Lupita Nyong'o arrives to lunch at Sukh, her go-to Brooklyn Thai restaurant, in incognito mode: dark glasses and a black pashmina looped around her head like an Old Hollywood starlet. But when the Oscar-winning actress sheds her scarf and shades, her cover's blown. Standing in this quaint dining room in a denim micromini, a white oxford shirt, and beaded necklaces from her native Kenya, Nyong'o is—unmistakably—the most beautiful woman in the world.

This month, Nyong'o plays Helen of Troy, the mythic face that "launched a thousand ships," in Director Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated, much-shrouded summer blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey. As arguably the industry's most influential director, Nolan makes movies that are not so much theatrical releases as Cultural Events. (Remember "Barbenheimer?") Nyong'o is part of an all-star cast: Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and many more. Opening-weekend tickets are largely already sold out, some a full year in advance.

Yet on the Tuesday in June when we meet, Nyong'o herself has not been consumed by bubbling Odyssey mania. "If I could be very honest with you, I haven't been in New York," she says shortly after sitting, nothing but waters and menus on the table. "I've actually been recuperating from a surgery, so I've been away, in nature, taking care of myself."

In May, Nyong'o underwent her second myomectomy, a major surgery to remove more than 50 fibroids, or noncancerous tumors, growing in the lining of her uterus. Her first myomectomy came after she was diagnosed with fibroids in 2014, the same year she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her breakout role in 12 Years a Slave. Nyong'o shared her private struggle with fibroids in public for the first time last year: the "seasons of constant pain"; the heavy, prolonged periods in which she lost "dangerous amounts of blood each month." Earlier this year, she revealed her fibroids had returned.

The surgery is still "very fresh," Nyong'o says. She's not quite ready to talk about it yet. First, she suggests, "let's warm up."

Many women struggle to take a simple compliment. Nyong'o is not many women. When I ask how it sits with her to be cast as the most gorgeous minx of all time, she replies with an enthusiastic "Really well." Nyong'o laughs a little, but she's not kidding: "No, I do love this for me."

Here in our snug corner booth, Nyong'o is wholly owning the role.

"Listen. I'm not going to be mad at anyone calling me beautiful," she tells me. "I grew up feeling kind of like an ugly duckling." She references her 2019 children's book, Sulwe, inspired by her own experiences with colorism: "It took me a lot of conscious work to get rid of my insecurities and to free myself from the discrimination of my skin color."

Regal, striking beauty is inextricable from Nyong'o's public identity: as Nakia, the warrior/spy and love of the late Chadwick Boseman's King T'Challa in Black Panther; as the first Black face of Lancôme and a suited Chanel ambassador. The "jarring" attention started when Nyong'o moved to her birthplace of Mexico to study Spanish at age 16: "I was like, 'Wait a minute. I'm odd enough here. I'm singular enough that people are translating it as beauty.'"

At 43, Nyong'o speaks with the steady, almost mesmerizing conviction of a woman who has done the work. "When people compliment me these days," she adds, "I embrace it."

Early Odyssey discourse has been so preoccupied with Helen, it's largely glossed over that Nyong'o pulls double duty as her sister, Clytemnestra, the tortured queen who murders her husband, Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), as payback for sacrificing their daughter to the gods. It's a role that Nyong'o first played as a student at Yale School of Drama in a class called The Greeks. "Her story is so tragic," she says. "It's hard to forget."

In some versions of The Odyssey—including Nolan's, Nyong'o reveals—Helen and Clytemnestra are twins. She immediately agreed to play the more storied sister during her first meeting with Nolan. ("I never ever thought that I would be offered a chance to play Helen of Troy.") When the Oppenheimer director doubled down with Clytemnestra, Nyong'o "almost fell off the creaky chair [she] was on," but it helped that she'd already played doppelgängers in Jordan Peele's psychological thriller Us.

"I had the reassurance that I had done two roles before," she said. "My role in Us, I was the Odysseus. It was more of a heavy lift to do Us than it was to be a really, really valuable and pivotal part of Odysseus's journey."

To tackle the twins, Nyong'o knew she had to craft key physical and vocal distinctions for each character, an approach she says "Michael" (as in Michael B. Jordan, her Black Panther costar and the Oscars' reigning Best Actor for playing twins in Sinners) has also discussed. How, specifically, did Nyong'o approach Helen versus Clytemnestra? "I can't tell you that," she says slyly.

Inevitably, we've reached the point in our interview when Nyong'o must maintain the mystique of a new Nolan film. The director famously rejects the modern movie-marketing machine, a gauntlet of appearances, interviews like this one, and a deluge of TikToks and Instagram Reels promoting—and potentially overexposing—the project. When Nyong'o and I meet in June, there have been no glimpses of her in character as Helen. Two Odyssey trailers have dropped, neither of which feature her. Journalists typically screen the film their celebrity subject is promoting; not this time.

"I actually think that a lot of filmmakers want to be guarded about what they're making, but the industry doesn't allow them to be," Nyong'o says. "Chris has that power. He is that power."

Nyong'o is a director's darling, consistently working with the new masters, including Peele and Black Panther's Ryan Coogler. Even so, the mythology (pun intended) around Nolan felt different. "There's so much lore that goes with the Chris Nolan experience," Nyong'o says. In reality, she found him to be remarkably open, inviting her into three-way discussions with him and the costume, hair, and makeup departments. She praises Nolan's no-phones-on-set policy and the fact that he didn't coddle The Odyssey's constellation of stars.

Even before The Odyssey, Nolan's and Nyong'o's careers were creatively aligned. Both have a way of elevating blockbusters, bridging the gap between Best Picture and box-office hits. The Oscars have toyed with adding a "popular film" category, but between Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight (Nolan) and Black Panther, Us, and Wild Robot (Nyong'o), the synergy between art and commerce is already being realized.

For Nyong'o, filmmakers like Nolan and Coogler mean she doesn't have to view her career in terms of the old industry juggling act of "one for them, one for me" (projects that pay and others that feed your soul). "They do work that means something to them. They're not just collecting a paycheck," she says. "That's a gift, to have artistic convictions that happen to correlate with a popular movie." She could just as well be talking about herself.

Nyong'o has gravitated to iconic IP (Marvel, Star Wars), but her meteoric, Oscar-winning debut came in a comparative indie. In Director Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, she played Patsey, a young enslaved woman immortalized in the memoir of the same name. I wonder how it's impacted the rest of her career, to get everything she's supposed to want, upfront, at age 31.

"That is the only life I know, right? The version of life where I won an Academy Award for the first movie I ever did," Nyong'o says. "It's unbelievable that it happened that way, but I'm so glad it did because it happened before I had a chance to want it and now I get to be grateful for the rest of my life." Some say it's a curse, but Nyong'o credits the Oscar's weight, and not just because she sometimes uses hers as a dumbbell. "I would not be in a Chris Nolan film were it not for that," she says. "It legitimized my presence in an industry that has a very short attention span."

Growing up, she never dreamed of acting as a viable career path. She can't seem to stress this part enough: "I come from a very different world, Michelle." The daughter of a Kenyan politician/professor and a public health advocate, she was raised between Kenya and Mexico City, born in the latter after her family fled political unrest at home. "My options for what I could be were very narrow," Nyong'o says. "I had internalized that women were secretaries and business women." But her mother, Dorothy, clearly saw her potential, signing her up for public speaking, improv, and poetry recitation classes.

"I remember seeing Whoopi Goldberg in more than one movie, and I was like, 'Wait, you could do this?'" she reenacts her childhood enlightenment. Especially "because she was dark skinned, I really took note of her." It's moving now for Nyong'o to imagine her career providing the same kind of recognition for a new generation: "I feel very honored to be anybody's Whoopi."

Still, Nyong'o's bright-burning breakout was not without complication. "The years after winning were very challenging for me, psychologically, because I was riddled with the question of, 'What does up look like from an Academy Award?'" She aimed to give herself permission to fail.

"That's what got me to a place where I was eligible for an Academy Award, because I approached 12 Years a Slave with courage," she said. "It cannot be about the accolades. It has to be about the boldness with which I go about my work."

Maybe it's because Nyong'o grew up a world away from Hollywood that she's managed to approach its gilded trap with grace. "Trying to maintain other people's regard of you is not sustainable," she says. "The Academy Award was external validation, but it cannot be the prerequisite for self-appreciation."

Nyong'o knew too well that winning an Oscar isn't a cure-all. Fans saw her in plunging, powder-blue Prada, statuette in hand. Behind the scenes, 2014 was coupled with the crushing low of her first fibroids diagnosis: "It was just a very brutal reminder that no number of red carpets will protect me from poor health," she tells me.

Over her colorful salad and my plate of branzino, Nyong'o is ready to go there. She's been listening to Lena Dunham's memoir, Famesick, and relating closely to the story of a buzzy young star privately grappling with a chronic health issue.

It's tempting to write that Nyong'o has suffered in silence, but she now describes her experience with fibroids as something more specific, something all too female: She did not recognize her suffering was remarkable at all.

Though her period was going longer and she was experiencing cramps, abdominal pain, and clotting—all fibroid symptoms—"I didn't know I was sick," Nyong'o says of the lead-up to her diagnosis in 2014. "I didn't know there was an alarm to sound."

It was only after she insisted to doctors that the toughness in her abdomen signaled a deeper problem that an ultrasound confirmed she had 30 fibroids growing in her uterine lining. "I blamed myself because it had been a stressful year, and fibroids grow in a stressed-out body," she said of the dizzying high/low. "I was the thinnest I've ever been, and that was not by design. There was not enough time to eat, and I didn't have an appetite. My diet was cortisol and adrenaline."

Nyong'o says no one could explain why her fibroids had developed or if they'd return. Doctors repeatedly shrugged at a lack of research. Despite affecting 80% of women by age 50 and disproportionately affecting Black women, fibroids were—and largely remain—"under-researched, underfunded, and routinely dismissed," according to a piercing description by health policy nonprofit The Commonwealth Fund.

Nyong'o's treatment options sounded more like an ultimatum: surgically remove her fibroids or continue to suffer. She says hysterectomies—the only certain cure for fibroids—have too often been recommended as an extreme first course of action. Facing her first surgery, "I felt very alone, and I also felt like I had to deal with it in private," she recalls. Overnight fame was disorienting enough without publicizing her medical records. After a myomectomy that removed 23 fibroids, Nyong'o continued to grind. Ten days after the procedure, she honored a prior commitment to speak before 10,000 women in Boston. "I didn't know that I could say no, and I think a lot of women do that," she says. "Taking care of their bodies is not on the agenda, because the world does not create an environment where your pain is considered."

Post-op conversations about prevention felt similarly bleak. Nyong'o recalls two options: go on The Pill, which can alleviate symptoms but isn't a cure, or accept that it would only be a matter of time until her fibroids returned. "I lived praying that my fibroids weren't coming back," she said, "so when I learned that they were, it was this inevitable tragedy."

Nyong'o was mostly able to live her normal life in the years since her first surgery, but over time, her symptoms flared. "It wasn't until my period lasted more than 30 days that I finally crumbled," Nyong'o said. In early 2023, she learned her fibroids had returned and more than doubled: There were over 50 tumors, the largest being the size of a peach. This time, she was almost a decade older and full of fiery resolve: "I realized this system has failed me, and I got to try and understand the female body for myself."

Playing a cancer patient in 2024's A Quiet Place: Day One proved a turning point. "That movie where I had to look ill actually made me more well," Nyong'o said. To safely lose weight for the role on a short timetable, she worked with a healthcare facility that dialed into her nutrition and bloodwork. She learned that fibroids feed on estrogen and eating iron-rich foods could improve her liver function and, therefore, her hormonal balance; that getting vitamin D via sunlight and supplements could inhibit fibroids from growing (which is notable for Black people, who can be vitamin D deficient, as the melanin in their skin decreases sun absorption); that reducing stress and inflammation can make your body a less-friendly host for fibroids.

Nyong'o approached her second myomectomy this past May empowered by information. "Last time, I felt completely helpless and at the mercy of the medical industry," Nyong'o said. This time, "the fibroids don't have the same power over me."

Instead of racing back to the grind, "I went away for a month, and I stayed in the countryside, and my mother came and she took care of me," Nyong'o shares. She ate well, walked every day, and got tons of sunshine, "like a wounded cat." Nyong'o is still healing, including discomfort and pain from the surgical wound, but she says her body seems lighter already.

Even on set of The Odyssey, she strove for sleep, rest, and maintaining her anti-inflammatory diet.

Nyong'o doesn't feel alone after this second surgery, either, in part because of the community she's created by going public. Nyong'o has established herself as a truthteller. In 2017, she lent her voice to the #MeToo movement, alleging in a stinging New York Times op-ed that Harvey Weinstein made sexual advances on her while promising to boost her career. When she broke up with boyfriend in 2023, she skipped the typical, pat statement, instead vulnerably writing on Instagram about "a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception."

She decided to share her fibroids story last year. "Honestly, I just had it," she tells me. Part of her advocacy is awareness. "Why is this thing that's so common a mystery?" Nyong'o asks. "We should know about fibroids as much as we know about impounded wisdom teeth. Every single girl should know about the risk of fibroids in their teens when they're learning about their period and their reproductive system."

In March, she announced a Make Fibroids Count campaign with the Foundation for Women's Health, creating a grant to research less-invasive treatments; it has surpassed its $200,000 goal, raising more than $230,000. "I would love for there to be more solutions for women than just cutting us open," Nyong'o says.

This is the true beauty of Lupita Nyong'o: her resolve to do something productive with her pain, and her fame. "It's the delight of my soul," she says.

The Odyssey is in theaters July 17.

Photographer/Creative Conception: Kenny Germé
Creative Director: Natalia Sztyk
Stylist: Jan-Michael Quammie
Hairstylist: Vernon François
Hair Assistant: Batiseol Gomis
Makeup Artist: Nick Barose for Exclusive Artists using Chanel
Makeup Assistant: Naruedom Putipan
Manicurist: Bagir Hasanov
Set Designer: Lane Vineyard
Video Director: Sarah Al Slaity
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Nick De Bellis

Framed by rich drapery, layers of outdoor-printed scenery, and regal solid backdrops, our July cover star, Lupita Nyong'o, sparkles. Whether she's decked out in head-to-toe Chanel or a bold yellow-and-black uniform of Luar, the star of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey commands attention, and her collaborative, highly engaged spirit shines brightly. You can read the Oscar winner's full cover feature here, but I'm spending time with Nyong'o's hairstylist Vernon François and makeup artist Nick Barose to discuss all of the behind-the-scenes beauty details, from expert hairstyling and makeup application tips to specific product IDs. Below, we're diving into all of the glamour.

"My inspiration for Lupita's hair was rooted in celebrating versatility while allowing each look to feel authentic rather than performative," François tells me right off the bat. "Lupita has an extraordinary ability to embody completely different energies while remaining unmistakably herself, and I wanted the hair to reflect that. Some looks felt sculptural and architectural, while others embraced softness, texture, and movement." Across all of them, François noted a sense of confidence, elegance, and quiet strength. Rather than the hair being the dominant fixture, he wanted the actress's strands to become another layer of storytelling that could work in harmony with every creative element.

"Any look I create begins with understanding the intention behind the image," says François when I ask him to reveal his prep and styling process. "Before I touch the hair, I'm thinking about silhouette, proportion, movement, and how the hair will interact with light, wardrobe, and the story we're trying to tell." Of course, preparation is everything. Healthy, well-conditioned hair responds beautifully, so he always begins by ensuring the hair is hydrated and protected. From there, he tailors each technique to the specific look—whether that involves sculpting, defining, stretching, or creating softness and movement. "Throughout the shoot, each style evolved organically while maintaining the integrity of Lupita's hair and the kinky-straight Afro wig we used," he adds.

For products, François relied on Olaplex's No.5L Moisturize & Mend Leave-In Conditioner ($34) to hydrate and protect the actress's strands, the No.10 Curl Defining Frizz Reducing Hair Gel ($32) to create definition and hold where needed, and the No.7 Bonding Oil ($32) to add lightweight shine and polish. He says he uses these three products on practically all of his celebrity clients and recommends them to just about anyone due to the excellent foundation they create for healthy, versatile styling regardless of hair texture.

Styling tools were equally important, and François's arsenal included a rattail comb, a wide-tooth comb, sectioning clips, brushes, a diffuser, and a medium-sized Olivia Garden curling iron to create shape and movement. "My hands remain my most important tool," says François. "They allow me to respond intuitively to the hair and refine each look in a way that feels effortless rather than overworked." According to François, it's always important that hair isn't treated as an afterthought. "Hair has the ability to communicate identity, emotion, culture, and personality before a word is even spoken," he adds.

When it comes to Nyong'o's makeup, Barose tells me that he always wants to make sure that the actress's beautiful natural glow can show through the makeup, even when it's super dramatic. "The skin is never suppressed by heavy, opaque foundation or powder that's too matte," he says. "When the skin looks fresh and touchable, the rest of the makeup will always look better."

To prep Nyong'o's skin for our cover shoot, Barose massaged Chanel's Sublimage Le Sérum ($560) into her face and neck. Once it absorbed, he added a small amount of the brand's Sublimage La Crème ($505) to her complexion in addition to eye cream, the Sublimage La Crème Yeux ($320), and lip oil, Sublimage L'Extrait Huile Lèvres ($365). He shares that it's necessary to let all of the skincare sit and absorb for about five minutes before patting away any excess.

"For dark skin like Lupita's, it's important to make sure the T-zone stays matte but to leave any glow that's on top of the cheekbones," Barose explains. "There's a Mehron Makeup product made for the stage that I love called TouchUp Anti-Shine Gel ($15). I used a tiny bit of the Dark Tint on Lupita's forehead and T-zone, which allows me to rely less on powder and to control any extra shine." For foundation, Barose used Chanel's Les Beiges Foundation in B140 ($69) and Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Powder in B140 ($61). He prefers to apply liquid foundation with a dense goat-hair brush, like the premium handmade Japanese Hakuhodo model S5555 ($173). This brush is ideal, he says, because it allows more control so you can effortlessly layer or sheer out foundation. To create a beautiful pop of color, Barose reached for Chanel's Joues Contraste Intense Cream-to-Powder Blush in Grenat Profond ($56), a rich, deep red, on the apples of Nyong'o's cheeks.

Since the actress's wardrobe was quite dramatic, Barose didn't want the overall color palette of the makeup to get too vibrant or too busy, which would compete with what Nyong'o was wearing. Instead, he complemented the wardrobe by mostly using neutral brown tones to define and sculpt Nyong'o's features, which he loves to play up.

"I especially like to emphasize her eyes, lips, or both," he tells me. "I love Chanel's Le Crayon Yeux in 01 Noir Black ($36), which is a rich, pitch-black eyeliner that doesn't turn gray on dark skin like most black eyeliners; Chanel's Inimitable Extrême Mascara ($40), which adds volume and length in just a few coats; and I-Envy Cluster Palette Lashes ($8), which look so natural and are easy to use." Last but not least, Barose used Lisa Eldridge's Elevated Glow Balm Concentrate in High-Key Light ($38)—a favorite from the brand's new Marilyn Monroe collection—as a topcoat for eye shadow.

For Nyong'o's lips, Barose's product arsenal included Chanel's Le Crayon Lèvres in 192 and 194 ($37) as well as Lisa Eldridge's Gloss Embrace Lip Gloss in Sorcery ($28) and Chanel's Rouge Coco Hydra Gloss in 448 Opulence ($45) to add shine.

Barose and François agree that the strongest editorial work comes from authentic collaboration. "Every department brings a unique perspective, but the goal is always the same: to create one complete and visual story," François tells me. "Working with artists who trust one another allows everyone to elevate the final image. It never feels like individual contributions competing for attention. It feels like one creative language."

Throughout the day of our cover shoot, Barose and François stayed in constant communication, sharing ideas and making small adjustments as each look evolved. Sometimes, François explains, that meant softening the hair because the wardrobe was making a stronger statement or adding more structure because the makeup had shifted the overall mood.

"We looked at the clothes and discussed with Lupita, and since I frequently work with Vernon, we just try to complement each other's work," adds Barose. For example, when he noticed François was going bigger with the hair at one point, he adjusted Nyong'o's eyeliner to be longer and thicker, even adding lengthier false lashes to ensure everything stayed balanced.

"Working with Lupita is always inspiring because she's deeply engaged in the creative process," concludes François. "She welcomes exploration and thoughtful collaboration, which allows every look to feel considered rather than simply styled. When everyone on set shares that same intention, the final images become more than beautiful. They tell a story."

Sadie Soverall is a daydreamer. The sort of summers she yearns for were spent at her grandma’s bungalow in Guernsey, where she’d head out into the garden and lie on the warm floor of a dilapidated greenhouse, making up stories amongst the tomato plants. "It felt like a magical place, my own little world. I talked to myself a lot as a child," she says, smiling at the thought of her 10-year-old self.

She’s speaking to me from her bedroom in London on a sweltering day, and when we both appear on screen in matching tank tops, we giggle conspiratorially. Soverall still spends a lot of time cocooned in her imagination, she tells me. "Talking to myself is how I get into my characters; testing out how they sound and finding their voices. I even have a little altar to one of the characters I’m prepping for in the corner of my room." She can’t say what the role is just yet, but if her current trajectory is anything to go by, it’s going to be major.

At 24, Wandsworth-born Soverall is booked and very busy, not long off a sold-out run of John Proctor is the Villain at the Royal Court Theatre, and now starring in Every Year After, the YA romance that’s captured our love of yearning so deeply that Prime Video has already announced a second season. Soverall was still in school when she landed her first major role in Netflix show Fate: The Winx Saga, and she soon caught the eye of director Emerald Fennell, who cast her in Saltburn as Jacob Elordi’s university love interest. She held her own amongst titans including Barry Keoghan, Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike, her character Annabel all pouting privilege and noughties waist belts.

"I was really lucky on that set because they had us in the background in a lot of shots, so I got to spend time just watching Barry and Jacob work. They are both incredible at what they do, and I became absolutely obsessed with Alison Oliver [who plays Venetia Catton, sister to Elordi's Felix]. I think she’s one of the best actors of our time," says Soverall. The masterclass continued behind the camera, too. "It was fascinating to see how creative Emerald’s process is. She’d come up with little ideas in the moment, or she’d write a new scene at night, and we’d shoot it the next day. It was just so exciting to have a brilliant, intelligent woman at the helm of this thing."

Soverall, who gently rebuffs any hint of praise with a warm humility, admits Saltburn felt like a turning point. Her childhood dream of becoming an actor—sparked by a love of the 1976 musical Bugsy Malone and fed by a primary school teacher called Mr Vince, who’d write mini plays for her to star in—was no longer just in her head. But she says that nothing has made her success feel more real than playing Percy in Every Year After; the sun-soaked, swoon-worthy adaptation of Carley Fortune’s best-selling book. In it, two childhood best friends who spent summers together in the lakeside town of Barry’s Bay are torn apart by betrayal, then thrown together again in their twenties. The tension is painful and totally delicious.

It’s the latest in a string of book-to-screen blockbusters that have sent our desire for tales of yearning off the charts, from The Summer I Turned Pretty and My Life with the Walter Boys to Heated Rivalry and Off Campus. With an already dedicated (and vocal) fandom attached, does a role like this come with extra pressure? "I think it’s lovely that these books and shows have such devoted fans, but I feel the same amount of pressure as [with] any other character I play," says Soverall. "Of course, it’s an adaptation, but to my mind, the book is there and perfect, and this is just an expansion of that world. The thing about written stories is that they’re personal—we all have a specific, special version of it in our heads that can never be replaced."

Like me, she’s a lovergirl, so she understands innately why tales of young love resonate with people of all ages and are coming to define this current era of entertainment. "Partly, the escapism and levity they offer are exactly what we need in the world right now. But I think there’s also something about social media impacting the way many of us relate to each other, and the instant nature of it. We’re yearning for these real-life, slow-burn interactions," she muses. "When I was younger it was cool to be nonchalant, which was really hard for me because I wear my heart on my sleeve. But I think it’s swinging the other way, and that’s really lovely. Being able to talk about how you feel is a joyous part of being human."

Soverall says she drew a lot of inspiration from Meg Ryan’s roster when preparing for Percy. "I watched a lot of Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and especially When Harry Met Sally, because it captures that specific feeling of seeing someone significant after a long time apart," she says. "Meg Ryan is my favourite rom com queen; she’s fun and a bit messy, and her characters make mistakes. She’s so exciting to watch because she’s not perfect, and because of that, she kind of is perfect."

This leads us onto her own relationship with imperfection and the journey she’s been on to embrace parts of herself that she once wished away. "As a mixed-race person who’s Trinidadian, Scottish, Irish and English, I always felt a bit different as a teenager. The only thing that was cool and attractive at my school was having straight, blonde hair and blue eyes, and when I was going through puberty, my hair would just be huge and frizzy no matter what I did," she shares.

When the boy she liked said that her hair made her look "like a witch", she saved up her pocket money to get a straightening treatment. "I immediately regretted it. I looked in the mirror and realised I’d done this permanent thing based on a very small group of people’s opinions about me," she says. "There was a period when I was trying to be someone else, but I can look back and have compassion for that version of myself. Now I love my hair, and I love all the features I got from my Trinidad side; they’re beautiful and special. And I think it’s really cool that I have my big hair on this cover. It’s like, in their face, you know?"

I do know; the tussle with our hair almost feels like a rite of passage for mixed women, but it’s glorious to see Soverall own exactly who she is, especially when, despite her impressive score sheet so far, she’s really just getting started in her career.

Is she planning to take her foot off the gas anytime soon, or is it still full steam ahead? She sips her iced coffee, thoughtful for a moment. "I’ve been wanting to work all the time, but the summer sort of forces you to slow down. It’s a time for being with friends in the sun and having fun and looking after yourself. So I’ll do some of that, then I’ll get back to it." She smiles slyly, as if she doesn’t even believe this herself.

Her eyes flick in the direction of the altar she’s made to her next character, and I suspect she’s ready to head back to her happy place: her own imagination. I wish her sweet daydreams and sign off, safe in the knowledge I’ll meet her again on screen many more times in the future.

Photographer: Natasja Fourie
Hair Stylist: Christos Bairabas
Makeup Artist: Faye Bluff at Agency of Substance
Manicurist: Ami Streets
Stylist: Remy Farrell
Editor-in-Chief: Jane McFarland
Beauty Director: Shannon Lawlor
Art Director: Natalia Sztyk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Writer: Meena Alexander
Video Editor: Natasha Wilson
Digital Technician: Kayla Middleton
Lighting Assistant: Luké Simmonds
Production: Town Productions

It's officially summer, which means we're saying hello to a fresher (and hotter) beauty aesthetic: glowing skin, wind-swept hair, simmering eyes or lips… the possibilities are endless. In this month's Now Playing Issue (which also stars Victoria Monet and Jonathan Daviss), Camila Mendes is offering the ultimate inspiration with an ultra-glamorous burgundy lip, a glossy eye, and shiny, gently tousled strands. To provide us with all of the behind-the-scenes details, hairstylist Lauren Palmer-Smith and makeup artist Jen Tioseco are walking us through their exact process and product picks. Keep scrolling for everything you need to know about Mendes's smoldering summer beauty vibe.

Right off the bat, Palmer-Smith tells me the goal for this shoot was to create effortless glamour with an "editorial, cool-girl" vibe. For Mendes's wet look, she used a personal favorite combination of products: water and Shu Uemura's Essence Absolu Nourishing Protective Hair Oil ($42). For Mendes's soft (and dry) look below, Palmer-Smith reached for Chris McMillan's The Dry Texture and Volume Spray ($38) and a 5/8-inch curling iron (we like this one from Hot Tools) to add a touch of soft texture.

"In addition to the Chris McMillan texture spray, there's three hair products I literally always bring with me to set when working with celebrity clients," says Palmer-Smith. "My Bumble and bumble Spray de Mode Flexible Hold Hairspray ($29), my Oribe Maximista Hair Thickening Spray ($42), and my Oribe Supershine Moisturizing Hair Cream ($54)."

For makeup, Tioseco tells me it's always about creating a statement in one area when she's working with Mendes—whether it's her skin, lips, or eyes. For this shoot, the focus was on the skin and lips, keeping the eye simple with a gloss for a true, editorial feel. "After Cami's fitting, it was obvious the clothes were going to be the statement of the shoot," Tioseco explains. "We decided to start clean and fresh and build onto each look as the shoot progressed. I used the Haus Labs Triclone Skin Tech Foundation ($52)—the range is so great for olive and golden skin tones—and landed on the bold burgundy lip because it felt impactful yet complementary without overtaking the clothes. Cami is so gorgeous, it's always hard to pick one area to focus on."

Naturally, skin prep is the most important part of Tioseco's routine, especially when there will be a large emphasis on a client's skin during an event or shoot. "If the skincare and skin isn't skinning, no matter what foundation I use, the end result is not going to look good," she says.

To start the process with Mendes, Tioseco cleansed the actress's skin with Danucera's Cerabalm ($92) to gently reset the skin, followed by the brand's D22 Tonic ($42) applied with a cotton round in a lifting motion to refine and prep the complexion. Next, she pressed the Mega Serum ($165) with vitamin C and niacinamide into Mendes's skin with her hands for hydration and bounce, then sealed everything in with the Cream Supreme ($225). For the final touch, she finished with the Iconic Eye Cream ($145) to smooth and prep the under-eye area for a flawless concealer application.

"Jen and I work very well together in creating cohesive glam looks that communicate the overall feeling of the story we're trying to tell with the hair and makeup," says Lauren-Smith. "I also just love collaborating with Camila. I love the ideas that she brings to each event and shoot."

Victoria Monét's music used to drip. Her voice moved in rich, honeyed ripples that swam through sultry backbeats and orchestral symphonies. Her new music, however, soars. This is quite fitting for the former jaguar, who tells me she's traded her claws for butterfly wings.

The sugar-dipped voice that I've heard crooning "On My Mama" one million times on the radio and at sparkling New York City parties greets me during a short hour of downtime in early May. I'm hesitant to even call it that, seeing as it's the only time she could spare on a packed rehearsal day. We'd already pushed things back to accommodate her dancers' schedules, as they were approximately 40 days out from The Romantic Tour with Bruno Mars, which Monét joins this month in Saint-Denis, France. You see, the singer-songwriter (and recent culinary school graduate!) has been in constant motion ever since clinching three awards at the 2024 Grammys, including Best New Artist, but if you've been wondering where she's been in the two years that have passed since, she doesn't blame you.

Newcomers to Monét's musical universe, strap in. The star has been putting down roots in the industry for more than 15 years, spending the majority of this time as a hit songwriter for and frequent collaborator of stars such as Ariana Grande, Chlöe x Halle, and Fifth Harmony before dedicating herself to a solo career. Six studio albums, 26 singles, and 36 award nominations later, we meet Monét in a stage of metamorphosis, shedding the weight of expectations, accolades, and timelines as she etches a new chapter into her story.

I met the multi-hyphenate just a few days after her 37th birthday, which Monét used as a benchmark for a new and spotlessly cleaned chapter. She celebrated the occasion on her socials too, scrubbing every photo that predated May 1 (Taurus hive, rise) from her Instagram profile—yes, even photographic proof of her career-defining awards. It sends a subtle yet powerful message that no one needs to see her résumé to measure her worth. They simply need to see her now.

I ask her about the sudden switch-up in social presence. It usually means one of two things: a new record or a horrendous breakup. Luckily for Monét's avid music fans, it's the former—an album. She tells me it is "the longest she's ever done," with a release date and name so ironclad that even I couldn't get her to budge. Fans did, however, get a taste of what's next with her buttery single "Let Me," which became the top-added song on R&B radio in its debut week.

"I wanted to start over, using my birthday as a launching pad," she explains in her irresistibly soft voice. Monét's goal is for listeners to understand the world of her upcoming album before ever stepping inside, one that's steeped in monochrome nostalgia—inspired by childhood memories of dancing in front of her grandmother's analog television set in Mobile, Alabama—and reflective of her new outlook on life. Three Grammys later, the world views you differently, and she quickly learned that it's not always for the best.

While the singer-songwriter took these coveted awards as confirmation that she is, in fact, on the right path ("It's a peer-voted award," she points out), Monét was disillusioned by the aftermath of that career-altering evening. "Once you have an accolade like that, people often look for a reason to discredit why you got it," she nearly whispers, forlornness staining her pillowy voice. It's the age-old tale of support from those around you until your achievements highlight their own insecurities. "Once you get there, there's another group of people that question the validity of your deservingness," she continues. Monét found that it is indeed lonely at the top.

Regardless of the online chatter, the award came with an immense sense of personal pride and media attention, so it didn't take long for plenty of doors to swing open to new opportunities for the performer. Rarely, however, did they reveal a recording studio. "After the Grammys, I was so busy that I wasn't in the studio that much, which I don't like," states Monét. Her life quickly became a flurry of rehearsals as she ran the music-festival gambit and devoted every other minute to press engagements, interviews, and event appearances. "I just had waited for those types of opportunities for so long that my team was saying yes to everything," she explains. The artist doesn't blame anyone; it was a learning lesson all around. But ultimately, this period dragged her into the undertow of marketing and away from what earned those awards in the first place.

"It's one reason why this album has taken longer," she explains. "I think—pending [a Grammy] happens again—I would do the opposite and bunker down in the studio," she theorizes, looking toward life after what I'll call Victoria Monét 7 for now. She calls the now-necessary content side of her career nonstop and admittedly foreign to what she once imagined the music industry would look like. "But I'm down because I want to make sure the music goes as far as it can," she tells me. The grit required for years of work to finally become the people's favorite new artist is momentarily evident in her tone. Her upcoming album, which I'm told is arriving later this year, is one she's dubbed her very own Thriller—referencing Michael Jackson's genre-defying sixth studio album. I've coincidentally just returned from devouring every frame of the film Michael, starring the eponymous star's very own nephew, Jafaar Jackson, over a giant bowl of movie theater popcorn, so naturally, I press her for more details.

"When he was making Thriller, he wanted to expand beyond what people would think of him doing," she goes on. The artist cites Jackson's genre-bending next moves—dabbling with yacht rock and other contrasting themes to push past the confines of R&B—as part of the driving force behind her new project. "The album really doesn't have that much of a box, so it will have some moments that are more surprising sonically but also some that feel like a natural progression from Jaguar to now," she adds.

Such is evident in the seven tracks I streamed from a password-locked vault: sprinkled with vintage guitar and violin strings, peppered with synth, and glazed in sweetly seductive vocals. A nostalgic, orchestral opening track reminds me of grainy VHS tapes and dancing Disney princesses—a nod to her Southern grandma's family room, the birthplace of so many of Monét's earliest musical references. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins were repeat hits in her grandparents' home, which eventually played a role in the performer's evolving music and style identity. The world will soon see the nostalgic influence of Dorothy Dandridge glamour shots, Singing in the Rain costuming, and the choral performances of Mr. Holland's Opus shaping Monét's new chapter.

"The jaguar exists within me always, but I'm feeling like a softer version of myself [now]," she explains. "The claws are retracted, and [it's] not growling. I'm more peaceful. I keep thinking about the caterpillar … and the transformation, the complete release of itself that has to occur for it to become a butterfly."

The synergy that Monét feels with Jackson and her other childhood references wasn't just the catalyst (or shall I say chrysalis?) for her new work. It was a wake-up call. The artist realized that she was on the precipice of something great but ultimately needed to do some shedding to move forward and continue to grow as both an artist and a person. "That's what this year is about: growing spiritually," she explains. "It's about being a better person while I'm here … [and] making sure that I have the longevity and mental capacity to handle the stresses that come with whatever my next chapter is bringing. I'm asking for more, so [I'm] making sure I'm equipped to handle more."

Spiritual and personal growth have been a theme throughout the songwriting process and slowly seeped into the project itself. "[This album] feels a lot more clearheaded, more pure," she explains. This clarity allowed her to show love to herself, offer it to others ("even people who don't even really deserve it," she muses), and thread it into every pulse of the music. I mean that literally. She's infused healing frequencies into some melodies for alignment. You can think of these upcoming tracks as your modern-day "Ring My Bell," the 1979 hit from Anita Ward that went viral on TikTok for its 432-hertz pitch—thought by many to be a fast track for abundance manifestation. Monét herself is a believer, having once danced under an eclipse moon while looping Ward's chart-topper in her bedroom.

If being a singer-songwriter, Grammy winner, and mother (yes, Monét has a doting 5-year-old daughter) weren't enough notches on the multi-hyphenate’s belt, she's decided to add another—this time in a completely different industry. After graduating at the top of her class this spring from the Institute of Culinary Education in Pasadena, California, she can officially call herself Chef Monét. A few of her newest acts of service include hosting generous brunches and dinner parties for her friends that include fried chicken and caramelized waffles, French omelets and chives, and date cake with bourbon ice cream.

