Kate Young was named the most powerful stylist in Hollywood, but in her tight-knit Brooklyn neighborhood she’s better known as Stellan and Leif’s mom. After seven years at Vogue, where she started out as Anna Wintour’s assistant, Young branched out on her own and the rest, as they say, is history. The past month alone has been a veritable whirlwind—from styling Jason’s Wu’s highly anticipated fall 2012 runway show to dressing her clients (and friends) Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams for the
Oscars. Young’s own edgy-meets-classic wardrobe and artfully crafted home achieve that hard-to-come-by combination of effortless and chic. Same goes for the eclectic pieces scattered around her boys’ shared bedroom—from animal costumes and wood guitars to the impossibly-cool tweed teddy bear given to her older son as a birth gift by the house of Chanel.
Stellan, four, and Leif, twenty-months, March 2012
1. "Cotton, wool, and wood (for work, wear, and play, interchangeably)
2. Dark chocolate
3. Red Wine
4. Rodin oil
5. Brooklyn Waldorf school
6. Rescue Remedy
7. Bedtime stories with all four of us in bed
8. Lying on our backs in the grass upstate, looking for birds in the sky
“Since having my kids, my style has stayed pretty much the same. But I have a definite work look and home look—aka dry clean only/machine washable.”
Louis Vuitton top and Madewell jeans
“The advice given to me by every good mother I know is to trust my own instincts.”
H&M animal masks
"Chanel made this bear for Stellan when he was born—it’s made from one of their suits. He's scared of it, and won’t sleep with it in the room. He’ll say, "I love you, I love daddy, I love this toy, I love that toy, but get that bear out of my room.' I try to tell him that the bear is awesome but he says, 'No mommy, it’s not. I hate that bear, get that bear out of our house.' And then my husband is like, ‘He is my child.’”
“As a mom, you get to experience what falling in love feels like again with each child.”
“My most humbling parent moments involve bodily fluids. Everywhere. Regularly. On Givenchy ...ugh.”
“I make clothes for them when I see a fabric I really like. I'm not very skilled—I just make really basic simple stuff but in good prints or colors.”
Stellan's bed:
Matteo duvet
Pillowcases made by Kate
Armani Casa cashmere blanket stolen from mom and dad's bed
“We keep a strong rhythm at home. My husband and I try to keep our home-life sacred and separate from work.”
“I love
Odile Gilbert hair pins—I never blow out my hair, I just twist it and put it up with her pins and it dries straight with a good wave.”
1. Favorite part about your Brooklyn home: "All of the toys."
2. Favorite part about your upstate home: "Thunder"
3. Favorite part about growing up in Brooklyn: "The train museum"
4. Favorite food: "Lobster and crab and French fries"
5. Favorite thing to do with your mom/dad: "Everything" (Kate: "Genius answer!"
6. Favorite music for dancing: "Tom Petty"
"The balance is hard. If I had more time, I'd do yoga."
“It's all much harder with two and yet there's much less stress about the little one. I don't worry about Leif—his health, his development—I trust the process of him growing much more and he’s a more laid-back little guy because of it. But chaos reigns now. With one I still felt like the house and my life were orderly. That is no longer the case.”
"My proudest career moment was getting pictures of my three year old nephew standing next to a poster of me in Macy's in Atlanta, cracking up. It made it seem really cool and fun and real."
“My kids make me proud all the time—they’re sensitive and really compassionate and funny and sweet.”
"I'm amazed by the village of people who help us raise these kids—my parents, Keith's parents, our nanny, the school, all of our friends. It blows my mind how incredible everyone is and how much they make up the fabric of the kids' lives."
Kate's quiche recipe
