The On-Duty Women Behind Off-Duty Style
Look at Instagram and you’d think everyone woke up perfectly imperfect. Fashion, beauty, social media, pop culture, all cultivate a myth of effortlessness. In this package, ELLE.com acknowledges, dissects, and celebrates the effort. Because effortlessness is a privilege that not everyone can afford. And there's no shame in admitting you actually love putting in the work.On Saturday afternoon, many women have brunch, or sex, or spin class. But for mega-stylist Marni Senofonte, it’s business as usual. “Is it even the weekend?” she laughs from Los Angeles. “You know how the fashion world goes. It might as well be Tuesday.”
As Kendall Jenner’s clothing stylist, Senofonte is usually on-duty—an ironic twist, considering her client is famous for her “off-duty style.” The term became A Thing™ back in 2008, when Alexander Wang (then the hottest new thing in black leather) described his runway aesthetic as “model off-duty,” sparking web galleries, magazine spreads, and even a think piece on Barack Obama’s fleece jackets. By the time Jenner became The Thing™ some 15 years later, “off-duty style” wasn’t just a side dish to red carpet and runway photos. It was arguably the biggest part of Jenner’s job—and Senofonte is her sensei.
“I’ve been working in the business for decades,” she says. “But it’s probably only been in the past four or so years that I’ve started styling day looks and street style looks as often as red carpet looks, if not more. Before Kendall, I’d never planned an outfit for the airport. Now I feel like it’s the norm. Whatever ‘official’ projects there are where she needs looks, we’ll build in other outfits, too… for a basketball game, for brunch and whatnot. Now it’s a normal part of what we do.”
Jenner at an LA Clippers game Senafonte began styling Jenner last year, after a long relationship with Beyoncé that included the iconic looks for Lemonade. (Her first fashion job, while studying at Emerson College, was working at the Versace store in Boston.) But though she’s created performance wardrobes for Salt-n-Peppa, Lauryn Hill, Sean Combs, and more of the hip hop elite, the stylist insists “off-duty dressing” is just as consuming a gig—and sometimes more rewarding. “I actually like it more than red carpet stuff,” she says, “Because I think it’s much more creative! Red carpet, you can only do so much. It’s a dress. It’s a shoe. It’s jewelry and maybe a bag. Maybe a jacket… But off-duty looks are much more fun because there are rules when you work with designers on the red carpet. You can’t mix certain jewelry brands; you can’t mix certain labels with certain shoes. But when you’re just given free range to put an outfit together, it’s like, ‘THIS is what styling is! It embodies the word.’ We can take any designer piece in the world. Wear it backwards. Cut the sleeves off. Mix with anything we want, layer upon layer of whatever looks cool… There aren’t any designer politics. It’s just what looks great.”
A post shared by marnixmarni (@marnixmarni) on Sep 17, 2017 at 2:30pm PDT
But aren’t there politics even “off-duty?” For example, an Adidas ambassador like Kendall Jenner probably can’t wear Converse. “Contractually, she has parameters,” Senafonte admits. “I don’t know the actual rules, but I wouldn’t put a Nike sweat suit on her. Thankfully, Adidas has great stuff; they make something for everybody—Yeezy, Raf Simons… It’s never been a problem.”
Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowSenafonte estimates for a busy time like New York Fashion Week, “we put 15 or 20 off-duty looks together… Paris or Milan, we go harder…But even though it’s totally planned, it’s not like she gets dressed by me and walks outside and poses. She has an amazing eye, and she hunts for vintage clothes; she screenshots new designers on Instagram to research… When she and her friends get together, it’s like ‘Style Wars’ in the best possible way. They really know what they’re doing in terms of fashion, and they truly love it. Kendall would be wearing these clothes whether or not there were photographers everywhere.”
Jenner with Hailey Baldwin in Brooklyn, New York The sentiment that these girls would be fashion icons anyway is echoed by many stylists I approached for this story. “I don’t want to take ownership,” says Emma Jade Morrison, a former fashion editor who now styles off-duty favorites like Emily Ratajkowski. “Emily has great style on her own, so I try to make looks in a very organic way, especially for street style. The way I think of it is that I’m making a buffet, and Emily takes a plate and chooses her own menu from it. I know what she buys, I know what she’s been gifted, and it’s my job to supplement those pieces with more great things. It’s very natural.”
Morrison adds that often, red carpet and street style looks come from one key fitting. “Last week, she went to the airport in this really cute Joseph blazer, with Nike sneakers and a slip dress—she loves slip dresses, she has tons of them in her closet—with a Celine bag and an Away carry bag. She’d just worn the sneakers to a red carpet. I’d pulled the blazer for the same carpet, but it didn’t work for the look. Still, we loved it, so we wanted to use it somewhere. But it’s not like we planned this really official airport look. She has really great taste on her own, so the process of picking looks is a lot more free reign.”
Ratajkowski at LAX airport Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Besides great taste, stars like Ratajkowski and Jenner are stunning—and as models, it’s literally their job to look good in everything. Still, Senafonte insists that tailoring plays a huge role in off-duty success. “Everything is altered,” she confirms. “Kendall is very conscious of fit, and respectful of how something should fit, even a t-shirt. She knows a tee should hit at an exact place on her body. She really understands the clothes.” Senafonte confirms she’s also had hoodies and sweatpants tailored for Jenner, along with expected items like red carpet couture. “She’s very respectful of how clothes are designed, and how they should fit, so she makes sure they do, whether it’s a designer gown or a t-shirt and jeans.”
Speaking of tees and jeans, this year has seen several street style goddesses making “off duty” basics for aspiring Balmain babes. Karla Welch clad Justin Bieber and Kaia Gerber in her Hanes and Levis collaborations. Elizabeth Sulcer paired with Miss Sixty for a collection of ‘80s inspired denim worn by bombshell client Bella Hadid. (It’s now on sale and really good.) And Stevie Dance, the super-cool Australian who styles Virgil Abloh’s Off-White runway shows, just launched her own jean line called FEEL based on the demand for off-duty perfection—and in a twist of Insta-fate, one of her early adapters was Ratajkowski herself. “I was reaching out to them on every [social media] platform immediately,” says Morrison. “Seriously stalking her [to get them]. They are amazing.”
Hadid in Miss Sixty jeans at the CDG airport I ask Senafonte if she thinks fans of Kendall—and Emily’s, and Gigi’s, and everyone else on the style spectrum—know she’s being styled every time she gets photographed. “It’s not every time, though,” corrects Senafonte, and logistically, she’s right. “That would be impossible, considering how often her picture gets taken. Kendall dresses herself often. But I think the best thing about her and I together is that the looks we put together are so authentic. Clothes never wear her. Everything she’s been wearing, it’s like, ‘Did she have a stylist? Or did that just happen?’ You really don’t know. And to me, that’s the perfect balance… because if she’s going to get photographed everywhere anyway, she might as well look great, and feel great. When everyone has their phone on you, the truth is, you’re not really off-duty. When you see those girls, they’re on-duty.”
