How to get dressed with Ashley Moubayed

Ashley Moubayed is the founder of the jewelry brand, Don’t Let Disco (and the only reason I know what goes on in popular culture).

What to wear to work

Kallmeyer jacket, Elliss upcycled shirt and skirt, Khaite boots

When I’m getting dressed for work, I often consider whether the outfit will work into the evening as well. Sometimes I pick out the look from the night before, other times, it evolves organically because I’m excited about a specific piece — could be shoes, could be something I’ve just integrated into my wardrobe.

Other times, it’s an accessory. I think, What’s going to be the best canvas for this necklace?

The glasses are prescription lenses (but kind of look like these)

Don’t Let Disco brooch

How much time does it take? It depends. Sometimes putting a look together comes naturally and sometimes my entire closet ends up on my bed. Does that ever happen to you? Nothing is working and you just end up spiraling. But when it hits, it really hits. [The outfit that hits] is also always something simple with a little twist. It’s kind of why I love wearing mesh so much these days. It feels like the twist.

This bag is the best $70 I ever spent on Etsy, from a Ukrainian brand called Old Town; I can’t remember where the rosette is from but I love the way the leather patinas.

Switching up my tights color totally changes the chemistry of the look. I’m wearing a hunter green pair from Amazon here, but I always change them out.

I’m the founder and creative director of Don’t Let Disco, a brand I started in 2019. The Instagram account actually predates the brand. I started it when I was working at an auction house and capturing all these behind-the-scenes moments that I didn’t want to let go. Hence the name, playing on Don’t let this go.

Anyway, around that time, my grandma sent me a bracelet I had made years before. It sparked something in me, and I felt a renewed desire to make them again. I was working at Sotheby's, overseeing marketing and strategy for a range of selling categories, from 20th-century design furniture to rare books and manuscripts, and I would go home during my lunch breaks to make these bracelets. It felt so satisfying to start and finish a project completely, with no politics or need to justify any creative choices I was making. It felt so good to create for the sake of it. And the result was these beautiful pieces I felt proud of.

Eventually, I started selling them to co-workers and fully felt like a drug dealer because I was getting paid in cash and would encase the pieces in these fluorescent dime bags.

I kind of started DLD as my third space — do you know what a third space is?