Style Profile: Helena Bonham Carter

Every girl should carry a sequined lip clutch at least once in her life.

Future fashion icon and current Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter explained her fashion philosophy to an adoring People mag:

"I think fashion has been hijacked by the fashion industry creating rules on what one should wear and I feel like breaking the mold and seeing that the world won’t crumble.”

"Why not wear mismatching shoes? Who says we can’t?"

"Sometimes I get it right and I sometimes I get it wrong,” Bonham Carter, 44, tells PEOPLE. “But fashion is all about having fun."

We totally support what HBC does with her clothes. We don't always love the way she looks (and you'll not hear us advocating the hot new trend of mismatched shoes), but she is truly an original who expresses herself remarkably consistently through her fashion choices and that takes both vision and a certain amount of discipline. Take a good look at the collages above and note how many times you see the same pair of shoes or the same skirt or dress. That's admirable not because it's thrifty (although you could take that point of view) but because it demonstrates that she can interpret and pair pieces in more than one way. Again, that's real style.

With someone like HBC, it wouldn't make sense for us or any other red carpet commenter to try to discuss her clothes in conventional terms. Some people express their individuality so strongly, so uniquely and so well, that if you find yourself talking about proportions or hem lengths or even attempt to use words like "flattering" or "tasteful," then you're really missing the point. Call it the Little Edie effect. It's why you'll find us giving people like Cher or even Sharon Stone a lot of leeway with their personal style. With some people, it makes no sense to apply the rules. When we see so many of her looks together like this and we note how consistent she is with her choices, we can't help but think she's doing it exactly right for her. She knows what she's doing and the only assessment one should make of an HBC look is whether she's being true to herself.

[Photo Credit: getty, wireimage]


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Labels: Fashion, Helena Bonham Carter, Red Carpet