Kelly Reed: minimalist maven

Kelly Reed is a boss b****  who works for Nylon magazine as a Senior Social Media Strategist who manages the site's social media presence, and she contributes to Nylon’s lifestyle and beauty. Kelly is a fashionable minimalist individual who dresses confidently yet modestly. Kelly attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City at 18 years old after leaving her home state of Nebraska. She did not know a single person in New York after moving here, but she knew she always wanted to be in the fashion industry. Kelly feels grateful she ended up in the heart of fashion because her job allows her to live her dream since she is at the intersection of fashion, journalism, music, and culture which are all topics she finds interesting. As Kelly says, “It’s just been a really fun job!” Kelly finds fashion intriguing because it allows people to be unique to who they are. Kelly Reed is a cool, calm, intelligent, and naturally likable fashionista!

Special thank you to the incredible photographer, Amelia Hammond, who made this closet portrait come to life.

How did you develop your personal style & how did it evolve?

“I feel like personal style for me has always been whatever I feel most comfortable in and confident in. When I was younger my personal style was more focused on proving to myself that I was not fitting in with the typical Nebraska fashion that was going on around me, and just trying to add my own flair. Living in New York has just really blossomed my style. I've been able to not look for confirmation from others.”

What have you gained from taking all the opportunities you could in the fashion industry?

“I think when you're first starting out in the fashion industry, it's really important to say yes to everything even if it doesn't seem like it's a straight-on fashion role. Every little experience could always add to or assist in the skill building that you need to find the career and lifestyle that you want.”

Do you remember a time in your life when getting dressed gave you a boost of confidence?

“I always love to get dressed every day as if I'm going somewhere every day. There's this phrase ‘dress well, test well’, and I feel like that's always something that I've kind of instilled in myself growing up.” 

What do you wear when you feel most confident? 

“I love a really well-fitted trouser. I love a blazer. I feel a blazer is something that I'm always rotating out of my weekly wardrobe. I love a kitten heel. I love sheer fabrics when they're paired well and done.”

What do you think about when creating an outfit?

“I really lean into having a lot of fun. Towing the line between masculine and feminine. I think having a little bit of both in every outfit is always a good balance. I think you can have something that feels tailored and masculine maybe even a baggier silhouette, and then you can have it paired with something that's sheer and more form-fitting. I think having that contrast in an outfit is visually pleasing in terms of just shapes and silhouettes.”

How important are silhouettes to an outfit and how do you find the right one?

“Very important. Everyone has their own kind of set of silhouettes that they go back to and dress. I really like lightweight silhouettes all year round, but I also like stuff that has structure and rigid lines and kind of like a specific cut.”

Where do you get your inspiration from?

“My style is kind of a mix of Morticia Adams' friend Drescher and Stevie Nicks. I've been really inspired by the 70s both in music and in fashion. And I'll say disco because I don't know if that's what I'm going for. But kind of that country meets pop meets indie. What I envision a rock star dresses like, that's how I want to dress every day.”

Favorite way to find new brands?

“I think SSENSE is a great way to find outfits. I was drawn to Arête so much because the way that you're able to use and find new outfits and pieces in the styler is very similar to SSENSE. You could click on a top in Essence and it'll have the outfit already built out with other brands and other pieces. I think both are built out to really educate the consumer and get people excited about fashion. Even if you're not buying things, you are just looking.”

Your anti-gatekeeping advice for fashion?

“I wait for the SSENSE sale twice a year, that's how I get all of my nicer things.”

If you could swap closets with one person, who would it be and why?

“I really love Suki Waterhouse's style. I think she's just the coolest girl in the world, and I think she is the modern-day Stevie Nicks. There's a lot of crossover between her and Daisy Jones from Daisy Jones and the Six which classically is a spin-off of Fleetwood Mac.”

Are you more maximalist or minimalist?

“I'm a minimalist I would say, but at the same time I always feel you have to have something in the outfit that's a little bit louder than the other pieces. 70% of my outfit will always be pretty minimalist, and then I'll have one accessory or some crazy pants or something that pulls all the attention to that piece…I'm not very good at organized chaos. I can just do one fun piece and I make that the focal point.”

Favorite item in your closet?

“A favorite item in my closet is probably this blue lightly pinstriped men's blazer that I thrifted in Nebraska from Goodwill for $3 and it looks like it was tailored to me. It is just the most perfect blazer and whenever anyone borrows it or out at a club or things are getting messy in the night. I'm always like we cannot lose this blazer because it is invaluable and yes, it was only three dollars, but there's no way I will ever be able to track down this blazer ever again.” 

What's a major fashion red flag? 

“I do think a style red flag is when someone is obviously wearing something for the clout of it. Whereas I would so much rather see someone wear something that's a little bit more modest or a little bit not everyone's style. But something that they feel comfortable in and can really take ownership of.”

What’s a major fashion green flag?

“A fashion green flag for me has been mixing metals. If you would have asked me, a couple years ago. I would have been like I will never mix gold and silver metals ever, and now I mix them all the time. I love it when I see people mixing both metals!”

Favorite part about working at Nylon?

“My favorite part about working at Nylon is probably just honestly being in the fashion news cycle and having it be part of my daily discussion between my coworkers. I'm very fortunate to be able to read pieces and talk about that stuff during work because I just find fashion so fascinating and it's always just kind of been my escape from reality.”

Tell us about the four fits we shot and the occasions, styles, & vibes you associate with each!

“The first outfit I'm wearing is this pink button-down shirt with the black corset and these crossword pants by DVF. This outfit is just the epitome of the editorial girl at her 9 to 5 office job in journalism…But I feel that outfit is definitely like a corporate boss, b****.”

“The second outfit was the sheer pink skirt and the blue pinstriped button-down. I'm a huge fan of button-downs, and I think this is a classic combination of masculine and feminine. So you kind of have the more tailored, more masculine button-down on top. And then on the bottom, you have the very whimsy sheer skirt…The shoes and the bag here are the final decider of the outfit because if you pair this with loafers, you can wear this outfit to lunch plans or even a work-adjacent event. But if you wore heels with it, it immediately bumps it up to night out, cocktail kind of attire.”

“It's an Elena Velez skirt, it's like an orange-ish brown sheer skirt with a Heaven Can Wait very thick cable knit sweater, and I love this combination because I feel it's great when it's obviously getting into the colder months where you still want to look cute, but you're so cold and you want to still be dressed up. This is a great cocktail hour attire for maybe something semi-formal, but you still want to impress and feel confident and sexy.” 

“The fourth outfit is really fun and playful. I leaned into brat and just the early 2000s vibe of this all very Charli XCX circa 2014. But I feel this was a very fun outfit because on top you have this yellow mini dress and then on the bottom you have these sheer blue pants, which are actually swim cover-up trousers, which is hilarious…It just makes for a really fun little outfit to go out dancing and go to dinner.”

Any other advice?

“My mantra that I've kind of been leaning into lately is I feel like everyone always tells you to buy staple pieces, don't buy into trends, and I feel you have to do both. Because if you only have the same 10 closet basics you're gonna get burnt out of wearing the same palettes in the same shapes all the time. I think it's really fun and nice to have five loud pieces and then five basics that you can just interchange quite a bit, and I think it's a fun way to experiment with using prints on different prints or colors as well.”