The Art of Personal Style & Standing Out | Hadley Greene

It Girl with Bailey Taylor

In this episode of It Girl, Bailey Taylor sits down with fashion creator and jewelry designer Hadley Greene to explore how personal style functions as a tool for

Key takeaways

• Hadley Greene grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she actively differentiated herself from Southern fashion norms by embracing expressive, unexpected silhouettes early on.
• Greene views jewelry as armor, a mindset developed during high school to command attention and build confidence before stepping into social or professional spaces.

Main topics

• Personal style development and Southern vs. LA fashion influences
• Jewelry design career path and content creation strategy

Notable quotes

"My motto is kind of jewelry is armor."

Conclusion

The episode offers a practical and philosophical guide to cultivating

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Speaker 1 (0:02) Guaranteed human. Hi, and welcome to the It Girl podcast. I am here with... Hadley Green. The icon, the fashion girl. You have the coolest style. I'm obsessed. Thank you. So I know our girlies are going to love to hear your fashion takes. I love having my fashion girls on. What were you like growing up? Where did you grow up? And how is that reflected in your style? Speaker 2 (0:23) I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I feel like everyone, I'm definitely a product of my environment because everyone dresses the same. And there's very much a Southern mold of like monograms and bows. And I'm one of five. I have four little brothers. And so my mom like really took creative liberties dressing me. But to that point, I have been so expressive in my dressing since I came out of the womb. And so I definitely account that to growing up in the South and wanting to differentiate myself from what other people are wearing. Speaker 1 (0:56) I love that because your style really does stand out, even in New York, where I feel like it's so hard to stand out. So I love that it's born from a desire not to blend in. You can really tell. And I love that. Who first made fashion feel exciting to you? OK, Speaker 2 (1:09) so every year for my birthday, my mom would bring me to New York. My birthday is in September. Oh, wow. I just turned 25 last week. It is not lost on me that my birthday is during fashion month. It just has always made so much sense. And I think the first time I came to the city, I was like, oh my gosh, a world exists outside of my small country town in Louisiana. And I was so inspired. And my mom was here earlier last week and printed out a photo of me walking around Central Park in ruffled pants and like a bow and a huge red jacket. And I was using an umbrella as a cane. And I just think from that moment. I took everything as inspiration. Like nothing was off limits in terms of gaining inspiration. Speaker 1 (1:51) I love that. I love that. What did you imagine you'd be doing at this point in your life? What was the original plan? Okay, well, I wanted to be in CIA. Speaker 2 (1:59) Oh, Speaker 1 (1:59) I Speaker 2 (1:59) got it. I also wanted to be a floral designer. And I actually designed engagement rings as well as post content. I'm still like in the realm of celebrating big life moments and connecting people, which I really love. But I think I always knew that I was going to be of influence and of inspiration. I just like knew being in Louisiana that I was destined to, one, be inspired and then to be impressionable. Speaker 1 (2:30) Oh, I like that. When did fashion start feeling like something you could really build a career around? Speaker 2 (2:36) I'd say in college, I went to USC. And while I was there, I interned at a high fashion company and I interned in jewelry design. And then I interned for like a more athleisure company. And I think then I was like, OK, this is I definitely want to be in the realm of design. And I love getting dressed. I didn't necessarily want to be on the production side of clothing, but I definitely knew that I wanted to move forward with it being a focus in my life. in some sort of way. I didn't necessarily want to work with cutting and designing textiles because I really liked the materiality of jewelry. Like I love working with stones, gemstones, diamonds, gold, platinum. But I also knew that I didn't want to work in the production of clothing because I wanted the styling aspect to still be fun. Speaker 1 (3:24) That's such an interesting like transition to do to gemstones and fashion. How did that? How did that kind of come about? How did you get into content creation while you're making engagement ranks? Speaker 2 (3:37) So I started posting my sophomore year of college, maybe. And I was posting my family at home in Louisiana. And it was getting a lot of traction. And then I don't live with my brothers, obviously. Like, I lived in L.A. I went back to school. And I just kept posting things that I loved and things that made me me in my life. And then it just kind of, it stuck. And so like when I'm home, I share my family, but I like share a lot of lifestyle too. I share my interiors. I share my clothes. I think when you like one aspect of design, it extends to the rest of your life. Like, of course, if I have an eye for fashion, I'll have an eye for interiors and like cutlery and art, all that stuff. When I started posting in junior year, my junior year, I never could have imagined that I would be in my fourth season of Fashion Week. sitting front row at shows, like it's such an honor and it's so surreal. It's so cool. It's crazy. It's so cool. Speaker 1 (4:33) And it's literally just because you're so fashionable. Like it's just a testament to your fashionability. I love that. I think that's incredible. How do you describe your style without using an aesthetic or a trend? What is your personal style? Speaker 2 (4:48) I definitely tend towards things that are trailblazing Speaker 1 (4:51) and Speaker 2 (4:51) just unexpected. Speaker 2 (4:55) I do like a shock factor. I don't like in a good way. Speaker 1 (4:59) I Speaker 2 (4:59) just I don't want to wear what everyone else is wearing. I want to blaze my own path and I want to be the first and only person wearing it. Have Speaker 1 (5:06) you always trusted your taste or did that take time? I Speaker 2 (5:08) definitely think my