Style Notes: Rebecca de Ravenel

Edited by Karla Martinez and Vanessa Lawrence [#image: /photos/5853b6cdd3b7a5db18f3c545]||||||Rebecca de Ravenel in a Soler dress, vintage coral ring and vintage Panama hat

It’s hard not to envy Rebecca de Ravenel, our October issue’s It Girl: she manages to eschew high heels (or shoes altogether) and still look chic. Here, the 29 year-old Bahamian and interior designer shares her style secrets—airy dresses and Rodin hair oil among them—and favorite tips from her travel-heavy lifestyle.

Daily uniform: I tend to always wear a dress. It could be a caftan or a chiffon floral dress and a straw hat in the Bahamas. In a colder climate, I tend to wear a dress as well but pair it with flat knee-high suede boots and a huge cashmere sweater. A dress is my uniform.

Greatest hits: An ankle length white Alaia skirt, floor length Yves Klein blue and white polka dot dress from Sabbia Rosa, Jamin Puech fish bag (always a good conversation starter) and a fish straw bag from the Bahamas.

Preferred footwear: Barefoot! If forced, K Jacques, Tuccia di Capri, Rene Caovilla sandals.

Finishing touches: Anything from Karry O’ in Paris.

Nighttime look: Always a long dress, flat shoes and a bag from the local market.

Best recent discovery: Hair oil from Rodin, Tristan Hoare’s Photography Gallery at Lichfields Studios in Notting Hill, London. I am also mad about all Raoul Textiles prints. Interior designer John Stefanidis’ book “An Island sanctuary”—I wish I could jump onto the island.

Favorite stores: De Vera and John Derian in New York, C Madeleine’s in Miami, any French pharmacy, Hot Pink in Jaipur, 1stdibs (living in the Bahamas can be challenging, 1stdibs keeps us entertained), Bamboo Bamboo Lyford Cay and all the fun junk shops on Dixie highway, for the best rattan in Florida.

Style pet peeve: Looking uncomfortable.

Style icons: Brigitte Bardot, Talitha Getty, Mica Ertegun.

Last purchase: A coral estate ring from the 1960’s and a purple velvet Pauline Trigere caftan.

Lusting after: A trip to discover Sicily and the sequel to “Downton Abbey.”

Favorite haunts: Le Café Flore in Paris, Blue Ribbon Sushi and Saint Ambroeus in downtown NYC. You can’t beat the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My favorite painting, Klimt’s “Portrait of a Young Girl,” is hanging there so I go and visit it when I’m in New York. The Beyler Museum in Switzerland has the most impressive collections and the grounds are breathtaking.