Lizzie McGuire had firm views on outfit repeaters. Hilary Duff, who played her on the Disney Channel in the early 2000s, turns out to hold much the same position in real life.
She filled Madison Square Garden last night with boas, glitter shadow and butterfly clips for the first of two sold out nights on the Lucky Me Tour, and told ELLE that wearing the same thing twice is something she genuinely struggles with.
The wardrobe
Going back on the road gave her a reason to build a run of one off looks with Gianvito Rossi and the stylist Neelo Noory. Among them are metallic silver leather Hansen boots, a chainmail top covered in flowers, and a star dress by Kelsey Randall that glows in the dark.
That last one has taken on a life of its own. People have been making their own versions and posting them, which she is enjoying rather than resenting. The dress, in her reading, has turned into a character of its own.
How the look was arrived at
It started on a Pinterest board. She wanted dreamy pop colours, the inside of an iridescent bubble, something sad and romantic with an edge on it, part slumber party and part full fashion statement. Getting there took more fittings than anybody involved can now count, and Noory spent a long series of nights chasing down small designers. Having Gianvito Rossi build footwear to order was the part she describes as a dream.
The goal was a world she could exist inside on stage, one that holds several versions of her at once: who she used to be, who she is, and who she is turning into.
Backstage
The pre show routine, when the clock allows one, involves a game of mahjong and an Aperol spritz. Then vocal warm ups, then the glam chair, where she is either scrolling or deliberately not scrolling by reading or crocheting instead. Her children are usually somewhere in the room, and there is a long list of things to get through before she walks out. She describes herself as someone who does well in chaos.
The one thing she would keep
Off duty she is happiest in a T-shirt and jeans, and by the end of a show she likes being in the most glamorous thing in the room. Asked to pick a single garment for life, she goes for a slip dress, on the grounds that it survives flats, heels, boots or an oversized jumper and never quite goes wrong.