Super stylist Bay Garnett on the muses that inspired her new collaboration with Rixo and more …
The original cool girl, stylist Bay Garnett’s authentic voice, sense of style and unbridled passion for thrifting have always made her stand out from the crowd. In fact, in the age of algorithmic dressing, AI slop and constant consumption, Garnett’s originality makes her something of a north star for those seeking an alternative way of enjoying – and partaking in – fashion. As well as being a pioneer of pre-loved, she is the co-founder of the Oxfam initiative Secondhand September. Her point of view is always fresh; a veritable flipping of the bird to identikit dressing.
It was this zest that drew Rixo to collaborate with Garnett (whose mum is Northern Irish writer and longtime The Gloss contributor Polly Devlin) on a limited edition collection of pieces that reflect the stylist’s storied secondhand archive. It’s a partnership that is “fun, full of energy”, according to Rixo co-founder and creative director Orlagh McCloskey. “Bay has always been one of those stylists and personalities who is unapologetically herself. She has a genuine love of discovering pieces that feel unique, found and deeply personal, while still being versatile enough to wear in your own way,” she says. Read our interview with Garnett – and shop the collection – below.
On styling Chloë Sevigny:
I used to date Chloë’s brother and I’ve styled her a few times for editorials, a folksy Stevie Nicks one with Glen Luchford, and another with Tyrone Lebon, both for British Vogue. I also styled her for a job with Jimmy Choo. I remember vividly pulling loads of stuff and [gesturing to an item of clothing] saying, ‘I think this is so you.’ And she just looked at me and said, ‘But I don’t want to be me, I want to do something different.’ I guess in that moment I tried to be a bit conventional but she doesn’t want that: she wants to do something interesting. Even when she wears something conventional she subverts it anyway. If it’s a pair of jeans they’re 1970s Saint Laurent with a fair isle sweater so that it looks kind of 1980s preppy. She makes every look her own.
On muses for the Rixo collaboration:
There were quite a few, actually. For me, style comes from all kinds of places. There’s the Napoleonic jacket, which is inspired by the goth thing – I love that romanticism. Charlotte Tilbury is a good friend of mine and her kind of 1930s thing with a belt … I saw her in it as well. I did my first photo shoot with Anita Pallenberg, the roll neck with the leopard … that kind of 1970s dressed-down-but-kind-of-dressed-up because it’s an accessorised look, that’s inspired by her. Then you’ve got that 1970s bohemian Saint Laurent girl with the floral skirt. The dragon top is inspired by New York in the early 1980s. Think: Tina Chow at Studio 54.
Black Napoleana wool-blend jacket, Rixo x Bay Garnett, €495; www.rixolondon.com.
On fashion as an industry:
I’m not a fashionista in the sense that I’m not a follower of fashion. I don’t follow trends. It sounds a bit hardcore but, I’ve felt this for a long time, fashion is so often just about selling clothes. Sometimes you’ll see a catwalk collection and you’ve almost seen it all before; sometimes you’ll see some beautiful dresses. I do admire John Galliano’s collections in the 1990s because he went to Marie Antoinette, to the Belle Époque and all of these different places and he extrapolated them and put them in these incredible clothes. My inspirations often come from different places; thrift stores, movies and books. I find people’s style incredibly interesting, I find the clothes that people choose to wear really interesting. I love clothes: they’ve given me a career and so much pleasure in my life. For me, it’s about clothes, stories and styling. So fashion naturally fits into that but it’s not fashion just for fashion sake, if that makes sense.
On creativity in the Instagram era:
The internet has changed so much [about creativity] – there’s just so much information out there. I think, in a way, all of us would love to just check out of it. A friend of mine who’s a musician was explaining how you used to release an album and it would just do its thing but now everyone’s releasing albums all the time. So, where does one exist when everything is so devalued simply because there’s so much information out there and so many different voices talking to us at once?
On personal style:
My style isn’t reactionary to anybody [or anything]. Maybe that makes it unprogressive, I don’t know, but my style is completely my own. I can sometimes be inspired by what other people are doing and wearing but I never push myself to try and push through [and copy] what other people are doing. I wouldn’t really know how to do that because I can only do what I find exciting and what I think is cool.
Brown Cybil faux fur jacket, Rixo x Bay Garnett, €595; www.rixolondon.com.
On TikTok’s thrifting obsession:
I’m not on TikTok, I don’t look at those thrifting videos or anything like that. There’s a part of me that feels like I’ve just been doing it for so long, and it’s so at the heart of what I do, that I don’t really feel like I’ve got anything to prove in that way. I’ve got work to do – I love working and I want to get better – but I am who I am.
