GRAZIA

11th June 2007

Page 24

10 HOT STORIES
Everyone’s talking about this week

4 – WHY BLONDIES HAVE MORE FUN

SO THERE’S US THINKING THAT RAY-BAN WAYFARERS ARE SO NOW; THAT SHORTS ARE THE LATEST GREATEST FASHION STAPLE (WEAR THEM WITH A CUTE WAISTCOAT AND YOU’RE GOOD TO GO); THAT SOMEONE JUST INVENTED THE PLAYSUIT. Well, take a look at these pictures of Debbie Harry – aka Blondie – from 1977. Then cast your eyes over Kirsten Dunst, Kate Moss and Chloë Sevigny. Look familiar? These are some of the coolest girls around and they nick their best looks straight from the singer whose 32-year-old self (she is now 61) is the fashion icon of summer 2007. Debbie Harry created her own fashion rules. She made a big, baggy moth-eaten T-shirt look sexy as hell. All the time you were thinking that your favourite, snappy dressed fillies were busy spawning new trends, Ms Harry had already set the template. The Wayfarers, the tiny dresses, the waistcoats, the denim hot pants, the high-waisted jeans, the white plimsolls… we could go on. Her edgy style has echoed through the decades. You can see traces of her punkiness in your Karen Os, your Lily Allens, your Mary-Kate and Ashleys… heck, name any Noughties style icon, and we’ll bet you our lunch money that they cite Debbie Harry as an inspiration. Mary-Kate Olsen even has a shrine on her website to the coolest Debbie to walk the earth. Enough said.

Photos: Right – Debbie Harry photographed by Roberta Bayley in 1977. Below L-R: Kate Moss chanelling the style icon’s look; Blondie back in 1979 and copycat Kirsten Dunst last week: Ms Harry rocking her signature style and Chloë Sevigny’s updated take on the look.

Words: Melanie Rickey and Ellen Morgan. Photographs of Debbie Harry taken from Blondie Unseen 1976-1980, Roberta Bayley (£16.99, Plexus). Additional photos: Foto Theme Digital, PA Photos, Retna, Xposure.