Okay so yesterday I got stuck in this YouTube hole watching old Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy street style clips. You know the vibe – that effortless rich-lady-but-doesn’t-care look? Simple, sharp, kinda mysterious. Then my brain jumped to Yohji Yamamoto, his whole dark, drapey, master-of-shadow thing. Weird combo maybe? But I wondered, could you mash them up without looking like a hot mess? Decided to waste my Sunday finding out.
The Starting Point: My Closet Chaos
First, I hauled literally every black, grey, and beige thing I owned onto my bed. Serious avalanche situation. Found an ancient loose black Yohji-esque blazer I bought years ago on deep discount (probably too big, but that’s the point, right?). Dug out a thin, kinda flimsy black tank top – the kind Carolyn always wore under everything. Found some straight-leg black trousers that aren’t designer but hang okay. Okay, base layer check.
Next, texture war. Carolyn loved sleek things. Yohji loves rumpled. I grabbed:
- My wrinkly grey linen button-down (thrifted, obviously)
- A super soft, drapey charcoal vest (no idea where it came from)
- A long, floaty black skirt with zero shape (perfect!)
The Frankenstein Dressing Room Moment
Option 1: Carolyn Mode. Slapped on the black tank, the trousers, and the blazer. Rolled the blazer sleeves way up. Felt… fine? Like a job interview maybe. Too neat. Too expected. Needed to “Yohji” it. Ditched the trousers. Put the floaty skirt on instead. Weirdly better. The blazer’s structure over the formless skirt created this interesting contradiction. Messed with my hair into a messy low bun – crucial for both Carolyn’s “I woke up like this” and Yohji’s “poetic hermit” energy.
Option 2: Yohji Mode Attempt. Tried the linen shirt open over the tank with the drapey vest on top, paired with the trousers. Felt like I was drowning in fabric. Bad. Swapped trousers for the skirt. Still too… shapeless blob. Decided the vest needed anchoring. Put the blazer over the vest, just open. Magic! The layers started talking: the soft vest peeking out, the crisp(ish) linen underneath, the structured blazer holding it together kinda loose. Added a simple, thin silver chain (minimal like Carolyn, but cool like Yohji).
The Win (Kinda) & The Key Takeaway
Walked around my apartment pretending to be aloof. Sat down carefully (layers shift!). The winning combo felt surprisingly simple but looked complex because of the textures and weights playing off each other: tank (smooth), linen (crinkly), vest (soft), blazer (heavy), skirt (airy). All basically variations of black/grey. No logos, nothing loud. Just quiet shapes and touchy-feely stuff.
Biggest lesson? Don’t force it all at once. Trying to nail both aesthetics perfectly led to pile-ups. Picking elements worked better. A Carolyn silhouette (clean tank, defined neckline) underneath Yohji layers (drapey, oversized, textured). Or Yohji’s volume tempered by Carolyn’s simplicity on another layer. And crucially, let things be messy. The imperfect bun, the uneven hem on the skirt, the wrinkles… that’s where the “inspired by” vibe lives, not in a perfect copy. Feels achievable, you know? Like I didn’t need runway pieces, just playing with what hides in the back of the closet.