"It's something that I wanted to do forever," she responds when I ask her what sparked this new venture. "I had such a crazy year last year emotionally that I was starting to look into it, and I would put my foot in and then be one step out." Eventually, the star set her mind to it. "I said, 'Fuck it!'" she exclaims with a laugh. "I went on the school tour, started talking to them about what it would require, including the externship that I have to do to get my actual diploma. Then a couple of days after that, Teyana Taylor posted that she was in culinary school, and I was like, 'Wait, what? You too? I'm going too!'" It's like freshman year all over again.

Though I lack the cooking prowess that Monét now wields, I've experienced the "mind wandering" phenomenon, as detailed in a paper by assistant psychology professor Zachary Irving at the University of Virginia, while chopping vegetables. Essentially, they're those brilliant, crystal-clear ideas that seem to fall out of the sky once your brain quiets down during a repetitive task. Seeing as I've gotten some of my best introductory lines and styling ideas when dicing up cucumbers, I ask if culinary school ever aided the songwriting process of her upcoming album or even unstuck a bout of writer's block. Unsurprisingly, she says yes.

"I actually came up with one of the songs on my album while making cookies," she says with a grin. The act itself became meditative: listening to music while cooking and humming while nursing a pan over open flames. "It all goes together, food and music," she states. But when it comes to songwriting in general, Monét has found that the process is entirely attached to ego.

"Opposite of writer's block to me is an ego death: just going in and getting all the 'bad' things out—the bad melodies, the bad songs, bad lyrics—and not judging yourself for it," she muses. Whether that's in the kitchen or in the studio, Monét has learned to trust in her abilities, and that includes the initial shed that each songwriting session requires. "Eventually, you'll work your way into the songs you start to feel good about, but you have to do it without ego," she adds.

At this point in her career—one marked by graduation caps, Grammys, and a growing daughter—you'll see Instagram comments like "Queen of side quests!" all over the star's social media posts. While it's true that Monét refuses to let herself become stagnant (she has future goals that include massage therapy, gardening, and learning ancient Chinese medicine), one thing that will forever remain firmly rooted in place is family. Hazel, the star's kindergarten-age daughter, has accolades of her own despite her small stature, for the energetic, button-nosed kid made history as the youngest Grammy nominee at age 2 when her mother's song "Hollywood" was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2024.

Though Monét’s mini-me achieved a goal before pre-K that most musicians won't in their lifetimes, the star is leaving her daughter's future in her own little hands. "Just yesterday, I was looking at this paper she brought home from school that said when she grew up, she wanted to be a dentist, which was my first time hearing that one," Monét says with silvery laughter. "But she also wanted to be a hairstylist, a singer, a scientist. She's taking jiujitsu. She's in piano. She loves dance—she's at my rehearsal right now. As soon as she gets here, she's in the mirror, posing, dancing, choreographing, and telling people what to do." She gets it from her mama, no?

Monét's relationships have long been the source of much chatter, but at this stage in her life, the artist is approaching romance opportunistically. "It's really hard," she says in response to my question about dating as a successful woman. "It's hard, one, to attract anyone who is going to understand this lifestyle [and], two, to maintain it. So I've just been focused on my daughter and me and what I have ahead because when I'm in a relationship, I'm prioritizing the other person as well." It should be that way, she says, but with an upcoming tour, a busy kid, and a forthcoming album, there are only so many hours in the day. However, she won't say no to a fun date.

In all, it's Monét's main wish for her daughter to have a primary example of accomplishing dreams, hobbies, side quests, and more as a mother. "I'm just trying to show [Hazel] that she really can do it, even when it's hard or you don't get the right amount of sleep or you don't feel great about your work or whatever it is," she explains, her voice breaking ever so slightly. "I'm just pushing through and letting her see by actions, not just by words."

Though artists, especially women, are taught to measure their talents by their accolades, Monét has taken care to reshape her relationship with success into something much healthier way before this next chapter unfolds—making sure she doesn't "live and die" by awards. "I would love to experience another Grammy and that feeling of being a musician's musician, but I also want to make sure that if that doesn't happen, that I don't feel any less powerful or less supported or less successful," she explains. "[I'm] just learning a new way to detach from certain things and grow, but ultimately with love."

Photographer: Erica Snyder
Stylist: Dione Davis
Hairstylist: Davontae Washington
Makeup Artist: Diana Shin
Manicurist: Coca Michelle
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Set Designer: Lucy Holt
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Erin Corbett

“We’re off to a great start,” Camila Mendes croons from the other side of her screen, her eyes wide with amusement and her sharp, chin-grazing bob almost perking up at the sound of my voice. Within minutes of logging on to our Zoom call, my Miami-laced tone tips her off to our similar backgrounds. We both grew up in South Florida suburbia, a humid, heat wave–filled swampland that’s both increasingly chaotic and painfully claustrophobic at the same time. She puts it best when she states that our hometown, and the bubble it occupies in our origin stories, is like another world.

Maybe that’s why our hour-long interview feels strangely familiar, much more akin to a reality-television confessional than a prim-and-proper affair. She talks about her fitness routine and starring in a Mr. Fantasy (rumored to be her former Riverdale costar KJ Apa) music video. When Mendes learns we graduated from the same high school, only a few years apart, our conversation derails into a trauma-bonding session uniquely reserved for those of us who survived South Florida adolescence. By the end, talking to Mendes feels much less like interviewing a celebrity and more like catching up with a cool upperclassman I would have passed in the hallway all those years ago.

The ease and flow of our conversation almost distracts me from how, unlike the hazy, slow life most people live in Miami, Mendes is in the middle of one of the biggest years in her career so far. In the first half of 2026 alone, she’s been attached to three separate upcoming projects; her cofounded production company, Honor Role, just released its second feature film, Idiotka; and somewhere in the middle of it all, she’s planning a wedding to longtime partner and former Música costar Rudy Mancuso.

And then, of course, there’s the small matter of starring in a major summer blockbuster. This month, Mendes steps into the sprawling, nostalgia-drenched world of Masters of the Universe, the live-action reimagining of the beloved ’80s He-Man franchise starring Nicholas Galitzine, Idris Elba, and Jared Leto. In it, Mendes plays the sword-slinging Teela, who teams up with Prince Adam, played by Galitzine, to defend their home planet of Eternia from the evil wrath of Skeletor. It’s the kind of studio summer spectacle built for oversize budgets, Comic-Con hysteria, and inevitable internet discourse. Masters is the largest stage Mendes has occupied since her breakout years as Riverdale’s resident mean girl, Veronica Lodge. No big deal or anything.

“I’ve never been a part of something of this scale. I’ve never been a part of a proper press tour before, and I hear it’s really chaotic in a fun way but also really exhausting,” Mendes admits, nodding to the high-intensity demands of the cast’s global premieres rolling out over the next several weeks. It’s a whirlwind of red carpets, international red-eye flights, and press-tour obligations with no educational crash course to help one prepare. But Mendes is used to it. She stays busy. Her life in this era, she jokes, is not unlike the infamous Lady Gaga meme: “No sleep. Bus, club, another club, another club, next place.” The image tracks.

Despite what her hectic schedule may imply, or the fact that Mendes’s name stays in the headlines of Deadline articles posted across Instagram by talent agencies and stan accounts, she loves having nothing to do. “I’m not someone who seeks busyness, genuinely, and I feel like if you’d talk to any of my friends or family, they’d laugh at me for saying that,” Mendes notes. “I think I’ve gotten a lot better at saying no to things as I’ve gotten older.”

There’s a surprising steadiness to Mendes when we speak, the kind that feels slightly at odds with the hypervisibility that’s followed her since Riverdale catapulted her into mainstream recognition nearly a decade ago. Despite only being a few years older than me, she speaks with the kind of emotional clarity that usually only arrives after either a complete existential unraveling or a very expensive wellness retreat—or in Mendes’s case, both.

In 2024, the actor attended the Hoffman Process, a personal-growth retreat beloved by a very specific subset of spiritually curious celebrities—think Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Sienna Miller. The retreat, structured as an intensive seven-day program, has become something of a rite of passage for Hollywood figures attempting to untangle themselves from years of industry burnout. Mendes’s decision to go came at a particularly loaded moment in her life: fresh off the heels of her Saturn Return and after Riverdale’s seven-season run came to a close—a chapter of her life that, for nearly her entire adult career up until that point, dictated everything from her public identity to the rhythm of her day-to-day existence. What happens after the role that made you who you are becomes past tense?

It’s no surprise the actor needed to figure out what was next in the void of insurmountable change. “I was going through a period in my life where I didn’t know how to say no. I kept blaming the world, kept blaming everybody but myself for being busy, and had so much anger,” Mendes admits. “That experience at Hoffman really helped me clarify for myself what my priorities are and what I want out of life. I now have such an easier time determining what’s worth my time and what isn’t.”

That emotional clarity has seeped into the way Mendes approaches acting, too. Despite starring in increasingly larger-scale productions—where performance can often feel more manufactured than personal—Mendes insists the work only clicks for her when it comes from a place of authenticity. “To me, acting is being truthful, and that’s why it comes more naturally to me,” she says. It’s why she speaks about her characters less like fictional creations and more like emotional extensions of herself. Whether it’s Veronica Lodge or Teela, Mendes feels protective of every woman she plays. They all carry fragments of her.

On paper, Teela and Mendes don’t exactly seem spiritually aligned. One is a sword-wielding fantasy warrior born out of an ’80s toy empire, and the other is an actor who speaks thoughtfully about boundaries, emotional healing, and the importance of doing absolutely nothing whenever possible—their hair colors don’t even match—but Mendes insists that stepping into Teela’s world revealed more of herself than she initially expected.

In many ways, Teela’s emotional arc mirrors the lesson Mendes says she’s only recently begun learning in her own life: Softness isn’t weakness. You don’t have to become emotionally detached to be powerful.

Strength, particularly for female superheroes on-screen, is so often written as emotional restraint, Mendes says, noting she’s often felt disconnected from several on-screen female superheroes in the past. “To me, Teela’s journey in this film is about finding strength in vulnerability. Teela was really in touch with her physical strength but not so much with her emotional side,” Mendes adds. “In her mind, she’s like, ‘I’m on my own in this world. Everyone is incompetent, and I need to take care of everything,’ but at the end of the day, there’s just a really sad little girl inside of her who feels abandoned.”

The 2026 reimaging of the world that He-Man, Teela, and the rest of the Masters of the Universe characters live in feels fitting for this moment. There’s a reason director Travis Knight and the rest of the cast felt compelled to tell the story of Prince Adam of Eternia, unlocking his inner strength by accessing his emotional, vulnerable side. We’re living in a cultural moment increasingly defined by hyperperformed masculinity—where dominance is mistaken for confidence, emotional detachment gets reframed as power, and entire online ecosystems profit off convincing young men that empathy is weakness. Against that backdrop, Masters feels less like a reinvention and more like a course correction.

Despite acknowledging that, though, Mendes assures me there’s no woke Hollywood agenda the movie is trying to force-feed audiences, despite what some circles of the internet will have you believe. “There is no agenda other than to breathe life back into a very beloved franchise,” she urges. “But it just so happens that one of the themes explored in this movie is masculinity—to be expected in a movie about a character named He-Man,” Mendes adds, referencing Galitzine’s layered portrayal of the iconic hero. “It’s not just about how masculinity can hinder us but also how it can help us.”

In a direct contrast to He-Man, Teela’s entire worldview hinges on self-reliance: survive first, soften later. Mendes realized early on that embodying that mentality meant rebuilding not just the character emotionally but herself physically. Then came the muscles. Lots of them.

“Honestly, training was one of the most exciting parts of Masters for me,” Mendes recalls fondly. Alongside Galitzine, the actor spent months training in Los Angeles and London with stunt coordinators, nutritionists, and physicians to achieve the yoked-up look of Eternia’s royal battalion. But Mendes’s transformation wasn’t just about looking convincing while wielding a sword or surviving grueling stunts—it became something unexpectedly personal.

In a genre where female superheroes are often expected to appear impossibly lean while somehow possessing superhuman strength, Mendes wanted Teela’s body to look like she could fly planes and jump off of freeways, no suspension of disbelief required. “A really valuable lesson for me was realizing that not only does strength look different on everybody, but being strong and looking strong are two different things,” Mendes notes. Health is wealth, as they say. Mendes isn’t buying it, though.

“Our image of what strong looks like is really distorted,” Mendes adds. Deliberately gaining weight, even for a role, was something that might have terrified the actor in her 20s. Mendes has spoken candidly in the past about her struggle with and recovery from an eating disorder. For years, thinness felt synonymous with success. Today, Mendes’s experience in becoming bigger, even if just for the span of a few months while filming as Teela, is something she almost misses. “I didn’t want to lose all of my hard work,” she admits, looking back at the experience. “It took so long to get there. It’s so challenging, and then you become so proud of your muscles and how strong you feel.”

Mendes’s reinvention, both physically and emotionally, is a theme that’s been bubbling up in her life over the last few years. Before venturing to the planet of Eternia, Mendes had worked on a few acting projects outside of Riverdale. There was Do Revenge, a campy, teenage dramedy opposite Stranger Things actor Maya Hawke; Upgraded, a glossy Netflix rom-com about the fine-art world; and Música, a semibiographical coming-of-age Brazilian American love story that was just as important on-screen as it was off (Mendes famously met her now-fiancé Rudy Mancuso on set). Project by project, Mendes began reconstructing an identity that existed separately from the corporate CW machine that first made her famous mere months after graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

“Once I started to do other projects outside of Riverdale, I really started to gain my sense of self back,” Mendes admits, reflecting on the bubble she and her costars turned best friends, Lili Reinhart, Madelaine Petsch, and KJ Apa, lived in over the course of seven years. There was an element of surrendering herself to the script—she says she was just a 22-year-old girl showing up to collect a paycheck at her first job—and a relief that came with the knowledge that sometimes, things were out of her control. “I had to detach myself from overidentifying with my role on the show and what it meant to people,” Mendes notes, alluding to the all-encompassing fan wars and Tumblr discourse that are synonymous with teenage sitcom culture. “I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I let the comments penetrate my mind too much.”

It wasn’t until launching her production studio, Honor Role, that Mendes found her respite from the chaos of the industry. Amid the 2023 SAG-AFTRA writers and actor strikes and small but mighty career burnout, Mendes and fellow actor Rachel Matthews launched their incubator-style production company rooted in storytelling on an auteur scale, offering first-time writers and directors a platform to create.

“Honor Role has reminded me of my own creative abilities outside of performing, and it’s reconnected me to my own autonomy,” Mendes explains. “Having my own production company is like tapping into my own inner power. It’s something I can always fall back on if I’m not seeing a certain role or project in the industry. We can just go out and create it ourselves.”

Mendes, lovingly, makes movies for the “girls and gays,” she states. Just like her on-screen roles, her work at Honor Role is no different. The company launched its first project with a queer coming-of-age indie, Griffin in Summer, which was honored at the GLAAD Media Awards. Next up was Idiotka, a recently released immigrant-focused comedy that touches on the perils of the fashion industry and the reality-TV ecosystem. There are dozens of projects in Mendes’s back pocket she can’t wait to produce when the time is right, she shares, particularly those with a Latin focus. Being Brazilian American, Mendes never saw herself reflected on-screen in a nuanced, major role and, to this day, doesn’t.

“There are not a lot of us out there being positioned or offered meaty roles that will garner them Oscars one day,” she notes, adding that she can count the number of breakout, executive-respected Latin actors on her fingers. She dishes about a project that she’s been developing for years, starring an all-Latina ensemble, and you can practically hear the quiver in her voice when she breaks down what it means to her. “Being Latin has only served my artistry, and I think a lot of my peers would say the same,” Mendes notes. “Our culture lends itself to being good performers.”

With Honor Role flourishing and new acting horizons under her belt, Mendes is cruising into her 30s with a steadiness and ease she admits her younger self—the 20-year-old ball of anxiety—could have never imagined. At this point in her life, she knows the quiet strength in harnessing her emotions. “I want my willingness to be vulnerable and show the deepest, most shameful, and ugliest parts of myself through my characters to help others connect to their own feelings,” Mendes explains. If she can do that well, the job she’s devoted her life to doing is done.

For decades, women in Hollywood have been taught to view turning 30 as less of a milestone and more as a warning sign—an invisible countdown ominously looming in the background. The entertainment industry has long treated youth as its most prized commodity, creating the perception that a woman's relevance, marketability, or appeal is tied to how closely she aligns with an ever-shifting ideal. As a result, many women are made to feel as though they're constantly being measured against the next generation of talent. (Lest we forget the Substance of it all!)

Hollywood, of course, sells reinvention as the antidote, and nowadays, everyone is buying it. New stylists. New faces. New bodies. Entire career revivals are built around the illusion that, with enough discipline and luck, you can shed your old skin fast enough to remain an object of desire for the public to project their fantasies onto. But Mendes doesn’t seem particularly interested in outrunning herself anymore.

There’s a quiet confidence to the way Mendes speaks about her future, one rooted less in reinvention for reinvention’s sake and more in reclaiming what’s always been there—her artistry, her creativity, or her love for connecting with the most vulnerable parts of herself. The irony, of course, is that Hollywood will probably frame this era of Mendes’s career as a comeback or transformation. Mendes, meanwhile, might simply call it finally becoming herself again.

Photographer: Gleeson Paulino
Creative Direction: Amy Armani
Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen
Hairstylist: Lauren Palmer-Smith
Makeup Artist: Jen Tioseco
Manicurist: Thuy Nguyen
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producers: Lindsay Ferro and Luciana De La Fe
DP: Sam Miron
Video Producer: Kellie Scott
Special Thanks to @blackwidowmustang and @goldlinebar

ICYMI, Maude Apatow is Who What Wear's May Cover Star, and I'm about to take a glamour-soaked nosedive into the hair and makeup details behind each of her gorgeous looks. According to makeup artist Alexandra French, the beauty aesthetic was meant to be "ethereal, intelligent, and quietly sensual." Soft skin and hair, subtle structure, and just enough definition to hold up against the styling and photography (without overpowering Maude, herself), was the goal. Below, French and Apatow's hairstylist Rena Calhoun take me through their process, must-have products, and favorite moments from shoot day. Keep scrolling!

According to Calhoun, the inspiration for Apatow's various hair looks was a true product of the team's collaboration. "With every look, we took a moment to connect on what felt right in that specific context, allowing things to unfold intuitively," she shares. "It was very much about moving together with a shared sense of creativity."

"Collaboration on set is always one of my favorite parts of the process," agrees French. "With a shoot like this, everything has to feel cohesive, so, from the beginning, there was a constant dialogue between hair, styling, nails, and makeup—the goal is to work together to create the same emotional tone and visual language, instead of separate standout moments that feel siloed."

Since the styling had a beautiful balance between softness and graphic structure, French wanted to echo that in the makeup by keeping the skin soft while still adding subtle sculptural elements around the eyes and cheeks. "Rena and I didn't want anything to feel too 'done,'" she explains. "Every adjustment was made with the lighting and photography in mind."

Artistic restraint was also pivotal. "Sometimes the most impactful beauty looks come from knowing when to stop adding," she tells me. "Maude naturally brings so much atmosphere and emotion to an image, so the makeup was really about supporting that energy rather than competing with it." If the final images feel timeless, soft, and a little dream-like, that was, according to French, exactly the intention.

On shoot days, especially when she's creating multiple looks as she did here with Apatow, Calhoun likes to keep product use light so that the hair stays flexible all day long and is easy to transform. "It’s all about maintaining movement and being able to pivot quickly without any buildup," she explains. But one product she does always start with is the Virtue Labs Create Style-Setting Hair Volumizing Primer ($40), which she applies to her clients' damp hair. "It gives me the perfect foundation; it's light, workable, and has just enough memory to support the structure of whatever direction the shoot takes us in."

In addition to the Virtue Labs Volumizing Primer (aka "the scaffolding" of each look), Calhoun also recommends Oribe's Superfine Strong Hold Hairspray ($46), which she dubs "the absolute best hair spray" thanks to its incredible versatility and strong, yet feather-light hold. If she's trying to inject a shot of quick texture into a look, she'll reach for Bumble and bumble's Surf Infusion Sea Salt Spray ($36). "A good salt spray works on many textures to give the hair a lived-in feeling—it helps negate that freshly ironed or styled look I sometimes want to avoid."

For this shoot, French tells me she wanted the makeup to feel cinematic and emotionally understated—polished but still intimate and human. "Maude has such delicate, expressive features, so the process was really about enhancing what’s already there rather than transforming her." Vintage fashion editorials also served as inspiration. "Think soft analog photography, and that dreamy, slightly surreal feeling one gets while looking at old magazine campaigns," she explains. "One image feels very earthy and romantic, while the other leans more graphic and experimental with color and light. The makeup had to sit beautifully in both worlds."

Unsurprisingly, skin prep was a huge part of French's process as she wanted to ensure Apatow's skin looked hydrated, alive, and almost light-reflective without appearing overly glossy. For makeup, she kept the actress's complexion extremely sheer by using a lightweight skin tint mixed with moisturizer that she worked into the skin with a damp sponge and small buffing brush. Concealer was only placed where it was needed, mostly around the center of the face to keep the skin dimensional and natural. "I softly set only the areas that needed longevity while allowing the high points of the face to keep their natural sheen," she notes.

For Apatow's eyes, French started minimal with some fun, spike-y lashes to achieve a '60s-inspired look before transitioning to a more dramatic smoky-eye vibe later on in the day. "My favorite features to emphasize on Maude are definitely her eyes and bone structure. She has this incredible ability to communicate emotion very subtly, so I never want the makeup to distract from that."

"For lips, I used a neutral rose tone pressed into the lips with my fingers instead of applying it directly from the tube," shares French. "This created a softer, more lived-in effect—the overall application process was very layered and diffused, with most products pressed into the skin rather than heavily brushed on."

Maude Apatow hesitates over her drink, seated across from me in the terrace room at Tower Bar, a buzzy West Hollywood mainstay that shifts from restaurant by day to bar by night.

There's a lipstick print on the glass. "Wait—is it horrible if I send this back?" she asks, turning the glass in her hand as if she's contemplating whether to ignore it. I'd just switched tables before Apatow arrived, trying to find somewhere more discreet, and mixed up our waters in the shuffle. I cut in quickly to apologize and explain that it was my mistake. She laughs, easing instantly: "I didn't want you to be like, 'Wow, Maude sends her water back.'"

We start again. Apatow orders an oat milk latte; I go for a matcha. We add hummus just in case, a decision that comes with a quick "only if you want it" before she settles back into the conversation. A few minutes later, she glances at my drink and leans in slightly. "That's like… the milkiest matcha I've ever seen," she muses a little incredulously.

From there, the conversation unravels in the best way. A self-proclaimed matcha lover, she insists I try Handles on Sunset—"you have to go"—then asks if I've been to Faregrounds. Our discussion drifts into coffee, then food, then travel. Hong Kong, Shanghai, London. She's heading to Asia soon (it'll be her first time in China), and something shifts when she talks about it. Her energy lifts, her eyes light up, and suddenly, she's jotting down recommendations and asking questions. "I love traveling," she smiles. "It's my favorite thing in the world to do."

The conversation doesn't move in a straight line. It loops, meanders, doubles back. But it never loses its thread. The detours reveal what Apatow gravitates toward—what she pays attention to, what she gets excited by, and the way she processes things as they come.

For someone who grew up so close to the industry, Apatow's relationship to it feels remarkably self-directed. Her parents—Judd Apatow, the filmmaker behind The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Funny People and a defining voice in modern comedy, and Leslie Mann, whose performances have long carried that same emotional specificity—are part of the landscape she comes from, but they're not the framework she operates within.

She speaks instead about structure, school, and being a kid who was already planning how to get from where she was to where she aspired to be. "I was like, 'How am I going to get to Broadway now? How many years do I need to take of tap? Ballet? Jazz?'" she says. There's a clarity in the way she describes it but also a sense that she was willing to wait. Despite her acting debut at age 9 in Knocked Up and a high school musical theater Cabaret role that led to a very full-circle moment (more on that later), acting became a serious pursuit once Apatow got to college. She started auditioning almost immediately, approaching acting with that same sense of forward motion. When Euphoria came along and Apatow landed the role of Lexi Howard, she took it.

"It's so rare and so lucky to be given any opportunity like that," she recalls. "But I also didn't even know if the pilot was gonna get picked up. I just had no idea."

No idea indeed. What followed was something else entirely: a show that expanded beyond expectation, a cast that grew up alongside it, and a character—Lexi—whose evolution felt quietly radical. Lexi begins as an observer, positioned on the edges of other people's chaos, before stepping into her own narrative later in the story. Apatow understands that arc intimately."I think I felt more like Lexi when I was younger," she says. "Really shy, really unsure." That feeling has shifted. "I have a better sense of who I am now. Lexi is still trying to figure that out," she continues.

What she returns to first, though, isn't just the character. It's the people around her and what's happened since—the scale of it. "It's been really incredible," she says. "It's like watching everyone achieve all of their dreams."

And that sentiment is not abstract. The cast has scattered outward, building careers far beyond the show itself, something she's watched in real time. "It's hard to describe how insane it is," she says.

There's pride in the way she talks about them but also something more personal—a sense of having grown up side by side without fully knowing what was ahead. "Just thinking about us being little kids and having no idea what was in store to now… It's insane," she says.

She smiles, almost in disbelief. "It's the best-case scenario that all of your friends are thriving," she says.

Later, I ask—carefully—if she'd be open to speaking about the late Angus Cloud, who played Fezco on Euphoria, the soft-spoken, protective drug dealer with a big heart. She nods. "Angus was just the best person to be around," she says. "He was so funny and full of life—such an energy all the time." She pauses, then continues, "We lost that when we lost him."

There's a moment of quiet after she says it. There's no need to expand further.

The conversation gradually shifts to what has come since. At one point, it returns to a childhood ambition she once mapped out step-by-step: live musical theater. Not Broadway but the West End, starring in Cabaret as Sally Bowles, a role that feels almost too fitting given her early fixation on the production. "I was like, 'I peaked,'" she laughs. "That was the most special, magical summer of my life."

"The experience," she shares, "is incomparable." Theater demands a unique kind of presence, one that can't be edited, softened, or revisited. "There's nothing like live theater," she says. "When you're on a TV show, you kind of have no idea if anything you're doing is working or not. Onstage, you really are right there with the audience."

That intimacy comes with its own pressures. Apatow has long been open about her anxiety, particularly around performance, and the way it manifests physically. Preparation, then, becomes less about perfection and more about control—about agency. "What I can do is prepare as much as possible," she says. "That's the only thing that's in my control." That awareness of when she's being her own worst enemy and how to pull herself out of it is something she's learned over time. "I really try not to get in my own way," she says. "I can tell when I am. I guess being able to tell is my growth."

That same instinct to prepare and understand the mechanics before stepping fully into them carries directly into Poetic License, her directorial debut.

"I'm glad I didn't do this earlier," she says of directing. "I don't think I would have been ready."

There's no grand pivot, no need to announce this project as a turning point. Instead, it feels like the result of Apatow's deliberate patience, something she waited for until she understood how to do it on her own terms. Poetic License is a quietly offbeat comedy built on character, rhythm, and dialogue that echoes the charm of early 2000s indie rom-coms—pleasantly off-kilter in a way that really works. Its tone is occasionally enigmatic, brought to life by the particular relationships within it.

Mann is cast as the lead, Liz—a mother who is warm and slightly eccentric and whose daughter is also her closest confidant. Mann's performance anchors the film with an unfiltered familiarity that never tips into predictability. It reads less as performance and more as something observed. Apatow was intentional about this perspective from the start, tracing it back to the script itself.

Apatow is contemplative when I question how much of her and Mann's real-life relationship mirrors the mother-daughter relationship in Poetic License, in which the daughter is played by Nico Parker: "I think there are parts of it that do. In the original script that Raffi [Donatich] wrote, that relationship was one of my favorite parts about it." She pauses, then adds, "Working on the script with my mom in mind and rewriting it, I just wanted it to feel like what I knew but amplified and weirder."

That dynamic grounds the film in authenticity. From there, it evolves. The characters and their conversations overlap, drift, sharpen, then settle again in ways that feel lived-in.

It's a dynamic Apatow was especially conscious of on set. She talks about letting scenes stretch far beyond what was written, allowing actors to play with and repeat and circle a moment until something unexpected surfaced, then pulling from those longer takes in the edit to build something larger. There's an ease to the performances but also a clear sense of direction. "I love when things feel a little looser," she says. "When people can riff off each other and you get something that you wouldn't have planned." But that looseness only works when the groundwork is there. "You have to know what the scene is first, what it needs to do. Otherwise, it just becomes noise," she adds.

Apatow chose not to act in the film, despite considering the possibility. She wanted to focus fully on directing and understanding the mechanics of it, the rhythm of a set, the way scenes come together and fall apart. "I need to figure out everything else first as part of my preparation," she says. "I need to know everything, or as much as I can, before I can split my focus."

So she honed her attention. She prepared, cautiously and deliberately, to understand how to shape a performance without being inside of it while also trying to figure out how that translates into comedy. That preparation shows up everywhere—in the pacing, in the performances, in the quieter details that hold the film together. The score, in particular, stood out. It's subtle but precise, shaping the tone without announcing itself and sharpening moments of tension and release in ways that feel instinctive.

When I bring up her use of music for comedic effect, she laughs, as if still slightly inside the process of it. "That was the hardest part," she says. "We were still figuring it out right up until the end." Then she leans into what that actually meant in practice. "It's so hard to not emphasize comedy in a way that feels like 'Look at this. This is supposed to be funny,'" she explains. What she's describing is timing as well as restraint. It's the effort to avoid tipping a scene into something overly signposted, too cleanly landed, or too eager to be laughed at. "It is really hard to figure out music in a comedy, especially because I think our comedic style was a little bit more subtle too," she continues. There's a tension in that—between underscoring something and overexplaining it, between letting a moment land and pushing it into a punch line. The risk, she suggests, is always the same: crossing into something that feels a little too explicit or shifting the emotional temperature of a scene in a way that breaks its rhythm.

Poetic License also marks the first film from Jewelbox Pictures, the production company Apatow cofounded with her best friend Olivia Rosenbloom, whom she met in ninth grade. They worked together for years across different projects before formalizing it into something more structured.

"Everything that doesn't come naturally to me does to her," she says. "Thank God." With Rosenbloom, she's settled into a rhythm—knowing instinctively when to lead, when to step back, when to let something pass between them without overthinking it. They've been steadily developing a slate of projects together without rushing to define each one too early, including a romantic comedy that Apatow hopes to both direct and star in. One of her guiding ambitions is simple and unadorned. "Getting to work with people that inspire me and have fun doing it," she says. "I just want to do that forever if I can."

By the time we're wrapping up, the conversation has covered more than either of us expected—film, theater, anxiety, travel, work, matcha.

Fashion comes up almost incidentally as she talks about working with her stylist Mimi Cuttrell and the push-and-pull of the collaboration. "I think I'm naturally drawn to maybe some quirkier stuff," she says. "Sometimes, Mimi is like, 'That's too crazy,' and I need her to reel me in. But I love Mimi. She's great, has such good taste, and I trust her." In her everyday life, though, Apatow doesn't think of herself as particularly styled. "I'm not that stylish in general," she says matter-of-factly. "I love dressing up with Mimi, but I dress very plain day-to-day."

She's in a white tank, a soft heather-gray cardigan slipping slightly off one shoulder, loose black jeans, and ballet flats and has a Prada bag slung casually on her chair. I offer that it reads a little model off duty. She laughs before I've even finished the sentence. "I hope?" she says. "Or slob. I can't tell."

We laugh, and she leans back slightly as I ask her one final question. Do you feel like you're in the right moment for all of this now?

She doesn't answer immediately, then speaks carefully, like she's choosing the simplest version of something she's already considered. "I feel like I've evolved enough as a person to be grounded and have a point of view," she says. "I have more energy now than I ever have."

There's no sense of urgency in the way she says it—just a quiet certainty that she's arrived at it in her own time.

And that, more than anything, is what makes it feel true. Maude Apatow is ready now.

Talent: Maude Apatow
Photographer: Dana Trippe
Stylist: Carolina Orrico
Hairstylist: Rena Calhoun
Makeup Artist: Alexandra French
Manicurist: Caroline Cotten
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Lindsay Ferro

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Step into the universe of the coolest creatives in the fashion industry with our series My World, where readers will discover how the top stylists, designers, and tastemakers built their careers and get a peek into their favorite restaurants, beloved albums, fashion finds, etiquette rules they stand by, and so much more.

If you work in fashion, you might already know of Jenny Walton, or chances are you’ve seen a street style photo of her without even realizing it. Take one scroll through her Instagram, and you’ll immediately feel her sunshiny personality—a genuine candor (that's never cloying) that comes through on our call.

Since growing up in rural New Jersey and getting a BFA in fashion design from Parsons School of Design, Walton has been designing, illustrating, and writing and become known for her distinctive personal style—meticulously curating a dream wardrobe through hours on Vinted and The RealReal, sifting through vintage stores around the world, and dressing herself for fashion shows. This led to her becoming Vogue’s vintage shopping columnist.

Now, she has a book coming out on April 29, Jenny Sais Quoi: Adventures in Vintage & Personal Style, named after her Substack newsletter, which is currently available for preorder. Ahead of its release, we talk about everything from her closet and makeup bag to style icons like Georgia O’Keeffe, Diana Vreeland, Edith Sitwell, and Virginia Woolf; New York, Milan, and what’s next (California); and an assortment of her other all-time favorite things: Miuccia Prada, The Red Shoes (1948), caffè macchiatos, and her best vintage find yet, a fixer-upper in northern Tuscany.

Below, take a look into the world of the illustrator, designer, and writer.

How would you describe growing up in South Jersey?

Cornfields—randomly rural. I think most people in New York City think of Jersey and picture North Jersey, like Newark. The only thing we really enjoyed doing was going to this 24-hour diner nearby called Colonial, and that was the fun place to go late at night. But there really wasn’t too much else, and my mom was too afraid to drive into Philly, so we mostly stayed in New Jersey. But it was also really fun because there were a lot of vintage markets and yard sales. It was very suburban—going to Goodwill and the mall. So it was kind of simplistically nice in a way.

Can you talk me through your career trajectory?

I basically moved to New York when I was 18 to study fashion design at Parsons, and I ended up living there for about 15 years. I thought I'd be a designer or creative director—that was the plan. But then I was an assistant designer at Calypso St Barth for two years. It was a lot of it was emailing with factories and following up on samples, which I wasn’t that good at. I was always more obsessed with going to the flea market on the weekend to find a cool vintage sweater and bringing it in and saying, Can we remake this? I used to take this long subway ride—from the length of the G to the 7 train—because I lived in Park Slope and the office was in Queens, and I would just sketch for the whole hour to work and the hour home.

This was around 2014, when Instagram was really first taking off. So I would post a sketch at the end of the subway ride, and it was the early days where, if you were posting, you could actually gain traction pretty quickly. I got featured on a Discover page, and pretty soon editors and people were reaching out to me to illustrate. That’s when I went off on my own after two years, and I started traveling more. I began getting invited to shows. Over time, I started just by posting my illustrations, and then every once in a while I’d post wearing something vintage. People would say, Oh my God, I love that—where’d you get it? I realized I could document my life—whether it was traveling, vintage finds, or artwork I was working on—and people enjoyed following along.

There are so many people who are creative but might be in a job that doesn’t feel aligned, and they want to figure out a way to get out of it. What advice would you give them?

I think even though online it’s a lot more crowded now, if you have a distinct voice, you can still cut through. It happens all the time—there’s a new voice and you’re like, Oh, who is this person? But they’re so confident, and you really believe them. I guess my main advice is that you really just have to kind of jump, even though it’s horrifying.

My first illustration job—I remember they asked me how much I wanted to be paid. It was to live illustrate in a store in SoHo, and I said $700, because that was my rent. I quit my job based off that. My dad was like, What are you doing? What are you going to eat? You can’t just make your rent. And I was like, I’ll be fine. That's something that’s kind of nice about being younger—you’re a little bit naïve, so you’ll take those big jumps. Even when I was older—30 or 31—I moved to Italy after COVID, and that was also a big jump. I didn’t speak Italian. I moved there with an ex, and then we broke up, so it was like, Okay, I’m on my own—I have to sink or swim. And I ended up figuring out how to get a visa and staying. There were a lot of really hard moments, but it was always worth it to take that jump. You really start to believe in yourself when you fully commit to it.

Do you feel like there was anyone who instilled that sense of self-belief in you?

