Every Single Girl I've Ever Thought was Cool

A deep dive into the archives of my style inspirations.

Cool girls are everywhere and have been since far before the first model off-duty appeared on the scene. In my early years, they were the girls I gazed at in movies and obsessed over in books. Fictional, aspirational, and unarguably cool. As I got older, the world around me started to become more perceptibly populated by real-life cool girls; those whom I felt irresistibly drawn to and inspired by.

Today, I want to point the conversation in the direction of said style inspirations, but with a chronological focus. This is an archival deep dive, after all.

Leandra Medine (& ManRepeller).

Let’s start where it all truly began, in 2015, when I stumbled head-first and unsuspecting into the magical world of Repeller (née ManRepeller) and, by extension, Leandra Medine. For those not in the know, (Man)Repeller was a digital publication founded in 2010 on the notion that not dressing for men was an incredibly cool thing to do. For a 14-year-old, this was nothing short of a revelation, crusading against my previously held beliefs that the coolest girls were the ones in magazines and on runways (remember: this was peak Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show era).

At the helm of this revolutionary ship was Leandra Medine, the magazine’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief. She was sarcastic, weird, and nothing she wore should have worked together but it somehow always did. Most importantly of all, the way she wrote and spoke about fashion rocked. my. world. In a 2014 article for The Cut, Benjamin Wallace surmised, “Medine spends all day telling other women not to give a s— what anyone thinks about their outfits."

Her tone was funny, sartorial, self-aware, unpretentious, and full of confidence. I inhaled each and every article and instilled them in my developing fashion brain with devout intensity. For years, I dreamt of moving to New York City to work for Repeller as a fashion journalist.

N.B.: In 2020 the site was officially shut down after a culmination of exclusive and toxic workplace allegations by former employees and a lack of action following open letters written to Leandra in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

@leandramcohen

Camille Rowe.

My second style icon slash love affair began in 2016, when British Vogue began their Inside the Wardrobe series on YouTube and I was introduced to, among other stupidly stylish girls, Camille Rowe. Of all the videos in this series, Camille Rowe’s lives in my mind entirely rent free. It is to her that I credit the stilt-like legs my obsession with pre-loved clothing grew during this time.

It was from the very first seconds of Bay Garnett peering into the treasure trove of Camille’s closet and announcing that she had “such a good mish-mash of kind of like preppy, 70s, Chinese, bohemian Chloé girl…” that I decided I would not settle for anything less. I, too, needed my wardrobe to resemble such a mish-mash.

What stuck out most about Camille’s relationship with her clothes and her style was that she seemed ready and eager to talk about every piece. Each item had an elaborate backstory and it was the first time I consciously clocked that the stories behind our clothes are what makes them special.

What kind of story can you tell about the eight Zara tops you bought on your lunch break that are made of plastic and all look the same?

I digress, but the point remains that Camille’s appreciation for vintage and the lives of her clothes, not to mention that half the pieces in her wardrobe look like they were meant for playing fancy dress, meant that I worshipped her style and still do. Her latest 7 Days 7 Looks for Vogue was perfection- you can tell how considered and well-worn each item is. A special shoutout to the utter stunning-ness of her semi-sheer vintage Valentino nightgown (which I’ve been on a quest to thrift for the last four years), and the 70s revival mini shorts and cape moment.

Alexa Chung.

As mentioned, 2016 was a peak era for British Vogue. It was through their The Future of Fashion YouTube series that infatuation number three kicked off.

Alexa Chung has an awkward-and-preppy-but-somehow-very-very-cool Britishness about her that infuses her style with an acutely charming singularity. As Alison Bornstein describes it, a ‘whimsical, preppy, edginess’. Alexa’s ability to balance a look that on anyone else would teeter on a cliché is evidence of her savoir-faire and innate understanding of style. This is the nugget I’m most inspired by: how perfectly she understands the quirks of her personality and reflects them in her dressing. No small feat, and one I’m still trying to master myself.

Camille Charrière.

Camille’s everyday look is a superior encounter between French and British style with a strict adherence to cultural nonnegotiables in a ‘leopard print is a neutral’ kind of way. Accented by slouchy tees, micro mini shorts, and iconic sheer dresses, and underpinned by high quality pieces and well-fitted, much loved vintage, her style treads the line between Bimbo-core, 90s references, and French girl timelessness.

In particular, Camille is one of my style icons thanks to the sheer amount I have learnt from her about fashion. Another formative piece of fashion media I lived and breathed, her Fashion No Filter podcast with Monica Ainley taught me so many of the references and fashion industry insights I now treat as gospel. Sadly discontinued during the pandemic, the podcast archives date back to December 2016 and are so worth the listen.

Jane Birkin

Inevitably, I reached my Jane Birkin era. I say inevitably because I do feel it’s a rite of passage at this point. Birkin had been on my radar for years due to the countless references to her I’d come across- namely to her basket bag and general FG (fashion girl) aura. However, it wasn’t until I watched her in La Piscine (1969) that I truly got it. From there, like Alice tumbling down a rabbit hole, my obsession took flight. Birkin’s affinity for mini hemlines, 60s bohemian silhouettes, and ability to make everything look effortless is infectious.

Framboise.

While working in Paris in 2023, I met one of my all-time favourite style icons. Her name is Françoise but she hates her name and goes by ‘Framboise’ (yes- as in ‘raspberry’ in French). She is a French woman comfortably in her 60s who championed the French editorial team at the luxury fashion house where I worked. I make no exaggeration when I tell you that this woman turned absolute looks day in and day out.

One time, I worked up the courage to compliment her belt (in an understated worn black leather with a big gold Elsa Peretti-esque buckle) and she casually mentioned that it was vintage Tom Ford for Gucci. (!!!). Her staples are big, bug-style sunglasses, permanently disheveled hair, kitten heels, and a jewellery collection for the gods. Think eclectic, chunky gold pieces that look like art.

Safe to say that when the apocalypse hits, her wardrobe is #1 on my hitlist.

And with that, we reach the end of this first allotment of my cool girl style inspirations over the years. Let me know if you’re interested enough (scratch that- only let me know if you feel deeply opposed or else I’ll take it personally) and this may become the first in the Cool Girl-Core/Stylish People Around Us series. Goodness knows there are many, many more pinned zealously to my mental moodboard.