FUNNEL FASHION: Goddess in Disguise: Leighton Meester

We see her here, playing the part of a smoking seductress, even when she's off duty. A dropped neckline jumpsuit in a crushed velvet and lace, the capsule bag hangs gracefully from her clasped hand. We want it. We want her style. She keeps us on our toes out and in of the Gossip Girl series. She’s on a hit show, got to make out with Entourage hottie Adrien Grenier and was recently voted New York’s most stylish woman.

"I was actually just talking about that, saying something about Milan and flipping through magazines," at an event she co-hosted at the Kira Plastinina store in NYC’s SoHo. "I’ve gotten to wear such beautiful clothes and had such a variety and it’s just been so nice because I feel like I’ve grown so much with my style and everything because I’ve been able to have fun with it. It’s really fun for me.

So how does Leighton cope with her fame?

"It’s changed everything for the better," she said. "It’s different, but I’m happy. This is the best life that I could ask for, and it’s more than I thought it could be. I remember looking through magazines or watching movies even just a couple of years ago and being like, ‘I really want to be part of that,’ but not realizing what that was. I didn’t understand it and now this is my life and it’s so funny! I couldn’t be happier."

Leighton’s character on Gossip Girl, Blair Waldorf, is a modern day Holly GoLightly who is obsessed with New York fashion and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In real life, she shares the same fascination with old Hollywood.

"I really love old movies and I love movies with Bette Davis and her kind of style and look," she says. "I love that time period. Because of the show, I’ve fallen in love with Audrey Hepburn. Blair wants to live the fantasy life of Breakfast at Tiffany’s or My Fair Lady, so I’ve gotten to see a lot of the fashion."

Leighton continues, "I think the most wonderful thing about her [Hepburn] is that she set a lot of trends and they were all about being modern yet having your own kind of look because you can be stylish and trendy all you want, but at the end of the day it’s about what you feel amazing in."

When it comes to today’s fashion, Leighton says she admires actresses like CateBlanchett, "She’s so classic but willing to take risks too. Her personal style is so beautiful and natural and down-to-earth and she can still wear really incredible dresses and not be taken over by it."

Her own personal style she keeps tucked away inside two brand new closets she had re-done in her Manhattan apartment.

"When I first moved to New York to do the show I had a little half of an entry way closet. I had clothes hanging on my fireplace, on my lamp, it was crazy.", "When I moved into my new place, that is the one thing that I love and I had to wait two months for it but it’s the biggest closet I’ve ever had. I have another closet in the hallway too. Ahh, it’s so amazing!"

The Leighton Buy Guide

What? We want it. NOW!