me.

Suz--aww, thanks. Your smile is not chopped liver, either!

Cocolion--don't hold your breath on WIW's for now, but eventually I will get back to them....and it would be fun to post pics of my inspiration outfit next to whatever I end up wearing!

Alicat--yup, waist definition going on! Although I'm not sure that's what drew me to her style. Will think about that.

Janet--can't wait to see what you come up with! And you are one of my YLF style icons, so it should be pretty awesome.

Zap and Vildy--wasn't it Ines who had mentioned buying riding jackets intentionally a couple of sizes too small? I don't know how they'd fit...I guess the intention being that they're shorter at the waist but still somehow wearable. A European thing, I suppose....

Suz and many others--I can understand the apprehension and lack of identification with her style, including issues of budget, body type, etc etc etc. I could write a book in response....I myself realize that 1) I am actually not wealthy (and I agree that she probably does get tons of free swag....life is unfair) and 2) I don't have her body type, for sure, and her face, hair, ability to walk on stilt-like shoes...on and on. It's a reaction to what works so well for HER, yet still makes me want it irrationally. I haven't reacted so strongly (probably at all) to individual outfits worn by style icons like Anna Wintour, etc etc. not to mention their entire wardrobes, so I clearly can't get over how high Giovanna's success rate is (to my subjective taste).

I also understand, BELIEVE ME, about how rich, cutting-edge, tall, impossibly thin women can stir up tons of body image issues, or at least leave one cold rather than inspired. I feel like that with most models...I've even stated on here that I get annoyed with seeing nothing but tall, skinny models in ads...maybe because she is living this wardrobe, it's her personal statement rather than something she's directly selling to us? And she's not (extremely) young, and...I don't really know why, but I can crush on her style and not feel inferior somehow, despite being in a completely separate style galaxy!

Angie--I have bookmarked so many of your looks! Fernanda is another woman whose style, from what little I've seen of it, is really exciting, and much more attainable to all of us, I think. I wish she posted WIWs on here all the time!

Jonesy--Yes to all the components you listed. And while the jacket (which I hadn't seen) is actually one of the less-coveted pieces of hers (a bit gaudy for me), I still appreciate her genius in matching it with the dress. Proportion, scale, colors...sigh

Claire--purple coat..yes! Now only 153,181 couture pieces to go, and I'll be able to compete with her closet

Shiny--yes, YES, what I'm really struggling with here is in translating what I love about GB's style into something I, and all of us, could do with off-the-rack clothes and with our various body types. I think GB has really started me thinking and it's going to be echoing and staying with me for a long time as I start tentatively going in a certain direction or directions.

shevia--will definitely be checking out Valentina's style when I have some more free moments!

Scarlet--thank you so much for your astute analysis, and how to bring it to the level of us regular women! It's really brilliant, and I think you should definitely NOT feel silly about your qualifications! I will have to go back when I have more time and really drink in everyone's critiques and comments.

So just briefly (Ha! Me, brief?), I agree that textures and textural contrast is one thing I could certainly incorporate. And I love interesting details. And great, unusual cut in a jacket or a blouse. If I could have at least one of these components in an outfit, it would be a decent and successful interpretation for me...at least in my mind so far.

I agree that Giovanna is doing this amazing balancing act--all these Wham! Bam! statement pieces that somehow don't go over the top. I think in my case, I would have to limit to one or two per outfit?

And then, the hard, cold facts:

I love, luxurious, high-quality clothes made from beautiful, rich fabrics and with great workmanship. Unique and offbeat silhouettes combined with the best materials. Always have loved them. It's tough to deny this, so I won't. I cannot afford these clothes...but then maybe if I stick with that really core, disciplined wardrobe, I could get decent, mid-priced workhorse items that would earn back their cost in fabulousness?

I love, love Giovanna's shoes and boots. Absolutely, they finish off her outfits, and in many cases they are the focal points of what she's wearing. And I can't wear those shoes (stilettos). And probably couldn't afford even one pair, much less the ginormous shoe collection she owns. I will have to figure out how to assemble a core collection of extremely versatile shoes that are killer (and comfortable). Sigh. Shoe consultants, are you out there?

