Hilary Duff on How Her Style Has Changed Since Becoming a Mom
Hilary Duff might be having an Internet renaissance right now, but if you were in middle school while Lizzie McGuire was on television, she likely served as your fashion awakening.
Duff’s character, Lizzie, always went all-in on her looks. She changed her hair on the regular — crimps! accent braids! — and had more embellished jeans than there are days in a month. “I had no less than two sets of chopsticks in my hair at all times,” Duff jokes to Yahoo Style about her days being Lizzie. Duff is now 29, starring in the fourth season of Younger (which premieres on June 28), and is simultaneously working it as an unexpected style icon. She’s also mom to 5-year-old Luca, which she calls her number one job.
Since becoming a parent, the actress’s style has changed. “My everyday vibe is jeans and shorts,” Duff explains of her wardrobe staples. “If I’m getting ready for an event or have some sort of work dinner I tend to dress a little sharper. And I like things that have structure — I’m only 5’2″ so I dress very specifically because I’m so short.”
One of her favorite designers happens to be Victoria Beckham, who, she says, “makes dresses that fit me well if I have to dress up.”
Her character Kelsey on Younger has an enviable closet as well, but Duff says it’s much different from how she dresses in real life.
A post shared by Younger (@youngertv) on Oct 17, 2015 at 8:47am PDT
“I love what I wear on the show but it’s a lot more fussy than what I wear in real life,” she admits. “Kelsey wears brighter colors, more prints, and tighter clothes. I don’t necessarily put in the effort to dress like that every day. I have a 5-year-old! Kelsey is way more put together and louder than I am.”
While Kelsey’s style is definitely chic, Duff’s upfront take on how having a young son has impacted her personal style is way more attainable for the day-to-day. “I wear flats every day of my life now. I never thought I’d be that person,” she dishes. “It happened slowly but all of a sudden all I was wearing were little heeled booties, and now I’m just like straight flats and it’s awesome. I wear high heeled shoes for minimum 14 hours a day when I’m on set, which is actually really hurting my feet. Gotta give this old girl a break!”
A post shared by Hilary Duff (@hilaryduff) on Mar 21, 2017 at 10:19am PDT
Choosing flats over heels definitely doesn’t mean that Duff has shirked style. “I’ve recently gotten into a clog obsession,” she says. “I never thought it would happen to me but everyone in New York wears clogs and I’ve totally stepped on the number 6 clog train. It’s an addiction. I own like three pairs, I’m very much a clog owner.”
A post shared by Hilary Duff (@hilaryduff) on Feb 22, 2017 at 12:21pm PST
Of course, mom-style also means obsessing over what your kids wear and with Duff as his mom, Luca is a particularly well-dressed kid; with a particular penchant for blue Nikes. “He has these blue tennis shoes, and I can’t get them off his feet,” Duff says. “I bought him the exact same pair in a different color combination, so people at school didn’t think the poor kid only had one pair of shoes, and he refuses to wear them because they’re not blue.”
A post shared by Hilary Duff (@hilaryduff) on May 26, 2017 at 4:02pm PDT
Duff has been influencing so many of her fans’s sartorial choices since she appeared regularly on the Disney Channel. While it was graphic tees and grunge tie-dye from the Lizzie McGuire days that served as inspiration back then, Duff’s best looks presently appear on her Instagram page, which includes ripped jeans and sunglass selfies. “I do the high-brow/low-brow thing,” Duff says of her style now. “I tend to wear plainer things, not such printed stuff, and I love accessories.”
Sure, Duff says, “I definitely care, I think about outfits.” And then she slides in with a truth that all busy grownup women understand, “I get excited when I feel like I look cute and I’ve gotten more than 15 minutes to get ready.”
Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:
4-Year-Old Learns Important Lesson By Dressing Up Like Great Women of the World
Everything Rihanna Wears Looks Amazing: ‘This Dress Should Thank Rihanna’
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