Diane's Three Words
Name: Diane Lilly di Costanzo
Profession: Editor, Writer, Branded Content Strategist at Meredith Corporation
How I describe myself in Three Words: Feminist. Taurus. Bookish.
How I express my Three Words through my style: In my mind’s eye, I love wearing bright colors and bold accessories. Somehow, 90% of my photos are of me in black clothes. I’m trying! And I do like wearing one super-saturated hue—often red or pink or burgundy. I aspire to look modern, above all: I just bought a white jumpsuit (Urban Outfitters) and white clogs (Everlane); if I ever leave the house again, I’m stepping out in that. Oh and rings: I wear one on every finger, the bigger the better. I buy one in every interesting place I travel to, as a way to remember.
Words of advice on how to develop the confidence to be who you are: I admire people who can decouple “who I am” from “what I wear.”
I am not one of those people.
When I find a garment that “looks like me,” I wear it to death. Literally, I won’t stop wearing it until someone says: “um, you have a big hole in your pants.”
I’m also the kind of person that remembers what I wore. Someone will be describing an event, the venue, what happened, blah-blah-blah, and then I’ll recall: “Oh, I wore the black jumpsuit that ties in the back to that thing” and the whole evening will come back to me.
Where I go wrong is when I buy clothes I think will be useful. As in: “Oh I bet I could wear that button-down blouse with anything!” And then I wear it with nothing, nowhere and never because I look like a man in that kind of shirt. I wouldn’t say I have high standards, just hugely specific standards and I’m often foiled when I decide I want to buy a red dress—in a tomato hue with knife pleats, a swirly ankle-length skirt and spaghetti straps. My friend Linda laughs at me for this reason: Good luck with that! But joke’s on her, one steamy August night I was walking through Soho and I saw that very dress in a Banana Republic window (now on sale at Poshmark for $89).
Suffice to say, my clothing gives me confidence, but not because there’s a cost or status attached to the things I wear. The confidence comes from projecting who I am and, in some cases, defining who I am. Is that being “picky?” No, it’s rejecting clothes, even fabulous clothes, that don’t look like me. More practically speaking, and given this high degree of specificity, where do I find my clothes? I had my shopping Nirvana in Seoul, South Korea when an hour-long spree yielded at least 10 things. I was out of my mind and I still yearn for a patchwork-style, trench-coat dress that I left behind. Randomly, there’s a very good Marshall’s near me that often has C/MEO Collective. And I finally had to break up with Rent the Runway because I was renting garments and then buying them (you can do that in the Clearance section) because I am a Taurus and we hate to give up things we love. This tactic did yield my Osman Red Felix Ruffle Trousers, retailing for $590, purchased for $245. A bargain? Well, yes, when I tell you I have worn them 100 times!