Sara and Erin Foster of Favorite Daughter

Publish date: 2024-06-20

The way we get dressed every morning is as personal as it gets. There are outfit repeaters, vintage treasure hunters, and even emotional dressers. But while everyone loves a good fashion trend, here at InStyle, we're interested in the deeper stuff, too: the way jewelry makes us feel, the way a beloved coat can spark joy on a cold day, the way a pair of shoes can pull a whole look together. How I Get Dressed unpacks fashion routines, rituals, and go-tos — straight from the fashion tastemakers we love.

There’s nothing like some sisterly banter to keep things interesting — and no one knows that better than Sara and Erin Foster. The Foster Sisters (as they’re known online) have done their fair share of playfully roasting each other on Instagram, but their cheekily frank dynamic also acts as the creative force behind their fashion brand, Favorite Daughter.

Born from “many arguments over colors, fabrics, styles, and who should be the fit model” (their words, not mine), the line capitalizes on the Fosters' unique taste, brutal honesty with each other, and love for comfort and style. The resulting collection includes an array of thoughtfully considered clothes that focus on quality and wearability over trends and ego.

The name says it all. Favorite Daughter has grown into a low-key fave — both on TikTok, where creators praise their “perfect pair of jeans,” and offline, as seen on fashion girls like Olivia Palermo and Ashley Graham — since its launch in 2021. Most recently, the pair collaborated with subscription service Nuuly, where they are one of the company’s most-rented brands, on a capsule that remixes some of the sisters' most popular styles for fall. Standouts include a matching set with a classed-up tube top, a luscious corduroy jacket, and a pair of dark wash wear-with-everything jeans.

To celebrate the launch, we talked to Sara and Erin about all things style. Ahead, get their fashion hot takes, including the blazer they swear feels like pajamas and the trend they're leaving behind in 2024. Here's the Foster Sisters' How I Get Dressed.

Courtesy of Favorite Daughter

On Their Latest Collab

Erin Foster: It made perfect sense to partner with Nuuly because, you know, listen, we are an affordable brand when you compare the quality that we're going for against other brands, but affordable is relative to who you are, where you live, and how much money you make. So, to one person, they might think, Wow, you get a cashmere sweater for $300. But to another person, they're like, I'm not spending $300 on anything. We really want to be a brand that is accessible to as many people as possible, and if renting that piece makes it accessible for you, that's something we're really excited to do.

Sara Foster: We're trying to grow with the customer. These customers that are renting us right now — maybe they're renting a sweatshirt, maybe they're renting something else, whatever — but as they get older, and maybe they get a raise, or they change careers, and they can afford to own [Favorite Daughter pieces], we want them to be with us for the whole journey. So we love getting customers at all different inflection points.

EF: And maybe that's how someone tests out the brand if they don't trust us yet. They want to see what the quality is like. It's funny because, you know, we did some exclusive pieces that were for Nuuly...

SF: We did this Phoebe Bustier and pant for just regular Favorite Daughter, and then we switched up the fabric a little bit [for Nuuly], made it a little younger, and made the pants a little shorter. And it's just freaking awesome. And it's the one that I keep seeing on people. I keep seeing everybody wearing this.

How They Put Together Outfits

EF: Okay, I tend to start with jeans and work my way from there. And then shoes are just... there's no rhyme or reason. Typically, my shoes are kind of a disaster. I tend to wear the same things over and over again. I've worn the same Rag and Bone black, combat boots for legitimately nine years. And for some reason, they just won't break down, so they still look brand new. I wear them with everything. I start with jeans based on how bloated I'm feeling that day.

SF: To be honest with you, I only get dressed when I have to. If I could live in a robe, I would live in my Barefoot Dreams robe. I have driven my kids to school — hand to God, I swear on my life — in my Barefoot Dreams Robe. If somebody looks over, they're gonna just be like, Oh, maybe it's a top, maybe it's a jacket, you know.

EF: You're definitely, like, scarring your children.

SF: This isn't a bit. People are like, "Oh, I'm so casual, I don't care." Like, I really am. There is something wrong with me. I just want to live in a robe. So even though I have a fashion brand and even though when I go to events, I pull myself together, I'm just not someone that wakes up in the morning thinking, I need to slay today. I wake up and think, I need to get through the day. I need to feel comfortable.

Courtesy of Favorite Daughter

Layering 101

SF: I'm always cold. Literally, always cold. So, I usually am layering. I'm starting with jeans, and then I'm thinking about a long-sleeved shirt and a cardigan sweater. We're in LA, so I don't wear a ton of jackets most of the time. But now we're heading into jacket weather. We make blazers, and I'm a psychotic person about the lining in coats. So many of these amazing brands you go to, and you're like, Oh, this coat is so cute. It's so expensive, but then you put it on, and it's like putting your hands in plastic. I need everything to be cozy, even if, on the outside, it looks tailored and chic and fashionable and fitted. I want you to feel like you're wearing something really cozy, and I think our lining is exceptional.

