With the successful showcase of Holmes & Yang’s Spring/Summer ’13 Collection, rehearsal for her latest broadway endeavor Dead Accounts, and personal style that seems to keep getting better and better, all eyes are on Katie Holmes right now. Since her days playing Joey Potter in Dawson’s Creek, Katie has made style statements that run the gamut from demure to ultra chic, and her post-Tom wardrobe is getting much positive reception; See as I go into her style evolution, a journey where Katie seems to have finally settled into a style that is purely her own.
Girl Next Door
When Katie Holmes played her breakout role as Joey Potter, her character was anything but a fashion maven; Yet, for me, I’ve always found the character’s style endearing and an inspiration in my personal style. Her simple, tomboy style is a good reminder to me to not take fashion too seriously and that a lot of times less is more. Her off-screen style in those days reflected the character’s but you could see hints of her chic days to come.
Movie Star
Once Katie began frequenting red carpets for movies like Disturbing Behavior and The Gift, we began to see her style bloom a bit. From muscle-tanks with snakeskin pencil skirts to white asymmetrical pantsuits, we could see that she was drawn to clean lines and simple-chic silhouettes early in her career. In the roles she chose to play in the early 2000’s, each character had a vastly different style from the next; In Disturbing Behavior, her character had a penchant for bare-midriff shirts, leather jackets and goth makeup. In Wonder Boys, her character had a thing for red cowboy boots, and in Go it was all about neon colors and black pleather- and a lot of attitude.
The Mrs.
Everyone knows that once Tom Cruise swooped Katie up her style skyrocketed into full-on super-chic and luxurious status; From sitting front row with pal Victoria Beckham at Chanel during Paris Fashion Week to attending red carpet premieres with Cruise, her wardrobe reflected her newfound lifestyle. Often times, though, it didn’t seem authentic and was sometimes borderline trying-too-hard. No matter the outfit, Katie Holmes has always retained an aura of elegance, and even when she went on a spree of wearing baggy boyfriend jeans with high heels with a boyish haircut, her innate elegance radiated.
The Fashion Icon
There was a sigh of relief amongst Katie Holmes fans when she filed for divorce from Tom Cruise; Many fans cited her strange and mysterious relationship with Cruise as the reason for dud-after-dud roles in film (and her absence in the Nolan’s Dark Knight sequel)- as well as her oft-confused style. As soon as Holmes broke out though, it’s as if the style that she’s had underneath all along came to surface. Her first appearance since the breakup was a big one: As a woman who exudes elegance, it was appropriate that Holmes present the Designer of the Year Award at the 9th Annual Style Awards to the epitome of elegance Carolina Herrera. Here Katie wore a no-doubt Carolina Herrera-inspired black button-down shirt and champagne-hued black-beaded skirt. Using New York City as her catwalk, Katie has debuted one classy-yet-modest street style look after another, and with the success of Holmes & Yang’s line at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, it looks like she may finally be living life on her own terms; Her attire has been much less press-friendly too with much of her clothing being seemingly brandless (possibly from her own line?), but even without the brand names, Katie Holmes has really made it known that she is a force to be reckoned with in the fashion world. Yet she does it all humbly and modestly. It’ll be exciting to see what’s next for Katie both in life and in fashion.
By Whitney S. Williams
Photos: (1) Tom Meinelt for Splash News, (2) Mark Seliger for Rolling Stone (3)(4)&(8) Via Glamour.com, (5) Via MarieClaire.com, (6)Via INFphoto.com, (7) Via GraziaDaily.com