My friend recently told me, You know, you’re kind of delusional. I think my mother’s a very strong kind of woman. There's no convincing her. And I have two sisters. It was very important that we were incredibly independent and we went after what we wanted, and she never pushed us to study a certain thing, or that we needed to rely on a man or anything like that. So she really helped me be very independent.

Do you remember any formative memories of deciding to pursue fashion design?

My mother’s an amazing quilter, and I learned how to sew from her, so I was already making my own clothes in middle school. As dorky as this is, that’s when Project Runway was in its heyday. My dad’s not a fashion person at all. He would work late nights, but he would come home, and whatever night it came out, it was our bond. We loved that show, and we would watch it together. And I think that’s also where my obsession with Parsons came from. I already had these sewing skills, so I was like, Oh, I think I could actually do it. I think those early reality TV shows opened up this world to us.

Is there a piece of advice that stuck with you from your time at Parsons?

I had great teachers at Parsons, and they instilled in me the importance of hard work, and you can’t really get around putting in the hours. I have an essay about this in the book called "10,000 Hours of Style." I argue that you have to spend a lot of time doing it. Even an aesthetic choice tunes your eye, and I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of hours in vintage stores, looking through racks of things. Now I’m at the point where I can hold something up and I know exactly know how it will look on me—what I like and what I don’t like.

All of our main classes were six hours long at Parsons. I had a lot of great fashion illustration teachers. They really taught us this commitment to taking a lot of time, and there’s no kind of way around it. We were the only building in Parsons that was open until 2 a.m. because we would all stay so late.

I would love to talk about your book and how it came about.

An editor from Phaidon reached out to me two years ago and was like, I’d love to do a Jenny book. I’ve been following you for a long time. What could that be? And I was like, Oh my god, I don’t know. So it took a year of these two-hour-long Zooms we would do every week just talking about what would be fun, what would be cool. I felt like I was up against this thing of… there aren’t really that many good books about fashion or style. It’s really hard to apply rules to everyone, or say You should dress this way or This is the silhouette that looks good. And I say in the book, everybody is different. I grew up with another show, What Not to Wear, where it was really like, Oh, this is your style? It’s ugly. We’re throwing it in a trash can. I really didn’t want anything that felt like a guide, so I wanted to talk more from the perspective of how I found my style or things I’ve found helpful and hopefully inspire people through what I’ve learned but not necessarily tell them what to do.

Can you give a preview of more of the advice or ideas in the book?

I have another essay called "Off the Algorithm," about how you have to get off this thing that’s being fed to you because it’s being fed to a million people, and it’s too easy, too passive. You really need to go into a vintage store—it could be an old bookstore or record store—or watch an old movie. It takes time. I have another one called "Flow State Fashion," all about how you should make a mess—pull out all your stuff and start putting together weird combos, put on music, have fun with it. The beginning is awkward, and you’ll make combinations you’ve done a million times or feel boring, but as you go, you get into a flow state, and then exciting things happen. Another main takeaway, and why I named it Jenny Sais Quoi, is that I use vintage as a special little touch. Whether it’s a new Toteme blouse or a pair of jeans, then you have a cute little vintage belt or a vintage silk scarf, even your grandmother’s ring—it can be that simple, but those little things take your style to a whole new stratosphere and make it unique to you; something nobody can copy.

You have an incredible vintage collection. I know it probably changes, but what is your most prized piece in your collection right now?

I’m obsessed with a very, very bright blue, and there is this 1950s cardigan that I found on Etsy years ago. It’s just in this acrylic kind of wool, not too scratchy, but you just don’t see sweaters this bright. It's the same kind of blue that I hand-painted the [book] cover. So many minimalist brands now rarely go for color, which is frustrating because with Toteme or The Row, I want to see their color choices. The Row just showed a beautiful blue and white long dress at its last show, which was nice. I want to see people take more chances. Even last year, a pop of red was the It color, and it’s like, Okay, for everybody?

People always talk about style words. Do you have ones you identify with?

I hate the defining your style—although it’s a very lovely idea, and I see why it's very tempting—but it feels so reductive. People often ask, What is your style? And, of course, I could say vintage-inspired or classic with a twist or colorful. There are all these adjectives. Thinking in a world where it’s already so reductive, everyone’s style is becoming more and more similar, then also being like, Okay, how can I define it in a few words? feels to me limiting, but I’m slightly a rebel so…

Do you have style icons?

Honestly, I realized as I was writing the book, so many of them are artists, which is really interesting. There’s a great book by Charlie Porter called What Artists Wear. Diana Vreeland, incredible dresser. Edith Sitwell, really interesting. Virginia Woolf, also Georgia O’Keeffe. There are a lot of artists who had incredible style and designers too. Miuccia Prada has probably our current-day best style. Although, I’m obviously very biased.

Why do you think you gravitate toward Miuccia Prada?

She helms one of the most fascinating brands everyone’s dying to see every season. And yet, even the most anticipated moment of that show is when she takes the bow at the end. For me, it’s like, What is she going to be wearing? I think this is what makes personal style so interesting. It’s why everyone’s obsessed with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy—trying to replicate someone whose personal life is elusive. What you wear gives a glimpse of what might be going on behind the scenes, and so it’s much more fascinating than a model who’s been styled. Personal style actually embodies something that’s going on behind the scenes.

All of her references—whether it's an old film from the ’60s or these five different books she’s reading about women’s role in society—she’s questioning that as much as she can while still running her global fashion brand, and it’s really fascinating. She just has a great eye as well. She has incredible antique jewelry. She has a really modern way of wearing really luxe items, like a beautiful pointed silk heel and then a gorgeous vintage diamond brooch, but she’ll put it on a very simple sweater, obviously Prada, but you could also find something aesthetically similar at J.Crew or Uniqlo. But she’s got these little touches. I think accessories are very, very helpful as well.

Obviously, there are a lot of people who have a minimalist style, with The Row being so popular and especially with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. Do you have any advice for people who gravitate toward that kind of style?

Even just a cute little knee-length skirt and a kitten heel. When you go online, so many people’s style looks so similar that it’s hard to tell them apart. They’re all getting the same resources, looking at the same things, shopping at the same places. So it could be going and looking through a family member’s wardrobe, and being like, Oh my god, I love that, and maybe they let you borrow something. That’s what’s really unique. It’s so clear when people are trusting their instincts and going searching in other places.

What’s something that you never wear and doesn’t really have a place in your wardrobe?

I never really wore sneakers outside of the gym. However, I love the soft sneaker trend of the past few years. The Loewe Ballet Runner. When that first came out five years ago, I was like, Oh my god, this is the softest—there’s just no structure to it. I still have those The Row mesh flats. I essentially love a shoe that’s basically not there, as much as possible. I don’t like big chunky, bulky sneakers or footwear in general, unless it’s very much a fashion thing, like Wedge Balloon heels—it has to be completely absurd. I did give in to a puffer jacket—a short black one for going to the dog park. It's a Uniqlo one that I’ve had for like five or six years.

What’s your process for vintage shopping?

It’s an addiction. This is why I have an old stone house in northern Tuscany that I’m restoring now. Because when fashion wasn’t enough, when late-night scrolling on Vinted and The RealReal wasn’t enough, I started going to local, small real estate websites in rural villages in Italy because I was like, Oh, I’m never gonna be able to buy a house in America. I’m a millennial—this is a dream that has tragically passed my generation—but in rural Italy, maybe. So I’m working on that now. That’s my best vintage find.

Are you loyal to a specific nail polish color?

It’s exactly the same as getting my hair done, which is just complete and sheer terror—color paralysis and cut paralysis. I can only really do my hair on a completely random walk, in Milan, at a place that’s 25 euros. I can’t plan it. When it comes to nails, I didn’t paint them at all for the last year or two—really never did anything. But I am so in love with Diana Vreeland and her style that all it takes is seeing one photo of her in her completely red living room on the Upper East Side with her long red nails. Then I go into the nail salon, but I’m horrified because they give you so many options. I basically try to go somewhere in that kind of Chinese red, a lacquered shade you sometimes see on furniture from the '60s. Sometimes I call it "spaghetti red," something with a little bit of orange in it, like a nice pomodoro sauce. I don’t like too dark; I don’t like too bright.

What are your most repurchased beauty products?

I’m obsessed with Fara Homidi—have you ever tried the lip compact? The color is perfect, and so is the liner. It’s so chic. Then there’s the lip liner that goes with it, the Smudge and Contour Lip Pencil. My favorite lip product of all time is the Glossier Generation G in Zip. It’s a little coral. I’ve had it since it came out, and nobody’s ever been able to touch this color.

For eyebrow pencil, I love Gucci Beauty. They have a waterproof pencil in Brown 04, and sometimes I also use Boy Brow. I also use a Gucci foundation in 210N, which is good for 24-hour wear. Recently, I became obsessed with these K18 hair treatments because I dyed my hair blonde, and my hairstylist in New York said my hair needed it. Any black eyeliner works for a cat eye, but right now I’m using the Glossier one. I also keep a Kiko pencil on hand—it’s a cheap makeup brand in Milan, but I always have one. Hermès makeup is amazing too, and everything’s refillable.

Is there anything that you learned that has forever impacted the way that you do makeup?

I mean, I have always done a cat eye, and I really like doing that. I remember asking a makeup artist how to know where the line should go, and they told me you should basically just extend the curve of your bottom eyelid and follow that line up. That’s how you get a cat eye because it’s so hard to know whether to go down or up. Sometimes I’m doing it, and I think, Am I living in the 1960s? Should I be doing this? But I paint a lot, so I really like painting things. It feels like a modern version of painting, in a way. It’s kind of fun, but stressful.

Where are you living now?

Actually, I just moved out of Milan. I’ve been renting in Milan the past few years, but my fiancé is from California, so we’re looking to find a place there. I moved my stuff from Milan to Tuscany, and the plan is for it to hopefully be at least livable in the next few months so I can spend the summer there because it’s two hours below Milan but only a half-hour from the sea.

What's one thing you like to do whenever you're in Pennsylvania where your parents live?

My number one thing is finding a vintage store—it could be clothing, it could be a bookstore. There's an amazing free library in the basement of this little library nearby parents in Pennsylvania, and I found the most incredible book there. It's called Plant Dreaming Deep by May Sarton. She's an amazing poet, but it's just a little book about how she bought this old farmhouse and restored it. I found it just at the time that I had just bought in Tuscany. There's this little vintage store called Pink Flamingos Vintage, and that's in Brookville, Pennsylvania, also near my parents. Those are the places I'm always wanting to go to, in addition to the cutest coffee shop I can find, especially in Europe. I have to find the cute café, and then I just sit there and bring my dogs.

What kind of dogs do you have?

I have two. I have a beagle, but she's the world's smallest beagle. She's eight kilograms, which is the limit for flying with them by some miracle, and then a wire haired dachshund.

Is there anything you always try to do when you're in New York City?

I always go to The Strand because I just love used books and finding old, strange books. There’s also a great bookstore in the East Village called Bonnie’s Cookbooks. She’s just this New Yorker who tells it like it is. It’s this walk-down-basement kind of store with all these old used cookbooks.

What about in California?

I’ve been spending some time in San Francisco because my fiancé’s family is from the Bay Area. It’s a fascinating city, and they have a lot of great vintage there. I’m really excited to explore California vintage more because there’s so much amazing mid-century stuff. It’s like in the later seasons of Mad Men, when they go to California and the wardrobe just pops off.

There’s a great vintage store called Relic Vintage there that I’ve completely fallen in love with—with a lot of things from the '50s and '60s. To live, I’m thinking more around Santa Barbara County or Ojai. My fiancé went to school there, and I never really spent much time in Santa Barbara, so we’ve been visiting more so I can get a better idea.

Is there an item that wherever you live, your home isn't complete without?

I have a collection of the little coffee cups—the little espresso and macchiato cups. I’ll go to a random little store or café, and if they have a cute cup, I’ll even go to the person and be like, Can I buy this? Please? I’ll give you 20 euros. Usually, the barista just slips it to me. When I’m in the U.S., if I have some of those with me, it makes me feel like my little Italian spirit is still with me.

What is a song that you currently have on repeat?

I love the new Harry Styles album. It’s so good. Track five is called "Taste Back," and it mentions Paris, so immediately you’re like, yes—croissants, Paris, the whole mood. I’m very tied to him because his last album came out four years ago, right when I moved to Milan. I was breaking up and had to stand on my own two feet, and my girlfriend was with me. Then, four years later, when Harry’s new album came out, she was helping me move out of Milan again. We always have this kind of tied feeling. We were checking on the house in Tuscany, picking out flooring, and then drove back along the coast the morning the album came out.

What are some of your favorite movies?

I watch a lot of old movies, especially when I’m painting—beautiful ones that inspire me and have incredible cinematography. One of my favorite movies to rewatch is The Red Shoes. It’s about a ballet dancer who loves her art so much it kind of drives her to insanity. It’s stunning—the set decoration, the costumes, and the Technicolor are just gorgeous. All the reds and blues are extra saturated; it’s very cinematic and so fun.

I also love the old Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, and Bette Davis movies with really strong women. Recently, I saw Hamnet. Here’s a beauty tip: Don’t wear mascara to see Hamnet. I wore mascara and cried nonstop for two hours because Jessie Buckley is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. I was jaw-on-the-floor amazed. The last film I saw that hit me that way was Perfect Days from Japan. I kept going back to watch it.

Are there any books that you would recommend?

I always go back to certain ones from high school that I just always reread, like The Great Gatsby. I have my old copy of it that I keep together with a ribbon because I was reading it on the beach in Portugal, and the pages were literally falling apart. I love Salinger as well because I’m just eternally an angsty teen inside my head. I like Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey.

Do you have a hot take?

Cold foam is just whipped cream. I’m not saying it’s bad—there’s no shade. It’s just that cold foam is basically a rebranding of whipped cream. I started going with my dad when he would go to Dunkin’ Donuts last year, and I was writing the book in Pennsylvania. He’d be like, Do you want cold foam? And I was like, What is that? It was whipped cream basically.

For me, the perfect drink is a café macchiato, taken at the bar. I put in a little dolcificante, which is like a tiny sugar pill that comes out of a dispenser in my house. It’s not the kind of fake sugar that causes cancer—or so Google tells me. I have it at the bar like four times a day. It’s quick, easy, fun, and a great way to learn Italian and see how people actually speak because you’re just hanging out at the bar. Italians have been drinking coffee like that for ages.

What’s something that living in Italy has imposed on you?

The best thing about living in Europe in general is the work culture. And this is coming from somebody who works for herself, by herself, walks her dogs, does whatever she wants. The fact that they take a long, nice lunch together—and they eat lunch together as an office—is amazing. They know how to be normal people, have fun conversations, be silly, and even have a glass of wine at lunch. When you do that, you can be more productive because you’re not going crazy, pulling your hair out, and super stressed.

The salad-at-your-desk culture—that’s nobody’s fault, but it’s just the culture we created—is psychotic. Italians have a really good work/life balance. People make fun of it, but it’s so much healthier. They take off the entire month of August. If you go to Milan in August, it’s legitimately scary—it’s a ghost town. Everyone goes to the sea, the mountains, Thailand—they travel. A lot of them are out of office by the end of July, and then they come back refreshed. The whole culture appreciates that. They’re much healthier this way. I really love that—I’ve learned a lot from it.

Is there a piece of advice you’re living by right now? Or, alternatively, the classic question of what advice would you give your younger self?

When you’re trusting your instincts and being true to yourself, you know when you’re kind of faking it to make somebody else happy or going into people-pleaser mode. I’ve done that, whether it’s been in relationships or working a job that didn’t feel right for me. And there was always that voice in the back of my head that was like, Is this… Jenny? That’s what I really wanted to show in the book as well—knowing yourself. I have another essay called "Mistakes Make Style" about how I hold my pen in a really weird way. In third grade, the teacher tried to rubber-band my hand to the pen to make me write "the right way." But all of these little quirks make you who you are, and they’re reflected in your style as well.

I have another essay called "Perfect as a Prison." I started off talking about how my dog, Aurora, the dachshund, is my favorite knitwear designer. I’ll go to bed wearing a sweater, get hot in the night, and take it off. Aurora went through a phase for months where she would chew holes in everything. It was so funny—like, you go into a Yohji or Comme des Garçons store and see a 1000-euro sweater with holes everywhere. There’s also an Italian idea that means "a little messed up." Style should be a little bit messed up—it shouldn’t be perfect—and that’s what makes it unique. Even Prada last season, all the cuffs were really stained, and people were like, Ah…! But those things make style unique. Leaning into what makes you unique is always the right way to go. That’s the advice I would give my younger self: Trust yourself, and know it will all work out, even if it’s scary.

"Everything is going to be fine," Carey Mulligan croons from her London flat, her voice lightly charred from a lingering winter bug and her blonde bob—which is now kissing the top of her shoulders—finger-combed to the side. She's preparing me not for an upcoming root canal or some other mundane torture but for a steady life with my partner, who I married five months ago to this day. It's a far cry from the standard squeals one might expect from declaring their newlywed status, but the reassurance is fitting in the wry, evocative way only Mulligan and her saucer-eyed gaze can convey. After all, we've just spent the last 40 minutes rehashing season 2 of Beef, an eight-episode dark comedy-drama exposing a relationship that is decidedly, uh, not fine. Resentment, blackmail, and a crippling sense of "How the hell did I get here?"—spooky stuff for a blushing bride.

In Lee Sung Jin's (also known as Sonny Lee) latest installment landing on Netflix on April 16, Mulligan plays Lindsay Crane-Martín, an aspiring interior designer married to the general manager of an elite country club. Ever the doting wife—at least in public—she helps her husband Josh (Oscar Isaac) with various to-dos, planning fundraisers, picking out pillow fabrics, and the like. Beyond that, Lindsay's identity remains… uncertain.

"I came up against this question constantly with Sonny and Oscar when starting this job. Who is she? I was struggling to pin her down because she adapts herself for lots of different situations," Mulligan says. "I think the ultimate answer to it was she doesn't really know." It's a terrifying realization to brush up against, especially for someone who's attached her entire existence to a marriage that ultimately unravels at the seams. And so comes the titular beef.

In the first five minutes of episode 1, what starts with simmering marital rage ends with an explosion of violence and a gasped confession from Mulligan: "You've wasted my whole life." (Lee wrote the line day-of, she reveals.) The panic that time has evaporated is something she can empathize with, albeit on a much smaller scale. She tells me of the time one of her children was learning to play the recorder, and Mulligan, in a moment of headache-induced exasperation, decided to hide the instrument on top of the dresser. It lay there completely forgotten for two years. "I was like, 'God, I could have gone another 15 years without noticing that was up there had I chosen not to dust the top of my dresser,'" she says. It's unnerving how stretches of life can slip through your fingers just like that.

"I think that's where Lindsay starts in episode 1," Mulligan continues. "[It's] like, 'Fuck, this time has passed. What am I going to do? How do I get it back?' That sends her into this slightly manic burst of energy in lots of different directions." That initial burst has an audience: the recently engaged Austin Davis (Charles Melton) and Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny), who wind up using this knowledge to leverage their own lower-level positions at the club. And so comes more beef.

Fans of the miniseries will be pleased to learn its next chapter is just as artistically berserk as its Emmy-winning first season with opulent visuals, cringey plot twists, and manipulative, The White Lotus–esque characters you love to hate yet somehow find yourself rooting for. Yes, this includes the insufferable Lindsay. "God, she's really awful and annoying," Mulligan says of her initial reaction to the script. "I love the idea of playing that."

I can imagine it's quite a thrill to try on your polar opposite for size. Mulligan, swathed in a simple black sweater and sipping on a cauldron-sized beverage when she joins our Zoom call, has a cool, unfussy energy that's the antithesis to Lindsay's frenetic meltdowns. Her delicate features—a heart-shaped face, those saucer eyes—are offset by a throaty English accent that's a pitch deeper thanks to the cold she can't shake. "I'm fine," she vows. "I've got my giant mug of tea." She breaks out the dimples, ready to work.

This wouldn't be Mulligan's first time portraying the unlikable woman, but something about Lindsay felt different—frenzied, free, and just plain fun. "I didn't know what I wanted to do next work-wise. I had just done the whole run for Maestro, and I was waiting for the right job to come along," she tells me. She did the coquettish romantic lead in The Great Gatsby. She aced the grief-stricken, revenge-seeking survivor in Promising Young Woman, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination. She played the troubled, free-spirited sister in Shame; the tenacious investigative journalist in She Said; and the tragically lost, narcissistic socialite in Saltburn. "I don't want to be the super serious person in every film or dying in every film," Mulligan adds. "I don't want to get stuck in a rut of any particular 'known' thing."

Then Lee pitched her episode 5 of Beef, which, in my opinion, has one of the most unhinged scenes in the entire season. (Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that no animals or animalistic wives were harmed in the making of this show.) "I was like, 'Oh, that's insane and feral,'" Mulligan laughs. "And I loved it."

Lee also has strong ties to music and meticulously selects songs to match the emotional weight of each scene, ticking another box in Mulligan's mind. "I love when a director has a playlist. It helps so much with the tone of things," she says. Music cues scored by 11-time Grammy winner Finneas O'Connell were already written into the script prior to filming, which helped Mulligan and Isaac further connect to their characters during particularly intense moments. Isaac even suggested wearing earwigs while they filmed so they could hear those cues in real time.

"I've never listened to music while doing scenes. Most of the time, I'll listen to [a playlist] on my phone in the morning while I'm in the trailer or whatever," Mulligan says. "Oscar had done this on other jobs where he had the earwig in, so he was like, 'Let's just try it.'" Her dimples resurface when she adds, "Sonny said it cost them a huge amount of money to paint out in [post-production], which I feel really bad about, but it was great."

Mulligan created her own playlist prior to filming—prep work she completes for each role to help her enter the mind of that character. Lindsay's track list (simply named "Lindsay") includes "All in Good Time" by Iron & Wine and Fiona Apple; "Antarctica" by Divorce featuring her own husband, Marcus Mumford ("That's a song that we listened to a lot," Mulligan says as she thumbs through her phone, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear); "Song for Zula" by Phosphorescent; and, hilariously, Carol Burnett's "Little Girls" from Annie. "For whatever reason, one day I was like, 'That's Lindsay! She's Miss Hannigan!'" she laughs. "It's a little bit all over the map."

Growing up, Mulligan was enamored with musical theater and, up until her late teens, dreamed of performing on Broadway. Still, music remains central to her work in one way or another, whether she's stuffing headphones into her ears to distract herself from a crowded theater audience or swapping playlists with her film costar during moments of downtime. As if she attracts instrumental roles, many of her projects have a musical nucleus. Maestro explores the relationship between composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre; Inside Llewyn Davis follows a struggling folk singer (portrayed by Isaac); in The Ballad of Wallis Island, estranged bandmates reunite for a final private performance; and let's not forget about Mulligan's soul-crushing rendition of "New York, New York" in Shame, which sends a chill up my spine every time.

"I've always loved music as storytelling. I've always found it very emotional," she says. Of course, she also credits Mumford for inspiration. "I love watching musicians. I just think it's the coolest thing in the world to be able to pick up a guitar and sing a song or play the piano," she notes. "Doing Ballad of Wallis Island was so fun to pretend to be one of those people because I am around it a lot."

This season of Beef kicks off with a literal bang ("It's quite fun, smashing up a trophy cabinet," Mulligan admits), and the physical and emotional turbulence refuses to pump the brakes. I mention it must have been taxing to harbor so much hate—especially toward someone like Isaac, who she considers a close friend since they met on the set of Drive 15 years ago—but she tells me the tense fight scenes were actually some of the most exhilarating. "I really trust him as an actor and as a person. I felt like I could do my worst acting, and he wouldn't be judgmental," she says. "This show requires you to do stuff that's slightly mad. You have to put [everything] on the table, and he was the perfect person to do that with."

Funny enough, "The timeline of Josh and Lindsay's relationship is the length of mine and Oscar's," she adds, which helped them create a narrative around their on-screen marriage. "We mapped out our little fake life from the time that we met on Drive. Over the years, our families have stayed really close, so we had so much history to pack into it." Coming together for Beef felt like slipping back into a well-worn sweater, the 15-year gap nothing more than a blip in Mulligan's eyes.

"It was weird for Oscar and I to feel like the grown-ups. We were the kids on Drive," she says. To be fair, the age difference between the two couples isn't actually that vast (Mulligan and Melton are five years apart, for reference), but their respective roles are meant to reflect the great millennial and Gen Z divide. "Everyone called [Melton and Spaeny] the kids. We'd finish a scene and be like, 'Okay, we're done. The kids are in next, right?'" she adds.

Unlike Lindsay's Miss Hannigan–esque sneer, the label was steeped in love. Rest assured, there was absolutely no beef on set. "I didn't know those guys at all beforehand. We met in L.A. a week before we started shooting, and the fact that we all got on so well was beautiful," Mulligan shares. In fact, Spaeny and Melton came to watch Mulligan and Isaac film the very last scene in the entire series. "We all stood in a circle, Sonny came in, and the five of us just sobbed in the middle of the street," she recounts. "We were all really emotional to have done this thing together. I think we could have carried on for a bit longer."

It's this closeness—and the thought of reuniting all dolled up for the upcoming press tour—that makes Mulligan less wary of what viewers will think of the sophomore season. (Beef season 1 was, by and large, a smashing success, securing eight Emmy wins and three Golden Globes.) "It's always nerve-racking to do a follow-up," Mulligan tells me. "I think [any pressure] has been superseded by the excitement to create a story that's really worth telling." Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who starred in the critically acclaimed season 1, remain intimately involved as executive producers. "We all had a big cast dinner before we started shooting. It feels like a big team effort," Mulligan shares. When you have that strong of a support system, all the comparison chatter fades to the background.

In Beef, Lindsay and Josh's union could not be further removed from Mulligan and Mumford's ("It made me grateful for my relationship," she says), who tied the knot nearly 14 years ago in 2012. Perhaps subconsciously for my own newlywed gains, I decide to ask her if there's any marital advice she would give Lindsay as a friend. "I always think the best advice is keeping short accounts," she responds. "Don't hold on to grudges, and if you're annoyed about something, just say you're annoyed about it and figure it out. Don't let it simmer."

Oh, and one more thing. "Put your phone down. Stop living online," she declares. "[Lindsay] has such crushingly low self-esteem that she's just looking for an immediate hit to make herself feel better for two seconds, and then it inevitably crumbles. That would probably be my biggest advice. Get yourself a dumbphone, Lindsay."

While Mulligan herself has succumbed to the smartphone ("I'm on, like, 50,000 different parenting WhatsApp groups for my children, and I'm inevitably going to forget to send someone to school with some crucial piece of uniform if I'm not on them," she jokes), she keeps the digital world at arm's length. Unlike Lindsay, who's constantly DMing old flames and stalking their profiles, Mulligan doesn't have any form of social media. She's notoriously low-key, residing in a dreamy 16th-century farmhouse in the Devon countryside. Instead, she provides glimpses of glamour through selective fashion campaigns (Mulligan is currently an ambassador for Prada) and award-circuit appearances—such as her 2024 Oscars ensemble, which is frequently cited as one of the best looks to ever exist. "It's in my flat! I have it!" she says of the archival Balenciaga dress.

I can't help but ask about the style moments in her next major project Narnia, Greta Gerwig's highly anticipated Netflix adaptation premiering in theaters on Thanksgiving Day and on the streamer in December. Mulligan has remained rather tight-lipped about her character and the experience as a whole, but I'm curious if there's anything she can spill about the film's fashion vibe. Alas, no dice. "I literally can't say an actual word, as much as I would love to, except that it was just heaven," she smiles. "I've always wanted to work with Greta and want to work with Greta forever."

She wrapped the project just before Christmas and has reveled in the nice stretch of normalcy before she soon embarks on the whirlwind Beef press run. From there, she's looking at an infinite horizon. "I'd love to do theater again," she muses, propping her chin on her palm, when I probe her about any dream projects. "That's tricky. You need to figure that out with children." But when it comes to her next role, Mulligan doesn't have a specific North Star in mind, except that it should feel somewhat scary. "All [my characters] have been slightly daunting prospects to play, in a good way," she says. What jumps out to her on the page is a role she doesn't immediately know how to embrace—something that plays hard to get before she firmly decides it's the one.

"Hopefully, it'll come along," she shrugs with a curl of the lips and the easy confidence of someone who knows, without a shadow of a doubt, everything is going to be just fine.

Photographer: Gina Gizella Manning
Stylist: Jenny Kennedy
Hairstylist: Shon Ju at The Wall Group
Makeup Artist: Valeria Ferreira at The Wall Group
Manicurist: Sabrina Gayle at Arch the Agency using Bio Sculpture
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Video Director and Producer: Sarah Al Slaity
DP: Charlotte Croft
Special thanks to Dennis Severs' House

Step into the universe of the coolest creatives in the fashion industry with our series My World, where readers will discover how the top stylists, designers, and tastemakers built their careers and get a peek into their favorite restaurants, beloved albums, fashion finds, etiquette rules they stand by, and so much more.

It's 2 p.m. ET on a Wednesday when I log on to my computer to meet and chat with Elaine Welteroth. She immediately apologizes for keeping her camera off, explaining she's been awake since 5 a.m., having landed early in Minnesota to talk with college students about feminism and journalism. It doesn't come across as a complaint so much as a glimpse of her demanding schedule—early alarms, numerous flights, and a calendar that spans multiple time zones.

This is what life looks like for Welteroth: a constant movement between stages, red carpets, meetings, and motherhood. It's why people often say she wears many hats. But talk to her for just 45 minutes, and it becomes clear that those "hats" don't feel like a juggling act to her. To Welteroth, they're simply different passions that shape how she spends her time.

Many first came to know Welteroth through her tenure at Teen Vogue, where she made headlines as the publication's editor in chief. At the time, she became the youngest person and the second African American ever to hold the role. Under her leadership, the magazine evolved into something more than a fashion title, publishing political and social justice content that resonated with a new generation of readers. But that chapter was only one layer.

Since then, Welteroth published her memoir, More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are, which encourages readers to recognize their value and challenge existing norms. Shortly after, she began serving as a judge on Project Runway. In 2024, she launched her nonprofit organization, BirthFund, to improve access to maternal healthcare while making appearances as a host on The Talk, cohosting the SAG Awards preshow and Hulu's The Conversations Project, and contributing to major publications like The Washington Post and British Vogue.

The grind doesn't stop there. The most recent gig for Welteroth was an Allbirds campaign, which, as a sneaker lover, Welteroth mentions, was a very organic partnership for her. While there's a lot on her plate, she retains a confident, can-do-it-all attitude and tells me that her secret to balancing it all is "allowing myself to be present fully in whatever role I'm embodying in that moment." Plus, knowing her work has impacted others makes all the effort worthwhile.

"It's easy to get caught up and forget that my work—the TV shows I've been on or the book I've written—actually resonates with people," Welteroth says. "I had the sweetest reminder of this when I was in San Francisco shooting the Allbirds campaign. Two separate groups, mothers and daughters, approached me and said, 'Can we take a picture? We love watching Project Runway with you.' And I'm like, oh my God. The fact that the moment meant something to someone, a special bonding moment, is truly so sweet."

Ahead, she shares her humbling first job and how it made a lasting impact, how she balances being a mom of two with numerous professional roles, the importance of choosing versatile pieces that support the life she's actually leading, and so much more.

Your résumé is incredibly extensive, but let's start at the beginning—what was your very first job? What did it teach you that you still carry with you today?

Funny enough, my first job was actually dancing in a life-size bee costume at HomeTown Buffet. What it taught me is never to take myself too seriously. It reminded me of the importance of just having fun. I've led a very serious career, helped grow organizations, and built my own organization—it's hard work, and it's serious. However, I feel like I've carried that spirit of the dancing bee with me into every chapter of my career. It's served me really well.

You became the youngest editor in chief in Teen Vogue history. What hard truth about leadership did you learn that no one prepared you for?

As an editor in chief and a founder of anything, it's hard work and isolating. You truly devote your life to building something you believe in. Sometimes it can feel a little lonely. Then there are moments when you step out into the world and see how your work has impacted others. There's nothing quite like that. It refuels your tank, reminds you of your why, and encourages you to keep pushing. It reminds you that your work matters because sometimes, when you're working in a silo, you wonder, Is anyone gonna read this? Does anyone care? When you get to connect with someone who has encountered your work, and it's meant something to them, there's no greater feeling.

In your New York Times best-selling book, More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are, you write about ambition and belonging. In honor of International Women's Month, what advice would you give to young women who want to lead without shrinking themselves?

Do you. I mean that in every way because there are no rules. It used to be that there was a ladder you climbed to the top of whatever industry you wanted to be in. That ladder no longer exists, which can be scary for some people. However, for entrepreneurs or those with an entrepreneurial mindset, it's exciting because you have full permission to let your enthusiasm guide you, to become self-directed, and to build that muscle of self-trust. And it informs the career you'll create. Understand who you are, what you want to say, how you want to spend your days, and do that. There's no formula you need to follow, and no mold you need to fit into. This world is changing so rapidly, and it's making space for people with unique perspectives and pursuits. So go after it.

In April 2024, you started your nonprofit organization, BirthFund. What about that initiative are you most proud of, and why do you think this work matters right now?

All of the safety nets and social safety provisions in this country are disintegrating before our eyes. Things that we never thought would disappear have been rolled back, leaving many people vulnerable. In times like these, we desperately need mutual aid initiatives like ours that lean into the power of community support more than ever. This is the way forward. This is the way now. It’s the way to support people in meaningful ways without waiting for lawmakers to act or relying on broken systems that were never meant to serve everyone. Why don't we come together as a community to address the problems we see and build solutions? Essentially, BirthFund is a response to a major issue I encountered when I was pregnant, and nothing in my career has been more rewarding than creating something I saw a need for. It truly blew my mind because women's health has long been underfunded, undervalued, and under-researched. However, that is changing thanks to women rallying together, raising these issues, and elevating the conversation. One thing I'm very proud of is that in our first year, we raised over $3 million. To anyone who thinks maternal health is an unrelated issue not worthy of mainstream focus, think again. People have rallied around this mission and the families who need support so desperately. The world is changing, but babies will never stop being born, and despite robots taking over, care in human hands is irreplaceable. We will always need midwives. Now more than ever, with maternal health deserts, hospital closures, and increasing maternal mortality, communities are relying more on dedicated birth workers like midwives. We're here to support them, to grow that pipeline, and to keep doing this work. We're excited about all the possibilities.

Tell me what work/life balance looks like to you. How do you juggle parenting and having a successful career?

I don't just say yes to things. I say, "Hell, yes." I bring my best energy and full self to everything. I won't feel guilty about being where my feet are. I allow myself to be fully present there. When I move to the next moment, my attention follows. This mindset has helped me a lot. Support and comfort in your own skin are crucial, and having a community and a wardrobe that adapts to my mood helps. I think about what I'll wear each day and step into that character. I enjoy switching roles and dressing the part, allowing myself to be fully present in whatever role I'm in.

Do you have a dream next step that you would like to take in your career?

I'm in creation mode right now. I haven't been able to do this in a long time. I've been out in the world, out front for a while, and I've pulled back. It feels really good as a storyteller to focus on being creative, to spend my days heads down, building something I'm excited about. While I can't exactly say what I'm doing or what my next step is, I will say that I'm such a glasses girlie, and I've always wanted a line of eyewear. I may or may not be working on something in that area.

What are three words that you feel define your personal style right now?

Moody, comfortable, and thoughtful. I don't necessarily mean comfortable just in clothing, like wearing sweats. I mean dressing in a way that feels right to me each day. Sometimes that's a short skirt, baggy jeans, or a sweatsuit. Thoughtful in the sense that I'm intentional about who I'm wearing, how it's made, and where I show up in the world wearing it.

Do you have style icons who really inform your style?

I'm in my Diane Keaton era right now. And RIP to her because she's one of the greats. I refuse to accept that she's gone, but her style lives on. My forever style icon, though, is Grace Jones. She is so fierce and fabulous. Her spirit makes everything she wears just so iconic. My third pick is Angela Davis. She's not usually discussed in terms of style, but she changed how we see women: Black women, smart women, feminist women. She made glasses cool again—a staple for activists—and her afro is just iconic.

You recently did a campaign with Allbirds. What inspired that collaboration?

This Allbirds campaign feels very authentic to me because I don't have the energy to prioritize style over comfort. I prefer waking up in the morning ready to tackle everything I want and need to do, but I want to do it comfortably. I want to feel good in my skin, and that's what this Allbirds campaign captures. We're showing these busy women on the go, achieving in various aspects of life, wearing shoes that are not only super comfortable and cute but also versatile enough to match everything. They eliminate the need to overthink outfits. I'm a big sneaker fan—I wear sneakers every day and wouldn't bother with heels unless paid. That's why this campaign resonates with me. I love a brand that prioritizes sustainability alongside style. In the campaign, I showcase two looks: one with baggy cargo pants, a long trench coat, and a button-up shirt; the other with a miniskirt and cute frilly socks. I felt comfortable in both. Women are multifaceted and dynamic, reflected in how we style ourselves daily.

