Blake Lively Says She Channels a Character When Getting Dressed: 'What Spice Girl Am I Today?' (Exclusive)

Plus, the star, who is her own stylist, shares the story behind the Super Bowl curls seen round the world

Blake Lively is known for her maximalist style on the red carpet. Whether she’s wearing piles of bling, bedazzled shoes or a custom embroidered catsuit (or everything, everywhere, all at once). More is more is more for the actress and entrepreneur, who has unapologetically made loud luxury her signature aesthetic. (She’s never met a sequin she didn’t like!)

To hear Lively tell it, her outfit choices run deeper, acting as an armor and source of comfort when she’s in highly public situations.

“I'm a pretty shy person, so if I'm going to go somewhere, I tend to choose a character,” she tells PEOPLE while promoting her debut haircare line Blake Brown. “It’s like, ‘What Spice Girl am I today? Or which character of Sex in the City?’"

Case in point: The 2024 Super Bowl, which she attended with best friend Taylor Swift, in a red Adidas tracksuit with pants that tapered at the bottom with the hems appearing to be sewn to a pair of pointed-toe, stocking stilettos. She styled the ensemble with stacks upon stacks of Tiffany & Co. jewelry.

“I don’t think I was supposed to wear all that jewelry together,” she jokes, adding, “Because I style myself, I was like, what's the sort of character that allows me to go out to something that's a lot of stimulation and attention [like the Super Bowl]… what’s the way in?”

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Lively’s “way in” included a head of ‘80s-inspired curls that had us talking just as much as Swift’s on-field victory kiss with Travis Kelce.

“I want to be my sister,” she says of her Super Bowl hair inspo, nodding at Robyn Lively’s famous curls. “That outfit with blown-out hair, or just a ponytail, would've been a different thing.”

Lively has made method dressing an Olympic sport. The mom of four practically invented the sartorial cosplay trend that’s now become a go-to fashion flex for industry It girls promoting new projects. (Hi, Margot Robbie as Barbie, or Zendaya’s tenniscore promo tour for Challengers.)

“I'm so excited method dressing is such a thing now because years ago when I did A Simple Favor, people were like, ‘Why are you dressing like your character? Why are you in suits?,’” Lively says, referencing her 2018 promo tour for the Paul Feig film for which she just filmed an upcoming sequel. “And I was like, because we have no marketing money to promote this movie. It's a small movie and the only thing people really pay attention to at these junket interviews is the photos of fashion so if I just wear men's suits, people are going to go, 'Why is she just wearing suits?' And then they're going to go, 'Oh, because she's in a movie and she's wearing men's suits.' It's a marketing hack to try to get people to pay attention to our movie. And it worked.”

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Nothing put her method dressing skills on display better than the custom crimson Versace catsuit she wore as Ladypool cosplay alongside Gigi Hadid in Wolverine yellow (courtesy of Miu Miu) at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere in NYC.

“I had a theme, I had an angle, and all the embroidery on the catsuit was flowers, so I was still honoring Lily,” she notes of her double method move, simultaneously celebrating Deadpool and her promo tour for the hotly anticipated It Ends with Us, where she’s stepping out in a parade of floral looks to nod to her character, florist Lily Bloom.

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Lively says over the years she’s “taken pieces” from her different onscreen characters’ styles to influence her own personal wardrobe. She maintains, however, there is no one look or aesthetic that’s “so Blake.”

“My style is just all over the place,” she shares. “I don't think anyone would go, like, ‘Oh, that's super her!’ I tend to dress like my characters when I'm doing a movie because fashion is always the way in. I tend to dress like the character because I fall in love with whatever that is. Like, ‘Ooh, why don't I dress like this more often?’ So my closet is an amalgamation of that, and then my own style is an amalgamation of that. I’m just kind of a blend of all of them.”

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And while her style might vary year to year, project to project, one thing never changes: Lively’s signature long “bronde” locks. So it’s no surprise she just stepped into the beauty space with the launch of an eight-product, “masstige” haircare line Blake Brown (an endeavor that was seven years in the making).

"There are a lot of great options out there, but nothing that was doing all the things that I wanted, which was clean formulas with incredible performance at a mass price point with a fragrance that I would spray on my body,” the actress tells PEOPLE. “I didn't want to step into something that someone else had already created because I wanted to replicate the systems and the patterns that I already loved.”

Related: Blake Lively Gushes Over Her Ladypool Look from Deadpool & Wolverine Premiere: 'It Is Actual Art'

Lively recognizes that her hair is one of her most instantly recognizable traits, and that’s why she relies on a combo of good genes and careful maintenance to keep it looking its best.

“I am lucky. My mom has great hair,” she says. “I do have good hair, but I also treat it differently.”

Blake Brown will be available at Target and Target.com starting Aug. 4 at price points ranging from $18.99-$24.99.

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