There are few celebrity stylists with a more enviable coterie of It-girl clients. Dani Michelle, the celebrity stylist known for attiring Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and Daisy Edgar-Jones in a chic array of red carpet-ready looks, is now bringing her sartorial expertise to Australian label Witchery with a 23-piece edit.
The collection, which was designed across two continents, lays the groundwork for the modern wardrobe, pairing tonal tailoring with elevated outerwear and refined separates.
“A foundation piece transitions into ten different outfits without you noticing it’s the same jacket or the same trouser grounding the look,” Michelle tells marie claire Australia.
Each piece in Michelle’s edit possesses an additive quality, seamlessly blending with what you already have in your wardrobe. A cotton Oxford shirt, overlayed tees and a classic slip dress are among the staples that make up the capsule.
“The capsule [wardrobe] needs to transcend trends, and be a core to transitional and future dressing,” Michelle explains. The edit began, appropriately, with an eternal staple: the leather jacket. “Once I knew that piece was in, the rest of the edit almost built itself around it,” she says.
From there, each piece was considered in relation to the next, with versatility acting as an almost overarching principle. Such a utilitarian approach to dressing might feel out of the norm for a collaboration collection, which often dabble in extravagant one-off pieces. But it’s reflective of how Michelle approaches style in her day-to-day life as a celebrity stylist and founder.
“Minimalism isn’t about doing less,” she says. Instead, it’s about being selective, opting for well-designed pieces where the impact comes from the details: the cut, shape, fabric, proportions and colour. “Choosing those right silhouettes is what makes them feel sophisticated,” Michelle notes.
It is a philosophy she applies even when dressing women with highly distinctive identities. With clients including Bieber and Jenner, Michelle’s aesthetic is never intended to eclipse the person wearing it.
“I start with who she already is, and we build from there,” she says. “Their individuality is the core of my inspiration.” Her point of view enters through proportion, fabrication and the judicious selection of pieces, but the woman must remain recognisably herself.
For those seeking to pare back their own wardrobes, Michelle’s three essential pieces from the edit are tellingly pragmatic: the leather jacket, windbreaker and barrel trousers.
“Together, they cover almost anything. Throw the windbreaker on for a relaxed look, the leather jacket day to night for a cool girl vibe, and the barrel trousers from day to night with anything. The shaping does the styling for you.”
As Australia hurtles towards summer and the maximalist impulse of “colour-maxxing” begins to gather momentum, Michelle is not advocating chromatic abstinence. Instead, she suggests allowing colour to “be the one loud note, not the whole story.”
Keep the remainder of the look tonal and considered, then introduce a single saturated element: a jacket, skirt or accessory, to lend the outfit some vitality. And if you want to feel instantly more elevated, Dani suggests throwing on a pair of sunnies.
Dani Michelle’s Style Authority Edit launches online and at selected Witchery stores on September 8.
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