What is the most sentimental item in your closet?

I just bought my most sentimental item: my first Rolex watch. I love it. It means a lot to me, and I’ve been wearing it every day since December.

What's one fashion rule you love breaking?

I really break all the rules. I don't even know what the fashion rules are anymore. I don't follow trends, but I try to keep up with Gen Z girls. Subliminally, I'm inspired or influenced by them. They give zero Fs when they get dressed, and it makes me feel like, Oh, maybe I can try that. You know, when you're getting ready and trying to put together your outfit, there's always that split second where you wonder, Should I go for this, or should I not? Usually, there’s a sense of fear there, but I think that feeling has gotten smaller as I've gotten older.

Is there a specific item in your closet that you're looking forward to wearing again this spring?

I live in L.A., so I don't dress seasonally because it feels like summer year-round. However, when I go to the East Coast, I look forward to pulling out my vintage trench coat.

Finish the following sentence: My home wouldn't be complete without ______.

My babies. Also, Gayle King sent me the RW Guild throw blanket, which is so soft and has become everyone in my home's favorite thing. It matches my house perfectly, which has a neutral, tonal color scheme with pops of color—especially from this mixed media artwork by Corey Pemberton, which my house also wouldn't be complete without. It's the centerpiece of our living space—what we look at while eating and talking. For technology, the Samsung Frame TV. It's a fun conversation starter because everyone thinks it's art at first. Lastly, our black Yamaha grand piano. I have a very musical family. My husband is a musician, and he does this thing called Piano and Prayer every Monday.

Where is your safe space? Where do you go when you need some time to yourself?

Airplanes are my sanctuary and my "me" time—where I can think clearly. I have some of my best thoughts and do some of my best work on them.

What's your favorite restaurant in your home city?

One of my favorite restaurants in L.A. is Jamaican Fiyah for authentic Jamaican food. However, the last standout dining experience I had was at International Smoke on the Embarcadero in San Francisco (Ayesha Curry’s restaurant). The cornbread served with red Thai curry butter is a must-order.

If you could get a vacation home anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I've thought a lot about this, and right now, it's a tie between the Amalfi Coast and Tuscany. I went to Tuscany last summer, and I've never felt more peaceful, happier, or more joyful. It was truly the best experience. I would love to build a compound there—that would be my dream. The only thing holding me back from moving to Italy and making this dream come true is that I don't have a community there. I'd have to convince my whole group of friends to come with me, and then it would be really fun. In the U.S., my answer would be Martha's Vineyard. That's our happy place. We go every August.

What's one travel item you'll always pack with you?

My Allbirds sneakers. Ever since I shot the campaign, I've been wearing the Varsity Sneakers. They're airy, so you feel light on your feet, easy to pack, easy to bop around in, and go with everything. I'm in that era where I don't want to sacrifice comfort, and these shoes fit my lifestyle so well.

Is there an artist you are listening to on repeat right now?

This might sound like a shameless plug for my husband, but he's currently recording an album. All our friends jokingly call me Joe Jackson because I'm the type who, if you want to do something, I'll push you so hard—you’ll feel it. I'll be your biggest fan but also your biggest nuisance. I ask to hear every song, and I give notes, acting as the editor in chief of his projects. The songs are so good, and I'm so proud of him.

What's your comfort TV show?

The Morning Show—that's my jam. I will binge that show from start to finish. It reminds me of my newsroom days, even though I was a magazine journalist and not a news broadcaster, but there are similarities in the political dynamics.

For anyone who hasn't read your memoir yet, why should they pick up More Than Enough?

Pick it up if you're at an inflection point in your career and need inspiration or a nudge to pursue the next chapter of your dreams. The world tells you to focus on one big dream, and you'd better not fail at it. But the message of this book is that life is made up of a series of dreams realized, and you're allowed to dream as many different dreams as you want and go after them. It's really about the sequence of dreaming and taking those chances on yourself that helps you become who you're meant to be. When you hold yourself back by sticking to a single dream or identity, you stop growing. Also, read it because I'm writing another one, so you should have the backstory and be able to dive right into the next one.

Were there any other written works that inspired you while you were writing yours?

Becoming was a real inspiration. Michelle Obama is my icon, and I appreciate how candid she was and how personal and deep she went in her quest to convey these broader, universal lessons that are inspiring, motivating, and make us feel more connected and less alone. It gave me permission to do the same.

Any podcasts we should be listening to?

I'm now a full-blown boy mom, so my podcast choices are very diverse. For any moms out there in the car with their kids who need something to keep them entertained, I've been listening to a podcast called Smarty Pants. It takes questions from little kids and then goes into 15-minute, entertaining deep dives into random topics and the questions kids have. I end up learning a lot. I'm also into Adventures of Cairo for my kids. That's like a little narrative podcast for children. I recently binge-listened to Confessions of a Female Founder by Meghan Markle, who is a really good interviewer. Meghan Markle isn't a journalist, but she has excellent reporting instincts; she asks the right questions and pulls out great stories. Another podcast I enjoy is House Guest. You know how people ask, "Who are the five people you'd want to sit with for dinner—dead or alive?" It's that kind of idea in a podcast. You get to be at the dinner table or have drinks with someone you've always wanted to but probably never will. And it feels like you're laughing with them. It's really well-produced.

What's something that's underrated?

Being comfortable. I didn't appreciate it in my 20s, but now, in my 30s, I understand the power of prioritizing your comfort. And from there, all the great things follow—like confidence and a sense of ease in how you move through the world.

What's the best piece of parenting advice you have received?

Sleep train your kids. You'll enjoy parenting much more when you're well-rested and have a clear mind. You have to go through sleep training to get to the other side, and you might think your kids will hate you for it or that it will cause issues like attachment problems. But they won’t remember it, and ultimately, they will thank you because their development benefits from it. They grow while they sleep, and they need to learn how to stay asleep, just as you need to continue functioning in the world. I had to learn this a second time. The first time, I was a drill sergeant about sleep training, preaching it loudly. But then, with my second baby, I totally caved. I let the baby sleep in my bed and got totally attached. Going more than a year without sleep is a very bad idea—for everyone involved. Recently, we've found that the more we let him learn how to cry and find ways to cope and self-soothe, the longer he can stay asleep, and the quicker he can put himself back to sleep next time. As a result, we're all much happier as a family.

What's a luxury you refuse to give up?

Virgin margaritas. Sometimes you want a cute drink when you're out with the girlies, but you don't want to wake up feeling terrible the next day. I bet other moms can agree that a hangover isn't worth it.

What's one piece of advice you have for women in 2026?

Maintain a playful spirit in everything you do. It brings a lightness, and people prefer to work with those who are having fun and doing what they love.

I've been transfixed by actress Victoria Pedretti ever since her breakout role as Nell Crain in Netflix's 2018 adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House. Soon after, she hijacked my brain space as the eerily unbalanced Love Quinn (I'm still not okay!) in the television sensation, You, and later this month, she's sure to pack mega-watt shock value as Cherry in the horror film Forbidden Fruits.

As one of our four cover stars, Pedretti's damp, dewy hair, feathery brows, and shimmering peridot eyes are serving all the spring beauty inspiration, and I couldn't wait to ask her glam team all of my burning questions. From essential hair products to staple skin and makeup MVPs, keep scrolling for every detail behind Victoria Pedretti's Spring Issue cover look with Who What Wear.

"We wanted to create a real runway vibe for this shoot," hairstylist Christopher Farmer shares right off the bat. "The goal was to create a wet look that was cool and textured without looking overdone—a slightly dry finish on the ends of the hair was key."

"The inspiration was fresh, modern glamour that still felt effortless and true to Victoria," adds her makeup artist, Shelby Smith. "We wanted the skin to look luminous and real, with just enough structure to define her features without overpowering them." For example, Pedretti's shimmering green shadow (*drools*) was added to strategically accentuate the actress's blue eyes while still appearing soft, subtle, and wearable.

According to Farmer, the hair was actually the least cohesive element of the glam process in comparison to the clothing and makeup, likening our four cover stars (Pedretti was joined on set by Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, and Alexandra Shipp) to a "girl group" where every member could showcase their personality via their style and beauty choices. "All the girls had a totally different vibe when it came to their hair, which was great," he says.

That said, nothing competed. "Collaboration on set is really important to me," shares Smith. "We talked through the overall direction ahead of time so that hair, makeup, nails, and styling worked in tandem, not against each other."

"Victoria has incredibly striking eyes and beautiful bone structure, so I love enhancing those features while keeping the look balanced," Smith continues. For instance, Smith emphasized Pedretti's eyes with soft dimension and texture rather than a heavy liner, allowing the actress's shape and color to stand out. She also focused on subtly sculpting the skin using underpainting techniques so the definition would appear to come from within rather than sit on top of Pedretti's complexion. "My goal was simply to enhance the features Victoria already has and let her natural beauty remain the focal point."

Smith started her process by prepping Pedretti's skin with a handful of products from Sofie Pavitt Face—the best-selling Mandelic Acid Exfoliating & Clearing Serum ($54) and the Omega Rich Moisturizer ($64), which worked together to smooth texture and lock in moisture sans heaviness. Smith tells me she wanted to create a hydrated, luminous base so the skin would look fresh and healthy on camera. For the complexion, Smith under-painted the actress's skin using the M.ph by Mary Phillips Underpainting Face Highlight & Contour Palette ($64) to sculpt and add dimension softly, then applied the brand's foundation for a light, skin-like finish.

"The eyes featured a shimmering green shadow for a subtle statement, paired with a feathered brow to keep everything modern and effortless," shares Smith. "I finished with a neutral lip using the Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer in Shade No. 02 ($33) for a polished but understated balance to the look."

Farmer started his own process by blowing out the actress's already-dry strands. "I wasn't concerned about her roots for this look, but I wanted more control of the hair's mid shaft and ends to make the whole thing smoother." Farmer cites Color Wow's Pop & Lock High Gloss Finish ($24) as his key product for achieving Pedretti's runway-inspired wet look at the roots. To polish and add shine to the rest of the hair, he reached for Rōz's Santa Lucia Heat Protectant Styling Oil ($45).

As far as other hairstyling staples Farmer always keeps in his kit (and finds himself recommending to literally everyone), he rattles off four. "Phyto's Phyto Volume Volumizing Styling Spray ($30) is number one," he says. "My mentor introduced it to me, and it's still my go-to." He's also obsessed with anything Rōz. "The hair oil I used on Victoria is amazing, and I can even use it on my clients with the finest hair." The brand's Evergreen Hair Styling Cream ($32) and Milk Hydrating Leave-In Conditioner Hair Serum ($52) are also Farmer-approved favorites.

As for universal makeup recommendations, Smith tells me that the Sofie Pavitt Face Omega Rich Moisturizer ($64) is a go-to for creating a smooth, hydrated base that works beautifully under makeup on almost any skin type. (Pavitt, a renowned facialist in NYC, is known as a skin whisperer of sorts, especially when it comes to acne.)

"I also love skin-like foundations, like the M.ph by Mary Phillips formula I used on Victoria, because they enhance the complexion while still letting natural texture show through." Last but not least, Smith says a neutral lip liner, such as the Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer in Shade No. 02 ($33)—the exact shade she used on Pedretti—is another staple that flatters nearly everyone.

"Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her, we all die."

The first time a woman was blamed for everything, it was biblical.

Long before tabloids crowned their weekly villains and comment sections sharpened their knives, there was Eve—framed as the origin of ruin. It's been more than 2000 years since that line, referencing the fall in the book of Genesis, was etched into scripture and exactly zero days since women stopped being told they are each other's downfall. The narrative might evolve, but the accusation that women are each other's undoing sticks. You see tabloid headlines, Reddit snark posts, and whispers about who did what to get to the top.

Evil doesn't die. It simply reinvents itself. Misogyny has a remarkable talent for sticking around.

Enter Forbidden Fruits, the upcoming indie horror-dramedy from director Meredith Alloway that takes that ancient blame game and twists it into something deliciously deranged. The film, premiering March 27, trades the Garden of Eden for a suburban Texas mall and swaps Eve for a cult of witchy retail employees on the verge of a quiet mental breakdown. Among the creative forces behind it is producer Diablo Cody, who is best known for the teen horror-comedy Jennifer's Body. Starring Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, and Alexandra Shipp, Forbidden Fruits is a dark take that sinks its teeth into the complicated nature of female dynamics.

The film—adapted from Lily Houghton's 2023 stage play inspired by the same opening biblical verse—has all the hallmarks of a deeply rotted cult classic in the making: campy outfits, a questionable wig budget, gallons of syrupy fake blood that rivals that of a Final Destination film, and a star-studded cast that makes you question how they got all of these actors in the same room.

"From the beginning, cowriter Lily Houghton and I knew the key was finding actors who could balance the satire and the emotional honesty of the film," explains Alloway. Over the course of several weeks, Alloway and Houghton met with each of the actors on Zoom before they were officially cast, tapping into their inner psyche. "Watching all of them together in rehearsal for the first time was magnificent—it was musical. They were playing off each other in real time, understanding how to balance their different energies as characters," Alloway continues. It certainly helps that the film was shot exclusively from the hours of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., adding to the delirious state of the actors playing delirious characters. It's peak trauma bonding at its finest.

The chemistry is crucial. Frankly, it's what sucks you in as a viewer when watching Forbidden Fruits for the first time. Beneath the glittery dresses, food court pretzels, and fluorescent store lighting, Forbidden Fruits isn't really about witchcraft or the occult. It's about the tension that exists in hierarchy. The women's underground cult promises empowerment, but its currency is proximity. To be anointed (or, in the case of the film, bullied) is to be adored. To be adored is to be envied, and in this world, envy puts you in a dangerous position—fast.

Take, for example, Apple (played by Reinhart) the fierce lesbian ringleader who drives the narrative forward. She commands the basement cult with a mix of icy-cold stares and intimidation. Her presence is a gravitational force that pulls the other women into orbit. Reinhart's Apple isn't a stereotypical larger-than-life cartoon villain. She's magnetic and manipulative, but by the finale, she feels deeply broken and human.

That duality has become something of a signature for Reinhart as an actor. First catapulted into the cultural zeitgeist as Betty Cooper on The CW's Riverdale, Reinhart proved early on that she could elevate archetype into complexity. Betty could have easily remained the wholesome girl next door, but in Reinhart's hands, she unraveled—darkness creeping in around the edges, trauma and obsession bubbling beneath her perfect ponytail.

Even then, Reinhart demonstrated a fascination with fractured femininity: women who are both soft and sharp, controlled and chaotic. Apple feels like a natural, if more feral, evolution of that interest.

"I looked at her like a really troubled, lost woman who's desperate for sisterhood and control. She's definitely a bitch, but she's a bitch that you want to love you," Reinhart explains. She's sitting across from me on-screen deeply snuggled in an oversize hoodie that is likely a post–New York Fashion Week uniform for the actor, who's been zipping around Manhattan attending shows and beginning the press tour for Forbidden Fruits. "It's sort of the Regina George of it all. It's like, 'Wow, she's so mean. Can she be mean to me?'" she adds.

There's deep-rooted empathy for Apple, though, that practically radiates off Reinhart's end of the screen when we meet over Zoom to discuss the film. Reinhart read the script in 2023—two years before production began—and became attached to the project, namely Apple. "I got on Zoom with Meredith and Lily, and we just vibed for an hour," Reinhart recalls. "I just went in with a really strong vision and was like, 'Oh, I'm Apple, by the way.'"

It's a vision that took shape long before cameras rolled in Toronto, and Reinhart dove headfirst into Apple's world. There were marathon Preacher's Daughter listening sessions ("Apple feels very Ethel Cain to me," she confesses) and a strict rule about nails. She wore just two short ones because Apple needed to look lesbian without overtly announcing it. There were also hours of movement lessons with a dedicated coach who experiments in animal mannerisms. Reinhart settled on a lion, a nod to her character's sensual yet destructive nature.

The most blatant character study, though, comes in the form of a simple, cheeky baby tee Apple wears in the climax of the film post–mental breakdown. Costume designer Sarah Millman inserted the infamous verse "Of the woman came the beginning of sin…"—a clear nod to Apple's character arc in the film and the original title of the play Forbidden Fruits is based on. Throughout the story, she's often blaming misfortune on men and the patriarchy, but is it just projection? Does she actually believe that women are to blame for all that's wrong in the world? Reinhart doesn't skip a beat when I inquire further: "If women are the origin of sin, then they must be pretty fucking powerful, yeah?"

Apple, and Reinhart by extension, has a fascination with powerful, notorious women throughout history. You know, the ones often beheaded or burned at the stake. Just casual, girly things. "Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, Joan of Arc—Apple thinks those women were clearly the most intelligent women and doing something right. I think she idolizes that," Reinhart admits. It's not hard to see why. For the majority of the film, Apple has her other fruits (aptly named Fig, Cherry, and Pumpkin) squarely under her manicured fingers. "Being a woman is so powerful, and throughout the movie, you see all of the women come into their own power at some point or another," she says.

How do the women of Forbidden Fruits define their own path, though? For Tung, it's all about context. It's not lost on the actress that the film is set in the present day, where oppression against women—the real horror, not just jump scares and bloody gore—is the undercurrent that runs throughout some of the scenes.

"Even if it wasn't at the forefront of the movie, the conversations we're having on set play into Forbidden Fruits. Even though the exact way in which we're telling this story is new, there's also so many films that have paved the way," Tung tells me, nodding to the greats in the film's cinematic universe: Heathers, Jennifer's Body, The Craft, and, of course, Mean Girls. Notably, the cast filmed in the same Toronto mall that Lindsay Lohan and the Mean Girls cast filmed iconic scenes from the 2004 comedy. "We're haunted by the friendly ghosts of our past, in the best way," Tung jokes.

The through line of teen girls behaving badly and female friendships spiraling into something feral hangs over Forbidden Fruits, but for Tung, stepping into that canon marks a distinct tonal pivot from the role that made her a household name.

The 23-year-old is fresh off a generational run. If you're living under a rock or simply haven't opened TikTok in the past six months, let me catch you up to speed. Tung recently concluded her work on the television series that gave her her first big break—Amazon Prime's The Summer I Turned Pretty. (A movie is now in the works.) For three seasons, tweens and TikTok-savvy mothers alike watched a coastal New England love triangle form on-screen between Isabella "Belly" Conklin and brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher.

While Belly cried in debutante gowns, Tung's character in Forbidden Fruits, Pumpkin, plots in basements. In the film, Pumpkin takes on the role of a quiet, calculated observer who begins to slowly drive a wedge between the other women of the cult.

The tonal whiplash isn't lost on Tung, and it's precisely why she does what she does. "From the get-go, I wanted to do completely different things. That's the fun in being an actor," Tung says. "Forbidden Fruits was such a great thing to do after The Summer I Turned Pretty because it's a totally different world. It is so nice to be able to play roles that push you in a way you haven't been pushed before. That feeling is kind of addicting."

Tung was, by far, the youngest of the main ensemble on set and often had deep, introspective conversations with Reinhart about growing up in front of a global audience who feels entitled to every aspect of your life. It's a challenge she's had to navigate post–The Summer I Turned Pretty knowing that, at the end of the day, she's trying to be her own person while being a part of a generation that deeply craves connection with each other in the midst of a loneliness epidemic.

"Human beings crave a sense of being a part of a pack or belonging, and now with technology and with social media, there's a false sense of thinking everyone is part of your family and that you know them, but you don't," Tung explains. Forbidden Fruits is, at its core, a story about young women desperate to be chosen and initiated into something bigger than themselves. The inverse is true in her personal life. Fans don't just watch anymore. They theorize, they ship, they comment, and they demand. The hunger for access mirrors the film's cult-like intimacy in ways that feel almost on the nose.

If Tung's Pumpkin represents the outsider who slowly finds her way into the deranged world of the fruits, Pedretti's character is the one who's most deeply devoted to keeping up the fantasy that these women are the best of friends. Pedretti plays Cherry, a bubbly, sensual, risk-taking blonde who holds on to trauma that deeply unravels her. In any other universe, the cowboy hats, Bayonetta glasses, and pink paillette Daisy Dukes Pedretti wears throughout the film might make you think Cherry is another ditzy, hypersexualized female archetype. In reality, she's a layered, complex example of what it means to be a woman today.

"The beautiful thing that Cherry has to offer in her decoration of herself has so much merit, yet it's totally diminished by the fact that she doesn't have much confidence. She wants the validation of her sisters and her community," Pedretti, dialing in from a production in New Zealand, explains.

The actor speaks deliberately and slowly. Pedretti tells me she turned 30 while on set of Forbidden Fruits, which could be another layer to the deep emotional connection she feels toward a younger, perhaps more emotionally insecure Cherry. You can feel her deep reverence for her character despite being nothing like her in real life. She sees Cherry almost as a cautionary tale. "There's a moment in which Alexandra Shipp, who plays Fig, says that Cherry becomes a lipstick shell of herself. She's put so much attention into the way she presents herself and this loyalty to Apple that she's lost sense of who she is," she says.

Pedretti, who garnered critical acclaim for her roles as Love Quinn in Netflix's thriller You and Nell Crain in The Haunting of Hill House, knows a thing or two about playing an emotionally bruised character. Unlike her past performances, though, Cherry felt different—almost too elusive to parse through at times. The actor spent hours dissecting biographies and documentaries chronicling the lives of tragic women, people like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Anna Nicole Smith.

Just like Cherry, Pedretti suggests, these women did what was expected of them in order to protect their truest selves from the gaze of the outside world. "Cherry has this ideal of wanting to perform this perfect idea of her best self because it keeps her safe," Pedretti adds. "I'm really grateful to live in this time where our existence and safety is not solely dependent on the validation of men."

Rather than viewing Forbidden Fruits as a straightforward feminist psychoanalysis of female friendship, Pedretti sees it as something more uncomfortable—a story about the ways patriarchy infiltrates even our attempts at solidarity. "When we move throughout the world as women, we're often so categorized before we're even allowed to be people, and within that process, we're objectified," she notes. "It's incredible how, in our attempts to support one another, we can dehumanize ourselves. It feels like an impossible thing to make our way out of."

For Pedretti, the film interrogates a quieter pressure: the expectation that womanhood alone should guarantee intimacy, that shared lived experience should automatically translate into trust, loyalty, and devotion. Cherry clings to Apple and the other fruits not just out of desire but also out of obligation and a belief that this is what sisterhood is supposed to look like. The tragedy, Pedretti says, is that solidarity built on expectation rather than choice can curdle into something just as suffocating as the system it's meant to resist.

It's an idea that Shipp, who plays Fig, understands intimately. Over the past decade, Shipp has built a career on playing women navigating power structures much larger than themselves, from teenage mutants in X-Men to pop culture icons in Greta Gerwig's Barbie. She brings a grounded, emotional intelligence to characters that could easily tip into stereotype. She has a way of locating the humanity inside spectacle, which makes her portrayal of Fig a compelling presence in Forbidden Fruits.

Though the women on-screen are unraveling—gaslighting each other in mall basements and weaponizing sisterhood—the atmosphere behind the scenes was anything but chaotic. Shipp describes a set defined by mutual respect and creative rigor, where each actor arrived prepared to go toe-to-toe.

"It was really fun to play characters that are so far from who we all are as individual women," she gushes, looking back on the experience of working with Reinhart, Tung, and Pedretti. "I knew right away, being surrounded by this incredible ensemble, that I had to step my game up."

That competitive generosity, each woman pushing the other to dig deeper, bleeds into Forbidden Fruits itself. Despite being an original member of the mall coven, Fig feels like an outsider within the confines of the system. She's Black, a bit goth, and refreshingly self-aware in a group that thrives on delusion. Shipp plays her with a quiet sharpness, like someone constantly calculating the temperature of the room. But at the end of the day, she admits, Fig goes along with the hexes, the drama, and the chaos largely out of proximity. She's there, so she stays.

"I had conversations with Meredith [Alloway] because Fig is obviously a college-educated, strong, willpowered individual. She can't just be in this world because of the store discount she gets from working at the mall," Shipp says, dialing in from her home in Los Angeles. "She eventually snaps because, at the end of the day, we can only take so much shit from someone. Fig came to the store for the community. Someone who wants to make friends will do some really fucked-up shit.”

For Shipp, that contradiction is the point. Fig isn't naïve—she's lonely. And loneliness in Forbidden Fruits is just as dangerous as devotion. "It's like trauma bonding," she jokes, referencing the similarities between the dynamic between the women in Forbidden Fruits and her own experience of working at a retail store in her pre-acting days. "We don't get to choose who we're around when we're working retail, sure, but we can both hate the boss. We can both hate the long hours."

It's a flippant comparison, but it's a valid one. Shared dissatisfaction can feel like intimacy. Mutual resentment can masquerade as alignment. In the fluorescent purgatory of a retail job—or the dimly lit back room of a cultish girl gang operating in the basement—solidarity often begins with a common enemy. The problem, Fig eventually realizes, is that bonding over what you hate isn't the same thing as building something you love. "In particular for Fig, it was really important for me to showcase that she just wanted friends, low-key. There's something so sweet and innocent about that," Shipp admits. "She was accepted and appreciated by the fruits. It's a really intoxicating feeling, but it doesn't mean you have to be around all of these bad people, and she comes to find that out."

Although each of the women come to realize the toxic nature of their friend group, Fig is the first to snap. It's a deliberate choice, acting as the first domino in a set to fall over and cause the fracturing of the larger ensemble. In that way, Fig is the realest character. The result is a fight during a tornado lockdown that drives the women farther apart than ever. Everyone is in it to save their own lives. The illusion of girlhood—a glossy means of salvation—collapses in on itself at the end.

From Eve to the mall basement, the temptation's always been the same: Pit the women against each other. You call it jealousy, call it hysteria, or call it sin, but ultimately, it isn't that simple. The danger that Forbidden Fruits puts on full display isn't about female power. It's what happens when that power gets warped, when belonging becomes transactional, and when sisterhood becomes performance. The film grants its women the freedom to be messy, manipulative, hedonistic, horny, wrathful, and, most importantly, fully in command of their own stories.

In their made-up Garden of Eden, no serpent is required. There's no forbidden apple. It's just a group of women trying—messily, imperfectly, and often destructively—to carve out space for themselves in a world that still insists on defining them first.

Two thousand years later, the accusation about whether women were the origin of sin lingers, but Forbidden Fruits dares to ask a different question. What if women were never the cause of it and are simply the most convenient scapegoats?

Photographer and Super 8 Director: Emman Montalvan
Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen
Hairstylist for Lili Reinhart: Ericka Verrett
Hairstylist for Lola Tung: Dana Boyer
Hairstylist for Victoria Pedretti: Chris Farmer
Hairstylist for Alexandra Shipp: Miles Jeffries
Makeup Artist for Lili Reinhart: Cedric Jolivet
Makeup Artist for Lola Tung: Misha Shahzada
Makeup Artist for Victoria Pedretti: Shelby Smith
Makeup Artist for Alexandra Shipp: Dana Delaney
Manicurist for Lili Reinhart: Erin Leigh Moffett
Manicurist for Lola Tung: Thuy Nguyen
Manicurist for Victoria Pedretti: Stephanie Stone
Manicurist for Alexandra Shipp: Queenie Nguyen
Creative Director: Alexa Wiley

Set Designer: Isaac Aaron
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Lindsay Ferro
DP: Sam Miron
Producer: Kellie Scott

If you have yet to watch Industry, I have a few words of warning: do not watch if your anxiety levels are quick to rise, do not watch if you like your plots neat and characters tidy and absolutely do not watch with your parents. Which is to say that it is brilliant, blistering television; smart, spiky, shocking and scorching-hot appointment viewing.

The HBO/BBC show, which wraps its fourth season tonight, follows the plotting and scheming of a sprawling cast of characters in the world of finance. At the centre of it all is Marisa Abela as Yasmin Kara-Hanani, now the marvellously named Lady Muck following her marriage to Sir Henry Muck (played, brilliantly, by Kit Harrington). Damaged, ruthless, vicious and vulnerable, she is complex; a walking contradiction swaddled in expensive knitwear.

"She’s a provocateur. She likes to shake up a room," says Abela, over a coffee in East London before her Who What Wear UK cover shoot. Thoughtful, engaged and with a sparkling laugh, in person, Abela shares Yasmin's charisma, though none of her character’s snooty brusqueness. Saluting the "richness" of the character, Abela adds: "She has intense moments of darkness and intense moments of levity and humour. That keeps people guessing with her but also draws them in. ... She presents as a predator, but she is the ultimately well-evolved prey. She completely fits into her environment in order to survive."

An unknown 22-year-old when she got the part of Yasmin (Abela was still at drama school, RADA, when she auditioned), the role has not only won her plaudits, including Best Leading Actress at the 2025 BAFTA Television Awards, but catapulted her to being-stopped-in-the-street fame. There was also her turn as Amy Winehouse in Back to Black, and a part in Stephen Soderbergh’s espionage thriller Black Bag alongside Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. The day before our interview, she was doing a new play reading with James Norton, whilst she’s also currently filming action fantasy Highlander with Russell Crowe and Henry Cavill.

Given this schedule, downtime has been somewhat limited for Abela over the past few months. "I just went on my honeymoon. That was probably the last time I was like, phone down, whatever. My husband [actor Jamie Bogyo, whom she met at RADA] and I really love to travel. I train a lot, I read a lot." She loves that Highlander is a really physical job. "It’s a lot of training in a martial-arts-y-jujitsu way, which is really fun, and it takes the sort of 'I am exercising' thing out of it; you just realise after two hours that you are." Abela is also a big Real Housewives stan (New York, Beverly Hills and Salt Lake City are her jam, and she has hung out with Dorinda Medley in New York), so she's palpably buzzing over the just-announced news that the OG New York crew are getting back together for a TV return.

Although there are enough rumours and nastiness in any episode of Industry to make even the bitchiest Housewife blush, season 4 has a particular potent sting in its examination of issues around sexual exploitation and consent, highlighted by Yasmin’s boundary-busting relationship with young assistant Hayley, played superbly by Kiernan Shipka. Viewers have been quick to note parallels between Yasmin and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Abela says she understands the cultural fascination we have with "women that fill up spaces, that are so close to power—especially power that feels slightly sour", like the current White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Sometimes rightfully, sometimes not, there’s a deep distrust of these women, she says. "We’re like, how do you reconcile this to yourself? We don’t necessarily ask the same question of men. We might [ask], 'How do you sleep at night?', but we know how they sleep at night; they’re fine! It feels like women ought to have higher social [and] moral responsibility than men."

If Industry is unflinching in its exploration of the ugliness of ruthless ambition, off-camera is a different story. "It’s a really fun set. We really are all just best friends working together," says Abela. She loves working with Harrington ("We’re so fearless with one another."), and co-star Myha’la was a bridesmaid at her wedding last year.

Abela grew up in Rottingdean near Brighton with her brother and mother (she and Abela’s father, a director, divorced when Abela was young but remain close). To make ends meet, Abela’s mum, a TV and stage actress, took on extra jobs, including a call centre role. "I was really lucky to grow up in an incredibly creative household with a super-talented actress as a mother who [also] had to work other jobs. That did not look like failure to me; it looked like being an artist and making sacrifices for something she believed in."

Winning a place at the prestigious public school Roedean on a drama scholarship, Abela was introduced to the world of the 1% that Yasmin occupies. "I think it was really useful for [portraying] Yasmin in terms of understanding what privilege really looks like. No one who's entitled thinks they’re entitled," she says. "Those kids never walk into a room and think, 'How embarrassing I’m here,'" she notes, adding that she thinks everyone has a right to that kind of unshakeable self-confidence.

In a crinkled plaid shacket, loafers and a floor-length coat, in person, Abela reads more low-key cool girl than high-maintenance aristo. But, given all the premieres and award ceremonies, fashion is an important part of her off-screen work. "I really love it when it works. I feel like it’s all about trying to find your voice in your clothes," she says, acknowledging that the tone of different projects calls for a tailored approach. "It’s all about calibrating everything with intention. You can tell a bit of a story [with the clothes]."

Red carpets, however, are much more exposing for Abela than being on camera, even compared to a role like Yasmin that requires her to really go there without inhibition. "I think the worst I’ve ever felt about my body is when I was, like, 16, going to a party and [I] wanted a boy to fancy me. Even now, the hardest I’ve trained to be in a specific shape—other than Back to Black, which was a completely different thing—was for my wedding," she says. "I will train or eat or whatever in a different way if I’m going on holiday than I will if I’m doing a sex scene on Industry. I don’t feel that vain because I don’t feel [a] responsibility to an audience to look a certain way to be naked on camera."

In the early days of Industry, she remembers talking to Lena Dunham (who directed the pilot episode) about whether Yasmin is "one of those girls" who pushes food around her plate. And what did they decide? "I think Yasmin eats whatever the fuck she wants!" she laughs. "There’s no scarcity mindset when it comes to Yasmin; I think she has a high opinion of herself, I don’t think she suffers with self-confidence issues [or] what she looks like, and that’s so freeing to be able to play."

Photographer: Charlotte Hadden at Together Associates
Stylist: Sophie Cloarec
Hair Stylist: Gareth Bromell at AFrame Agency
Makeup Artist: Neil Young at AFrame Agency
Manicurist: Ami Streets
Editor-in-Chief: Jane McFarland
Managing Director: Hannah Almassi
Art Director: Natalia Sztyk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Movement Director: Liam John
Writer: Laura Jordan
Video: Natasha Wilson
Photography Assistant: Lucy Rooney, Lily Sadin
Digital Technician: George Zenko
Styling Assistant: Layla Desjardins
Production: Town Productions

Step into the universe of the coolest creatives in the fashion industry with our series My World, where readers will discover how the top stylists, designers, and tastemakers built their careers and get a peek into their favorite restaurants, beloved albums, fashion finds, etiquette rules they stand by, and so much more.

The cover star of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, W, and countless other magazines worldwide. The face of campaigns for Chloé, Ferragamo, Gucci, Miu Miu, Tory Burch, and Valentino. A graduate of the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London with a degree in classical theater and an acting debut as the leading lady in Sean Baker's 2012 Starlet, followed by roles in Alex Ross Perry's Listen Up Philip and Noah Baumbach's While We're Young. These are just a few of the highlights from Dree Hemingway's career thus far.

Adding to her impressive résumé, the Sun Valley, Idaho-raised, Los Angeles– and Rome-based actress is currently playing Daryl Hannah in Ryan Murphy's long-awaited series Love Story alongside Paul Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, which recently premiered on February 12. Her next performance will be in The Girl, a film that examines Roman Polanski's abuse scandal through the perspective of the victim, Samantha Geimer. It is the feature writing and directing debut of French filmmaker Marina Ziolkowski.

If her well-known last name looks familiar, it's because she's the great-granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway himself (and the daughter of actress Mariel Hemingway and businessman Stephen Crisman)—the subject of The Hemingway Files, an upcoming film she's executive-producing. The project is a candid portrayal of the final years of his life, including his struggles with mental health, his complicated relationship with his daughter Gloria, and his paranoia-induced belief that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI were watching him.

Over our video call, Dree's easygoing, fun-loving energy is quickly apparent. She has that "lit from within" quality, and the same warmth comes through in a scroll of her Instagram. She comes across as glamorous yet grounded, confident yet approachable, well-traveled, stylish, and uninhibited.

Below, take a look into the world of the actress, model, and soon-to-be producer.

You started your career in modeling. When do you feel like acting became serious for you, or was that always the goal?

I always wanted to be an actress. I felt like I actually started modeling because, in my mind, it was an exploration of character. It was kind of like an intro into the acting world when I felt like I wasn't ready to be an actress quite yet. I feel like you have to draw on life experiences to better a character on-screen. I had been a ballet dancer, so it felt like a natural path toward the acting world. But I mean, acting has been my dream forever. As long as I can remember, I was like, "I'm gonna be an actress."

Between going to school for acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and landing your first role in a Sean Baker film, was there an experience from either that shaped you early on?

I feel like working with Sean was a really magical and unique introduction to the acting world. It was very improv-heavy but also so character-driven. It was such a guerrilla-style project, and to this day, it's one of my favorite things I've ever done because it really made me fall in love with this industry beyond anything else, and it solidified that this is exactly what I want to do and need to be doing in my life. I also grew up watching Turner Classic Movies, and I feel like women like Katharine Hepburn and the leading ladies in Hitchcock films were really why I wanted to be an actress. There's elegance but also such power in these women. I really fell in love with Old Hollywood. I think we're in a different era today, but I still think that essence exists in some way.

With Love Story, how did you get into the role? Do you have a standout memory from being on set?

