She’s a standout in a crowd, a one-of-a-kind fashion-firster, a person you can’t help noticing because of her eccentric personal style, and it was not once, but twice I caught up with her at two of her favorite haunts – the Vanves flea market and Dior Fashion Week show.

Did I introduce myself?….no. She was someone I knew had celebrity status but I didn’t know her name or where she fit into the fashion scene. To find her I turned to Google Images: red-hair cupie doll lips bangs fashion Paris and one small square photo of her face turned up. From there I went to a series of articles that filled me in with her impressive credits: contributing fashion editor to Vogue.com, contributing writer to Vogue, a former fashion reporter for The Village Voice with a thirty year career. Her column, “Elements of Style”, was renamed “Frock Star” in February 2007. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times, Style Magazine, American Vogue, Travel & Leisure and a fashion columnist for Full Frontal Fashion, a style website in association with Sundance Channel.

Yaeger describes her henna-dyed hairdo as that of ‘the world’s oldest French orphan’. Her powdered face, cupid’s-bow dark lipstick, and layered voluminous skirts round out the signature look. “People have asked how I get the courage to walk the streets in, say, a shredded Comme des Garçons coat over a tutu, with metallic orange hair. I owe my confidence at least in part to my parents, who were convinced I was the cutest thing on earth and told me so every single day. (Recently, seeing my reflection at a party, I could almost hear my mom saying, ‘Lynnie, you look so pretty!’)”

Another interesting fact, Yaeger has been affected with a condition of ‘face blindness,’ or prosopagnosia, since she was a child. “I have a lot of difficulty recognizing faces and remembering faces, which is really bizarre for a fashion writer,” she says. “I need a lot of visual clues that aren’t the person’s face.” This has influenced the creation of her own strong, highly-identifiable signature look, she confirms.

Do you have the courage to stand out like Lynn? She is an inspiration and like her mom, I think she is truly beautiful.