Girls with Allure: Rhiannon Leifheit

Define your style

I would say that my style is romantic and vintage-based.  I love to wear vintage, but I keep getting into new labels that make clothes that remind me of the past, and that have a way of making vintage-based clothes that look modern at the same time.  I try to wear whatever works the best for me; as much as I love crisp, tailored menswear styles on women I just can't pull them off myself, so for me it's usually clothes with soft lines. Also lots of dresses.

When and why did you become interested in fashion?

I didn't really like fashion until I was maybe 19 or 20 and really into old movies.  The cliched things that normally get girls into fashion, I guess:  Audrey Hepburn movies mainly, old Vogues lying around.  I was anti-fashion before, but all of a sudden it became really interesting to me, and I started following fashion shows on Style.com religiously. 

What kind of things inspire you while getting dressed?

I still love old movies, though the decades I'm into always vary.  Right now it's '60s and '70s, especially since fall is around the corner, and each fall I always want to wear '60s shift type dresses and lots of plaid.  I like the usual suspects: Alexa Chung, Leith Clark and her Lula Magazine.  When I'm getting dressed I just try to wear whatever makes the most sense temperature-wise (it is so hot here in Atlanta now so that kind of limits things) and whatever I'm interested in.  I tend to wear the same type of thing over and over for weeks.  Lately I've been wearing a '90s skirt and this black vintage blouse I found at the bottom of my dresser.

You'd never be caught in...

Anything too trendy, too risque (since I'm older now), too harsh or tough (no studded things or anything overly ripped up).  I used to be more into crazy tall platform shoes, but now they look a little like clown shoes to me, so no Jeffrey Campbell Litas (sorry!).

  

You can't live without...

Coffee in the morning, spending time with my fiance and dog, getting to see my family on a regular basis, listening to my favorite music, running! Books, too.

Your passion is...

History, and especially finding out about the history of specific buildings and neighborhoods around me.  Sites like Forgotten New York.  I love history, but especially the tiny details and mundane aspects of the past. 

What are your favourite beauty/make-up products?

Morrocan oil for my hair, and for makeup I love Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and Benetint.  I have pale skin, so anything too crazy looks funny on me. 

Which is, in your opinion, the best piece of clothing ever designed?

I have to be corny and say my wedding dress, which is still top secret until October.  It's an older piece by a favorite label, and it might be my ideal dress. 

Who are your favourite designers?

I love Charles Anastase, Lover, Twenty-Seven Names, Secret Squirrel, T.B.A., Steven Alan, Juliette Hogan. Too many to list them all!  I lean towards designers from Australia and New Zealand just because I love the overall feeling of their clothes--there's a laid-back airiness about them that makes so much sense to me.

A book, a film and a song.

I can't say absolute favorites, but right now:  book-- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, film-- any of the '30s Joan Crawford ones I have on my dvr right now, song--Rocks Off by The Rolling Stones, because it's such a perfect running song.

What are your wardrobe essentials?

Dresses (all kinds, but especially white ones, plaid ones for fall, things that are flowy and soft), short skirts with tights, shoes with not too tall platforms, vintage worn-in bags, silk blouses, long necklaces, Karen Walker sunglasses.

A fetish

Right now it's silk blouses.  I'm obsessed with tracking down the perfect one, which right now is a white peter pan collared blouse from Madewell.  It's expensive, so I'm convinced I can track down a decent substitute in the thrift stores.

What does style means to you?

Wearing whatever works best and makes the most sense and whatever says the most about yourself.


Rhiannon writes Liebemarlene Vintage and owns the beautifully curated shop Silent Sundays.