In terms of getting into the role, it was mostly interviews. There were a couple of different interviews I would quickly watch to ground myself in it. But my favorite thing on set was just being with everybody. I think every set is special, but this one, in particular, was incredible because I really loved everyone. It's a beautiful machine unlike anything I've ever experienced, and I really enjoyed working with everyone. Jesse Peretz specifically was so magical. And then Jason McCormick, the DP, was really fun to work with. It's like a dance, and you can just feel that he's creating something amazing.

You're also producing The Hemingway Files. Is there any part of your great-grandfather's legacy or stories you've heard about his personality that you feel like you relate to or see in yourself?

One-hundred percent. I feel like he was a people person and really enjoyed being around strangers and hearing their stories, and I'm very much that person too. I like talking to the people I'm working with and knowing what's going on with them. I'm very curious about that. He also loved to travel and loved nature. I remember the first time I went to Africa and thinking, "Oh, I get it. This runs through our blood."

I would love to know three words that you feel define your personal style right now.

I think my personal style right now is very '90s and minimal. I don't like to overthink things. I want to just throw things on. If I'm wearing a pattern, I pair it with something simple. If I'm wearing something colorful, everything else needs to be undone. There has to be a juxtaposition. I never like to be over-the-top. At the same time, I like making bold statements that surprise people. But overall, I think I've consistently, my whole life, been a little more grounded in the way I dress.

Do you have style icons who really inform your style?

I feel like Gwyneth Paltrow in the '90s is kind of a style icon of mine and Julia Roberts too. I also feel like Katharine Hepburn is a huge style icon for me. She wore pantsuits in such an elegant way, but there was also an androgynous side that I really enjoy. Who else? I think my style is very intuitive. There can be someone or something I've seen that inspires me, but there's always my own take. Lauren Hutton is a huge style icon for me as well. I like when it's playful, undone, but with a splash of something unexpected. For hair and makeup, I can't really do over-the-top. I've tried, and it looks cool, but it really becomes a character thing.

What would you say is the most sentimental item in your closet?

I have a Tiffany's watch that was either my Aunt Margot's or my mother's, and it's falling apart. It has a black strap, and I keep trying to push it down. I keep taking it in to get it fixed. It's very sentimental to me. It's funny because I love things, and I have a lot of things, but I feel like memories and the people around me are more important than the objects themselves. I do have a sweater that I wear every time I travel, which was my father's. It's falling apart, and I kind of look like a ratty sack bag, but it's become a habit, and I could never give it away even though I'll probably stop wearing it at some point. The sleeves are ripping, and I keep getting them sewn, so now, it's starting to look a little wild.

What would you say is your most repurchased beauty product?

There's this brand called Mimoh by Dr. Ellie, who's a Korean acupuncturist. It's a PDRN spray and cream, and I've seen the most change in my skin with that. Then there's another brand called Osmosis. I take two vitamins from them that help with hormonal and environmental changes. It's all-natural and called Skin Defense, and it's kept me from breaking out completely.

Are there any other products that you're loyal to?

Have you seen Bonjout? It's a cream that I really love. I also use Kosas concealer, and my go-to is the Super Tinted Hydrator from U Beauty. If I need more coverage, I'll layer it, but normally, that's just what I put on for daytime. For cheek tint, I use the Merit one in Rouge.

Do you have a go-to lip liner?

I really like the Saie Beauty in Twist.

What about a nail polish color you're always getting or coming back to?

I feel like it's Mademoiselle. I've been craving going red for months now, but when I was on set, I could never do red. Then, I keep doing shoots, and they want natural colors, so I can't do red. But I really love a cherry cherry.

Do you have a favorite one? I feel like a lot of people have their one red polish.

It's called Big Apple Red. Then there's another one—Ferrari red… Or is it Lamborghini? It's a really aggressive poppy, but I really like it because it has orange undertones.

You grew up in Idaho. I've never been—how do you usually describe it when people ask, "What's it like growing up in Idaho"?

It's beautiful. I grew up in a ski town. I call it a less-bougie Aspen situation. It's nice, but people are still wearing their Patagonias and hiking boots. It's not a fashion thing at all. A lot of Old Hollywood would vacation there in the 1950s, and they even had a train from Los Angeles up to Sun Valley. It's where the first chairlift ever was. It's very green. It's a valley, so it sits between mountains, and it's stunning. My whole heart and soul is there, and I don't think I fully appreciated it as much growing up. Now, I just cherish everything that it is, and I'm so grateful that I was able to grow up there. Winter is really beautiful, but in the summers, there are lakes, rivers, and hiking, and it's so lush.

What's your number one Idaho recommendation?

There's Craters of the Moon, which is really funny. It's all this volcanic rock. Then you go down into it, which is very entertaining. Redfish Lake is gorgeous. I'd also recommend hiking there. That's a great spot. And my favorite, favorite, favorite restaurant for Thai food is a place called Rickshaw.

You split your time between L.A. and Rome. Do you have a favorite restaurant in each place?

Maybe Damian for Mexican food downtown. It's like heaven. Oh, and there's a restaurant in Rome called Pierluigi, which is my favorite—expensive but so good. In L.A., Speranza. It's a cheap Italian spot, but it's so yummy. I like a character-filled restaurant that feels homey and cozy.

If you could bring one thing from L.A. to Rome and vice versa, what would it be?

There's this desk sewing table that I found. It was in a secondhand store. It's by Ponti, who's like the creator of mid-century modern, and I got it for next to nothing. I would love to bring it here, but it really needs to stay there. I also have really good rugs and really good art out there.

Do you have a favorite family ritual that you do?

My dad passed away, and his birthday was on Christmas Eve, so every year on Christmas Eve, we eat his favorite meal. I don't really eat meat, but I have steak every year with mashed potatoes on his birthday. It's really fun and really celebratory [with] a really good glass of red wine. I think that's my favorite tradition.

What music do you have on repeat right now?

Rosalía.

Letterboxd top four?

The Fifth Element, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, The Philadelphia Story, and Spirited Away.

Is there a film or book that you feel like really changed you?

Yes, you know what? I don't know if it changed me, but watching Pride and Prejudice, I was like, "Why am I not British and living in the countryside during this time period?" All of the Jane Austen books and films had that effect on me. … I remember watching Sophie's Choice. Again, it didn't change me, but it devastated me to the point where I was like, "Wow." At the same time, it's exquisite acting. It's a hard movie, but just… wow.

Favorite book?

The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorites. There's Autobiography of a Yogi that I really love.

One etiquette rule that you follow?

Please and thank you. Kindness.

Is there a trend right now that you will not participate in that you feel strongly like is not for you?

Um, yeah. Some of the 2000s trends, like low-rise jeans. I attempted to get back into that again, but I don't know if it's for me. I'm not sure I can pull it off.

What is the best parenting advice that you've gotten?

I think the best parenting advice is to be present—be present with your child. Also, try not to overreact because kids have no control over their emotions.

Is there one piece of advice from either of your parents that you feel like you think about a lot or that you feel is a defining thing for you.

My mom always used to say, "Pretty is as pretty does," meaning that it's not just about outer beauty. It's really about internal kindness. That's something I hope to instill in my daughter.

Madison Beer is no stranger to turning heads, but when we meet at a Glendale coffee shop on a windy January afternoon, she's surprisingly anonymous. After the lunching animators sporting matching DreamWorks lanyards clear out of the establishment, the remaining group of elderly Armenian gentlemen at the adjacent table appear to be totally oblivious to the pop star's presence. Truthfully, had I been about 40 years older and enjoying an espresso with my fellow retirees, I wouldn't have batted an eyelash either—except maybe to admire her belted gray herringbone minidress.

For Beer—who is in the midst of rolling out her highly anticipated third studio album, Locket—moments of anonymity like this are few and far between. While this particular group of men may not have recognized the Grammy-nominated Gen Z pop star, it's safe to say their granddaughters would have certainly been starstruck.

Amid the enormity and pressure of this album cycle, Beer quickly defies all the usual tropes of a pop star—feedback she often gets from people she meets outside of the industry. "I have existed as a signed artist longer than I existed not being a signed artist," she calls out. "It's been my normal for a really long time. Fame never came into my life and turned into something that I let consume who I am."

In the throes of her press tour and prep for The Locket Tour, which kicks off in May, Beer is on the precipice of several significant firsts. "When I perform at Madison Square Garden, I'm gonna probably shit myself twice," she laughs. "That's just been my dream for forever." She is notably inquisitive, observant, and down-to-earth. To my shock and horror, she almost immediately clocks that we are from neighboring corners of the tristate area. "It's just an essence, you know?" she says when I press her to reveal my seemingly glaring tell.

Locket, which was released in mid-January, sonically and lyrically communicates the continued complexities of her experience straddling normal life and celebrity, all the while being constantly dissected under a microscope. Whimsical arpeggiation, dreamy chimes, and brutally honest softness in songs like "Bittersweet" and "Bad Enough" juxtapose the electric energy and brash, magnetic confidence of "Yes Baby" and Grammy-nominated "Make You Mine." This contrast, in many ways, mimics the duality of her own experience. Conceptually, Locket feels like a reclamation of a girlhood sabotaged by a system that forced Beer to grow up way too fast.

Considering she's just 26 years old, the longevity of Beer's career is particularly notable. It's also likely why I admittedly cannot place when or where I first became aware of Beer as a public figure, which is something Beer and I laugh at. Apparently, this sentiment has been frequently echoed throughout the years. Instead, she feels like a ubiquitous presence in the industry, yet during our interview week, Beer's single "Bittersweet" debuted at 98 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Locket itself debuted at 10 on the Billboard 200—both firsts in her 14-year career. On the topic of these particular firsts, she's learned to avoid tying her artistic integrity to statistics. "I've kind of come to a point where I'm like, 'I'm okay with or without it. I'm proud of the music with or without it,'" she says.

Her streaming numbers have historically been surprising considering her level of fame. With over 40 million Instagram followers and another 21 million on TikTok, her fan base is massive. In October of 2025, she performed songs off her forthcoming album at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which was streamed live by over 2.5 million viewers. Her music has also consistently remained critically acclaimed with overwhelmingly positive reviews from major publications, even securing Grammy nominations in both 2024 and 2025. Yet her fame seems to precede her, diverting our attention from her impressive and lengthy music career.

She's also received frequent praise from the influential and highly respected fixtures in the industry. In 2023 at the Billboard Women in Music event, Lana Del Rey shouted out Beer alongside chart-toppers Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo as representative of just how far the industry has come for female artists. "She changed me," says Beer, reflecting on the happenstance moment Del Rey approached her at a coffee shop and introduced herself as a fan. "I literally dropped my knees, and I was like, 'Am I hallucinating right now?'"

Even with all the accolades, Beer's inescapable noteriaty as a social media icon feels misguided at best and completely disregards her impressive technical, musical skill. It's a "chicken or the egg" scenario where, in our black-and-white world, it's difficult to trace which came first: internet fame or musical fame. Upon reflection, this is something I, a professional purveyor of internet rhetoric, am also guilty of. It's this erasure of a narrative focused on talent as opposed to marketability that feels like a reflection of the state of celebrity—particularly for women who enter the industry as children.

In many ways, her career has been entirely unprecedented. In 2012, a 12-year-old Beer was inspired by her favorite YouTuber and artist Christina Grimmie to begin uploading covers from the comfort and safety of her Long Island home. "I literally owe my life to her. I wouldn't have posted that YouTube cover if I wasn't inspired by her," she says. It wasn't long before none other than Justin Bieber, who famously got his own start on YouTube, shared one of the preteen's videos, making it go instantly viral. Shortly after, Beer signed a deal with Island Records and was thrust into the incredibly adult world of fame and navigating the emergence of social media as a necessary evil of the entertainment industry without the backing of traditional institutions like Disney or Nickelodeon that have, for better or worse, guided and propelled teenage girls to stardom. Instead, she was thrown into the industry among the grown-ups, where the lines of what should and shouldn't be commonplace for a 12-year-old are murky at best.

Soon, the jarring reality of celebrity began to rear its head, both in her personal life and in the industry at large. Just a few years after Beer posted the YouTube cover that set her career in motion, Grimmie, who was just 22 years old, was shot and killed by an obsessive fan during a meet and greet after an Orlando concert. The tragedy had a significant impact on Beer. "It was beyond devastating," she reflects. "She's, in my opinion, one of the most talented people that ever lived, and I don't think she got the recognition I always thought she deserved." Beer pauses thoughtfully and adds, "I never got to really meet her, and I just… I don't know. I just wish she knew how much I loved her. I feel kind of sad that I never really let her know."

Simultaneously, Beer was being actively hypersexualized by both traditional media and the now all-too-familiar vitriolic internet mob. Beer is undoubtedly striking. Her sharp cheekbones; dark, almond-shaped eyes; and thick, flowing brown hair have drawn attention for the entirety of her career. Even as a teen, she was frequently compared to much older, highly sexualized celebrities of the 2010s, most notably Megan Fox—a comparison she hilariously flips on its head in her 2024 Jennifer's Body–inspired music video for "Make You Mine."

After an incredibly traumatizing nude photo leak at the age of 15, Beer was subjected to endless and unrelenting cyberbullying and sex shaming well before she could legally drive, let alone buy a drink. In her 2023 memoir The Half of It, which she wrote hand in hand with best friend and writer Lena Fultz, Beer shares the impact of the experience on her mental health with blistering detail and honesty. After multiple suicide attempts and a borderline personality disorder diagnosis, her success as a musician is a testement to both her resilience and her passion.

With Locket, Beer rewrites her own narrative. Producing alongside frequent collaborators Tim Sommers aka One Love, Lostboy, and Leroy Clampitt, she describes the comfortability and safety that come with a long-term working relationship. "Trust is a big thing for me," she says. "And it's hard sometimes to go into a room with writers you've never met and sit down and be like, 'Here's all my trauma. Let's write a song about it.'" But it's that creative connection that allows her to trust the process.

"When I started it, I had no idea where I was headed," Beer says, explaining that the majority of the tracks on the album came to fruition in a particularly productive three-month span. "It takes a while to take off. That's kind of how I explain it. The beginning feels really slow, and then once it starts working, it's just go, go go."

The songwriting of Locket reflects that trust in its brutal honesty. Beer describes the process of writing what she describes as "the ballad of the album,"You're Still Everything": "I wrote that song in a really vulnerable state and at a time where I felt just totally desperate for someone who I felt like didn't really care at all. The line 'I only exist in the moments you're talking to me' is literally about feeling like I don't have a reason to be here if we're not talking." This candor, as scarily vulnerable as it may be, ultimately pushed Beer to include the song on the album despite the ways it exposes a piece of her she finds complicated.

"Am I ready to openly tell people how I get so attached and how it literally feels like the air is being taken from me when someone is ghosting?" she asks. "But I know so many people can relate, so it feels like [it's] worth doing. I know there's so many people out there, girls like me, that might feel validated. That makes it worth it."

That intimacy is also palpable in the creative direction of the world of the album. Locket opens with a soft winding reminiscent of turning the key of a music box. It instantly transports the listener to a nostalgic, whimsical youth bedroom where an unlocked diary detailing confessions of young love in cursive ink rests abandoned amid gently strewn hair ribbons and lacy baby-doll dresses. "I wanted it to feel both magical and hopeful," says Beer.

As visually rich as the album is in its final form, for Beer, the holistic creative direction of her work never comes to her first. "To me, it's the music first always, and then everything else can fall into place after," says Beer of her process. "I'm really bad at creating something beforehand and sticking to it because then it starts developing, and you're like, 'This is not at all what I thought it was gonna be.' So I don't even do that anymore. I just go in, and I let it take shape. At the start, I had no idea, and then once it started taking form, I could really see the aesthetic, and I could see the colors, and I could see everything just start to come to life in this cool way. But that happens when the music develops."

What most people don't know about Beer is how deeply involved she is in every aspect of her album's conception. Not only is she a cowriter on every song on the album, but she's also a coproducer. From technical instrumentation decisions to music-video direction alongside frequent collaborator Aerin Moreno, Beer remains incredibly hands-on in developing the visual language of the album.

This naturally trickles down to styling. Her vision? Delicate vintage lace corsets; puff-sleeve, fairytale-inspired dresses; and, of course, dainty dangling lockets. She credits her stylist, Harper Slate, with bringing the look to life. "She's just really cool about letting me feel comfortable but then also pushing me where it's necessary and having a clear vision," she says. Beer especially appreciates Slate's direction and describes her personal style as comfort first. "On a normal day, I'm in sweats and a hoodie, and I have no shame about it. I thought that would change when I turned 25, but I'm turning 27 soon and not feeling like it's changing anytime soon," she continues. "I've found what I like, and I think that's really important. I can still look put-together but be comfy. My go-to is just a baggy pair of jeans that feel kind of sweatpant-y and a cashmere sweater and a cool leather jacket."

Beer's affinity for comfort, however, runs deeper than just her wardrobe. As her three-month international Locket Tour approaches, she shares that much of her love for touring has been the product of strong boundary setting that allows her to put her mental health first. Yet over the past decade, this has been met with significant pushback from not just industry executives but also the court of social media. "People have been like, 'If you don't step up and do this, someone else will.' I'm like, 'Cool, then the floor is yours' because I'm not going to be played like a pawn," she says.

She has also taken the wisdom she's garnered from previous stints on the road to make sure the complex logistics of touring support her rather than burn her out. "I love touring, and I'm excited to tour because I've made it so I can do it and love it," she continues. "My last tour was eight months long, which some people are like, 'That's normal.' I'm like, 'Not to me.'" There's nothing normal about that. She hopes that standing up for herself and pushing for better boundaries has a positive effect on the expectations of the industry. "I would love to be someone that people could look to [say], 'Wow, she does a really good job of maintaining a healthy balance between both,'" she adds.

Beer is especially grateful for her longtime fans who have supported her in the moments she has needed to take a step back. "I have a community that's not just going to up and abandon me," she shares. "I know how precious time is, and I feel like I give so much of my life to my career. … I'm good with where I'm at. I'm proud of all my achievements thus far, and if I can maintain a healthy work/life balance, that, to me, is the true epitome of success."

As the baristas begin to close the coffee shop around us and we are suddenly made aware of the time, Beer excitedly shares her leisurely plans for the rest of the day: "I'm literally going home [and] taking a bath." A Pisces through and through. "I have an epic bath, so I'm in the bathroom all the time," she admits. "I'm in the bath, then I'm back in my bed, then I go downstairs and make food. Then I'm like, 'Can I go back in the bath?' And then I go back in the bath." We laugh while comparing step counts, screen times, and our shared love for a day spent entirely horizontal. "Forget the couch. I can't even get to the couch. I'm in bed," Beer concludes. Stars, I sigh, they're just like us.

Talent: Madison Beer
Photographer: Chantal Anderson
Stylist: Gemma Ferri
Hairstylist: Mel Dominguez
Makeup Artist: Cherish Brooke Hill
Manicurist: Analysse Hernandez
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Lindsay Ferro
DP: Sam Miron
Video Producer: Kellie Scott

Step into the universe of the coolest creatives in the fashion industry with our series My World, where readers will discover how the top stylists, designers, and tastemakers built their careers and get a peek into their favorite restaurants, beloved albums, fashion finds, etiquette rules they stand by, and so much more.

There's a quiet authority June Ambrose carries. Not everyone knows that she is the name behind many iconic red carpet, music video, and celebrity style moments, but fashion-industry insiders are well aware. The legendary stylist, costume designer, and creative director has entered a chapter defined less by proximity to power and more by intention. It's a level of clarity that only comes with the knowledge, experience, and self-trust she's earned over the years in this industry.

For Ambrose, success has never been about doing everything at once. It's about discernment—knowing when to lean into work, when to protect her energy, and when to prioritize family. "Work/life balance is a constant balancing act, not a fixed formula," she explains. "Different seasons require different priorities, and that's okay." That philosophy extends to her most recent project, a collaboration with Naturalizer that challenges the long-standing trade-off between comfort and style. Rooted in what she calls Style-letics, the collection fuses fashion, movement, and culture and is designed for women who live in multiple modes and refuse to shrink themselves into just one box.

Her world is one shaped by fearless style and deep intention, informed by icons like Grace Jones and Donna Summer, and guided by a belief that fashion is communication. It's also deeply personal, and this current era of individuality-first style was made for her. From the career lessons she's passing down to her daughter to the pieces in her closet she hopes will one day become heirlooms, Ambrose's approach to style—and life—is about legacy, not noise. Ahead, she opens up about the creative instincts that define her, the moments that shaped her career, and why true power should always feel like freedom.

Tell me what work/life balance looks like to you. How do you juggle family, yourself, and having a successful career?

I stay grounded by being intentional with my time, protecting my energy, and knowing when to lean into work and when to lean into family or myself. Creativity thrives when my life feels full, not depleted.

To me, real success isn't doing everything at once. It's building a career that works with your life, not against it. Balance is grace, flexibility, and giving yourself permission to define success on your own terms.

How do you want to define your 2026 era?

Power with purpose.

My 2026 era is about intentional power—moving with clarity, confidence, and purpose. It's a season of refinement, where I'm expanding into new categories and aligning with partners who truly understand my vision and values.

It's less about doing more and more about doing what matters—designing work and a life that feels strong, elevated, and sustainable.

What project that you've worked on recently do you want us to know about?

Honestly, this Naturalizer collaboration feels like the most sincere work I've done in a long time. I wasn't interested in creating another shoe moment. I wanted to challenge a mindset. Naturalizer already spoke fluent comfort. They've been doing that for nearly 100 years. I came in to remix it, to push it louder, faster, further through my lens of high-fashion, street, and music culture.

This project is about saying something very clearly: Comfort isn't a bonus anymore. It's the baseline. Uncomfortable shoes are just rude, and women are done negotiating with pain in the name of style. This collection is fashion that understands movement. It moves like sport, looks like fashion, and feels like a revelation.

What served as the inspiration behind this collection?

The inspiration was real life. Women don't live in one lane. We exist in multiple modes all at once. Every day is a sport, yet our shoes have been stuck choosing sides for too long.

I call this idea Style-letics. It's the new choreography of fashion—the fusion of culture, movement, and identity. These aren't dress shoes pretending to be athletic. They're fashion pieces that understand how women actually move through the world. We brought performance-level cushioning into silhouettes you wouldn't expect because style shouldn't fight you. It should flex with you.

And I love that this conversation is multigenerational. My daughter and I can wear the same styles differently, authentically. That's the future. Comfort as a birthright. Style with permission.

Describe the dream woman you want to slip into these shoes.

I always start with the woman: where she's going, what she's doing, and how she wants to feel when she shows up. These shoes are for women who can lead a meeting, walk 10 blocks, dance all night, and still want to make a statement without saying a word.

She doesn't apologize for herself, and neither should her shoes. She understands that style doesn't have to hurt to be powerful. Every shoe in this collection is a punctuation mark. It helps tell her story. Whether she's 25 or 55, she's moving through life with intention, confidence, and momentum. These shoes meet her there.

What was your first job in fashion?

It was as a costume designer for a musician. I don't really think my time in theater doing period pieces would count as fashion, but now that I write that, one would say that Donna Karan's draping was inspired by Greek gods. Antigone was my first.

What look that you styled are you most proud of?

I would have to say it was a look that I designed for Missy Elliott—the infamous shiny blow-up suit for her "The Rain" music video It was the beginning of me playing with augmented reality before AI.

What's something you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?

I wish I knew that my point of view was the product, not my proximity to power.

Do you have any mantras right now in relation to personal or career development?

My mantra right now is,

"Style is communication.

"Clarity is my superpower.

"My instincts are informed by experience.

"Taste is intelligence.

"Consistency builds trust. Intention builds legacy."

What advice do you give your daughter in the career space?

I tell my daughter to build herself before she builds a career. I want her to know that her voice, her values, and her boundaries matter just as much as her talent. Skills can be taught. Character, discernment, and self-trust are built. I remind her that she doesn't have to rush to prove anything. Timing is part of strategy.

Define your personal style right now in three words.

Sporty, sophisticated, fearless.

Where does your incredible sense of style come from?

My sense of style comes from my love of image-making and storytelling. I've always approached fashion as a way to build characters and create narratives using clothes to express mood, power, humor, and identity. Style, for me, isn't just about what you wear; it's about the story you're telling before you even speak.

Are there any fashion icons that you've always looked up to?

Donna Summer didn't just define disco. She created a visual language of confidence, sensuality, and liberation.

Yayoi Kusama: art, fashion, and self-image as immersive culture.

Megan Rapinoe—androgyny, confidence, and cultural defiance.

Venus Williams pioneered style freedom in women's tennis.

Grace Jones shattered gender norms and defined power dressing with a future-forward edge that still informs fashion, sport, and performance culture.

Jane Birkin created a timeless language of ease, proving that authenticity, simplicity, and sensuality never go out of style.

Lauren Hutton changed the idea of perfection, introducing ease, individuality, and confidence as the ultimate luxury.

How has your style evolved since the beginning of your career?

My style has evolved the same way I have—through growth, confidence, and self-trust. Early in my career, style was about making a statement and commanding attention. Now, it's about clarity and intention, knowing exactly who I am and dressing in a way that reflects that without explanation.

Today, my style is more refined but still fearless. I'm less interested in trends and more focused on timeless pieces that move with my life. It's still expressive, still playful, still rule breaking—but grounded in experience, freedom, and a deeper understanding of my own power.

Is there anything you're still wearing that you've had since day one?

Yes, a Gucci pinstripe suit, big glasses, Birkins, and a Barry Kieselstein-Cord alligator belt.

Do you have a least favorite fashion trend?

I don't really believe in least favorite trends. I believe in misalignment. Anything that asks women to shrink themselves, sacrifice comfort, or dress for approval instead of self-expression isn't for me. Style should feel empowering and authentic. If it doesn't feel like you, it's okay to leave it behind.

If you could trade closets with one celebrity just for a day, living or dead, who would it be?

Teyana Taylor.

What was your first statement-making hat, and how did you become known for this iconic accessory?

Wow, that's a tough one. I've been wearing hats for so long, but I did fall in love with Stephen Jones's avant-garde hats years ago.

If someone is looking to expand their hat collection, where would you suggest they go first?

I love hats from Esenshel, Eric Javits, Eugenia Kim, and Gigi Burris.

How do you store all of your fabulous hats?

I build additional storage cabinets for them in my home and hat boxes in storage.

What's one piece in your closet you'd like to pass down to your daughter some day?

One of my Hermès Kelly bags.

Where is your safe space?

Home.

What was the experience like finding your current home?

I've lived in the same condo building for 28 years, so I didn't have to look far when I wanted a bigger place.

You travel often for work. What's the one hotel that feels like a home away from home?

L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills.

What's your favorite restaurant in your home city?

ABCV [in New York City].

If you could get a vacation home anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Antigua, my birthplace.

What does the perfect workspace look like to you?

My perfect workspace is calm, curated, and purposeful.

I like a mix of beauty and function—art that tells a story, books that hold history, textures that feel lived-in. The space has to reflect where I've been and where I'm going. It should feel elevated but human, polished but warm.

Who is an artist you know personally who you actually listen to nonstop?

Beyoncé.

Are there any binge-worthy shows you haven't been able to stop watching lately?

The Pitt.

Is there something in your queue that you're looking forward to watching, reading, or listening to that you haven't gotten to yet?

I also have the Battle of Versailles documentary queued up.

I've been meaning to revisit archival runway films, specifically Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, early Jean Paul Gaultier.

Where do you gather inspiration from when it comes to the work that you do?

My inspiration comes from real life—always. I pay attention to how people move through the world. Style on the street, body language, how confidence shows up before words do. Culture tells you everything if you're willing to observe and dream with your eyes open.

Any good reads?

Grace: A Memoir by Grace Coddington

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

Are any fashion trends from 2025 that are canceled?

Ripped skinny jeans, tie-dye.

What's the best way to spend a Valentine's Day single?

Gals' night out!

What's one styling rule that everyone should abide by?

Fit is nonnegotiable. You can wear the simplest pieces in the world, but if they don't fit your body, your lifestyle, and the moment you're walking into, the look won't land. Tailoring, proportion, and intention matter more than labels or trends.

What's your love language?

I respond deeply to acts of care—someone anticipating a need, creating ease, or holding space without being asked. That tells me I'm seen.

At this stage of my life, love looks like consistency, consideration, and calm. Loud gestures fade. Presence lasts.

What's something that's overrated and something that's underrated?

Overrated: being everywhere.

Underrated: being consistent.

What's the best gift for you to give and to receive?

To give: thoughtfulness. Something chosen with care—an experience, a book, a note, anything that says, "I see you."

To receive: time and presence. Undivided attention, follow-through, and effort, that's the real luxury.

What do you want people to take away from an interaction with you?

I want people to walk away feeling my authentic intelligence, that curiosity, intuition, and lived experience are my superpower.

Shop June Ambrose's Naturalizer Collection

It’s cold outside, so Leigh-Anne Pinnock and I are comparing escape routes. It’s the day after her Who What Wear UK cover shoot, and she’s sitting, legs crossed, on the carpet of her walk-in wardrobe. We share travel tips on the respective Caribbean islands our fathers hail from, and I can practically feel the sunshine on my skin. “I’m making plans. I’d love to go to Grenada,” she nods. “But growing up, it had to be Jamaica every year for our holidays to visit my dad’s side of the family.” She gets a dreamy look in her eyes as she recalls summers spent eating ackee, green banana and mangoes picked straight from the trees in her grandparents’ back garden. “It’s just so beautiful and vibey there. There’s always music playing and a plate of food that feels good for the soul. I have really happy memories of being in Jamaica and listening to the lovers rock CDs my cousins would burn for me.”

And it’s in no way surprising that some of Pinnock’s formative memories revolve around music. From the moment she stepped into The X Factor spotlight at 19 through to her world-conquering years as a member of Little Mix, it’s clear that Pinnock has been intentional about keeping her heritage close. “Bringing Blackness to pop stages has always been important to me. Even experimenting with my hair is something I’ve always fought for,” she says. As I take in her off-duty look, with loose waves draped across her shoulders, I’m reminded of the sculptural braids and Louvre-worthy baby hairs she wore just the day before. “It’s so funny, the other day a fan said I should stick to a signature hairstyle so I’m more recognisable, and I was like, ‘Babe, I’m a Black woman. That is not going to happen.’”

Now 34, raising twin girls with her footballer husband Andre Gray, and gearing up to release her debut solo album My Ego Told Me To next month, Pinnock is far more interested in authenticity than other people’s opinions. The album’s reggae-inflected beats and dancehall attitude are clearly rooted in the sound of her childhood summers, and she’s never seemed more at home. “The looks [from the shoot] are very clean, very cool and very me. I am in quite a fierce era,” she says. Pinnock is warm and easy to spend time with, but there’s definitely a fire in her, stoked by a music industry she’s felt pigeonholed by for far too long.

“With everything I’ve experienced in this industry, and the toxicity I recently felt at my previous label, where I was trying to make a solo album and being told who I should be, I wanted to revive the Leigh-Anne who would stand up for herself,” she says. “When I was young, I knew exactly who I was. I would walk into a room, and no one could tell me anything; I had all the confidence that I would be a star. It’s interesting that when I actually got my dream, that started to trickle away.”

And it would be fair to say the “dream come true” moment that Pinnock speaks of refers to her Little Mix years. She genuinely lights up when she talks about her fellow bandmates, who went on hiatus in 2022 with five number-one singles, three BRIT Awards and millions of loyal fans under their belts. But spending her twenties in the world’s biggest girl group came with its challenges.

“When we first formed, social media was just coming around, and that was a shock to the system. I would sit and search ‘Black girl in Little Mix’, looking through all the hate.” I can’t help dropping my face into my hands at the thought of what that did to her. “I know, I know!” she wails. “It was so damaging, and it all comes from wanting validation. It’s annoyingly something I still battle with. Being in a girl group comes with so much comparison; you want to make sure you’re showing who you are and getting enough lines to sing and that you’re somebody’s favourite. I’m just grateful I was navigating it with amazing girls; we really had each other’s backs.”

But now, it’s time for Pinnock to do things solo, on her own terms, for the first time. From the take-no-prisoners power of “Dead and Gone” to the finger-snapping riot that is “Most Wanted”, every track on Leigh-Anne’s upcoming album speaks to the woman she’s become thanks to the self-belief of the girl she once was. But she’s quick to remind me that as a teenager, she didn’t have it all figured out, and that a lot of her confidence was a protective forcefield.

“I struggled with acne, and that gave me a bit of a complex relationship with my skin, which came with some shame. We have so much amazing skincare now, but back then all I knew was Clearasil and squeezing my spots,” she says, shaking her head. “I ended up trying Roaccutane, which I know is not for everyone, but it really worked for me.” Now, she explains she’s passionate about being kind to her skin from the inside out. “Recently, I’ve got into drinking cacao and mushroom-blend tea every night, which is specifically for skin, hair and nail health, and I’ve seen such a difference.”

But solidifying her self-image has been a lifelong journey; one that started where mine and so many others’ did, too: with a Dream Matte Mousse foundation that was completely the wrong shade. We laugh at the looks we tried to pull off with the limited beauty shelves of the late nineties and early noughties, from blue eye shadow to curls soaked to within an inch of their life in Luster’s Pink Oil Moisturiser—one of the very few Black hair products you could get in the UK back then. (“The smell!”, we both squeal at the same time.) Since then, she has spent years sitting in glam chairs, so what nuggets of beauty wisdom has she held onto? “I’ve been introduced to the power of a good eyebrow serum, because I’ve got really bushy brows that need a bit of hold,” she says. “I also swear by Jamaican castor oil for hair growth. When I’m having a dirty hair day, I just put it on, put my hair in a bun, go to bed and then wash it out the next morning.”

As she rehearses for her UK and Europe-wide tour in April, Pinnock tells me just how happy she is to be back where she belongs. “The stage is my home, so getting up there with all eyes on me and being able to tell my story feels so amazing,” she says. I mention how fun it’s been to see her own a fresh, grown-woman energy in the solo performances she’s given so far. “Obviously, when I was in the group, the way we were marketed was about appealing to everybody, including young children. It was a conscious decision not to be too sexy,” she says. “But I mean, I’m a 34-year-old woman now. We all have sex… I’ve got twins,” she laughs. “And I think it is an empowering thing to be sensual. It’s something I’ve enjoyed tapping into on this album and will continue to do going forward, even if some people come with their ‘But you’re a mother now!’ nonsense.” She rolls her eyes so hard her whole head moves with them.

There is such a certainty to Pinnock’s vision this year, and I get the sense that she feels in control for the first time in a long time. As our conversation draws to a close, I put one final question to her: when does she feel at her most powerful? “When I am in the creative process, building this world of music and dance and visuals that express who I am, and knowing it all flows from me,” she says without missing a beat. “But I also feel powerful when I’m with my family and my children, in a more grounding way.” She looks off into the distance, searching for the right words. “I think what I’ve realised is that I associate power with happiness now. When you feel like it’s been taken away from you, reclaiming power [is] the best kind of freedom.”

Photographer: Fabien Montique
Stylist: Sophie Watson
Hair Stylist: Ross Kwan at A-Frame
Makeup Artist: Hila Karmand at Arch
Manicurist: Stephanie Staunton using Magpie, Shiseido and Dadi'Oil
Managing Director: Hannah Almassi
Editor-in-Chief: Jane McFarland
Art Director: Natalia Szytk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Beauty Director: Shannon Lawlor
Video Editor: Natasha Wilson
Photography Assistant: Guillaume Mercier, Benji Meredith-Hardy
Digital Technician: Aljaz Habjan
Hair Assistant: Kitty Katana
Makeup Assistant: Cassandra Scalia
Production: Town Productions

It's 2 p.m. when Elle Fanning breezes into the courtyard restaurant of legendary Los Angeles hotel Chateau Marmont. At 5'9" in black leather ballet flats, she carries herself with a swan-like confidence. Her skin (the subject of countless L'Oréal campaigns) is glowing, and her glossy blonde hair is pinned back in an elegant bun. She is wrapped in a chic camel trench coat over a striped green shirtdress from The Row.

The 27-year-old is remarkably well put-together for someone who was partying the night before with her older sister and fellow actor, Dakota Fanning, at one of the final shows of Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet Tour. I know this because it was all over the internet when the duo got "arrested" by Carpenter for being "too hot."

It didn't come as a complete surprise to the Fanning sisters when (following in the footsteps of Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, and Gigi Hadid at previous shows) the pink fluffy handcuffs headed their way. They were given prior warning, so they were able to dress accordingly, which they did in very Sabrina Carpenter–esque lingerie-style slip dresses. "We're gonna be on the screen, so … you want to look good!" laughs Fanning before glancing at the menu and quickly deciding on a Coke, Greek salad, and side of fries. "When I told Dakota I was gonna wear a slip dress, she was like, 'Okay, well, you're wearing that, so I need to wear something cute too!'"

