On Bandanas & Butter Yellow | THIRTEEN THINGS with @livyduncan
Salvador Dalí, Miley Cyrus, and Princess Diana walk into a bar...
Hello and happy Thirteenth — it’s good to be back in your inbox, this time with artist and creative consultant Olivia Duncan.
There’s a looseness to Livy’s style. The kind that feels intentional yet lived-in and unprecious. Whether she’s creative directing or turning a scarf into a shawl, she moves intuitively across moodboards, mediums, and materials.
Livy’s newsletter | instagram | tiktok
Each guest is asked to leave something behind for the next to begin with. Gabby left us with Aisha Dee’s “ethereal” makeup look for the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards earlier this year…
According to
, those who can pull off a daytime wash of color on the eyes are the coolest people you’ll meet. What makes you feel “the coolest” when doing your makeup, especially for events?
“I’m actually so bad at makeup. I had Glam Squad come and do this full, done-up look for an event recently, and I felt so out of my element. For me, a ‘cool’ makeup look is just a good little bronzer and a mascara. And then my crazy hair.”
For the warmer months, what colors are you most excited to incorporate into your wardrobe and/or beauty looks? Are shimmery pastels on the radar?
“I’ve always been a neutrals lover. I really stay true to my navies, my denims, and my whites — with the occasional accent color here and there. But lately, pastels are taking over and there’s a lot of boldness happening… and I’m kind of liking it.
I’ve seen butter yellow everywhere. I don't think I could ever pull off yellow —and I say that, but somebody told me yellow is actually my color and I should do that. But it’s just so daunting. That said, I looked at my Instagram the other day and thought, ‘Who am I?’ I’ve been wearing so much more color lately.
Usually, I bring it in through a sneaker or an accessory — that’s where color shows up for me the most. Unless it’s a killer dress in a great color.”
1. What piece(s)/outfit(s) in your wardrobe scream ‘Olivia Duncan’ the loudest? That feels the most you?
Pieces…
“A bandana, for sure. It’s the first thing that comes to mind and I always throw one on when I don’t want to deal with my hair. That, and my paint jeans. They’re both very me.”
Outfits…
“I also have a uniform that feels like me: jeans or a good Nili pant and a white tee or tank. There was this TikTok going around on “the white tank top theory” — basically the idea that you can be in a simple white tank and still feel completely confident and stand out.
That’s exactly how I feel. I can always throw on a white tee and never feel underdressed or overdressed. It’s just the perfect go-to.”
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2. What’s the first thing you do when you get home?
“Take my shoes off immediately and wash my hands. I’m such a germaphobe. I actually forgot how bad it was until I moved in April. When I first moved to the city after college, my skin started breaking out so badly, and someone told me, ‘that’s just New York... everything’s dirty.’ I hadn’t thought about it before — and now I can’t stop.”
“I wash my phone every night.
Like, I wash my face, and I wash my phone.”
3. Who would you point to as your north star? Someone whose career you find especially instructive or aspirational.
“This is such a hard question. I don’t think I could point to one person or one path — especially because I’m so project-based, and I never want to be stuck doing just one thing.
So there’s a constellation of people across different arenas that inspire me in the art world, in design, and in fashion. There’s also editors and people that I follow, too, or things I see on Pinterest. And I look up to a lot of my friends.”
4. You’re hosting a dinner party with three guests (dead or alive) — who’s invited, what’s the venue, and what’s the dress code?
“I have an ongoing note in my phone for this question. It’s my random Roman Empire, I think about it twice a month, and I’ve never been asked until now. So I’m very happy to say: Salvador Dalí, Miley Cyrus, and Princess Diana.
Dalí would probably be saying the craziest stuff, drawing on the table, who knows. Miley is also crazy and fun, she could sing for us, and I feel like she’s super down to earth. I’ve looked up to her forever, and I love that she’s always stayed true to herself. And then Princess Diana feels like this grounding force.
On one hand, I want us all to get super dressed up. But I think it might be better as a laid-back dinner party at someone’s house — where by the end of the night we’d be trying on random clothes and painting on the walls.”
5. If you had the chance to live anywhere for a year, where would it be?
“This is the great debate in my life. Last year, instead of moving into the city, I was actually considering London or Paris. I feel like London would be more natural for me — plus, I was born there and haven’t been back since.”
6. What’s your signature drink order?
“Depending on the night, I’ll either go for a dirty martini — extra chilled — or a Basil Hayden on the rocks. I feel like those are kind of lame…. I can give you my coffee order too: black coffee with honey.”
