Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller to star in a series of short films on rachelroy.com
The blogger will dispense fashion advice on the topic she knows best, helping fans who need to impress a male suitor’s parents or deflect unwanted male attention on the street. Clad in a trench coat and floral-printed trousers from Roy’s lower priced Rachel Rachel Roy spring collection, Medine is portrayed as a man repelling superhero in this hilarious series of films, sweeping in to save unfortunate young women who’ve fallen victim to “man getting,” the blogger’s sworn fashion antithesis (also known as “sex-crazed Bebe wearers,” Medine told WWD).
“Leandra has such a distinctive style, and I love that she’s taken a stand and is not afraid to state her point of view. I admire people who go against the grain, and I love the idea of true individuality,” Roy said of the blogger who often uses terms such as "lady bow-ner" (with respect to bow-ties) and likens handbags and footwear to a female's nether regions, “It also helps that my point of view on dressing is exactly the same as hers.”
The designer counts excessive layering and mixing prints, colors and textures among her repelling habits, but she insists it’s not about a specific designer, but how you style your look. Roy cites feathers and fur as must-wears for all aspiring repellers, as well as plenty of separates to allow for easy layering. “Oh and I love a turban,” Roy quipped, “I tell young girls all the time that the men that have fallen in love with me have all fallen during a man repeller stage. Funny how life works out like that.”
Roy added, “It’s mostly just loving and wearing fashion for the sake of fashion and not whether or not a man will like what you are wearing. Confidence is what attracts.”
Medine’s shared love of turbans and flagrant florals — along with the recent addition of the bow-tie (she exhumed a vintage Lanvin one from the trenches of her father's closet) — has also been well documented in her blog at manrepeller.com, which receives nearly 20,000 hits a day. “You don’t need to wear Marni to be a repeller,” Medine said, caressing a vintage Chanel purple tweed and denim jacket at a shopping event she co-hosted Wednesday at New York City’s What Goes Around Comes Around. “That’s what’s so great about the Rachel Rachel Roy line.” Offerings include an olive green trench dress for $109 and tanks that range from $29 to $79, as well as our favorites, a fitted peplum blazer for $139 and floral-printed shorts for $79 (we suggest you pair the two together for the perfect man repelling spring look – with pony hair leopard-print platform sandals of course, socks optional.)
At the end of the evening, the blogger — who wore a satin Elise Overland dress with an asymmetrical zipper, a Charlotte Ronson utility jacket and Proenza Schouler wedges — leaned over and unzipped the dress to her navel, giving Social Studies a peak at a newly acquired American Apparel mesh cross-hatched bralette. "I loved learning that my dress could be a man repeller and a man getter," she said.