Fanning feels very at home at Chateau Marmont. Having made her movie debut at age 2, playing a younger version of Dakota's character in the 2001 film I Am Sam, Fanning was "running through the halls" filming Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (2010) right here by the time she was 11. "There are so many people who still work here who are like, 'We knew you when you were this big!'" she smiles. "I feel cozy here."

Her breakout performance in the cult film, in which she starred opposite Stephen Dorff, paved the way for major roles to come, including in J.J. Abrams's 2011 sci-fi hit Super 8 and the Disney blockbuster Maleficent. In the last decade alone, Fanning has achieved what few stars manage in their entire career, gracefully treading the line between indie films, like art house horror The Neon Demon, and acclaimed TV series such as satirical comedy-drama The Great, which ran for three seasons on Hulu between 2020 and 2023.

For her performance in the latter—in which she played Catherine, the 18th-century empress of Russia—Fanning was nominated for a Golden Globe for three years running. This year, she's been recognized for a fourth time for her supporting role in Joachim Trier's poignant Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value.

Fanning has a relatively small but no less significant part in the film set in Oslo, Norway. The story follows the fractured relationship between an acclaimed but troubled film director, Gustav (played by Stellan Skarsgård), and his grown-up daughters after the death of their mother. Making a personal film about his complicated family history, Gustav tries to enlist his actress daughter (played by Renate Reinsve) to star in it. She refuses, and tension ensues when he casts glossy A-list American film star Rachel Kemp (played by Fanning) instead.

It's an understated but deeply memorable performance from Fanning, who was a huge fan of Trier's 2021 romantic comedy-drama The Worst Person in the World, which also starred Reinsve. "I was obsessed with it," she says, taking a sip of her Coke. "I would have wanted to be in any of his films, even if it was just, like, one line!"

There was just one thing standing in the way: Fanning's enviable but increasingly hectic schedule. Just as she was wrapping A Complete Unknown (the 2024 Bob Dylan biopic in which she starred opposite Timothée Chalamet), Fanning signed on to play the lead in the multimillion-dollar action movie Predator: Badlands and was due to start filming in New Zealand when she was offered the part in Sentimental Value.

What seemed like a logistical impossibility eventually worked out. Fanning was able to fly to Oslo for a week of rehearsals with Trier and then go to New Zealand for three months for Predator before flying straight back to Europe to film Sentimental Value.

It wasn't ideal, even for someone with Fanning's stamina. "I've never not had a day to process," she admits. "But I knew that both of them would work out. I never wavered in that."

When I ask if she ever worries when committing to a big project that she might miss out on another equally desirable opportunity, she muses, "I'm more like, 'What will be will be.' You have to love the project you're doing enough that if something else goes away, then it's okay. Otherwise, there would be this constant regret, and I really don't feel that way."

Fanning is grateful for the formative week in Oslo with Trier months before she began filming, as she has no doubt it hugely informed her performance of Rachel.

"That's kind of how he works," she explains. "We rehearse. He films all of the rehearsals that you do with each actor. And then you have long conversations with him and share stories, and it gets quite personal. He will mold the character to you and see what he needs to take out and what he needs to add."

Given she's playing an actor with celebrity status who was a former child star and is no stranger to big franchise movies, it's hard not to make a direct comparison between Fanning and her character. "She's not me—at all!—but there are some similarities," she says. "In your career, everything ebbs and flows. Rachel is at a point in her career where she doesn't feel like she has the power or agency over her choices. As an actor, you have to be given the meaty roles to be able to showcase [what you can do] and work with the directors who can pull that out of you."

Can she relate to that? "Yes, I've had that feeling before, but now, I'm at a place where I'm producing things. I have a production company with Dakota [Lewellen Pictures, which they founded in 2020], and I do feel like I have more power over my choices," she says.

I first met and interviewed Fanning in 2022 and found her to be smart, funny, and extraordinarily down-to-earth. It's thrilling to report, particularly when she has enjoyed so much success since, that she is exactly the same today.

"Oh, there's Alex!" she exclaims suddenly, having clocked Alexander Skarsgård walking into the restaurant. We watch as he sits down and try to figure out who he's having lunch with. "We'll find out!" she teases. "You always see someone at the Chateau." See? Elle Fanning enjoys a celeb spotting as much as the rest of us.

It's the week before Thanksgiving when we meet, and both Sentimental Value and Predator: Badlands are in movie theaters, having been released the same weekend at the beginning of November. The seventh movie in the sci-fi blockbuster franchise directed by Dan Trachtenberg won't get the award recognition of Sentimental Value (which has been nominated for eight Golden Globes) despite grossing a record-breaking $80 million globally in its opening weekend.

As the star of these two wildly different features, Fanning is frustrated by the fact that genre films are typically overlooked for prestigious awards. "To me, a film is a film," she says. "That's also how I approach picking projects. I don't feel like there should be this bias. That I don't understand. I hope that people can recognize those films more. I think it's important that we do. It's like, What does it mean to be an 'Oscar film,' you know? I don't know."

Fanning was approached for the dual role of Thia, a Weyland-Yutani Corporation android, and Thia's sister Tessa in Predator: Badlands by Trachtenberg, who was looking for someone with comedic chops and had seen her in The Great. Fanning, who appears opposite rising star Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, does have some funny one-liners in the film, so between that and getting to play two characters for the price of one ("I'd never done the 'Parent Trap Lindsay Lohan' thing before," she notes), it was a no-brainer.

It's hard to believe Predator: Badlands is Fanning's first action film. "I definitely got a taste for it," she says, enthusiastically going into detail about how she was hooked up to the rigs. "I would like to go down that path and really train for months and months and months for something. That could be really fun."

"I come from an athletic background, and I grew up doing dance, and I'm a very physical person. I'm quite strong, like I've never known my own strength," she says with a laugh. Stronger than Dakota, who is four years older than her? "Yes, I think so," she says. "She's so small. She'll probably beg to differ on that!"

The only daughters of a professional tennis player and a minor-league baseball player, the Fannings were born in Georgia but relocated to Los Angeles when Dakota's acting career took off. It's been home ever since. Dakota now owns a property around the corner from where their mother and grandmother live. Elle moved into her own place last year when her forthcoming TV project, Margo's Got Money Troubles, started filming in the city.

In the Apple TV+ series adaptation that arrives April 15, Fanning plays the lead opposite Nicole Kidman. It's being executive-produced by Lewellen Pictures, and Fanning is currently in the edit, which she describes as her favorite process. "I kind of fell in love with it on The Great [on which she also served as executive producer]. It's a real art," she says. "People always say that as an actress [you should] get close to your editor because they have your performance in their hands! They can change the whole performance through editing. That fascinates me."

Already, 2026 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for Fanning, who also features in the forthcoming Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, as a young Effie Trinket (played by Elizabeth Banks in the original trilogy).

This spring, she'll begin filming the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Kristin Hannah's best-selling World War II novel The Nightingale. The Fanning sisters will produce and, more importantly, star opposite one another for the very first time.

"How many times has everyone reported this?" quips Fanning. The project was due to start filming right before the pandemic and lay dormant for a few years. "It's finally, finally happening! It's a big moment, but I'm actually glad that it's happening now. I think Dakota and I are ready," she continues.

That first day on set is going to be pretty magical. "I'm really excited about that electric feeling we're gonna have," she beams. "Whatever scene we film together for the first time is going to be so charged. … I'm gonna cry! We've been acting for so long, and you can't create that feeling—the first time doing something—again. So yeah, I'll be nervous and very emotional."

The Fannings' acting careers have been completely separate up to this point—deliberately so. "I mean, we've never even run lines together," she points out. "I guess we'll have to now!"

They've never been in a situation where they've both wanted the same role? "We get different opportunities. Honestly, we don't even think we look alike. It's never happened that we've gone for the same thing," she says.

"People would ask us a lot when we were younger to do films together, but we wanted to make sure that we were figuring out who we both were individually first," she explains. "We're so supportive of each other. It's the best thing in my life that I have her as this role model and we were able to carve out our own paths."

The sisters' dynamic continues to evolve as they get older. "Dakota 100% was, and still is, very much my protector, but also, now [that] I'm older, I can protect her more. She can call me for advice," she says.

Fanning can pinpoint exactly when things shifted. "You know, I remember it was actually on my 16th birthday. I was invited to go with her friends to their house afterward. It was like, 'Oh my god, she's seeing me as a person, not just a sister,'" she says.

Sharing the screen might be unchartered territory, but behind the camera, the Fannings have developed a successful working relationship as producers. Founded in the pandemic, Lewellen Pictures (named after their late childhood dog) has quite a roster, ranging from comedy and drama for TV (The Great, Margo's Got Money Troubles) to film (The Nightingale) and documentary (Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?).

"Like in our acting careers, if it's something that we are gravitated toward and feel passionate about, then we're up for it," explains Fanning, who likes finding articles and books that could be turned into something à la Reese Witherspoon, whereas true crime is more Dakota's domain.

They famously bought the rights to Paris Hilton's memoir, although the project is some way off. "We want to do it justice because obviously there are so many stories about her out there," she says. "But Paris is very much involved, and I love her, and she's been an amazing partner, and I've got to go to her house, which is everything you want it to be!"

While both Fanning and her sister are able to spot the potential of something—"what audiences want to watch and what they are gonna enjoy"—they ultimately make a great team because Elle gets excited and passionate about ideas and Dakota is able to interpret them. "She's like, 'Okay, she's really trying to say this,'" laughs Fanning. "Dakota should have been a lawyer. She's incredibly intelligent and knows how to argue her case. It can be to your benefit or your detriment, at times, for sure. I've lost many arguments with her!"

Lately, Fanning's been working on trying to be more present. "I'm thinking about, you know, just everything in the future. I'm thinking about kids that haven't even been born!" she admits. "It's like, 'What am I doing? This is way too many steps ahead.'"

It's not the only thing that keeps her awake at night. "I have 121,000 photos on my phone. … Where are all these photos gonna go?" she adds.

Fanning has been in a relationship with Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner since late 2023. They made their red carpet debut at the Golden Globes in January 2024, and she is—surprisingly for someone of her celebrity status—very open and affectionate about him on Instagram.

"He's the best," she gushes. "We want to be a part of each other's lives and share these fun times and experiences together. … Why hide? The future looks bright."

"I definitely do want kids. I've always wanted kids. I've known that since I was little," she adds.

The couple currently divide their time between Fanning's rental home in L.A. and New York, where Wenner lives. Fanning is obsessed with old houses and loves looking at homes on the online architecture, history, and property magazine Francis York.

"We've been going on Zillow and looking at the Upper West and Upper East Side and the potential there [for a renovation project]," she says. "Isn't that everyone's dream, to restore a house? But it takes years, so yeah, I don't know. That's why I haven't done it yet!"

She has plenty of time, I remind her, and she is trying to be more present, after all. This probably explains why she hasn't thought as far as what she'll wear this award season—although she will inevitably come up with some "mad ideas" with her stylist of 14 years, Samantha McMillen.

In fact, Fanning hasn't thought much further than tonight. "I am doing nothing," she says with a relieved smile when we get the check and say our goodbyes. "The world's my oyster, so I'm probably going to watch TV shows in bed. I love On Brand With Jimmy Fallon. I've seen a lot of films this year, but listen, I'm not highbrow. I'll watch any competition reality show!"

Well, it's not every day you're promoting two wildly different movies, editing a TV show, prepping for your next big film, and then being arrested in your lingerie at a Sabrina Carpenter show. I'd say she's earned a night off, wouldn't you?

Photographer & Creative Director: Szilveszter Makó
VP of Creative: Alexa Wiley
Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen
Hairstylist: Mark Townsend
Makeup Artist: Erin Ayanian Monroe
Manicurist: Queenie Nguyen
Set Designer: Nicholas Des Jardins
Vice President of Creative: Alexa Wiley
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Luciana De La Fe
Photographer EP: Siyan Chen
Photo Line Producer: Huina Liu

It’s easy to assume Erin Kellyman would have a loud personality, owing to her striking hair and freckles that beg to be stared at. But she actually carries a calming presence that makes her beauty the least interesting thing about her. When we meet at 8 pm via Zoom on a Wednesday night, she sits fresh-faced with her hair in twists following a gruelling schedule of press junkets and photoshoots for two blockbuster films: Eleanor the Great and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, in both of which she stars as the lead actress. And whilst you’d expect her mind to be running at a million miles an hour, she simply reassures me that it’s just a busy week before some time off. It sets the tone for an hour of getting to know Kellyman, who possesses a grace that feels less like a personality trait and more like her foundation.

Partly out of my own fascination with identity, I ask Kellyman what it was like growing up with mixed Afro-Caribbean-Irish heritage and how this played a part in who she is today. "I think my identity has been a massive part of my life," she says, lingering on the thought a little longer. "I didn't see a lot of representation on screen." It’s clear that she's impassioned by a front-facing career to help bridge that gap. "I'm proud of myself, and I'm happy that I [can] maybe be a role model for mixed kids who don't feel like they fit in, whether in social situations or with different sides of their family."

Curious to understand her and how she grew up, I ask more about her childhood and whether she always knew she wanted to perform. "I still don't know if I want to perform," she admits. "I don't even feel like I do that. When I'm acting, it doesn't feel like performing. I was constantly watching people and observing how they interact. I was really, really quiet, so I would just watch people all the time."

Barely 10 minutes into our conversation, I have an early "aha" moment. "I’m not a huge movie buff," she admits, "which is again very contradictory to the industry that I'm in. I love to watch a good movie, but growing up, it was documentary after documentary, and hours on YouTube." It makes sense to me that Kellyman would be a documentary kid; from the outset, she seems curious, observant and attuned to people’s subtleties. It tracks perfectly with the quiet watchfulness she’s described. But I’m curious about the leap; if documentaries shaped her, why choose the fictional world? Why act rather than document?

She thinks about it for a moment before explaining that, as a child, fiction was her real home. Many of her memories are of playing pretend, stepping into characters she created. Teachers would describe her as "away with the fairies"; a gentle dismissal she now reframes. "I wasn’t really away with the fairies," she says. "I had a whole dialogue going on up here, like a four-part movie running in my head." Suddenly, it becomes obvious that documentaries fed her fascination with people, whilst fiction gave her permission to become them.

Her path into acting wasn’t linear. It was her older sister, the first in the family to try performing, who led her mother to the Nottingham Television Workshop, which Kellyman eventually joined at 13. Before then, she’d resisted it completely. "My mum would say, 'I’m taking your sister anyway, do you want to join?' and I couldn’t think of anything worse." She talks about her mum enrolling them in every class imaginable, and I feel a shared connection as we laugh about how we both grew up with mothers who saw activities as opportunities: ballet, swimming, dance—anything that might spark a passion.

Kellyman plays Jimmy Ink in the latest instalment of the 28 Days Later franchise, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which is set to be released in January 2026. I explain how I found the character both likeable and unlikeable in equal measure, and she lights up, as she tells me she never wanted Jimmy to feel linear. As for choosing roles, she simply follows what moves her. "I just want to play people I’m excited by," she says. She credits Jack O'Connell, who plays alongside her in the blockbuster (and in the previous film in the series, 28 Years Later), as having helped shape her craft, not because of his profile, but because they share the same roots, both having trained at the Nottingham Television Workshop.

"That place is a masterclass," she says. "It strips everything back. It’s so real." Being on set with O'Connell reminded her of that rawness, that instinctive way of working that she grew up with. She continues with so much pride that her face beams. "That’s a workshopper," she says, smiling. And it's a title she holds with great pride. "If you get into TV Workshop, you’re officially a workshopper. No matter how big my career gets, I’ll always be a workshopper first."

It’s rare to hear someone speak about their training with that kind of devotion, almost like an alma mater, and it makes sense that the improvisation and instinct are baked into her. It's as if being a "workshopper" didn’t just teach her how to act; it made her the kind of actor she is.

When I ask what drew her to Eleanor the Great, she talks of her character Nina’s quietness, "I was such an anxious kid, I could barely hold a conversation with anybody, she shares, "But by the end of the film, [Nina] comes into her own, and I really related to that." I tell her how striking that parallel is: the girl who once couldn’t look people in the eye is now leading major movies and on the cover of magazines. We giggle together as she talks about how surreal it is to connect those dots.

She tells me she would have loved to play Villanelle in hit BBC series Killing Eve, portrayed by another of her 28 Years Later co-stars, Jodie Comer. Listening to her, I realise there’s a thread running through the roles she gravitates towards. She’s drawn to complicated people, the ones who don’t make sense at first glance. There’s something in her—the observer, the former documentary kid—that wants to understand them. It’s almost as if she chooses characters she can’t quite figure out, and the work becomes the process of decoding them.

She cites Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Saoirse Ronan as actors she looks up to, then it dawns on me that both films she's currently promoting are directed by women. I ask her what feels different about working with female directors. "There's an unspoken energy that I think comes with being surrounded by women. You just feel inherently understood," she says. I smile in agreement as the director in me connects to her explanation. "It's like sipping a cup of tea after a long day—you just feel calm." I reply, “You exhale." "Exactly," she says.

As our chat draws to a close, we giggle at her newfound fashion status. How does it feel to be a cover star for a fashion title? Kellyman laughs. "It doesn’t feel real. I feel like I’ve snuck in and no one’s noticed." Her upbringing was anything but fashion-focused. "We got the odd new thing for Christmas, but mostly it was whatever was passed down," she tells me. Now, though, her relationship with fashion is growing, and her favourite designers—Miu Miu, Gucci, Simone Rocha—make perfect sense; labels that blend characteristics in playful, unexpected ways and are a little complicated and harder to define, exactly like the characters she loves.

She admits that she may be drawn to a bit of chaos, and that this shows up in her taste in fashion, in the colours, the contrasts, the unexpected pairings. On our shoot, it was the Gucci suit and red Simone Rocha dress that made her feel most herself. "I just felt good in them," she says, and it's fitting that the anxious kid in hand-me-downs is now standing fully inside looks that carry the same contradictions as she does.

I’m struck by how quietly expansive Kellyman is. Nothing about her is linear, not her characters, not her instincts, not even the way she sees herself. And at just 27, she carries a softness that’s constantly in dialogue with something deeper, stranger, more complicated. And yet, she wears it all lightly. There’s no performance, rather just a young woman figuring herself out in real time, pulling at the threads of curiosity she uncovers. I have a sense that whatever she does next, she’ll meet it the same way she meets everything; with instinct and the kind of emotional intelligence you can’t teach. She's a true workshopper at heart—still observing, still transforming and most of all, still becoming.

Photographer: Florence Mann
Stylist: Sophie Robyn Watson
Hair Stylist: Nicola Harrowell at Premier
Makeup Artist: Kenneth Soh at The Wall Group
Manicurist: Charly Avenell using Manucurist
Managing Director: Hannah Almassi
Art Director: Natalia Sztyk
Set Designer: Penny Mills
Set Assistant: Tilly-Rose Evans
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Editor: Basma Khalifa
Video: Natasha Wilson
Photography Assistant: Georgia Williams, Ruby Griffith
Digital Technician: Marija Vainilaviciute
Styling Assistant: Mariya Bhad
Production: Town Productions

The last time I met with Amanda Seyfried, it was a boiling-hot day in the summer of 2022, and she had just been nominated for an Emmy for her performance as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout, which she would go on to win. Between that and her 2021 Oscar nomination for her performance in Mank, it was clear her career was moving up to the next level. It wouldn't be surprising if that kind of hype went to anyone's head.

I'm pleased to report that Seyfried is exactly the same person she was three years prior when we meet again for her Who What Wear cover interview on a rainy October day in Brooklyn: immediately warm and chatty. She has a knitting project jammed inside an oversize and overstuffed Givenchy bag and is familiar in a way that makes you feel you've been friends for years. There is not an ounce of diva behavior to be found.

"To have any kind of spotlight on you for any particular reason in this awards realm is always helpful in terms of awareness. It was a reminder to people that I can show up and do good work," she says of her two big award moments, tugging the sleeves of her black polo shirt over her hands. "But if you don't keep working hard, doing what you love, but also making interesting choices, it fades. It all fades. The day after the Oscars clock strikes midnight, people already start talking about the next year."

Well, that combination of hard work and interesting choices (and an undeniable talent) has landed Seyfried squarely back in the Oscars conversation. She stars in The Testament of Ann Lee, a historical drama from Mona Fastvold set to hit theaters at Christmas, in which she plays the titular founder of the Shaker movement through three decades of her life. It's a role that required a lot of Seyfried: an 18th-century Mancunian accent, singing and dancing (while not exactly a musical in the traditional sense, The Testament of Ann Lee features a handful of stunning musical numbers), intense physicality, and historical costumes. Even the most fearless actors might be scared off by that kind of pressure, but for Seyfried, that was part of the appeal.

"It all adds up to this other person that is still you, very much you, but there's a mountain on top of you, and this mountain has to be believable as a person," she explains. "It was so fucking daunting, but it was like, 'This is why these are the things that you choose.' I feel like I have to keep choosing things that terrify me—within reason, right? I'm not gonna jump off a cliff or jump out of an airplane, but I need to sink my teeth into something that is really scary because I know I can do it, and I know I'll be better for it."

Fastvold had worked with Seyfried on both The Crowded Room and this year's Peacock drama series Long Bright River, and the two had developed both an excellent working relationship and a close friendship, which came in clutch during the filming of The Testament of Ann Lee. When their families weren't in town, Seyfried and Fastvold roomed together. Working with a tight indie-movie budget meant making the most of their time shooting in Budapest. Again, no diva behavior here.

"Amanda's just a team player. That's who she is, something that comes very easy to her," Fastvold says over the phone. "When she's not shooting, she's working on her farm, feeding animals, doing that kind of work. She's the opposite of whatever cliché of a movie star is out there."

The director also raved about Seyfried's ability to connect with her costars, whether they were a day player or a seasoned actor. "She's the most present and the most unafraid performer," Fastvold says. "She's so excited to just look into that other performer's eyes and take whatever they're giving to her and send it back."

No wonder Seyfried's performance earned a 15-minute standing ovation at the Venice premiere of The Testament of Ann Lee. She's electric as Ann Lee, an unstoppable force through tragic losses and transatlantic voyages. Fastvold says they only finalized the edits mere weeks before Venice, a whirlwind finish to a deeply emotional journey for everyone involved—which is why, when the lights went up at the end, the audience found Seyfried weeping.

"I don't know if it's because me, Amanda, went through so much during that movie or if it's just that it was really a very effective movie, but I just hysterically cried at Venice," she says. "I don't think I can actually take myself out of that experience like I normally can when I watch things."

"But I watched The Housemaid recently, and I was like, 'This is epic,'" she adds. "This is the most fun movie ever."

Sitting just about as far on the opposite end of the cinematic experience as you can get from The Testament of Ann Lee, The Housemaid is Seyfried's second film set to debut in December. It's a thriller directed by Paul Feig, a master of the genre—all pulpy, exhilarating fun. She stars as Nina Winchester, a seemingly perfect housewife hiding a number of secrets that required Seyfried to walk a very slippery tightrope, changing shape from scene to scene. It's hard to talk about how masterful her performance is without spoiling anything, and everyone involved with the movie is deeply passionate about preserving that experience for moviegoers, despite the fact that it's an adaptation of Freida McFadden's best-selling novel.

"Freida McFadden said this herself: She thinks the movie is better than the book," Seyfried says proudly. "So many people are like, 'I'm gonna read it before it comes out.' Don't do that because you're gonna miss the hilarity of the twist! We want people screaming in the theaters."

And you will be. By the end of my screening, the entire audience was hooting and hollering at everything happening on-screen.

Feig has wanted to work with Seyfried for a while now, having met her for a coffee in New York over a decade ago. "She was somebody I wanted to have in a movie. She had the right feel and personality, openness, and fun that I always look for," he explains over the phone. It was just a question of having the right role materialize. When he signed on for The Housemaid, Sydney Sweeney was already attached as Millie, the titular housemaid hiding a few secrets of her own, and they were both excited by the idea of Seyfried. Feig had seen her work in The Dropout, and it cemented his belief that she could pull off the kind of shape-shifting required to play Nina.

I can't give any spoilers, but there's a moment in the movie that so critically hinges on Seyfried's performance that the entire tension of the plot might've deflated in the hands of a less capable actor. (Sorry to be a tease on this, but trust me. You'll know it when you see it in the movie.)

"That is completely performance dependent—there is no way to manipulate that performance in editing or anything. You have to have her pull it off," Feig gushes when I mention it in conversation. "That's just pure Amanda. We shot probably three or four takes of that, and each time, the hair raised up on the back of my neck from how great it was. She's a rock star—I'm telling you."

Once again, the conversation moves into how game Seyfried was to make every moment in the movie absolutely perfect. There's a scene that required Nina to appear incredibly disheveled, so she collaborated with the film's makeup artist to perfect the look: lipstick smeared across her face, blush too strong and too big, stray hairs standing up everywhere. "She came on set like that, and I'm just like, 'Boy, you're my hero,'" Feig says with a laugh.

Despite how tense her scenes with Sweeney were, there was no method acting on the Housemaid set. "Amanda was incredibly collaborative on set, and we built a great working relationship and friendship that allowed us to really go there in some of the more intense scenes in the movie," Sweeney says via email. "It was really important for us to have a fun on-set environment so we could have a balance and deliver what fans of the novel will want to see."

With over two decades of experience in the industry, Seyfried is now something of an elder statesman to actresses like Sweeney, putting Seyfried in a position to offer advice and guidance. When I bring this up, she lets out a big puff of breath, tucking her knees up to her chest on the other side of our booth.

"She's got it so much harder than I ever did—not even close. She's got a spotlight on her that I never had, never wanted," Seyfried says. "I can't help but feel somewhat protective of her, though she doesn't need my protection. She's gonna continue to make choices in her career that I think will define, or at least solidify, her as an actual actress because people are too distracted by all the other shit that is created around her."

Seyfried admires Sweeney's ability to exist without "holding a shield up," describing her as someone who is still trying to have fun despite the many controversies that follow her—including, most recently, a divisive American Eagle campaign. While a key part of Seyfried's longevity has certainly come down to keeping Hollywood as a whole at an arm's distance, she knows that things are just different for this generation of actresses.

"If social media was the way it is now when I was in my 20s, I don't know how I would have fared," Seyfried admits. "I stay out of drama. I try to stay out of the fray, but anywhere she goes, she's in the fray, and that's not necessarily up to her."

Of course, try as she might, Seyfried does occasionally end up in the fray. That was the case this past September, when she commented on an Instagram post about Charlie Kirk's death calling him "hateful." For a brief moment after leaving the comment, she wondered if she should delete it but decided against it. Then the backlash began. Seyfried was flooded with texts from concerned friends and lost sleep worrying that she and her family were in an unsafe position because of one Instagram comment. She woke up the next day feeling resolved about her position and took to her own Instagram to clarify her comment rather than backing down.

"I'm not fucking apologizing for that. I mean, for fuck's sake, I commented on one thing. I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I'm free to have an opinion, of course," she says firmly. "Thank God for Instagram. I was able to give some clarity, and it was about getting my voice back because I felt like it had been stolen and recontextualized—which is what people do, of course."

Regardless of how frequently Seyfried publicly engages with discourse, it's clear while speaking with her that politics are at the top of her mind. It comes up mere minutes after I turn on my recorder, and I can't blame her. The day we met, millions of Americans were on the verge of losing their SNAP benefits because of the government shutdown. There's a strong cognitive dissonance between that reality and our position tucked at the back of Le Crocodile, a chic Brooklyn restaurant.

"It's always hard to see people who are tricky and harmful have success—like our gorgeous president, the best possible example of that," she says sarcastically, her gaze drifting toward the windows. "It's so weird to sit in a civilized restaurant. People are serving us food. You can't unpack it too much, or else you'll go fucking insane. Like, how is the world still spinning?"

"It seems ridiculous at times because people are marching the streets, and I'm not one of them—at least not today. I have to remember that I have nothing to apologize for unless I'm harming someone emotionally, physically, mentally," she says a little later on. "It's getting so dark that I feel like I gotta just keep my head on and make sure that I get the train on time and promote my movies. A lot of people's lives depend on that movie being promoted."

She got on the train to the city this morning and launched herself into a full-blown promotional cycle for two movies that she loves for very different reasons. Seyfried is especially excited to get back on the press tour with Fastvold, as they're sharing beauty teams and stylists with each other. "We're doing it like sisters," she says with a big smile. Though she's a veteran of one Oscar campaign, her nomination came in the middle of the COVID years, which meant she could do all her campaigning from the comfort of her home. Even if things will be different this time around, though, there's no complaining from Seyfried.

"I will campaign myself because there's a seat at the table for me, and I want to stay there. Nothing is owed to me, and nothing is promised," she says. "I'm talking about a movie that I'm incredibly proud of and all that I got to do."

Seyfried knows how to make a press tour fun. Already, she scored a viral moment in Venice when she publicly asked her stylist to share an outfit already worn by Julia Roberts: a Versace suit, which marked Dario Vitale's debut at the Italian house. It was a smart move on everyone's part, scoring more press for their respective projects, but it was also a nod toward her stylist Elizabeth Stewart's sustainable red carpet ethos. It also, quite frankly, was not a big deal to Seyfried. "We share our clothes when we're growing up," she says, her signature big eyes widening in disbelief. "It's funny that that would be considered brave or ballsy because I'm just wearing something that was worn because it's a cool outfit!"

She rewears her own stuff, too, appearing at an event at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival in her own cashmere sweater and skirt. It helps that she has access to some of the best brands in fashion, like a covetable Miu Miu minidress, sneakers, or a woven Bottega Veneta bag. Seyfried proudly pulls up a picture of the costume she wore to the Halloween party she hosted the weekend prior and confesses, with some sheepishness, that the boots she's wearing were stolen from Burberry. "I don't steal things, but I absolutely swiped those," she says with a mischievous grin. "I should have credited Burberry, but then they would have known where they were."

Seyfried has fun off the red carpet too: Who could forget her cover of Joni Mitchell's "California" from her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this year? Sure, she'd needed a glass of wine for courage before doing it, but it paid off when she went mega-viral for her talent. "I got work from that," she says proudly. "I feel like that made more of an impact than my Emmy did."

Still, through it all, the grounding force for Seyfried is family. They spend most of their time at a farm upstate (she took the train into town for our interview, a semi-regular commute for her), and she's at the point where she's negotiated a term into all of her contracts that requires she get three days between every 10-day period to fly home and be with them. She helps care for a wide variety of animals, detailing a health issue she's having with a pet rabbit and whipping out her phone to show me a video she captured just the day before of one of her horses running joyously around a field. If anything will keep a hint of diva from sneaking in, it's working on a farm.

Most of her friends upstate aren't in the industry, and they're all in our age group. When we meet, we're both nearing our 40th birthdays (Seyfried's happened in early December; mine will come next summer), and we get deep into a conversation about early perimenopause and how we're prepping for that big change. Seyfried is not a gatekeeper. Throughout our lunch, she recommends adaptogenic, not hallucinogenic, mushrooms ("Lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps, ashwagandha, whatever I have on hand, I always take two, and I take them in tinctures," she says); insists I take a photo of the CBD oil that she loves; and hypes up IPL laser treatment for skincare. She's definitely thinking about changing beauty standards too, but no major surgeries are on the horizon—at least for now. "I have a really good dermatologist who tells me that she's never gonna do anything but put Botox in the same place for the rest of my life," she says, pointing at that exact spot on her forehead.

When she pictures being in her 40s, she describes it as a "cozy booth."

"I know life is harder the older you get, but I also know that I'm pretty prepped because I've done a lot of work in the decade of my 30s," she says. "I've done a lot of couples therapy. I've done a lot of therapy alone. I've had insane amounts of conversations with psychologists and friends who are psychologists that I feel like I have a lot of self-knowledge. It's not everything, but it certainly goes a long way."

So what's next? Well, when we part ways, Seyfried will head to a meeting about a top-secret project that she can't talk about. While there are undoubtedly exciting things on the docket, I had to ask about one of the most coveted sequels in cinema: Mamma Mia 3.

"I would bet that it would happen in 2027 because we shot [Mamma Mia] in 2007, came out in 2008. [We] shot [Mamma Mia 2] in 2017 when Nina was 6 months old, came out in 2018, and I think Stellan [Skarsgård] or Pierce [Brosnan] was like, 'Can we not have it be another 10 years till we make the third?'" she explains. Whenever it happens, she'll be thrilled. "People just love those movies, for God's sake, but I love them too. It was so nice—[it would be] so fucking indulgent at this point," she adds.

On that note, that mysterious meeting calls. We've already spent over two hours together, our conversation wandering from topic to topic the way it would between two old friends. But before she goes, in a classic mom move, Seyfried pulls a number of snacks from her bag—a couple of fun-size Kit Kats from her Halloween stash, a strawberry oat bar her kids love, a spare protein bar that she raves about—and insists I take them with me before we head back out into the rain.

It's the perfect symbol of her diva-free philosophy.

Photographer: Vanessa Granda
Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen
Hairstylist: Serge Normant
Makeup Artist: Genevieve Herr
Manicurist: Jazz Style
Set Designer: Julia Dias
Creative Director: Natalia Sztyk
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Lindsay Ferro

Marissa Bode knows her character, Nessarose, in Wicked: For Good isn't the most beloved. She's seen the memes, she's seen the tweets, and she's seen the discourse. Nessarose—the tightly wound, morally gray younger sister of Elphaba Thropp (played by Cynthia Erivo)—has long lived in the same cultural purgatory as the internet's favorite low-stakes villains, such as Nate from The Devil Wears Prada. Bode doesn't flinch at that reputation, though. If anything, the 25-year-old actress sees a version of herself in it.

"I have an immense amount of empathy for her," Bode says. It's a deep-rooted feeling she's had since first stepping into the world of Oz back when filming began in 2022. Bode is the first wheelchair-using actor in the musical's history to portray Nessarose, an overdue milestone that's reverberated across disability-advocacy spaces. While the internet may not agree with Nessarose's choices, Bode understands the emotional terrain intimately. "I know she's not everybody's favorite character, but I understand her so completely, especially from a disabled person's perspective," she says. "I wish that audiences allowed for more complex disabled characters because, so many times, we're infantilized or victimized on-screen. Nessarose is so complex, and sure, she does take on more of a villain role, but I don't think she's just that either. At the end of the day, she wants to be loved but, more than anything, wants to be seen as a human being who has that autonomy. I see the humanity in her in that way."

That clarity of who Bode is, despite the Hollywood of it all, is part of what makes her so disarming. When she logs onto Zoom a few weeks shy of Wicked: For Good hitting theaters, she radiates a kind of unfiltered honesty that's rare among young actors. Long gone are the days of overly media-trained statements, and in their place is an authenticity that flows through every minute of our conversation. At the top of our call, Bode joins the meeting beaming. It's the day after Election Day, where progressive candidates and proposals had a sweeping victory across the country. "I feel a little sliver of hope," she says, nodding to the previous day's events. Bode, who is Black, queer, and disabled, is acutely aware of her place in the world and her newfound platform to push back against any standards that might confine her.

That awareness didn't come out of nowhere. Bode first saw Wicked onstage when she was 11. The production was bittersweet—although Nessarose's character was one of the first depictions of disability she had seen in theater, the actor actually playing Nessarose wasn't disabled. Nevertheless, the experience was a fated connection, sparking Bode's interest in her local community theater in Wisconsin and, later, a full-fledged commitment to a career in the arts. After graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Bode moved out to Los Angeles to look for something, anything that would pay the bills. "It took me a really long time to find any survival job, especially as a disabled person," she adds. After working for a year as a part-time after-school art teacher, she sent in an audition tape for Wicked.

"The audition process was really intimidating," Bode admits. Over a series of Zoom workshops with casting directors, she immersed herself in Nessarose—probing who she was, what she longed for, and how her arc might unfold across two films in a way that felt both considered and resonant with Bode's lived experience as a disabled woman. "At the last callback, I was so nervous—so, so, so nervous—and I really did think that I blew it," Bode recounts years later.

The heavy silence from producers in the weeks that followed was all but confirmation for Bode that she didn't get the role. Instead of wallowing, she made a cheeky short film about witchcraft set to "Witches" by Alice Phoebe Lou, naturally. Perhaps it was intuition, or maybe some quiet corner of her mind already understood what was coming.

In the short film, the final shot sees a wash of green light illuminating her face—a subconscious nod to her on-screen older sister, Elphaba—as if beckoning her forward. Jon M.Chu, Wicked's director, teased her by reenacting the short's ending to Bode when announcing she got the part: an off-screen knock, presumably by a witch coming to collect Bode.

