Libby Rush’s Work Wardrobe

By Marie Bradby

Libby Rush, vice president for residential interior design at Bittners, gravitates toward a tailored,
clean-cut style with her clothes. Photos by Sunni Wigginton

Interior designer Libby Rush says juggling jobs in Florida and San Francisco keeps her work interesting and exciting. Her travel jobs “always generate from a Louisville connection,” says Libby, vice president for residential interior design for the design house Bittners. “It’s nice making a reconnection [with out-of-town] clients that I have worked with previously in Louisville.




“I gravitate toward interior design that is classic in style, but eclectic — infused with color and interest,” she says. “It could be contemporary art. So I guess my dressing style is very much like that. It’s very much a polished style, but it has to be comfortable. I like clean-cut, sophisticated clothes. Things that fit me well are tailored and look professional.”

She starts with a very basic foundation: skinny jeans that are dark or black or olive green — something without a lot of print, Libby says. “I have more fun with a blouse, a scarf, a statement necklace. My style is derived from [the need for] comfort, because I am running around pretty much all day, every day.

“I’m in the sample room working on presentations, meeting with clients at Bittners or at their home,” the designer says. “I am on construction sites with contractors and clients. I have boots in my car. I am also meeting offsite at tile, plumbing, and cabinet shops to select products. So I am always schlepping things from one place to the next. I always feel like I have two big bags full of samples, carting them in and out of the car to clients and to Bittners. My dress has to be appropriate for that, but still look stylish.”



For a busy day, Libby chooses white jeans with a cinnamon sleeveless top, a long tassel necklace with pale blue beads, tassel earrings, and taupe strappy wedge sandals with frayed edges. Another day she pairs her cinnamon crop top with a matching long asymmetrical skirt and another large beaded statement necklace.

For a more formal day, she wears a milk chocolate, sleeveless safari dress with multiple strands of pearls adorning the V-neckline.

“I’m six feet tall, and pretty athletic,” Libby says. “I have a lot of fun, big earrings and necklaces. I have great scarves that I like to pile on. I have a lot of Summer Eliason necklaces and earrings. I love her things, and it’s an opportunity to have different colors that I can build on. I also usually am wearing simple gold bracelets. Fun accessories give variety to the basics. I do wear heels, but mostly wedges or something sort of flat. I don’t wear high heels to work because they don’t work in my environment.

“I guess I do shop a lot. I stay on trend, but I dress for myself. I wear things that look good on me, a six-foot-tall woman. A great color this year is a marigold. I have bought two or three great outfits that have that pop of color that I can still wear with white or dark jeans and still feel like it’s a good color for me and fresh in trend.

“I shop at Rodes and Circe,” Libby says, “and with (stylist) Patty Browning, who was with Worth; now she’s at Carlisle. I will pop into Liv Boutique. I build seasonally. I’m not an online shopper; I’m all about supporting local businesses.”