Keds has been a mainstay in pretty much every girl's closet for a long, long time. So when you realize that they've been around for 100 years, it's both surprising and not surprising at all. After all, can you even a remember a time without them? (Answer: no. Unless you are a vampire.) In honor of their centennial milestone, the brand has launched a Keds Collective—a group of celebrity tastemakers to give their take on the iconic brand.
Girls star Allison Williams leads the pack for the project, acting as creative director and star for the short "Uncharted Territories." The video shows a playful side to Williams, and gives the feeling that in your Keds, you're ready for anything. (To Williams, this even means a red carpet—she sported them at the Refinery 29 x Keds launch party and looked chic AF while doing so). Here, we caught up with the actress/creative director to get the scoop on the video and her own style. Then watch the adorable short, premiering exclusively here.
Marie Claire: What was your vision for the video?
Allison Williams: I was lucky enough to be brought on as the creative director of the video, but thankfully that only meant listening to what photographer Autumn de Wilde's vision was, nodding in her direction, and throwing in a couple of random ideas that I felt were fun and added to it. It was such a blur, in the best way, and it was really wonderfully collaborative. There are definitely little bits of me in there. But Autumn had this great idea that was really stylized and had this specific perspective on this really non-obvious way of being a lady and being powerful and so I just worked with her enough to know that you just trust Autumn so I just went with it—and I love the finished product.
MC: Now, you mentioned a really specific stylized take in the video. How would you describe your own personal style?
AW: I would say I'm kind of classic, preppy but also just kind of basics. So I wear like a lot of old vintage jeans that are big and baggy with like a cable cashmere sweater. So that's kind of my vibe.
MC: With Keds specifically there have been so many iconic looks and women who have worn them—Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, Marilyn Monroe—is there a look you gravitate towards?
AW: I mean I just love how versatile they are. I just walked my first—but certainly not my last—red carpet in Keds and that was so fun. It's going to be very hard to do heels ever again. When I was walking out the door I was like, 'What am I forgetting? Oh right, my feet aren't screaming at me.' But there's a million looks and reasons I love them, you can point to so many different people that have worn them throughout the years, and they've all done them justice. They're like the chameleon of shoes. They can mold to fit whatever your vibe is, and I love that.
Oh, I just saw my mom! [waves]
MC: Oh so cute! Is there anything you've taken away from your mom style-wise?
AW: Oh my gosh, everything! Everything. In fact, we just showed up tonight wearing basically the same bag. So yeah, we have very similar styles.
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