Leith Clark loves sweet things: woodland nymphs, frothy dresses, Strawberry Shortcake. More than inspiration, Clark’s spun-sugar world is the force behind her growing fashion clout, as a stylist to stars like Keira Knightley and for design houses like Chanel and as editor-inchief of cult magazine Lula, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this spring. The Oakville, Ont., native interned at British Vogue, landed styling gigs and then, in 2006, created Lula, which looks more like a storybook than a traditional glossy magazine: Models perch in cherry trees, Zooey Deschanel dances in front of a mirror and, in the current issue, guest-edited by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, a sepia-tinted Kirsten Dunst traipses through a field wearing Rodarte dresses. “We all got so giddy about it,” says Clark of the Mulleavy collaboration. “Lula allows me to be extra-curious, extra-nosy. It makes me seek out people who inspire me.” Also on that list? Karl Lagerfeld, for whom Clark styled the spring/summer 2011 Chanel Coco Mademoiselle fragrance campaign (“He is such a force”), and Knightley, her top styling client. “I think dressing up should be fun,” says Clark, summing up her sartorial maxim. “It should feel dreamy.”

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