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September 14, 2018

Turns Out Blake Lively Was Onto Something With All Those Suits

By Emilia Petrarca

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Photo: Getty Images

For weeks now, Blake Lively has been trying to tell us something with her constant rotation of suits. What, exactly, we couldn’t say. Until now.

Turns out that all along, Lively has been channeling her character in A Simple Favor, a comedic murder-mystery directed by Paul Feig, out September 14. Lively plays Emily Nelson, a high-powered fashion PR director who wears a suit every day to work. According to the film’s costume designer, Renée Ehrlich Kalfus, Nelson literally and figuratively “wears the pants,” and her resulting wardrobe, which involves archival Ralph Lauren suits, dickies, cuff links, cummerbunds, and canes, is both enigmatic and hilariously over-the-top, much like the film.

“It’s genius,” said Kalfus of Lively taking her character off the set and into the real world today. “It’s drawing attention; people are really talking about it, and that’s what you want, right?” Clearly, Blake did her research when it comes to PR strategy.

At first, we were skeptical of the idea that any fashion PR person dresses remotely like Lively. (Normally, they tend to try to blend into crowds with an all-black uniform.) But by the end of New York Fashion Week, we were convinced that Lively might actually know something we don’t. Suits were everywhere! From the runways to the after-parties. When we asked one real-life PR director why it was such a trend this season, even they had to wonder: Was Blake Lively to thank?

Below, 18 designer suits for Blake Lively to try next.

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1 / 18 Photos
Marc Jacobs spring 2019. Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs
Mara Hoffman spring 2019. Photo: Courtesy of Mara Hoffman
LaQuan Smith spring 2019. Photo: Brian Ach/Getty Images
Carolina Herrera spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Cushnie spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Tom Ford spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Maryam Nassir Zadeh spring 2019. Photo: Albert Urso/Getty Images
Tibi spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Christian Siriano spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Proenza Schouler spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Prabal Gurung spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Sies Marjan spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Brandon Maxwell spring 2019. Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Christian Cowan spring 2019. Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Matthew Adams Dolan spring 2019. Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows
Lou Dallas spring 2019. Photo: Courtesy of Lou Dallas
Partow spring 2019. Photo: Courtesy of Partow
The Row spring 2019. Photo: Courtesy of The Row
1 / 18

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