STYLE NOTES

Artist and Marc Jacobs Collaborator Julie Verhoeven Loves Her Vintage Galliano, Would Never Wear a Halter-Neck

With a new fashion collaboration and a Frieze installation in the works, the 47-year-old eccentric shares her style inspirations.


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Amid the competing statements on display at Marc Jacobs’s Spring 2017 show in New York last month — wool faux dreadlocks! baby-doll dresses with platform heels! a set inspired by Blade Runner! — there was Julie Verhoeven, fashion illustrator, artist, and perennial design collaborator. Her patchwork prints adorned sweatshirts, jackets, tote bags, and box clutches throughout the collection, adding a dark kind of whimsy to the already pretty whimsical presentation (pills, hearts jammed into toasters, eerily unblinking eyes). Verhoeven, a veteran of previous collaborations with Versace, Louis Vuitton, and Mulberry, is also a prolific artist in her own right — this month, she’s staging an installation in the bathrooms of the Frieze London art fair, entitled The Toilet Attendant… Now Wash Your Hands. Here, Verhoeven — known for her eccentric fashion inclinations, which she describes as “budget pantomime” — shares her style essentials, including her favorite London hangs, the vintage pieces she’s coveting, and the elements of style she just can’t stand.

Age: 47

Describe your style: Budget pantomine.

Favorite store in London: Poundlands.

Favorite vintage stores in London: Retromania , Upper Tachbrook Street, and Beyond Retro, Cheshire Street.

Nighttime look: More or less same as day, minus bra.

Style icons: Mathilde Willink, Freddie Mercury.

Best recent discovery: Rottingdean Bazaar.

Style pet peeve: Jeans in general, because they say nothing.

Last purchase: Emma Greenhill swan and caterpillar leather pouch with matching scarf.

Lusting after: Vintage Marimekko.

Something you always carry in your bag: Makeup bag.

Travel essential: Mirror.

Something you would never wear: Trousers and halter-necks.

Most prized possession in your closet: I have a Paul Poiret-inspired yellow and black velvet bell coat from Galliano, circa 1990.

Favorite accessory you own: I have an outsize wooden screw on a chain which I love.

Fashion week go-to: Peter Jensen presentations.

Something you’ve loved this season: Matty Bovan of Fashion East.

Something you can’t wait to wear when it gets cold out: Vintage blue teddy bear fur full-length coat.

Last museum exhibition you loved: Neo Naturists at Studio Voltaire, London.

Music you’re listening to right now: Fat White Family.

Something you’re reading right now: Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck.

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