7. If you could build your dream jewelry stack, what core pieces would you choose?
“I’d definitely do a gold chain stack — maybe with a little diamond piece in there somewhere — and antique charms on each one. Mellerio has great chain options, as do Hoorsenbuhs, Foundrae, and Anna Maccieri Rossi. I’d want one super long chain and a few shorter ones to stack all the way up… but still keep it kind of simple.
I’d also mix in some fun pendants from Francesca Villa — specifically one of her lenticular pieces — and add a Marie Lichtenberg rope necklace for my pop of color.”
“I’d keep my ring stack very simple. I wear two pinky rings, a cigar band on my middle finger, and my grandma’s engagement ring. I also wear these two little gold anklets year-round. I Love them.”
8. Go-to NYC dinner spot?
“Pastis is always a classic. It’s good every time... But I am not the friend who knows the cool new spots. I usually go to
for that and she'll send me a list.”9. What’s an item from childhood you wish you still had?
“I’d actually say my youthful confidence, rather than something material. The childhood feeling of not being insecure or scared to do anything in front of people. I always wanted to be in front of people growing up.
I wanted to have a microphone. I wanted to be performing or dancing. I was happily a chubby girl in a bikini with all my skinny friends, running around and I didn't know I was chubby. I thought I was the queen of Sheba. Now I just know too much”
10. One quality you admire in one of your friends?
“Determination. I love that when my friends have an idea, they just go for it. Like my friend Allie — she decided she wanted to go to law school, and she just freaking did it. Or others who have leaned into social and are now killing it. I think I naturally gravitate toward people who are curious and creative. I love being around that.”
11. Your holy trinity: one hair, one makeup, and one skincare product you can’t live without?
Makeup: “Trish McEvoy mascara — it’s just the best.”
Skincare: “SPF. I’m not picky about the brand, but right now I’m using iS Clinical. It’s so annoyingly expensive… but it works, and it didn’t make my skin break out.”
Hair: “Either the Crown affair leave in or the Kenra Professional Dry Volume Burst hairspray. I'm such a smell-oriented person, and that spray smells so good.”
12. If you had unlimited time and resources, what’s the first project you’d start?
“A clothing line. 100%. I actually tried last year — I met with pattern makers and everything — but it’s just so expensive. The marketing part would be easy, though… with all my fashionable friends.”
13. If you could raid a celebrity’s closet, whose would it be?
“The Hirschleifers (Lori and Marci) and the Attico girls (Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini). My style is perfectly represented between the four of them.”
“So I actually started my Substack () because half of my camera roll is screenshots. I am always getting ideas and inspiration from art, images, people on the street, music, you name it. These are three recent favorites:
Bandana bag... groundbreaking. I'd like them in 5 different colors.
The collar top is a perfect representation of what I have been doing to my clothes since I was a little girl. I cut everything I own and transform pieces into something that it wasn't and I'm trying to figure out how to make this one.
The gold image is a hint at an art project that I have been working on for a while now...I love surrealism and that gold finger and cuff is just spectacular... I really want one.”
DOG EARS on Substack — a small representation of [Livy’s] ideas, and inspirations worth folding over the corner of the page for. Just like a dog-eared book, it’s a way to mark what matters, and revisit the vision in the details.
This came to you on the second Tuesday of May, and yet, I never gave a breakdown of last Monday’s procession up the blue-carpeted MET steps.
I watched Vogue’s livestream and refreshed my feed endlessly with
(who was creating short-form content live AND recorded a full tier list [with 40+ looks] on YouTube video afterwards — watch it or else), and I was tired. So I didn’t have much to say.I will tell you my best dressed list included: Laura Harrier (Gap Studio), Tessa Thompson (Thom Browne), Jodie Turner-Smith (Burberry), Mona Patel (Thom Browne), Zoe Saldaña (Thom Browne), Zendaya (Louis Vuitton), Justin Jefferson (Public School), Doechii (Louis Vuitton), Rihanna (Marc Jacobs), Imaan Hammam (Magda Butrym), Kerry Washington (Simkhai and Chopard jewelry), Janelle Monáe (Thom Browne), Tracee Ellis Ross (Marc Jacobs), Teyana Taylor (Ruth E. Carter), Ugbad Abdi (Michael Kors). I really liked Rosalia in Balmain (very on theme — people said otherwise for some reason) but it felt too similar to Tyla’s Balmain look last year. Also I thought the no pants trend was behind us but Lisa, Sabrina Carpenter, Taraji P. Henson all said otherwise.
If you simply cannot go on without my insights, may I direct you to what I wrote last year RE: the dynamics of a red carpet reference OR what I wrote more recently RE: Dandyism as a model for being less boring.
Thank you for reading.
LOVE YOU, MEAN IT
BECCA
WHOSE THINGS DO YOU WANT TO GET INTO NEXT? Leave a comment (or email me) with questions you want asked / people you want featured.