Georgia O'Keeffe dressed in black and white for years, and her plain, well-cut clothes still look modern. Here is how I would borrow her uniform for fall, from the long black coat to the flat shoes.
Dressing Like Georgia O'Keeffe
In 2017 the Brooklyn Museum hung Georgia O'Keeffe's clothes beside her paintings in Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern, and in her New York years a black-and-white palette ruled both. Inspired by that show, by an adobe wall at noon and by a single brooch pinned at the collar, this is her uniform translated for fall. It starts with a plain black dress or a long black coat from Toteme, Tibi, DÔEN or Victoria Beckham.
Black dresses and long coats
Arie Long Dress
Anine Bing
$295
Draped turtleneck cady midi dress
Toteme
$880
Utility belted midi dress
Zimmermann
$895
4-Ply Silk Long Sleeve Dress with Ruffle Detail
Tibi
$1,295
Wilhelmina Coat
DÔEN
$798
Bennett Coat
Cult Gaia
$898
Hooded wool coat
Toteme
$1,390
Philippa virgin wool twill trench coat
Victoria Beckham
$2,150
The simplest version is a white shirt with black trousers, a pairing that shows up again and again in photographs of her. Keep the shirt crisp and a little roomy: Tibi's Gabe oversized shirt and Anine Bing's Essie both have that ease. Then pick a wide trouser that falls straight, like Phoebe Philo's cotton pair, Chloé's virgin wool or The Row's Eglitta corduroy. Tuck the shirt loosely and leave the collar open. No belt needed.
White shirts and black trousers
She kept her accessories few, and that is the part worth copying. A flat shoe keeps the look grounded: Khaite's Jane flat, Tibi's Janos or Isabel Marant's Fitza loafers. A brooch is the one ornament, worn at the collar or on a coat lapel, like Loewe's claw brooch or Cult Gaia's Octavia. Ruslan Baginskiy's felt hat is for cold mornings. What I would skip: anything with a big logo or a lot of hardware. The point is how little there is.