On best-dressed movie characters:
Movie stills are always on my moodboard. It always starts with a movie reference; there are too many to count that inspire me. Then I’ll put in fashion references to back things up. Joan Crawford and that kind of evil glamour from the 1930s and 1940s. Grace Kelly coming out in those dresses in High Society, or Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, or Nastassja Kinski wearing mohair in Paris, Texas. Sissy Spacek in Badlands wearing these Victoriana blouses. The denim in Footloose.
On what inspires her now:
Parts of Africa are insanely stylish. I think the style coming out of Senegal is incredible. I went there and I wish I’d taken my camera. The streetwear is amazing.
Black Joey floral print skirt, Rixo x Bay Garnett, €275; www.rixolondon.com.
On quiet luxury:
It’s become a slightly derogatory term now, I think. Those American heiresses from the 1950s, they were all about that pared-back look that was quite quiet luxury, but I think it was different … it was mixing the mannish stuff, in a kind of Katharine Hepburn way. It wasn’t just getting really expensive clothes off the peg … It’s a bit like, oh my god, you’re wearing a cashmere sweater and a pair of slacks: what do you want, a medal?
On the best thing she’s ever thrifted:
It has to be the banana top that Kate Moss wore for a British Vogue shoot. [Editor’s note: it cost $5 and was sourced at a now defunct Cancer Care thrift shop in New York City.] It’s been something nice in my career and I appreciate it.
On the Holy Grail of thrifting:
I wouldn’t say it’s impossible but it’s definitely rare to find the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Ungaro for next to nothing nowadays. All of my favourite charity thrift stores in New York have closed down because there’s too much of a resale market for pre-loved pieces. I do use Vinted sometimes and I like Etsy.
Leopard print Kirsty wool-blend jumper, Rixo x Bay Garnett, €295; www.rixolondon.com.
On what she spends on:
These days, I very rarely buy new stuff. I don’t have an amazing wardrobe. I don’t think someone would come into my house and be like, ‘Oh my god.’ I mean it would have been amazing – and valuable – if I’d kept everything, but I always moved or I always culled. I do have the perfect shirt and I’ve got some great sweaters. What I do buy occasionally is a really nice cashmere roll-neck. I love vintage sweatshirts. I’ll buy something more under the radar, like a great old camo shirt from the 1970s. Something that someone else might not find remarkable but that I love and that I’ll just wear.
On the one thing that makes an outfit look expensive:
A great belt can really change an outfit. It just adds a panache and a sense of character. It can take something ordinary and make it special. I collect vintage belts and I’ve got some great ones. I love snake belts at the moment.
On the one thing she’s excited to wear for autumn:
I bought a 1960s mod leopard print biker jacket last winter at Portobello market which I’m going to wear. I got an amazing grey sharp lapel jacket, my sister says it looks like a gravedigger’s jacket, but it’s a faded wool pinstripe that’s super cool. I’m going to Paris for a dinner soon so I’ll definitely wear a piece from my Rixo collaboration then.
Black Sloan satin jacquard jacket, €595; black Kove tassel scarf, €300; Rixo x Bay Garnett; www.rixolondon.com.
On the one person, dead or alive, whose wardrobe she’d love to rummage through:
Probably, Elvis Presley’s wardrobe. His stuff in the 1950s was so stylish. I love the idea of going through someone’s wardrobe because I’m interested in the person, rather than simply coveting what they’ve got. I’d love to have seen Joan Crawford’s or Marie Antoinette’s wardrobes too. A contemporary person would be Chloe Sevigny, she’s someone who is quite artistic in her approach to clothes. I’m sure Catherine Deneuve has an amazing wardrobe. I’d love to see the Saint Laurent archive from the 1970s and 1980s … the pieces he actually kept from those collections.
On the coolest thing a woman can wear:
I remember seeing [stylist and creative director] Katie Grand wearing a vintage army green boiler suit and it looked really cool. That being said, I think a woman always looks amazing in a great pair of high-waisted, straight-leg blue jeans with a blazer, or a sharp coat with epaulettes and confident shoulders.
On the future of fashion:
This thing of constant newness is – and I don’t say this in a sanctimonious or preachy way – but I think that’s going to change because it’s going to have to change. I don’t know what it will look like, if designers will do just one collection a year, but what is certain is that we’re not going to be able to produce the way we currently are. I think water is going to be hard to come by and I think that climate change is happening really fast and there’s going to have to be legislation. Perhaps it will make people super creative and edited down. But I don’t see how it can keep going in the way that it is.
Styling throughout, Bay Garnett; photography by Tom Craig.
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