Chu, whose offer videos for both Erivo and Ariana Grande have gone viral, lightheartedly cautioned Bode about how her short film might be perceived. After all, no one knew she was in contention for the role of Nessarose, and secrecy was essential. "I was internally panicking, and then he was like, 'Actually, there's somebody at the door. I have to go get this,'" Bode recalls. "And then he turns the camera around, and it's Ariana and Cynthia holding a sign that says, 'Welcome to Oz. Will you be our Nessarose?'" Cue the waterworks.

It's a reflection of the environment the Wicked universe has created on- and off-screen, Bode notes. (No, the cast didn't experience a traumatic event on set that makes them cry all the time. They just truly like each other that much.) The camaraderie was critical. After all, Bode's life shifted at warp speed. One minute, she was leading after-school art classes as Ms. Bode; the next, she was stepping into one of Hollywood's most highly visible franchises of the decade. The scale of Wicked alone would shake any newcomer, but as someone's first major role, the sudden spotlight can be a shock to the system.

I ask Bode how she's managing it all, and I can practically feel the breath she's been holding from halfway across the country. "It's definitely been extremely overwhelming to know I've had that many eyes on me," Bode admits. That scrutiny brings its own pressure—the expectation to stay palatable and the feeling of being perceived for every move you make in an era where the comments section can be as ruthless as it is supportive. The possibility of backlash hasn't stopped her from speaking up, though. What would exhaust her, she says, is silencing herself. "I think it would be remiss of me to have this many eyes on me and not use my platform," Bode adds. She's been vocal about her support for the Palestinian people amid a genocide, a staunch defender of queer rights, and a fierce advocate for her disabled brothers and sisters. At the end of the day, no opportunity that's meant for her will force her to discard her moral backbone for visibility or profit. "Of course, I care about my career and growing my career, but at the same time, I also deeply care about real human beings," she says.

The essence of who Bode is can be found in her TikTok account, which she describes as a corner on the internet dedicated to shitposting and complaining. In it, you'll find a public diary about her life as a young woman, whether it be the time she, her partner, and their cat dressed up as the love triangle from Challengers or her opinions on parasocial relationships. (Weeks after our conversation, Bode made a video coming to the defense of her costar Grande, who was ambushed by a fan on the red carpet during the Singaporean premiere of Wicked: For Good.) When I divulge that I've been a fan of Bode's TikTok account since the first movie, she flashes a big smile and notes that connecting with people through her "silly little videos" has made navigating her new normal much more bearable. "A lot of it is just reminding people that we're not these overly-media-trained robots," she says. "We're just human beings like the rest of you." In fact, most of Bode's fans are chronically online Gen Zers like her. "Let's have some fun. Let's be silly, but let's also have some real conversations," she adds.

Bode has been having real conversations for a while now. Earlier this year, she was honored with the Christopher Reeve Acting Award for her role as Nessarose. The honor distinguishes accurate portrayals and employment of people with disabilities in the entertainment industry. Bode used her speech to highlight all the work that still needs to be done. It doesn't just end with having a single disabled actor in front of the camera, she urges. There needs to be an overhaul filled with structural change that will actually make entertainment equitable and accessible to anyone. In fitting fashion, the award was presented by Cesily Collette, the actress who portrayed young Nessarose in the first film and stole the internet's heart.

"We're not just one thing to cross off a diversity checklist," Bode says. There needs to be more disabled people behind the camera too, whether it be in the crew, the writer's room, or even on set as disability coordinators. "At the end of the day, I just want to act. I don't need to worry about whether I'm able to even get on set at all," Bode adds. It doesn't just stop there, though. Bode has made a point of talking about disability beyond acting. It's easy to be pigeonholed into just talking about representation on-screen, but in reality, her newfound platform allows her to advocate for policy changes, education, and accessibility for disabled folks across the spectrum in different fields.

When I bring up accessibility and fashion, we immediately veer into a 10-minute tangent about the construction of Bode's costumes, something most moviegoers won't even think about when they see her on-screen as Nessarose. Costume designer Paul Tazewell and Bode's stylist, Alexandra Mandelkorn, have been deliberate about ensuring she feels as powerful and confident as the rest of the all-star cast. After our call, Bode is headed to a last-minute fitting for her New York and London premiere looks. The latter, her favorite, is a vampy, gothic Bibhu Mohapatra gown that nods to Nessarose's darker arc in the second film. Fashion, like advocacy, is central to who Bode is. "I like appearing queer and telling that story through what I wear," she jokes, recalling the Tumblr-era galaxy-legging outfits of her past.

To be cringe is to be earnest—galaxy leggings and all—and Bode knows the power of feeling everything all at once. "To be cringe is to be free," she says, thinking back to the girl who saw Wicked for the first time and finally recognized herself on a stage. "I was so afraid to be silly or cringey that I ended up losing a lot of who I was." Now, with her partner and a queer friend group around her, she says she's gotten that girl back.

If Bode has learned anything from her first brush with Hollywood scale, it's that you don't survive by shrinking. You survive by expanding into your weirdness, your politics, your style, your joy—into the very things people once told you made you "too much." As Wicked: For Good hurtles her into a new stratosphere, Bode is choosing to show up exactly as she's always been: unapologetically herself.

Photographer: Zamar Velez
Stylist: Alexandra Mandelkorn
Hairstylist: Barb Thompson
Makeup Artist: Cherish Brooke Hill
Manicurist: Queenie Nguyen
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Lindsay Ferro

Demi Lovato is so over being American pop's troubled prodigal diva.

After many years of making headlines for her missteps as the most rebellious graduate from the Disney school of child entertainers—even going so far as to hold a punk-rock funeral for her pop-princess era in 2022—she's flipping the script this year.

The past several months have yielded big, heartening changes for the 33-year-old superstar. In May, she married singer-songwriter Jordan "Jutes" Lutes in a picturesque ceremony in Santa Barbara. In August, she performed a few numbers from the 2008 breakout musical film Camp Rock alongside her costars the Jonas Brothers during their headlining show at MetLife Stadium. And in October, Lovato flew to Paris for her first-ever fashion week, where she debuted a sleek, cosmopolitan look and rubbed elbows with fellow celebs at the Vivienne Westwood, Coperni, and Ann Demeulemeester shows.

Released on October 24, her ninth studio album, which she flippantly dubbed It's Not That Deep, debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 and climbed to number one on the Top Dance Albums chart. Lovato, now three years in recovery from addiction, drew inspiration from EDM and nightlife to wrestle back her right to have a good time.

"The tone of this album is fun… Dare I say, cunty?" she says excitedly at a studio space in the San Fernando Valley, where we convened before her rehearsal. She hopped out of a black SUV wearing a cozy gray sweater, black leggings, and oversize shades, taking time to greet every crew member on set. Behind us was the slate backdrop from her album cover, shot by Daniel Sachon, which sees Lovato posing with a dry-cleaning bag at the center of a generic portrait studio while surrounded by a disorderly gathering of people and animals.

"I'm standing strong in the midst of all this chaos, and it's no secret that my world is very chaotic, the very public life that I live," she explains.

That Saturday night, she would perform her new material live for the first time at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles or, as it became that night, Club Demi. Flanked by screaming fans in their 20s, many of whom grew up seeing Lovato on television, the singer emerged catlike and commanding in a black lace bodysuit, undulating with her backup dancers to the skittish electronic beats that underpin her latest record. The opening song, "Fast," a lusty work of biker-coded, hyperpop romance, revved up the crowd early on, but they were soon reeling from a surprise performance of "This Is Me," the Camp Rock classic she recorded as a teenager.

These additions to her set list seemed a far cry from the darkly confessional balladry of her previous albums, such as 2021's Dancing With the Devil… The Art of Starting Over and 2022's heavy guitar–driven Holy Fvck. This year, she's not only resuscitating her pop era, but she's also honoring her full journey, one she first embarked on when she was a child.

"I want to go back to pop. I love pop music," explains Lovato. "It's not that I didn't have fun performing Holy Fvck, because I absolutely did. But I noticed when I played my throwback songs, there was a connection to the audience that really stood out to me."

"I used to write deeply personal, emotional songs based [on] what I had been going through or past experiences," she adds. "This album, I wanted to solidify, right out the gate, that we're gonna have fun with this, and it's not that deep. It's not as serious as the music I used to make."

In the spirit of It's Not That Deep, Lovato's press cycle has fittingly yielded callbacks to some of her funniest moments. This summer on the Just Trish podcast, Lovato recalled the 2022 video in which she joined a bunch of ghost hunters in a haunted house and serenaded an alleged ghost. ("I was so stoned," she says to host Trisha Paytas.) This Halloween, she dressed as an infamous character named Poot Lovato—a viral meme derived from an overexposed photo once taken of the pop star on the red carpet—and she even brandished a bald cap for accuracy.

Lovato's natural joie de vivre was always palpable in the exuberance of her voice and the enthusiasm of her on-screen characters, yet her robust energy was often overshadowed by the specter of her trauma.

Born Demetria Devonne Lovato in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lovato grew up in Dallas. She learned to act and dance from a young age and landed her first television role in 2002 in the children's show Barney & Friends. Lovato also sang in the choir at her local Baptist church, but the stringent values often clashed with the reality of Lovato's home life. Her mother was a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who championed Lovato's burgeoning acting career, but Lovato's late father, a musician and engineer, suffered from untreated mental illness and substance abuse, a pain he externalized by lashing out at the family.

The friction between Lovato's public and personal life grew more pronounced when she began appearing in various Disney shows at 15. Around the same time, she was sexually assaulted by a fellow actor. As she continued to excel in her career, she privately descended into drug use, self-harm, and disordered eating to cope with the aftershock.

Lovato addressed all this and more in her last album, 2022's Holy Fvck—a rock 'n' roll bloodletting years in the making with both her volume and emotions dialed up to 11. Lovato, who began writing the record after a 2021 stint in rehab, leaned on a grittier hard-rock sound to unpack the baggage she'd been carrying regarding her sobriety, the queer contours of her sexuality, and the conflicting Christian teachings that had warped her sense of self from adolescence.

This heightened clarity surrounding her past also prompted Lovato to examine the lives of former child actors and musicians in the 2024 documentary Child Star, which she codirected with Emmy-nominated documentarian Nicola Marsh. The film featured exclusive interviews with such prominent actors and comedians as Christina Ricci, Raven-Symoné, Alyson Stoner, Drew Barrymore, JoJo Siwa, and Kenan Thompson.

"I had a blast working on Child Star," Lovato says of the documentary. "But I also did a lot of healing for myself to be able to come out of that experience with some tangible change that hopefully the rest of the country will follow suit on."

The film made a political activist of Lovato, who began amplifying the cause of protecting children in entertainment during her interviews. In a September 2024 segment for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she confirmed that legislation advocating for minors working on social media had reached California Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. She tells me, "I kind of put [Governor Newsom] on the spot. I was like, 'There's a bill that needs to be signed.' … Then the governor called me the next day on my way home, and he said, 'All right!'"

On September 26, 2024, Newsom signed two bills into law: SB 764, which establishes financial and legal protections for minors featured in monetized online content, and AB 1880, which expands the existing Coogan Law to protect the financial interests of minors who are employed as content creators on online platforms such as YouTube.

"Every album that I've written has served its purpose. Some albums were more emotional than others," says Lovato. "Holy Fvck was probably, dare I say, the most healing, and it served its purpose."

She adds, "It's because of that album [that] I met my husband."

Lovato married Lutes, her partner in love and music, on May 25 at the luxe Bellosguardo in Santa Barbara. They said their vows before 135 people—the bride in a pearly Vivienne Westwood gown, the groom dressed in Saint Laurent. The two first met in January of 2022 during a songwriting session for Holy Fvck.

"We became friends before we became lovers," explains Lovato. "I opened up to him because I was going through a really rough time when I made Holy Fvck. I had just come out of treatment, and I was newly sober and raw with my emotions. I had nothing to medicate with. He was there for me as a friend, helping me get through this deep depression I was in."

It was incidentally while writing the ballad "Happy Ending" when Lovato began to sense there was a deeper well of love that lay beneath their friendship.

"It's probably one of the most vulnerable songs I've ever made," says Lovato. "I didn't know we were going to become lovers. I definitely didn't know that we were going to get married one day. But that was the session that made me feel safe with him."

In December 2023, nearly two years into dating, Lutes proposed to Lovato in a room filled with roses and learned guitar to serenade her with an original song. The two have continued to work on music together, and Lutes penned the UK garage–inspired track "In My Head" on It's Not That Deep.

"I had been in past relationships where I thought, 'Oh, this is the long game!' But I hadn't taken care of myself yet," Lovato says. "The universe rewards you when you do the therapeutic work on yourself, [and] I had to do the work. Because of that, the universe provided. I got myself ready for a life by myself, and then I was able to share it with somebody else."

"I had expected to be married by a certain age. There's all this pressure that society puts on you, but it just organically happened," Lovato continues. "I'm really happy. I told my husband today, 'I've never been more in love with you. I didn't know my love could grow for you more so than it already has.' The timing was perfect."

Allowing herself to write songs from this state of euphoria required a gradual process of glittering up her sound. Some of the songs from It's Not That Deep began as rock songs, in the same vein as Holy Fvck, before they were retooled for a more maximalista pop bombast.

"I [initially] wanted to go even more rock with this album," says Lovato. "I started writing and was like, 'Wait, it's really hard to write happy rock songs!' It just wasn't resonating. I didn't have as much anger left inside of me. That's not to say that every rock song has to be angry, but the vibe wasn't fitting anymore. I [thought], 'I want to go back to pop.' I love pop music! I have so much fun performing it onstage too."

Lovato eventually consulted fellow pop icon Kesha ("That's a supportive queen right there," notes Lovato), whose raunchy bop "Joyride" became one of Lovato's favorite songs from last year. Kesha recommended she meet the song's producer, Zhone, who happens to be a guitar player and metal fan but prefers to "match the diva energy," he says on a recent phone call.

"I mean diva in the best way," he explains. "I like singers with big, incredible voices. I want music to feel huge. How do you make something just… explode?"

With Zhone's metallic touch, Lovato's club-faring songs—in part inspired by the timeless dance floor vulnerability of artists like Robyn and Charli XCX—skew more hard candy than bubble gum. Zhone and Lovato started working together on the song "Frequency," a diva-house track with angular synth flourishes meticulously tailored for a ballroom walk-off or a RuPaul's Drag Race lip-sync challenge.

"When he got to the studio, [I was] like, 'What vibe should we do today?'" Lovato recalls. "He said, 'Well, I made this beat in my Uber…'"

Despite her newfound musical direction, Lovato is not actually much of a raver or club kid. "Look, I'm sober," she says matter-of-factly. But she's been sighted out and about in West Hollywood with friends, celebrating her album release. Zhone recalls being one of Lovato's honored guests at the Avalon for Gag, a party frequented by many a pop star and drag queen, from Zara Larsson to Trixie Mattel.

"Demi pulled me and my friend [party promoter] Alex Chapman onto the stage, and we [were] just going crazy," Zhone says. "In L.A., it's not necessarily like that. Most of the time as a producer, you go to the event for the song that you produced, and you'll have a hard time getting in. They're like, 'Who are you?' As a professional, she tries to make people feel included in a way."

For Lovato, the club no longer symbolizes a site of debauchery. In its purest essence, the club represents a site of belonging for human beings, people in recovery included. "[Clubbing] is not conducive to my lifestyle, but when we go out, I'm chugging Red Bull—no, Celsius—and we're having a great time," she says. "I protect my energy while also still savoring those moments and picking special occasions to go out and have fun and dance."

It's also an energetic pressure valve for the star, who still gets the itch to "get the gaggle of gays together" and dance all night. She hopes to replicate that communal vibration in the upcoming North American It's Not That Deep Tour, which kicks off on April 8, 2026, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"It wasn't really necessarily the lifestyle of clubbing that I [wanted] to chase. It's the feeling of the music. No matter where you are—if you're at the club or you're in your bathroom getting ready or in the car—the feeling that you get from the music … [is] the freedom and empowerment that I feel today," she says.

Photographer: Agata Serge
Stylist: Chris Horan
Hairstylist: Fitch Lunar
Makeup Artist: Loftjet
Manicurist: Natalie Minerva
Creative Director: Alexa Wiley
Set Designer: Francis Cardinale
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Erin Corbett

It's been almost a full year since Finn Wolfhard stepped off the set of Stranger Things for the very last time, marking an end to the Netflix series' epic nine-year run and a bittersweet farewell to the role that raised him. In the months since, the SAG award–winning actor has brazenly charted a course that's all his own with the June release of his inaugural solo studio album Happy Birthday, a corresponding tour across North America and Europe, and his directorial debut with the film Hell of a Summer.

Wolfhard was just 12 when he was cast as Mike Wheeler, the de facto ringleader of the "core four" made up of Mike, Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and the love interest of Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven. Five seasons and nearly a decade later, the time has finally come for the trailblazing TV series that launched the careers of its young cast to reach its finale. Although Wolfhard and his costars had a year of filming to wrap their heads around this chapter of their lives coming to a close, it wasn't until the very last day of shooting that reality finally sunk in for Wolfhard.

Perched on an armchair in the corner of his Toronto hotel room, Wolfhard blinks onto my screen clad in a graphic T-shirt and jeans. In the midst of his The Objection! Tour and fresh off a slew of East Coast shows, the multi-hyphenate joins our Zoom call on a Saturday morning during a moment of downtime, something that will become increasingly more rare as the global press tour for Stranger Things kicks off this month.

"It was the first time in 10 years when everyone came to the set to watch and hang out," he recalls of that final day of shooting season 5. "I mean the whole crew, administrative department, and people from Netflix. It was this incredible moment."

The rest of his castmates wrapped their scenes earlier, and all eyes were fixed on Wolfhard's last moments as Mike. "I looked around and saw so many people I had never met before just because of how massive the production was. My whole life was flashing before my eyes," he says. It's hard to fully grasp the impact a project as formative as Stranger Things will eventually have on his life, but with the wide-eyed clarity of someone double his age, Wolfhard simply reflects, "I don't think I'll ever have any experience like that ever again."

The cultural significance of Stranger Things is a once-in-a-generation phenomenon. Not only did the series break records for the most viewing hours for any English-language series on Netflix, but it also won over a hundred awards, launched the careers of many of its castmembers, and set a new standard for the modern sci-fi genre.

With season 5 quickly approaching (the eight episodes will be released in three installments throughout the end of the year, and the final episode is also being released in theaters), the Hawkins crew and their mission to defeat Vecna culminates in what is already set to be the most highly anticipated season yet. "More than in any season we've ever seen him in, except for maybe the first one, [Mike] is on a mission," Wolfhard shares when I press him for any plot details he's able to divulge. "He's devoted himself to killing Vecna and saving his town and his friends. I'm really happy and proud of his character arc. He takes a little more control in this season." Wolfhard's already gotten to watch a few episodes back with his castmates, but even reading the script and seeing some of the footage, he insists, "I think that it has one of the greatest last episodes of any show."

The kids of Hawkins may be going on their last adventure, but off-screen, the friendships that Wolfhard and his castmates have cultivated will continue to live on. "I remember driving away from the set," he recalls of that eventful day, Mike Wheeler's bike, a poster of The Thing, and the original demogorgon piece as his souvenirs in tow. "Sadie Sink was in the back seat, Gaten [Matarazzo] was driving, and I was in the front seat. I turned around and asked Sadie, 'Will it feel this sad forever?' She was like, 'Just give it a few days. You'll be fine.'" Ultimately, Sink was right. The sharpness of the goodbye did eventually fade, but for Wolfhard, there may always be a Stranger Things–sized hole in his life. How could there be anything less? When Wolfhard and his castmates stepped onto the set, many of them hadn't even hit puberty, and by the time the cameras ceased rolling, they were already of legal drinking age.

At 22, many of us were preparing to make the transition from college to the "real world" while Wolfhard and his peers were suddenly grappling with being thrust from their tight-knit cocoon into the great unknown of a post–Stranger Things world. Where many 20-somethings share their memories of the past four years with their closest friends, the cast's bonds go much deeper. "There was something about going at it with the Stranger Things cast where we all understood what the last 10 years has meant to us," Wolfhard tells me. Each of them has essentially grown up in the spotlight, but their superpower is that they've never had to truly do it alone. "I've never had a love for a group of people that's this strong," he continues. "From when the show first came out, there was stuff that even my biological family can't relate to that these Stranger Things guys can." Fear, excitement, nostalgia, and nerves all bubbled up when it came time to say their final goodbyes. "I definitely felt some separation anxiety," he confirms.

These days, Wolfhard may be moving on from slaying demogorgons and uncovering top-secret government operations, but he's still on a mission, albeit a slightly different one: to make music and reestablish himself in Hollywood beyond the role that launched him to streaming acclaim. Earlier this year in June, Wolfhard released his solo debut album, Happy Birthday, and has since been performing on tour throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The album—which explores themes of identity, anxiety, and coming of age—is filtered through a distinctly '90s- and 2000s-era sound, andWolfhard cites sonic influences from The Smiths to early The Beatles. It's all raw, lo-fi alt-rock that feels at once nostalgic and intimate. Critics have praised Wolfhard's ability to pay homage to his influences without ceding any originality.

When career actors try their hands at another medium like music, it can often feel like watching a dog walk on its hind legs—potentially awkward at first. But real Wolfhard fans know that this is far from his first musical act. Wolfhard fronted the Vancouver-based indie group Calpurnia from 2017 to 2019 before joining forces with friend and former Calpurnia drummer Malcolm Craig to form The Aubreys, the duo's psych-rock project that has been producing '90s-inflected tracks ever since. Wolfhard's film and music lives don't always converge, but one instance of their overlap came with The Aubreys' track "Getting Better (otherwise)," which was released on the soundtrack for the 2020 horror film The Turning, also starring Wolfhard.

He's hardly the first of the Stranger Things cast to pursue a career in music, though. Djo aka Joe Keery aka the show's jock heartthrob Steve Harrington has managed to establish himself as a respected recording artist, and his presence on set quickly became somewhat of a North Star for Wolfhard. "Meeting [Keery] at age 11 or 12 and seeing him acting while also being an amazing musician opened my mind," Wolfhard tells me. "'Oh, you can do it all.'"

If Keery's pseudonym Djo was aimed to distance his musical career from his acting, Wolfhard appears to be unfussed about deploying his full name and the association that comes with it. When I ask him about his legacy, it's refreshingly realistic. "I think I'll always be remembered as an actor, even if I do accomplish as much as I want to in music, because of how seminal Stranger Things was," he says. Who's to say that 10 or 20 years from now the name Finn Wolfhard won't instead be synonymous with "musician" or even perhaps "screenwriter" or "director"? With the way Wolfhard moves through the world, he makes it seem like anything can be possible—not with the dreamy naïveté of the average 22-year-old with big dreams but instead with a kind of precocious wisdom that comes from his decade-plus of professional experience.

There's no escaping the public analysis of coming of age in the spotlight, but for Wolfhard's part, he's managed to channel his fears and anxieties into his solo music career through songwriting, recording in the studio, and even touring. "I was 18, 19 the first time I had a really hard mental health period in my life. It was the first time where I thought that people could like me in a way that was not transactional. I remember asking my parents, 'If I don't want to do music or acting, will people still love me?' I had never given myself the time to even ask that question of, Who am I without this thing? So all this was happening at the same time as me writing this album," he says.

Even the title Happy Birthday is a reference to the start of a new life chapter. "That's how I approached every song," he shares. "I was trying to base them around these big questions that I had around who I am as a person." On the track "Objection!," for instance, Wolfhard tells me that it was an exploration of his emotional state in the aftermath of a breakup without being about the breakup at all. "It's really about the way that I react to life and how I notice things about myself. I ask those questions within the song. Why did you react in that way? And why did it affect you in the way that it did?" he says. It's easily his most personal project to date, and while putting it together, he famously set a goal of writing 50 songs—not to include each one on the album but to fine-tune his creative process. He wanted to manufacture creativity instead of waiting for it to simply strike, a process any seasoned writer is familiar with. "I was almost militantly interrogating myself" is how he puts it.

Of course, there's also his directorial debut. While some actors will wait until they are near the middle of their careers to attempt calling the shots from the director's chair, Wolfhard is hungry to expand his skill set. This April, he cowrote and codirected the campy slasher flick Hell of a Summer with fellow actor Billy Bryk—the pair met on the set of 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife and have remained close friends and collaborators since. Set against the backdrop of a sleepaway camp, the film pokes fun at the '80s summer camp genre with all the trappings of a campy classic: nostalgia, suspense, and perfectly timed comedic relief.

As Wolfhard has already accomplished so much by his early 20, naturally, I was curious to know what comes next for the star. He's well aware that few things can stand in the shadow of a behemoth like Stranger Things but is choosing not to let the pressure to book another major role get to him. "I'm 22 years old—I'm not in a rush to jump into anything just to say that I'm acting. I don't care if it has to come after a while. I want to do something that is, in some way, personal to me," he says. I get the sense that this isn't the first time he's been asked about his next moves, and with his rising star power, it won't be the last. "I've thought about doing something that is different to how people see me outside [of Stranger Things] and defying expectations," he admits, stopping short of divulging any plans further than that. Wolfhard, I'm realizing, has no desire to bend to Hollywood's will. Why should he? He's already proved his creative prowess in multiple mediums with a remarkable level of effortlessness. Right now, the world is his oyster.

"I would love to just be in weird independent movies, even if I were to be in one scene of a Steven Soderbergh movie," he considers. "I don't care if it's a big role. I just want to be able to work with cool people." At least for now, the pressure to hit another Stranger Things–level jackpot is off.

Now a director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter, Wolfhard is establishing himself as a modern-day renaissance man, sharpening each of his creative pursuits like they're tools on a Swiss Army knife. The question isn't what he'll get up to next—it's what won't he.

Photographer: Max Montgomery
Stylist: Nico Amarca
Groomer: Ruth Fernandez
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Lindsay Ferro

I meet Mia Goth in late August in Pasadena in a small park in the middle of the California Institute of Technology's campus. She selects a bench in the shade, fronted by a series of small ponds and encircled by buildings housing the genius minds of tomorrow. It is rather on the nose, I tell her, given the day's subject matter. She is the female lead in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, the celebrated director's 149-minute, $120 million three-decades-in-the-making passion project about a cursed inventor, and here we are, poised between the natural world and the ever-widening reaches of scientific exploration. Goth looks over her shoulder at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory. "That did cross my mind," she says impishly. "Scientists…" Really, she says she chose this little park, with its boulders and terraced pools full of friskily scrumming turtles, because it doesn't feel like L.A. (more on that later) and because she comes here regularly with her 3-year-old daughter, Isabel. It's one of their favorite outings. "That's one of the beautiful things about having a child. … Things that you used to take for granted or you just weren't present for or just completely glazed over as an adult, she really slows down," she tells me. "This, if I was on my own, I might just look at it and appreciate it. Move on. Turtles. But with her, it becomes a whole morning." Goth is wearing no makeup (and not in the usual starlet no-makeup makeup way—really, none), and she is beaming. Parenthood, she tells me earnestly, "is the greatest gift of my life."

This, it must be said, differs wildly from Victor Frankenstein's experience—as written by Mary Shelley in her iconic 1818 novel and as depicted in del Toro's 2025 film, in theaters and on Netflix this fall. The director has taken some liberties with the text: his Dr. Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) has a cruel, demanding father, and transforms the sorrow of losing his mother, played for a few scenes by an unrecognizable Goth (truly, I triple-checked it with both Netflix and personal reps), at a young age into the determination to create life out of pieces of recovered corpses. He makes himself a parent too— just a really, really bad one. His repulsion by and abandonment of his creation (Jacob Elordi) results in a lot of unnecessary death and destruction. It's mayhem that could have been mastered by patience, understanding, and love—basically, good mothering (there’s a lot of Freudian emphasis on Victor's preference for milk) but also a sense of humanity. There is a reason this story has remained relevant for over two centuries and has found its moral lesson applied to everything from the French Revolution to the creation of and increasing reliance on AI: Just because we can do something, Shelley's work insists, doesn't mean we should.

Goth's real role in del Toro's film is playing Elizabeth Lavenza. In Shelley's novel, she is Victor's pure-hearted cousin and later wife, a benign victim who pushes the plot along. Here, the character is a refined young woman with a mind of her own who Victor finds himself inexplicably drawn to. (Could it be her uncanny similarity to his mother? There’s Freud again.) She is engaged to Victor's guileless and kind younger brother and has a deep-pocketed uncle (Christoph Waltz) who is willingly and increasingly entangled in Victor's experiments. Goth's Elizabeth possesses a genuine appreciation for science, specifically entomology, and a love of both the natural and metaphysical worlds. She has spent her most recent years in a convent. The part is basically the human embodiment of pure female virtue turned all the way up to Virgin Mary levels—all quiet kindness, grace, and maternal instinct wrapped in the halo of a cerulean-feathered fascinator that highlights Goth's eyes.

Goth spent time with some nuns in Alhambra, California, to prepare for the role, she tells me, and read the stacks of books that del Toro had given her (subjects: entomology; the book of Job; a biography of the 17th century Hieronymite nun, poet, and playwright Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz; a study of the fashions of the time). She also made a playlist, which she does for all of her film projects, mostly made up of scores by the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, though she later decided she needed to break up all the "composer energy" with songs by Jeff Buckley, Beirut, Eve, Big Sean, and Mariah Carey. She found the most success when she'd meditate and try to channel a higher spirit. "I started to realize that actually when I get quiet and I'm able to sit with myself and get silent and really connect to the most authentic part of me, that's where she exists," Goth says.

Though she describes the shoot as magical ("I would have done anything Guillermo asked me to," Goth says with a "pinch me" air. "I never got over the fact that I was a part of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. I still haven't gotten over it"), the set was not a nonstop party. "I was taken by how focused and how quiet and how detail oriented the set was," she says. "I mean, everyone knew what time it was and what this represented and what it could be if we made it work. I guess, in that sense, there were parts of the job that were quite lonely." She often feels that the energy of the character and the story end up translating to the dynamic and the vibe of the set. She says, "I think just the nature of my character being a woman, the only woman, in a Victorian world is intrinsically lonely."

Goth believes all storytelling is, in some part, biographical, and she thinks there was a part of Shelley in all of these characters. At the time of writing Frankenstein, the 18-year-old Shelley had run away with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, just lost their out-of-wedlock child two years prior, and was pregnant with another. It was a period that The New Yorker, reviewing Muriel Spark's 1951 biography of Shelley, summarized as "eight years of near-constant pregnancy and loss." Shelley was no stranger to the latter: Her mother, the writer, philosopher, and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, had died soon after childbirth, and her father, the political philosopher William Godwin, rejected her at 16 for her trespasses with Shelley. The impetus for Frankenstein came from a bored Lord Byron (who, it has been suggested, served as a fair amount of the inspiration for the impulsive and morality-challenged Victor and who himself impregnated Shelley's stepsister with a child he would effectively abandon a few years later). During a stormy weekend visit, he suggested a ghost story competition. Shelley's story became Frankenstein: a parable of man's genius perverted to folly, as expressed through the eyes of a hideous, powerful, innocent. (Ultimately, as is so often the case, the problem was other people; as Wollstonecraft had written in 1794, "people are rendered ferocious by misery.") "I thought a lot about [Mary Shelley] and who she was," Goth says. "At the core part of it, she was a very lonely woman. She created a friend in the creature," who, like all infants, didn't ask to be born and fumbles through the world looking for love and kindness and finds mostly cruelty and fear. "That's something that I was drawn to in the character," Goth continues, "this feeling of always feeling kind of an outsider myself."

***

Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth was born in London in October 1993 into what she succinctly describes as "quite a hippie background." She moved with her mother to the latter's native Brazil in the early days of infancy, and a few years later, they joined her father in his native Canada. She and her mother permanently relocated to London when she was 12. To the consistent surprise of those who've only ever seen her in character on-screen, she speaks in a girlish lilt that betrays her British heritage but also feels slightly out of time. Some of her many devoted online fans have described her as sounding like a Victorian ghost.

The young Goth spent her early years watching the American movies that played on Brazilian TV in English, regardless of their subject matter or rating. She remembers 21 Grams, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Free Willy all leaving a positive impression. "I've always appreciated heavier, complex subject matter," she says. She would also visit her maternal grandmother—Maria Gladys Mello da Silva, a popular actress in Brazil—on various film and TV sets. "Some of my earliest memories are of being on set," she says. "I just remember thinking to myself, 'I want to do that' and looking up to her and just being in awe of her and what she was doing. It was kind of that way my whole life."

Goth's unique, doll-like look drew attention, and she started modeling and then auditioning when she was a teenager back in the UK. "It just always felt like [acting] was the path I was going to go down," she says. "I couldn’t explain it, and I didn't know how it was going to happen, but it just always felt like that's what was going to happen." Her big-screen debut was at 18 when she decided to forgo university to act in Lars von Trier's notoriously boundary-pushing X-rated erotic film Nymphomaniac: Volume II instead. Her parents knew von Trier's work and were thrilled for her to get the opportunity. "I couldn't have asked for a more supportive family in that sense, actually," she says.

Goth had no doubts herself about skipping college. There was never a plan B, she says, turning her gaze to the ground, where a nearby squirrel surveys, spread eagled in a patch of shade. "I always thought to myself, 'You can't have a plan B. You can't live your life like that because if you have a plan B, you're not going to work as hard on plan A. So you have plan A, or you're fucked.'" It's the first flash I've seen of the intensity she's known for in some of her grittier roles, the expletive delivered with the matter-of-factness of a punchline. (It isn't one. She's quite serious.) "I think I come from such a world where it was like my planning had to work," Goth continues. "I could never go back to what that was, so it just had to work. It just informed me in every way and my drive and how I'd show up for auditions, and I would be prepared for sets." The squirrel shoots up a tree trunk, and we both turn to watch it watching us, a ring of eyes staring at each other, waiting for the next move. She shrugs, "I just put all of my eggs in one basket."

Nymphomaniac was a foundational experience, and not only because it's where she met her now partner and the father of her child, actor Shia LaBeouf. "I love that movie. I'm very proud of that movie. It's still one of my favorite movies that I've been a part of," she says. Von Trier's set provided what "really became my whole blueprint for what I wanted my career to look like," she tells me: "the directors that I wanted to work with, the style of directing that I gravitate toward, the kind of films that I enjoy most, the actors that I really respond to. I think one of the reasons it was such an incredible experience was because it was so free. Lars would tell me, 'Go through the script, and if there's anything that doesn't sound right coming out your mouth, change it.' To give that to an 18-year-old that didn't have any experience was really empowering." Her CV quickly turned into a murderers' row of critically lauded auteur projects: A Cure for Wellness, High Life, Suspiria, Emma, X, Pearl, Maxxxine. Many of these (notably the X trilogy, the second installment of which, Pearl, she cowrote with creator Ti West) had small budgets and obsessive fandoms, for whom she quickly became their favorite star. They also tended to show off her excellent capability for elevating considered gore and talent for big, full, theatrical screaming. She doesn't love the oft-applied "scream queen" label, though. "Someone came up to me the other day, and they're like, 'Oh, you're one of my favorite actresses,'" she says. "I'm like, 'Oh, thank you!' And they're like '…in horror movies.' And I was like…"” She blinks and presses her lips into a thin, quizzical smile. But look, that's okay. That's unlikely to be the case for much longer.

Frankenstein is the biggest and most mainstream project that Goth has been a part of to date. That will remain true for a little under a year until Christopher Nolan's behemoth The Odyssey premieres next summer and she appears alongside what sounds like nearly every star in the Hollywood firmament. (Along with most details about the project, her exact role remains under wraps, though she does say that filming was "one of the greatest experiences," that Nolan was a master class in directing, and that she "learned so much on that film set.") Following that comes a new stratosphere or, really, galaxy: Star Wars: Starfighter, helmed by Shawn Levy and costarring Ryan Gosling. (It's a standalone project, she says, meaning they won't be inserting themselves into the universe's prior storylines, but that's really all she can say about it. Gosling has said that it is all new characters and takes place in a time after the Battle of Exegol, after Episode IX.) And then there's the next project, which has not even been announced, so mum's the word, though, she says earnestly, "It's the best thing I've ever read." Apologies to all of those who would prefer to keep her as their favorite indie horror actress, but what's happening now is a pointed turn to the very big time.

"I'm making a mindful decision of wanting to branch out and just not do the same thing," she tells me. "In any career, in any profession, you want to keep growing and trying new things. Otherwise, you just kind of get stagnant, and it's not fun anymore, and you're not exploring anymore, and it's just not enjoyable anymore." She gives too much of herself to each project to shoot things back-to-back-to-back; she prefers to go off and live her life and fill that well with experience so that she can draw from it later in her work. The key to having an interesting and fulfilling career, she tells me later, "is to cultivate a really fulfilling life outside of work so that you're able to have patience to wait for the right projects to come around."