EF: Yes, definitely. I always want to wear it right away. [For layering], I tend to go to our website to figure out how to style things because sometimes I just can't see the vision. I'm like, I don't know how to wear this blazer to not look too business.

Their Go-to Styles

EF: It's a sweater. It's always a sweater. I'm a sweater person. No matter what, that's just that's my safe place. So it's one of our oversized sweaters — it's gonna be the Navy Oversized Cable Knit Sweater. It's the Shawn Mendes sweater.

SF: He has been photographed in that Favorite Daughter sweater like 5,000 times. We're like, bro, let's get you a new one!

On Vintage Shopping

SF: I'm somebody that I always wanted a The Row coat, but I would never pay full price for a The Row coat. So I either really wait for those sales, or I go on The Real Real to see that coat I've always had my eye on.

EF: I don't have fashion items that are vintage because I don't know how to vintage shop. It's a real specialty skill, and I'm not good at it. So whenever I've tried the past, my real fashion friends are like, "This is very ugly and smells bad." So the only thing that I have confidence in shopping vintage is T-shirts, you know, old school T-shirts.

Sara and Erin Foster wearing favorite daughter clothes

The Shoes They Wear on Repeat

SF: Okay, I wear literally four pairs of shoes: my white Birkenstocks, my gray New Balance tennis shoes, my platform Uggs, and my Cornetti sandals.

EF: Other than my Rag and Bone boots, I wear navy Converse high tops, and I wear my Nike Air Maxs a lot. And then when I go out at night, and I need like a boot, like a nice boot. There's a Larroude brown suede, pointed-toe shoe.

SF: I love those. You know what my biggest splurge was? Those platform motorcycle boots that zip up the front from The Row. Those are back. That was a good splurge.

EF: I'm gonna be honest, they're really not your personality, but I respect you.

SF: I want that to be my personality. I want to be that girl that wears that in a trench coat and those boots. But like, I'm just not.

EF: I want you to be that person, too.

The Jewelry They Never Take Off

EF: There was one time that I was being really feisty with my husband in the morning and just in a mood. And he left me this note was like, I love you, my little storm cloud. And it became this joke. He had Jen Meyer custom make this [shows storm cloud necklace]. I get so many compliments on it.

SF: I don't know, you guys. I'm not a jewelry person. Like, look at me. My only thing is I know that I'm a disaster. So, I have this Jen Meyer chainlink heart choker vibe situation that I will never take off. I just won't take it off.

EF: The only other thing I'll mention is my girlfriend Nikki, who I grew up with, has a really interesting jewelry brand called Established. She makes wild, outside-of-the-box, chaotic, cool stuff. Very edgy. And she made me, her girlfriend, her sister, and her daughter these little puzzle-piece diamond necklaces. And when the four of us are together, you can put them together, and they fit.

On Outfit Planning (Or Lack Thereof)

SF: I do not plan outfits. Even when I was in that really hungry place in life when I knew I'd be seeing an ex at the party or something, I was too confident. I was like, Oh, I don't need to. Then I get to the point of Oh my god, I have nothing to wear. And then I always just do my go-to, which is a high-waisted jean that makes your butt look good (i.e., the Jen Aniston jean, which is the Favorite Daughter Valentina jean that [Aniston wears] in The Morning Show). So that jean and a tight Skims bodysuit or black turtleneck.

EF: Yeah, I'm an emotional wreck dresser for sure. I just, in my mind, think to myself, Oh, this is going to be easy. I'll get ready in 10 minutes. I know what I'm gonna wear. And then I go, Why would I ever think I could wear this? This looks horrendous. And I immediately start sweating and throwing my clothes everywhere and getting chaotic, and then I hear Simon like, "Baby, I'm ready." And I'm in underwear and panicking, so then I always fall back on the same thing, which is just a sweater, boots, and jeans. That's it.

The Trends They Love—And the Ones They Want to Leave Behind

SF: Justice for the high-waisted pant! It makes you have a waist, and if you don't have a waist, it gives you a waist. I'm always pushing for things to be higher wasted, and everyone's always like, "The cool thing is low, low, low," but justice for the uber-high waist.

EF: I am happy with the brown hair trend and the slicked-back bun that Hailey Bieber has radicalized. I think it's a great way to dress. Also, gold hoop earrings are an easy go-to, so I'm glad those are still in. 

SF: But you have bleached blonde hair. 

EF: I know, but I have the heart of a brunette. My soul is brunette even though my hair is blonde.

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