Kym Ellery on how to get the ‘cool girl’ look for summer without breaking the budget

SHE’S one of our top fashion designers but Kym Ellery is no label snob. She’d even buy a T-shirt from Target. Here’s how to get the look this summer.

socials - Myer Spring Summer Fashion Launch

SHE has the cool girl look down to a tee — and that tee doesn’t need a designer price tag.

Designer Kym Ellery, of the label Ellery, is one of the Australian fashion industry’s biggest names.

Her clothes have been worn by every kind of it girl, from Hollywood actors Margot Robbie, Elle Fanning and Phoebe Tonkin, to supermodels Miranda Kerr and Karolina Kurkova.

Off the catwalk, Ellery’s personal style is about the classics, even if it’s a bargain T-shirt from Target.

“Sometimes you just need a really, really good white T-shirt, and it might not cost much, but you have to get it because it’s a perfect white T-shirt and it’s from Target or something,” Ellery said.

Trendsetter Kym Ellery goes back to black. Picture: Richard Dobson

She loves a white T-shirt. Designer Kym Ellery, with Rachel Rutt, at David Jones’ spring/summer launch in Sydney. Picture: News Corp Australia

At the higher end of the scale, are the two most expensive items in her wardrobe — a Givenchy coat and a Chanel handbag.

“When I travel to New York and Paris, I need a good coat. I did drop the bundle once on this Givenchy coat at the Paris flagship store,” Ellery said.

“And I still love it. I don’t think you can spend too much money on a handbag because you wear the thing everyday.

“My mum taught me cost-per-wear. I bought a Chanel bag in London about five years ago and I wear it nearly everyday. I did the maths on that recently, it was $5000 or $6000, really expensive, but over five years of wearing it, it turns out to be quite a bargain,” she laughed, sitting in her new InHabit retail pop-up store at Westfield Doncaster in Melbourne.

Margot Robbie. Stakes Day at Flemington Racecourse. Picture: Bradley Hunter

So what is Ellery’s style advice for looking cool this summer?

INVESTMENT PIECES

“So buy a really nice white shirt, a really good pair of jeans or denim cut-offs. I don’t think it’s about buying something that’s not of a good quality or of an aesthetic that’s not timeless.

“Get a really beautiful gold necklace and a lovely pair of brown leather sandals and that, to me, that is a cool look and that’s something, in the heat, you can wear well and countless times.”

REPEAT OUTFITS

“I wear the same top more or less every day. Maybe five days of the week I’d wear the same top, in two or three different versions of the same thing that I have, that I rotate. It’s just what I’m comfortable in.

“It’s what I wear to go to work and get things one, and then when I’ve got a party, I’ll pull out my cocktail dress and chuck it on and off I go. I don’t think it’s about how many clothes you have, it’s about the pieces you have.”

‘Break it down into components.’ Style advice from Kym Ellery. Picture: News Corp Australia

Sleek and chic. David Jones’ face Jessica Gomes in Ellery. Picture: News Corp Australia Picture: Jake Nowakowski

MAKE-UP MATTERS

“Wear your make-up properly. That’s one thing I can’t stand is when there’s terrible make-up going on.”

CHOOSE A STYLE ICON

“Look at examples of what you want to strive towards and break it down into components. Everyone should have versions of a style icon and look at how they wear things. Choose that’s similar to how you look as well. Someone who has got a cool vibe and break it down into a formula and then go and acquire those pieces.”

Black, white and stylish all over ... An Ellery design on the runway.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ELLERY?

Ellery is the first designer to have a residency at Westfield Doncaster’s new InHabit retail space in Melbourne.

The initiative gives up and coming Australian designers exposure to a major shopping centre environment.

“For me to have an opportunity to connect directly with the customer is a very exciting one,” Ellery said.

“I want to be able to share my vision — it’s not just about the garment but it’s also about the music that we’re playing and the service that we offer when they come in.”

Other labels due to open in the pop-up space include Dion Lee, Romance Was Born, We Are Handsome and Strateas Carlucci.

InHabit is located on level one at Westfield Doncaster in Melbourne.

For more about InHabit, see Westfield.

Originally published as Kym Ellery on how to get the ‘cool girl’ look for summer without breaking the budget