Kate Lowenstein, associate features editor

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

Describe your personal style.
It ranges from whatever I find at the top of my drawer to…God, I don’t know. Do you have to ask me this?

Yes! You write the Public Eye. You should know better than anyone that I have to ask that.
Maybe. I also know most people falter on that question.

You are faltering right now.
In high school I would have said goth or ska girl, but I don’t have a personal style anymore.

We’ll just say “eclectic.” Moving on, what’s an outfit you recently wore that wasn’t merely the top thing in your drawer?
Well, last Saturday I wore this new dress that I got at H&M. Almost all of my new clothes are from H&M. It’s not something I like admitting.

Too late. What do you look for during your extensive H&M shopping?
I usually browse the more low-key end of the H&M spectrum. Because they’ve got a whole lot of really tacky, brightly colored, badly made crap.

So no rhinestones?
No rhinestones, no crazy-weird cuts, not so many prints…

Do you own anything with a rhinestone?
I don’t.

That’s too bad. That would have been a great discovery about you. I have to mention, you’re featured in our print-magazine feature on formal wear for buxom women. Does your buxomness affect how you dress in places other than a black-tie ball?
Absolutely. I think it’s a subconscious thing at this point. I’m instantly drawn to items that I know will fit. That involves stretchy fabrics almost every time. V-necks and scoop necks are much better than crewnecks. I am wearing a crewneck dress in the magazine, but I never would have picked that myself.

Do you think it looked okay though?
Yeah, sort of. It’s just not a cut I’m used to.

What other styles do you avoid?
There’s this fashion that’s in vogue right now called the tent dress. It just looks like a maternity dress on me. Also, little baby tees can end up extra-cropped.

Cleavage: yes or no?
This is a contentious topic among my friends. They think it’s great and I should go for it. But because of how I was brought up, I think it’s tacky. I avoid it.

Are you ever just in a cleavage mood?
Yeah, I make some exceptions. Actually, it happens by accident a lot. Like, if I wear a V-neck, sometimes it’s just there even though the shirt isn’t intended to be low-cut. And I’ll feel bad for the people I’m talking to because I know when I talk to a girl with her cleavage hanging out, I have trouble not looking at it.

That’s a very gracious attitude you have. Leaving the boobs aside, do you also match things to your fiery red hair?
That’s an interesting question. My mom always told me that wearing red made my hair look like dirty dishwater. But I don’t follow that rule.

Of course. You have to rebel against what your parents say.
Also, my mom never dressed me in kelly green, which is the typical redhead color, because she was brought up wearing that all the time. So I like it—it’s like a novelty to me. But you’re not supposed to wear yellow either, and I do that. I don’t care.

You live on the edge. When you took your trip to Ireland, did you see all kinds of redheads that inspired you with their style?
No. I can’t say that I saw too many fashionable people in Ireland.

You realize you just slammed an entire country. Good luck sifting through all that hate mail.
Damn. I wanted to go back, too.