And I know that on one level it's really basic, and one big reason why YLF exists in the first place, but I still can't help but wonder and chew on the idea of WHY two women with identical body types wouldn't look the same in a certain item of clothing. WHY clothes look better on taller, thinner bodies (or at least, why we are told and believe that they do). HOW to find, perhaps even create, ourselves through our clothing choices, especially when these limitations are placed on us. And conversely, HOW to not worry about it too much, because at the end of the day, they're just clothes!

You've gotten a lot of great advice and analysis Mochi! I'm just here to cheer you on You have some good thoughts already about how to begin approaching this type of style. Perhaps you can post a few pieces you own and we can play What Would Giovanna Do?

Here is a fashion blogger's breakdown of how and why her style works, referencing a sample outfit of hers:

http://kringosuzuki.squarespac.....class.html

I don't know that it's true or not...just someone's opinion...I wonder if she would even approach it so analytically or simply have the knack for picking things intuitively. But it was an interesting analysis.

Oh, poo. I refuse to think that the reason her *style* works is because of her body type and her features. Nuts to that! The cuts and patterns work because of her body - her STYLE is a different animal, and I am on Team Anyone Can Do It.

I can totally see you in a bold-patterned skirt, black turtleneck, and olive leather jacket as in the example outfit, Mochi! Ok, so maybe the dramatic peplum might not work. But maybe a curved hem/ riding jacket with a longer back? Or a blazer style jacket? Because the belt is worn underneath the jacket, it will visually cinch the waist, anyway. Maybe make your belt brighter, to exaggerate this effect, the way Sona does so brilliantly. Gio even has her hair worn curly, like you! Totally doable.

Thanks for sharing Mochi. I love the pictures you posted and I love all the insight everyone had on GB style and how to translate it in real life. I am absolutely in love with look #10. And I also like looks #1 and #3... they seem like looks that I could translate into real life, maybe not with the wonderfully rich wardrobe she has but the shorter floucy skirts, minidress and coat. I think I would personally pair with flats because like you I don't do heels. Plus I'm a mama so I have a lot of running around to do after my little one BUT what I really took away from this post and your pictures is that fashion should be FUN too. I really like that. I will read through all the comments and look at the pics again more carefully but I really wanted to thank you because you got me thinking a lot about how I can have fun with clothes again. It used to be so easy when I was young and somewhere along the way it lost it's magic. Now I'm interested again AND this post came just at the right time. I have a lot to work on but I can have fun doing it. Good stuff!

What a wonderful person to pick as your fashion inspiration! I love GB's oufits, I think she has amazing style and the confidence to wear them well. I think that some oufits can be translated to a body that is not thin and tall. It is about fit and proportions. The same can be said about the same oufit that may look great on GB would look very odd on someone with the same body type if she doesn't have the attitude/aura.

The best analogy I can think of is the bridesmaids scenerio. Everyone is wearing the same fantastic dress (according to the bride ) but there is bound to be one person who outshines the rest because she OWNS THAT dress. Her attitude shines through and it makes the dress & her beautiful.

I think that sometimes we rely too much on just our body type to shop for our wardrobe and not take into consideration of our lifestyle and personality. Sometimes we may miss out on discovering that fantastic piece because we think that it may not be suitable for our body type according to the experts. (I'm petite and have recently found that I can wear maxi dresses. It just depends on the cut and style of it.) Or that we have settled on something that doesn't truly speaks to us because it is the only thing that fits or because it is trending. (ie. jeggings.)

I'm short and have most of my clothing altered to fit so I am used to looking beyond the tall thin bodies to critic how an outfit should look. I also think that getting something altered shouldn't be an indication that something is wrong with your body instead it's the garment that is wrong.

As Echo mentioned, the models are just walking hangers.

At a glance, everything seems to be up-down, vertical columns.

1. The necklines are all high and she seems to draw the eye up to balance those killer legs

2. The shorter the skirt, the more she seems to balance it out with a belt or necklace or scarf to draw the eye up.

3. Her jewelry mostly seems to be chunky and statement but not over-the-top or over-fussy. She doesn't look loaded up on jewelry - in most photos I see necklace + something on the wrist.

4. She doesn't use shoulder bags, so that her line flows up and down without interruption.

In all her photos, my eyes don't ever stop on any one place, unless I deliberately pause to look at a shoe, or a necklace, or the shape of a skirt.

So I think the trick would be, to style your figure in such a way to have that lean, vertical column.