“I’ve never gone through so much makeup in my life,” says Leighton Meester of her bouffantastic, teased and primped look as a young, ambitious singer in the movie “Country Strong.” “Tons of eyelashes and mascara and lips and acrylic nails and the whole thing,” she adds. And don’t get her started on the extensions. “There was so much extra hair in there! It felt like a cemetery. The outside was nice, but the inside was crunchy. And then on top of it, a blue leather dress with gold sparkly heels and a little cross for good luck,” she adds.
It was foreign territory for the “Gossip Girl” actress, who seems to be catching up with co-star Blake Lively in terms of fashion cred. Lively is the new face of Chanel; Meester’s the new face of Missoni. In real life, Meester describes her personal look as being much more low-key. “I really like those days where I can just wear sweatpants, to be honest. When I’m actually going to go somewhere, I like to be comfortable and casual,” she says in typical celebrity self-deprecation style. But she admits that she steps the dressing up a notch for fashion events. “If I’m doing something a little bit more fashion, I like to go a bit further,” she says. By “further”?she means red-carpet looks that are hard-core editorial favorites like Marc Jacobs, Vionnet and Versus rather than Hollywood staples Giorgio Armani and Elie Saab. “I think it becomes about expressing yourself and being comfortable and, you know, wearing what you like.”