taste has I've honed in on like specifying what I like and don't like as I've. become more secure in myself but Speaker 1 (5:18) I Speaker 2 (5:19) do think that taste is intuitive like I think you're either born with it you can obviously strengthen it like a muscle but if you aren't born with that like initial intuition of like composition and and like colors and just an appreciation for that I definitely think you can learn it but it's definitely a muscle that you flex. Speaker 1 (5:40) What are some ways that you hone your taste? What are things that you do maybe outside of Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest that you do to hone your taste and where you go when you're looking for inspiration? I Speaker 2 (5:50) read a lot. I love to read. I love to go to museums. I'm so lucky in LA. We have such amazing exhibits. And also we have amazing museums in Louisiana too. There's just so much heritage there that I get a lot of inspiration from. I definitely think reading. and extracting like what I like about something, whether that's a magazine or a book or like Susan Sontag's notes on camp. Like, what do I like about that? And what have I, how have I seen that in media? And like, how can I apply that to how I'm getting dressed and feeling confident in myself when I meet with a client? Like, I think it all adds up. For Speaker 1 (6:27) a woman who says, I have no idea what my personal style is, where would you start? Where would you tell her to start? I Speaker 2 (6:33) would probably say start. and the silhouettes that you feel confident in. If you know, based on your body type, that pants and a micro tee looks good on you, then stick to that and then build around it. And if you work in a more corporate setting, then get a trouser with the same fit and then put a jacket over it. I think you always need to start with the silhouettes that make you feel the most confident and that work for your body type and then move on from there. I know that many shorts and knee-high boots work really well on my body type, but I cannot wear many shorts with anything else other than a knee high boot. Like, I just think when you have the knowledge of your body and your measurements and like proportions, then you're set up for success. I'm Speaker 1 (7:15) a huge proponent of a uniform. I think every girl needs like a uniform because everybody knows what they're comfortable in and what you're comfortable in and what you feel good in. You're just going to carry yourself better. I agree. I feel like. What makes you stop and think someone is really well-dressed? What do you look for? That makes you say that is someone who has taste and understands how to dress for her body. I Speaker 2 (7:35) would say balance. Like when things are balanced, when it's all maximalist or it's all minimalist, I'm like something needs to catch my eye where it's like sitting in a nice way. And sometimes if it's just like a vomit of patterns and colors, I think you can do that really well. But like I always reference a tibby color wheel, you know. that color wheel that comes with all their orders and like that's how I build an outfit and I think whenever I see someone where all the colors are working and all the materials and textures are working like I think if it's not interesting in color it needs to be interesting in texture or silhouette and like when if you're doing all three then it's too much but if you have one or two then I'm like oh Speaker 1 (8:14) I'm Speaker 2 (8:14) impressed Speaker 1 (8:14) need you to style me I need your do you do styling okay I might I might be calling you for some styling advice. Okay, walk me through getting dressed. What do you choose first and how do you know when your outfit is finished? Speaker 2 (8:26) I normally start with a statement pant or style around one thing. So today I styled around this jacket and then built the rest of the outfit around it because I knew that I wanted this to be the focal point. I knew that you were going to see from here up. It's something that's launching soon. I really wanted to honor it. I love it. Let it have its moment. Speaker 2 (8:46) It's from an exciting collaboration that's coming out. Oh my God, Speaker 1 (8:48) I'm dying. Speaker 2 (8:49) First week of October. Speaker 1 (8:51) This is so exciting. I'm really excited. I need that jacket. It's so good. We're making it in red too. Love. I heart red. Oh, I love it. Is that like what your end goal is, is you want to do fashion design? Do you want to have a clothing line or do partnerships with clothing lines? I think Speaker 2 (9:07) partnerships is a great transition for me. I would love to start my own jewelry company. Wow. One day and then have that just be an umbrella of like this whole world of design, whether that's jewelry and fashion and art or like a curation of art and maybe like a writing portion. I love to write and jewelry. I think that there is like an umbrella in which everything could exist. Speaker 1 (9:35) And then we build around it. So it or under it. So it girl. I'm obsessed. What is something you love wearing that other people might not understand? I Speaker 2 (9:45) want to say tabbies, but I feel like you get that answer all the time. We do get tabbies Speaker 1 (9:48) a lot, but let me tell you, tabbies are controversial. Like the girls, like again, I think you could pull them off. Like, I don't think I could pull them off. They are like, they're not for everyone. Speaker 2 (9:57) They are my most comfortable shoe. My mom was in town, I was telling you, and we were going to walk a lot before an event. And she was like, I don't have any shoes. I was like. She's very anti-Tabby. I was going to say, is she a Tabby Speaker 1 (10:08) girl or not a Tabby girl? I don't think, I feel like it's like. there's no right answer because it's like you either are that girl or you aren't and I am not but I get why they're so cool and so fashion and like when girls can pull them off I'm like you're so cool and beautiful and like those look sick on you but then other people it's like they do look ridiculous I Speaker 2 (10:27) love them so you're a tabby girl and your mom is not a tabby my mom is not a tabby girl I would love like one day for us to like both be on tabbies at some point And I just don't know. I truly believe Speaker 1 (10:39) it is like a mindset. It is like it is it