If you’re like me, maybe you spent far too much time as a teenager looking at photos of cool people online instead of doing your homework (possibly on Who What Wear.com!). My wish to work in fashion fell in the footsteps of my older sister. She introduced me to the world of OG influencers and fashion bloggers when I was just beginning high school, opening up Pandora’s box of aspirational, well-dressed women. While there are plenty of women whose closets I wanted to emulate when I was 14, there were just a handful who really cemented what style meant to me. One of them was Aimee Song—someone whose outfits still live in the DMs between me and my sister. We bounce her ‘fit pics back and forth like a game of digital ping-pong. Naturally, when I heard Song was dropping an expertly designed collaboration with Madewell, I was all in.
In case you’ve missed it, Song and the American cool-girl retailer just dropped a limited-edition edit that turns the idea of holiday dressing on its head. Composed of 11 highly curated pieces ranging from swoon-worthy metallic jeans to modern pearl earrings that rival the hand-me-downs living in my jewelry box, Song’s carte blanche for the latest Madewell collection has to be one of the best collaborations I’ve seen in a long, long time.
“I wanted to create a collection that was approachable and going to last beyond just the holiday season. Oftentimes when we’re thinking of holiday parties, dinners, [and] things like that, we tend to just buy a piece for that one occasion, and it’s so hard to mix and match throughout the rest of the year,” Song explained during an interview with Who What Wear. As a longtime lover of the brand, Song’s intention was to infuse her own personal style with that of the brand, leading to a perfect mix of the heritage staple pieces that Madewell is known for along with subtle nods to Song’s tried-and-true outfit combinations, favorite colors, and memorable fashion-week outfits.
The collection is exactly what comes to mind when I think of Song’s signature cool-girl style. Faux-leather pants, metallic miniskirts, and comfortable yet chic two-piece purple sets all make their presence known.
Collaborations of this caliber, especially when creative teams live far from each other, can be a challenge. Song and her fashion label, Song of Style, are based in L.A., and the Madewell team is in New York, but despite the distance, endless Zoom calls, and dozens of fabric samples sent back and forth, Song can’t help but gush about how seamless the process was. “I’ve worked with them for so long. I am the Madewell customer. It was all so natural,” she said.
If you don’t believe me when I say how chic this entire collaboration is, take it from Song’s friends and sister, who all had a preview of the collection before it dropped. Their favorite pieces? The super-wide metallic jeans and the cozy yet festive, shimmery two-piece sweater set Song’s sister, Dani, will probably fall in love with too.
If that isn’t enough for you, take it from my own sister, who, after seeing the pieces firsthand, texted me one thing: “OMG.”
Below, shop the entire Madewell x Aimee Song collaboration. Run, don’t walk, to get everything before it sells out.