To that end, she also has her 3-year-old daughter to think about. "I was always quite picky to begin with, but now even more so," she says. "It has to make sense on many levels. Oftentimes, you are waking up before she wakes up, and you're coming home after her bedtime. You have to justify it in your head to be away, for it to make sense, to be away from her, to be taken away from her. I feel very lucky that the projects that I'm working on [do] make sense to me." Isabel came with her to the Scottish Highlands to shoot some of Frankenstein, and they will relocate to London for Star Wars, which both she and Goth are excited about. "I miss London," Goth says. (She doesn't like L.A.? "I hate L.A.," she whispers.) "I miss my friends. I miss the people. I miss the culture. I just miss the sense of the city, being able to step outside and be around something." L.A. has been a fun place to raise a child with its easy weather and natural splendor, but she worries about the preteen years and how much quicker it seems the loss of innocence happens here thanks to the prevalence of social media, the exposure to the film industry, the emphasis on celebrity and money and the access to everything it can buy. "It feels like that awkward stage doesn't happen anymore," she says. "I feel like I was in my awkward stage until about 26."

We walk to a nearby café and chat about the prep she has to do before the Venice Film Festival in a week. There will be a facial and hair and nail appointments—the usual glam before takeoff. She doesn't fear or loathe the red carpet or summon a character beforehand in order to face it; she likes celebrating a project she believes in this much alongside the people who made it with her. Plus, the grandeur of Venice! And then there's the parenting part, getting Isabel ready for the trip. (Luckily, her daughter's favorite game is "airport": They pack suitcases, and a stuffed giraffe collects their tickets.) Inside where we wait for our drinks, there's inexplicably a life-sized cardboard cutout of R2-D2 by the cash register. When I point it out, she poses next to it, finger-gunning with a goofy smile like a tourist at Disneyland. (Sorry to disappoint R2 fans, but she says that particular droid is not one of her future costars.) None of the dozen-plus customers in line seem to clock that there's a movie star, let alone a future Star Wars star, in their midst. In her boxy white T-shirt, frayed jean shorts, kelly green Doc Marten brogues, and red socks, Goth looks every inch a cool young Pasadena native or fellow Caltech student. I ask if she often gets recognized. "Sometimes. Not a lot though. It's not to the point where it's uncomfortable or unmanageable," she says. In bigger cities around younger people, it happens more, but typically, they just want to say hi. "It's like living in a small town," she shrugs. Let's hope she's ready for it to get a whole lot bigger.

Photographer: Erica Snyder

Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen

Creative Direction: Sarah Chiarot

Hair Stylist: Bryce Scarlett

Makeup Artist: Nina Park

Manicurist: Betina Goldstein

Set Designer: Francis Cardinale

Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker

Producer: Luciana De La Fe

Welcome to On a Roll, a profile series that offers a glimpse into the lives of buzzy talent through an exclusive peek at their personal camera roll. Go behind the scenes and into the phones of your favorite trending celebrities with this revealing look at their most cherished photo moments from their personal and public life.

Justine Skye is no stranger to a major image shift. From her teenage years, the singer-actress was thrust into Tumblr virality, quickly gaining recognition for her distinctly purple hair (even nicknaming herself the purple unicorn), and her velvety vocals used to give popular hits like "Headlines" by Drake new life. These online moments were the catalyst that led her to sign her first record deal and launch headfirst into her R&B music career. While the internet played a major role in Skye's initial successes, life online hasn't always been pleasant. Much of her early adulthood was spent under intense scrutiny, and every post, comment, like, and share were talked about by people who thought they knew her better than she knew herself. Pair that with her most personal moments being blasted to the public—this experience made learning about herself and determining her own path particularly difficult.

That was a long time ago, though, and today, Skye's hair color isn't the only thing that's changed. (Her tresses are still a hot topic online, but now, instead of purple, she wears them blonde, and fans often beg the star to divulge the secret behind her unique shade.) At 30 years old, she's all grown up. Now, Skye is all about putting herself front and center by embarking on perhaps the most important shift of her career: changing her sound.

While the musician gained mass notoriety for her R&B beginnings with hits like "Collide" and "Know Myself," the former Grown-ish star is ready for a new chapter. With inspiration from her travels and the ultimate goal of crafting music meant for having fun and taking life less seriously, Skye is officially embracing the world of dance music, one single at a time. "Bitch in Ibiza," "Oh Lala," and forthcoming "Yap" (October 3) mark the beginning of an era no one, not even her day one Tumblr followers, have seen before.

We caught up with Skye in a candid conversation, discussing all things music, life online, and embracing fun. Come along to go deep with Justine Skye, learn some of her inner thoughts, and take a peek into her personal camera roll.

With the release of your latest singles "Bitch in Ibiza" and "Oh Lala," there's been a distinct departure from your R&B-centered beginnings to dance music. What inspired this shift? Can you speak on this new era and what it means for you?

This new era, for me, is about making music people want to dance to. I spent a long time releasing slow, sad songs, and it didn't feel authentic to me anymore. When I was working on [my latest music], it was important to me that we were having fun and were excited about what we were doing that day. If we weren't, we'd move on and try something new.

What has been the response to this new direction? Are there any particularly meaningful moments you'd like to share?

I think someone that I've shared [meaningful moments] with [as an] artist and friend who has really helped to encourage me through this shift is Kaytranada. He's someone that I've always looked up to and respected, and to have him on my side and to be so supportive genuinely [means so much.] I am a Virgo, so I hate rejection. He's a Virgo as well. We both were very shy throughout knowing each other and then, with the encouragement of some of our friends, just getting us into the studio. I've broken down a wall that I put up for myself in being afraid of people not taking me seriously, and now, I just feel unstoppable.

Besides Kaytranada, is there a dream artist you'd like to collaborate with?

I'd really like to work with more female producers and DJs, particularly Black women like Crystallmess and PinkPantheress. Donna Summer and Janet Jackson were huge forces in shaping modern dance music, yet Black women often get typecast into a specific genre or style. I love my R&B roots, but it's important to me to have the freedom to explore and change up my sound.

Have there been any challenges that you've had to face with this transition to dance music?

Yeah, that's still even to the day now that I have put my foot down and started to really, really go for this. I see a lot of people being like, "Oh, this doesn't sound like her. We liked her better when she was making R&B." The way that I was raised, my mom just always taught me and put me in environments where I could experiment and be myself, so it has always been something that was within me to go left [of people's expectations]. But it's not really that left if you think about it because Black women have been the forefront of dance music. In this day and age, we've been programmed to think that this is white music, but no, this is just music.

"Bitch in Ibiza" has such a fun, vibrant energy. Can you explain the inspiration for your song?

We were just in the studio. It was a session where everyone was a bit confused because it was our first time working with each other. My friends Kito and Noah started playing around with this beat. Kito found this sample, and we were like, "It sounds like something about Taco Bell and pizza." We started joking around and just throwing out different random [lines] to the melody of that sample, and then this really dope songwriter, Beau, [jokingly] just goes, "I'm just another bitch in Ibiza" because I was talking about Ibiza so much. And then we just kept saying it, then Cakes went in and started writing out the raps, and we were just having the best time.

It seems that travel has been a key piece in your creative process. Can you talk about that more?

I feel like I'm always traveling, whether it's to L.A. to record, Paris for fashion week, or Ibiza on vacation. Ibiza, in particular, has been such a strong inspiration in my current musical era. I went for the first time last summer and came back to the studio so inspired. That trip was a catalyst for everything you'll see on this next project.

As someone who has had a significant online presence since the Tumblr days, what helps you stay grounded IRL?

What helps me stay grounded in real life is my friends. The internet and the things that people say online, whether it's good or bad, is not something that you should let consume you. I know that it's hard. Sometimes, I'll get lost in the sauce of looking through the comments, especially when putting out new music, because you want to see what people are saying and if they're loving [your new work]. But I am so grateful for the foundation of friendship that I have all around, and they've really been great examples in how to carry myself and also just being there for me. All of my friends, I love [them] dearly. … I can put my phone down, and I have a real life with real friendships, so we can actually enjoy each other's company.

How do you feel social media has impacted your experience as an artist over the years?

I think that social media is a great platform for any artist who's wanting to get their stuff out there. I don't think that it should be your only source of putting yourself out there, but it is a great one because you don't need anyone to help you with that. You can create your own story for yourself sometimes. Sometimes, it gets too crazy, and the fans start to take over, and they start to create your story for you. I'm still learning. There was a point in time where I was taking it too seriously, and now, I'm just trying to find the fun in there, which some of my peers, like Steve Lacy, really do a great job with that. Just because you didn't get a million likes on [a post] doesn't mean that I didn't touch someone or someone didn't really … appreciate [it]. We get so caught up in the numbers of it all, and we lose the authenticity.

You're no stranger to the limelight, as you've been in the public eye for a while and are known for having a host of famous friends. Is there anyone you think you'd get starstruck by?

Oh, there are so many people I get starstruck by. When I was younger, I cried when I saw Soulja Boy [at the Kids' Choice Awards.] Beyoncé—I met her, but I'll still get starstruck. Such power. I love Big Mouth, and I was randomly in the same place as Nick Kroll [once]. So that's a good one.

What's a misconception or something you wish people knew about you?

So many people think I'm from L.A. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and it's a huge part of my identity. It was really important that the story around this new project was rooted in my being a native New Yorker. We shot "Oh Lala" at Paragon, this underground spot in Brooklyn that just reopened, and it felt so personal to capture a piece of the city in that way.

What aspect of your life now do you think 10-year-old Justine would be most proud of?

The work that I've done on my mental health. I think that she'd be most happy about that and that I'm back to not [being] so caught up in the way that people are viewing me and just having fun. I'm so blessed that I get to do something that I love, and I feel like I lost that feeling because I felt like I was in competition with everyone.

What is one go-to fashion item that is a must-have for you—something that you reach for again and again without fail?

I have these Peter Do earrings. They are my favorite earrings that I own because they look like disco balls. I think I wear them too much. I love a big, chunky earring. I'm not the best at accessorizing, but throw on a big earring, then boom—you're done. It makes you look like you tried.

Step into the universe of the coolest creatives in the fashion industry with our series My World, where readers will discover how the top stylists, designers, and tastemakers built their careers and get a peek into their favorite restaurants, beloved albums, fashion finds, etiquette rules they stand by, and so much more.

Look who’s in the C-suite. It's Paris Hilton—now that’s hot. No one is more deserving of a multi-hyphenated title than this global icon, CEO, DJ, entrepreneur, activist, and mother. We caught up with Hilton, who shared everything, from her Simple Life days to becoming a CEO with 11:11 Media, and, of course, her favorite looks from over the years. She even told us her favorite accessory that has kept her on top for over the past two decades—her motorola razr.

“It’s been a staple in my hand and my wardrobe for over 20 years,” says Hilton. Celebrating its 21st anniversary, the motorola razr is a pop culture phenomenon in its own right. Shop the razr in a Y2K-inspired hot pink or re-create the sparkle of Hilton’s own bedazzled 21st birthday dress and shop The Brilliant Collection.

Hilton attributes her success to being her authentic self. “I’ve always trusted my instincts since day one,” says the icon. “People are finally starting to recognize me as the businesswoman, innovator, and changemaker I’ve always been.” While her media savvy might be what gets her in the headlines, to Hilton, “building [her] business has been incredible, but nothing compares to the love and happiness of motherhood.”

I’m excited to give you a glimpse into Paris Hilton’s world. Ahead, a Y2K download of Paris and her pups, pink velour tracksuits, and an oversize-sunnie obsession.

Give us a peek into your world. What does a typical day in life look like for you?

My schedule is so full—from meetings about my businesses to spending time with my babies—so I need tech that can keep up. The Moto AI tools are honestly a lifesaver. Catch Me Up is my go-to because it keeps me in the loop, and I love Look and Talk since I can do things hands-free. It’s chic, smart, and perfect for my nonstop lifestyle.

You have so many business ventures you’ve taken on over the years, from your beauty line to 11:11 Media. I know it might be like asking to choose a favorite child, but if you could drop everything to focus on one thing, what would it be?

Everything I do is so personal to me. But right now, my heart is with being a mom and creating memories with my family. Building my businesses has been incredible, but nothing compares to the love and happiness of motherhood.

You’ve always been ahead of the curve. When you look back on moments like launching your first fragrance or embracing social media early, do you think your intuition drives your business choices—or is it strategy?

I’ve trusted my instincts since day one. Launching my first fragrance, embracing social media before it was a “thing”—those weren’t calculated moves; they were me being myself. I love being ahead of the curve, and strategy always follows when you’re authentic.

You’ve worn so many hats—DJ, producer, entrepreneur, activist, mom…

What they don’t see is how hands-on I am with 11:11 Media and all the projects I take on. I’m super involved in every detail—creative, strategy, even the nitty-gritty.

You’ve had some incredible looks over the years. Are there any iconic outfits that you look back on fondly, ones that people wouldn’t necessarily expect?

The silver chain-mail dress I wore for my 21st birthday will always be one of my favorites. It’s so timeless—it still inspires fashion today. One look I’ll always love is the black cutout catsuit I wore to Coachella this year. It was so special because through 11:11 Media Impact, we helped relaunch Hana O’Conor’s brand, Crop It Like It’s Hot, after the L.A. fires.

If you could raid the closet of anyone—past or present—whose would it be and why?

Definitely Marilyn Monroe. She embodied Hollywood glam like no one else.

You've had so many stylists over the years who have homed in on your aesthetic and presented your now-iconic style to the world. What are some references, feelings, or themes you feel like you reference in your wardrobe, whether it's from 2005 or 2025?

I always channel sparkle, pink, and playfulness. But I also love mixing in futuristic vibes. It’s very Y2K meets next-gen—sliving chic forever.

As far as your everyday style goes, which wardrobe staples do you live in?

Oversize sunglasses and track suits. And of course, my razr.

What's your cheap-thrill fashion find that you love?

I love scrolling TikTok Shop and finding fun little accessories—like bag charms—and I’m obsessed with buying Labubus. Phoenix and London love them.

Let's talk about accessories. Is there one item—bags, sunglasses, jewelry—that you can't leave the house without?

My razr! It’s been a staple in my hand, and my wardrobe, for over 20 years. It’s more than just a phone; it’s my favorite accessory. I never leave the house without it.

You’re constantly traveling around the world with your family, for work, for DJ sets. What’s one unexpected travel item you’ll always pack with you?

I never travel without my Motorola Buds Loop from The Brilliant Collection. They’re next-level, gorgeous crystal embellishments and incredible sound, thanks to Bose.

Finish the following sentence: My home wouldn’t be complete without…

My dogs! They bring so much love. A house isn’t a home without them.

Phones are almost like a digital home. I have to ask: What’s your screen time?

Honestly… way too much. But I’ll call it research.

If you could transfer one current app to the razr flip phone you had back in the day, what would it be?

I’d definitely bring TikTok back to the old flip phone. Imagine all the iconic selfies and videos I could’ve posted back in the day.

We all have digital clutter. What's one app you should delete but never do?

I’m on Instagram way too much, but I love connecting with my fans there—so it’s never going anywhere.

How do you make a hotel room or temporary space feel like “home” when you're constantly traveling?

I always bring cozy pajamas with me, and I spray my Iconic fragrance—it instantly makes any space feel like home. And whenever I can, I love bringing my family along. The kids are still little, so I’m taking advantage of being able to travel together before school makes things more structured.

Is there a summer read you’ve had your nose in on vacation?

I’ve been reading Rad Future by my friend Isabelle Boemeke. She makes nuclear power so fun and accessible, and I love supporting women who are changing the world. It’s super inspiring.

We’re a little more than halfway into the year, and streaming platforms are surely starting to make plans for their annual end-of-year playlist calculations. If you had to guess who would be your top-streamed artist for the year, who would it be?

Britney, always!

Is there a creator or content series—on TikTok, YouTube, anywhere—you’re obsessed with right now?

I’ve been obsessed with following @bibianagonzalez75 on TikTok. Her video went viral when her car caught fire—but her Paris Hilton tumbler survived. I surprised her in Texas with a brand-new car, and ever since she’s been posting the cutest vlogs and sound bites. I just adore her—she’s so authentic and deserves the world.

What’s your guilty-pleasure rewatch—something you’ve seen way too many times and still love?

I love rewatching episodes of The Simple Life. It’s iconic and hilarious. It’s Phoenix’s favorite show next to my new animated series, Paris & Pups, coming to YouTube in September.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Negativity. Life’s too short for bad vibes.

What’s the one etiquette rule that you stand by?

Always be kind and gracious and always make people feel appreciated.

What’s something you think should be a “luxury” but is actually just good common sense?

I’m obsessed with Motorola’s The Brilliant Collection crystal phone case.

If it were up to you, which fashion trend would never see the light of day again?

The micro-sunglasses trend was cute for a minute, but I’ll always be an oversize-sunnies girl.

What’s a misconception about you that you feel is finally starting to fade—or one you’re still working to change?

A big misconception is that I haven’t worked hard in my life. For so long people just saw the glam, the parties, the character—and assumed everything was handed to me. But the truth is I’ve worked nonstop since I was a teenager, building a global brand across music, media, beauty, fashion, and now 11:11 Media. People are finally starting to recognize me as the businesswoman, innovator, and changemaker I’ve always been.

If you could send a note to the Paris of 2005—amid the rise of The Simple Life and global fame—what would you tell her?

I’d tell her, “You’re stronger than you think. Stay true to yourself and don’t be afraid to let people see the real you.”

Swathed in scarlet Ferragamo fringe, peachy ruffles of gauzy Chloé, and cool-toned layers of Miu Miu, is actress and model Jodie Turner-Smith, our September Cover star. She's nothing short of gasp-worthy. (No, seriously—I gasped.) Turner-Smith stuns as the ultimate autumn muse, and, according to her makeup artist Joey Choy and hairstylist Marcia Lee, the glam had to have just as much It factor.

Turner-Smith's combination of sculpted locs and flushed, luminously ethereal skin is a true feast for the eyes, and, if you're beauty-obsessed like me, begs for a dedicated breakdown of details and product IDs. Below, find every last behind-the-scenes secret as told to me by Choy and Lee.

While the initial mood of the shoot flirted with the idea of Turner-Smith wearing her locs down, Lee had a gut feeling to go in a different direction after seeing the clothing the actress would be wearing. "I knew Jodie's hair needed to be sculpted to match the fashion—her loctitian, Yasmin Amira Davis, had freshly locked her hair the night before, so prioritizing nourishment was key." After prepping Turner-Smith's hair with As I Am's Rosemary Hair Water ($10) and the brand's Jamaican Black Castor Oil Water ($7), Lee used Geisha pins and sewing techniques to create Turner-Smith's gorgeous sculpted updos.

"Behind every stunning makeup look lies a well-prepared canvas, and skincare is truly one of the most crucial steps in the process," adds Choy. For maximum lift and sculpting magic, she began by using Ziip's cult-loved Halo Facial Toning Device ($400), which utilizes targeted nanocurrent and microcurrent technology to chisel and tighten key areas of the face, such as the cheekbones and jawline.

Next, Choy performed a gentle lymphatic drainage massage using one of her favorite moisturizers—Tatcha's Dewy Skin Cream ($72)—working it into Turner-Smith's skin with her fingers to ensure deep, long-lasting hydration. To finish, she applied a generous layer of Laneige's Lip Sleeping Mask ($24) for a soft, juicy pout. As for the makeup, Choy cites Turner-Smith's "striking" features as the ultimate inspiration for the looks she created on the day of the shoot. The goal: romantic, effortless, powerful, and elevated… with a modern twist.

Everyone who has been in close physical proximity to Jodie Turner-Smith agrees—the actress and model has an incredible presence—the essence of which inspired Lee's hairstyling strategy. "I took into account Alex de Mora's mood boards in addition to the clothes Jodie tried on during fitting and simply seeing her in the chair," explains Lee. This is what led her to create sculpted updos for the stronger outfits, softer bends in the hair for the purple hat moment, and a low braid so the feathered hat could create the illusion of a cropped style. Regardless of the look she's creating, Lee says she keeps a good hair oil, a serum, a nourishing cream or oil, a flexible-hold hairspray, a pomade, a gel, and a wax on hand at all times.

"Jodie's features are a dream for any makeup artist—each one offers endless possibilities to play with," Choy tells me. The key, she explains, lies in striking the right balance, such as highlighting one or two features while maintaining a harmonious overall look. "My signature approach is all about layering, whether it's building complexion products or pairing graphic eyeliner over blush flushing." According to Choy, it's the strategic layering of elements and textures that creates a seamless finish in front of the camera.

"Working on this cover was so collaborative," says Lee. Once Jodie's fitting was done, the team worked together to decide what vibe suited which look, making sure the hair, makeup, nails, and clothing were all in sync. "Our creative process was very organic," agrees Choy. "Having collaborated with Jodie and the team many times, there's a natural rhythm to how we contribute and build on each other's ideas in order to create a shared vision. When you have a great team, the process feels almost like dancing—it's just as rewarding as the final outcome."

"Jodie's outstanding presence, openness, and creativity really allow me to push boundaries," Lee adds. "For me, this shoot was about celebrating her locs as sculpture—hair as storytelling, identity, and empowerment."

At 7:37 a.m. on a hot summer Friday in my Brooklyn apartment, I am sitting in a film class taught by actress Jodie Turner-Smith—like one of those virtual MasterClass sessions you've seen on your TikTok feed, only in real time over Zoom. She is sitting in her London apartment, but it feels like we are in the room together as she flicks her wrist, nearly reaching through my laptop to ask, "Do you have it on your screen?" I'm not even halfway through saying yes when she excitedly exclaims, "Click play!"

I start the 1998 Hype Williams's crime thriller Belly, and I'm watching Turner-Smith watch me. She can hear the music through the screen and can tell exactly which part I'm at. An a capella version of "Back to Life" by Soul II Soul echoes through the club as Nas and DMX weave in and out of a dancing crowd, lit by bright-blue neon overhead lights. "This might be the fucking coolest intro ever!" she expresses eagerly before scanning my face for approval. "Don't you think?" I agree and not just because I trust her judgment but because the intro perfectly captures the essence of the '90s club scene in a way that makes me incessantly nostalgic for something I didn't experience. "Some people didn't get it, and that makes me sad," she laughs.

A third of our conversation is taken up by Turner-Smith and I discussing her favorite movies, those that have been influential in her career and those she likes with fashion. Turner-Smith names at least 20 films, from Vagabond to Housesitter to Cleo From 5 to 7. This list, she tells me, is how she learned about being an actress.

"I always joke that I put myself to film school via the Criterion Collection," the British actress tells me. "I would sit in my apartment, and I would just watch films and study performances." Unlike many of her peers, Turner-Smith didn't always know she wanted to be an entertainer. "My first foray into [acting] wasn't driven by an intense desire to perform," she explains. "It was more like, You know what? Let me try to start. I just wanted to see what happens."

Before taking that leap of faith, Turner-Smith actually started in corporate banking, a career move she describes as going down a path of what she thought she ought to be doing versus what she actually wanted to do. But when she realized everyone around her seemed to enjoy or have some kind of passion for what they were doing, she knew she had to leave. "People would say, 'Wow, it's so brave that you did that.' And for me, I was just more afraid of not doing it!" she explains. "I never felt brave for one second. I was absolutely terrified, but I was more afraid of not doing it, and so I decided to go for it."

After briefly exploring an interest in writing, Turner-Smith was encouraged "by the adults" in her life to try modeling. It's actually hard to imagine her statuesque frame sitting in a corporate banking cubicle. "At that point, after doing what I was supposed to do, and having ticked all those boxes and deciding to make a change, I had the sort of state of mind that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by just trying things."

So she moved to Los Angeles because it seemed like a place you go to "make it." "But I didn't know anything about modeling, so I didn't know that L.A. is not really the place you go to be a successful model," she admits. While her modeling career didn't necessarily take off, she did end up booking plenty of television commercials, which landed her in the actors union. Another career pivot felt imminent, and before long, she found herself auditioning for small films.

"I had an experience auditioning for a movie that I didn't end up getting," Turner-Smith recalls. "But the experience of doing that and the work that I had to do to prepare really shifted something for me inside." While some are motivated by rejection, she was more so propelled forward by the unexpected self-discovery that came from it. "I realized, as human beings, we always try to subvert our shadows. We don't want people to see the ugly bits of us. And I realized that the things that I want to hide… those things belong to me and I can use them for my craft. I found that very freeing. That's when I really fell in love with it."

In November 2018, she got her big break when she was cast in Queen & Slim, a Melina Matsoukas film about a young couple on the run after killing a police officer in self-defense. Turner-Smith was cast as the titular Queen, alongside Daniel Kaluuya's Slim. The film was met with critical acclaim—the New York Times Magazine published a piece in 2019 titled "'Queen & Slim' Could Be One of the Great Love Stories of All Time—If You Let It"—while also igniting conversations around police violence. It was the role that launched her into mainstream fame.

When discussing this moment in her career, Turner-Smith looks off camera for a moment while trying to remember an exact quote from an Interview magazine profile written about her. "There was something in there about me being a 10-year overnight success," she recalls. "You know, that's always how it is, right? When you finally get your first break, everyone is like, 'Oh overnight it happened!' But nobody sees that actually, you've spent a decade getting there. I was 10 years in Los Angeles before Queen & Slim happened. I had gone through many different iterations of my career. I had a couple years of just waffling and not doing anything."

Since then, Turner-Smith has gone on to star in a variety of projects, ranging from the action comedy film Murder Mystery 2 with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler to the Anne Boleyn miniseries, in which she plays the Queen of England, to The Agency, a spy thriller TV series with Michael Fassbender. But Turner-Smith's most recent project, Tron: Ares, the latest installment in the beloved science-fiction franchise, is her biggest yet. "I've never been a part of a film this size," she says of landing the role of Athena. "And I got to play an absolute fucking badass. I wanted to smash things and be fierce and fucking raise hell."

Her first question to the Tron: Ares team was if she would get to ride a light cycle, the fictional motorcycle characters cruise on while playing a deadly virtual game in Tron's digital universe. When they told her yes, she knew she had to take on the role. "I mean, that is the coolest bit! It's fun for people to be scared of a bitch on wheels," she says before laughing, "and then there's also the incredibly talented cast as well."

Turner-Smith's first introduction to the franchise was the 2010 film Tron: Legacy. "I just remember when that came out, I was so enthralled and excited by it, and that fucking score was amazing." Without missing a beat, Turner-Smith snaps back into film-teacher mode.

She mentions watching The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, noting, "Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch did the score. Remember that?" She goes on to mention how impactful it was to actually sit and hear their work as it was meant to be experienced. "I remember sitting in that movie theater and thinking to myself, I want to be in a movie that has Nine Inch Nails in it! And here we are," she says. "When I heard that Nine Inch Nails was going to be on the Tron: Ares soundtrack, I squealed."

The band's new song, "As Alive as You Need Me to Be" plays in the Tron: Ares trailer, but Turner-Smith makes sure to mention how it'll sound different bouncing off the walls of a real theater and not just those of my apartment. "You'll see. It is real event cinema," she assures me.

Ironically, Tron: Ares isn't really about the human experience. In the film, humans discover AI beings for the first time when Ares, a sophisticated program, is sent out from the digital world into the real world on a mission. "Our film is exploring how ethics and the human element of what AI is capable of, or is meant to do, intersect," she explains. "Warfare is a big industry, and we're playing these programs that are an elite special forces team. You throw in ethics with that and think, What is a person going to do when they have that kind of power?"

What Turner-Smith finds particularly interesting about the way Tron: Ares tackles artificial intelligence is that it'll be interacting with an everyday reality. "It's like with what's happening now. You're seeing the way that AI is part of everybody's life. What is going to be the journey with that? What is the conclusion of that? Are we going to be simply unleashing all powerful beings into the hands of dangerous people? Or will these beings eventually take over?" She hopes that the film inspires everyone to keep having those kinds of conversations.

Thinking about what's next for the 38-year-old, I ask Turner-Smith if she's ever felt behind, having found her calling a bit later in life than some of her peers who were perhaps born into it or knew it was their destiny from a young age. "In entertainment, it's very much still a thing where youth is a currency." She pauses before mentioning her divorce from actor Joshua Jackson and how she decided she would learn French in the aftermath. It was always something she wanted to do. "It was really validating for me as well to just remind myself that I'm a very intelligent person. It's never too late, and I'm capable! I can restart or I can find myself again anytime that I want to."

It's an attitude she carries with her. "I can become something new at whatever point I choose in my life, and I strive to keep that same mentality until I'm in the grave—or actually, not in the grave!" She corrects herself quickly before letting out a grin. "Hopefully, my ashes have been made into a really nice piece of jewelry for people in my family to wear."

But in her lifetime, Turner-Smith admits she'd like to do it all. And why not? She's already gone from banker to aspiring writer to model to actress. What's a few more career pivots? "I definitely love performing, and I am of the mind that I would love to see how far I can take it, how much I can grow. I want to do some horror. I would love to do a musical. I would love to be on stage. I would love to do more things in the comedy world." It reminds me of a quote she brought up minutes into our conversation: "It's been misattributed many times to different people, but it's that 'it's never too late to be what you might have been.'"

Before we wrap up our call, Turner-Smith reminds me of some of the films we discussed earlier, as if it were a syllabus I was meant to complete. "Remember, Vagabond! Add it to your list! Agnès Varda! The best!" Her enthusiasm makes me want to watch and rewatch every movie on Earth.

As we hang up the Zoom call, I'm sure of one thing: She is transforming into the kind of star you build watch lists around—the kind of star where someday someone plays the opening of a scene she's in and asks you to pay close attention to make sure you understand the magnitude, the talent, the beauty that is Jodie Turner-Smith.

Talent: Jodie Turner-Smith

Photographer: Alex de Mora

Stylist: Phoebe Lettice Thompson

Creative Directior: Amy Armani

Fashion Directior: Lauren Eggertsen

Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker

Hairstylist: Marcia Lee

Locs Hairstylist: Yasmin Amira

Makeup Artist: Joey Choy

Manicurist: Sabrina Gayle

When Olivia Cooke answers my call, she's on holiday with her mum. A stream of warm yellow light blazes through a small walnut-stained window onto the white clay wall and a subtle wash of sunblush casts over her nose and cheeks. She wears a purple vest top, the strap of which falls effortlessly off her shoulder. This look is a far cry from the layered faux fur coats, lashings of belts and green tights—''I bloody loved those tights,'' she tells me—that Cooke found herself wearing just days before on our Autumn Issue cover shoot.

Instead of switching off entirely, she's carved out time to talk about her work. That alone says something. Few people would take an hour out of a hard-earned holiday to slip back into promo mode, but Cooke, 31, does it with ease. Not because she takes herself seriously—quite the opposite—but because she takes her craft seriously. That distinction, I quickly learn, defines her: deeply committed, never self-important. It's a testament to the way she has moved through the industry thus far; whip smart, opinionated in the most refreshing sense and utterly unpretentious.

These attributes have quietly guided her through more than a decade of standout performances, from early BBC dramas to Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, to the force that is House of the Dragon. Now, with her latest role in Amazon Prime's new psychological thriller, The Girlfriend, Cooke once again proves herself an actor unwilling to be pigeonholed.

''I really, really dug the script,'' she says of the six-part series. ''I love anything that taps into the British class system—rich and poor—and how that sort of eats itself. And then to have it set with these two characters who are very much alike in many ways, save for their bank balances and their status, and play with all the complexities that relationship brings. I found when I was reading the scripts, I was really rooting for these two characters to be friends… but we live in a society that unfortunately pits women against each other still, which is just so fucking annoying and unfair.''

Cooke plays Cherry, a fiery estate agent with grit beneath the glamour, who begins a relationship with a man of means who has a very close yet complex connection with his family, in particular his formidable mother, Laura. Cherry is unapologetically ambitious, clawing her way to a place in a world that keeps threatening to shut her out. ''She is living in her overdraft and hoping to get a big break; sell a really high-end property to get that commission. So she is existing paycheck to paycheck, and something like caramel sauce spilling on a £400 dress she bought to impress her boyfriend's parents but had intended to return the next day is really fucking bad.''

That class tension—the sense of having everything to prove and nothing to fall back on—resonated deeply with Cooke. Born and raised in Oldham, Greater Manchester, she has spoken openly about her working-class roots and how her accent became an identifier of sorts in the industry. ''It was super cathartic,'' she says of channelling Cherry. ''All these sort of microaggressions you feel as someone [who] might be working-class—you often have to just bottle and swallow. For me, feeling that slight deficit, and also being a woman in an industry that's frankly easier to navigate when you went to Eton or another public school… it was freeing to play someone like Cherry who wears her emotions on the surface and isn't afraid to scream out her frustrations. Because of that, I got to address my own frustrations in a safe environment.''

Cherry's emotions aren't just written into dialogue—they burn through her costuming too. Cooke worked closely with the styling and hair departments to bring that vision to life. ''Her emotions are so on the surface, and there's a lot of fire within her,'' she explains. ''So all the reds she's in, all the various shades, felt emblematic of that. She's a bit of a siren; she's displaying herself in a way to attract, but she's also assimilating into this higher-class world. It had to have that 'va va voom'.''

The magnetism of The Girlfriend lies greatly in the sparring between Cherry and Laura, played by Robin Wright, who also directed the first three episodes of the series and served as producer. For Cooke, the chance to be opposite Wright was irresistible. ''I love her, I think she's fucking brilliant,'' she says plainly. Landing the part seemed serendipitous all round, too. ''We had a quick twenty-minute Zoom, and it was like, 'Yeah, I want to do this.' 'Yeah, I want you. Okay. Easy.'''

On set, Wright proved a revelation, living up to Cooke's expectations. ''She's doing the most nuanced, incredible, heartbreaking performance and then she just snaps right out of it and goes, 'What lens are we going to use? Okay, we've got that shot. Let's move on.' It takes me half an hour to come down from an emotional scene, and she's just there snapping right back into it. It was very inspiring to watch.''

Shifting perspectives is central to the show. Much of the drama is told through competing lenses: Cherry's truth, Laura's truth and the blurred space that exists between. So much so that some scenes were rewritten on the day to better serve these shifting points of view. ''We'd be filming and realise some of these points of view worked for the opposite character,'' Cooke recalls. ''So we should switch this, or rewrite the scene completely. It was tricky. And bless Robin, she also had the task of editing all that together.''

For an actor used to the rigidity of projects like House of the Dragon, where scripts are locked in months ahead, that spontaneity was invigorating. ''I quite like working a bit more 'run and gun,''' she says. ''It was a challenge, but you can feel how kinetic it is on screen.''

During our conversation, Cooke often returns to the idea of acting as a release. ''It's all that I think is in me,'' she admits. ''All those chips on Cherry's shoulders, all that defence, all the aspiration and striving. Those are themes I've had in my life at certain points. So it's easy to dial up and down.'' Yet she resists the idea of method acting as the necessary path to truth. ''I think method acting is for men usually,'' she says with a laugh. ''It's often men who feel that to do a more artistic job, [they] want to make it as painful for themselves as possible. They'd be so much happier if they didn't.''

Instead, Cooke emphasises balance, keeping things light between takes, grounding herself after heavy scenes and investing in therapy. ''You do portray all these emotions, and the body doesn't know it's not real,'' she explains. ''So I have to keep it light in between setups. I'm too sensitive to stay in that mode. Especially as I get older, things affect me a lot more than they used to. I thought I'd develop resilience, but that's not the case.''

She credits an intimacy coordinator she worked with earlier this year with helping her develop rituals of decompression, like stretching, moving and re-entering her own body after scenes that demanded more than everyday life. ''It's amazing. I had none of these skills in my early twenties, and I could have really used them back then as a young actor.'' Despite her impressive résumé, Cooke has largely managed to sidestep the trappings of celebrity, and she is grateful for it. ''I don't think I'd do well with über, über-fame,'' she admits. ''I'm really happy with my slow and steady progression, continuing to work, doing projects I believe in, being fulfilled in the meantime and then living my life in a very normal way.''

That normality suits her introverted streak. "People are so lovely, but I get so embarrassed when people come up to me and they're sort of awestruck. I'm like, 'No, you've got the wrong person.' It's energy better spent elsewhere.'' That said, there are still pinch-me moments: being directed by Spielberg at 24, or, indeed, spotting childhood TV idols in the wild. ''When I did The One Show, it was Matt from Blue Peter [hosting]. I'd grown up watching him, and he was one of my first loves. I was like, 'I can't talk to this person,'" she laughs.

Cooke blushes when I compliment her on her range. She's played everything from a troubled daughter to a gamer heroine and a politically fraught queen, and now, a plucky have-not with a dark past. What unites them, however, is complexity. ''A lot of the time it's story dependent,'' she says. ''But I suppose the characters I end up playing mirror a part of what is happening or has happened in my own life that needs some sort of exorcism. It's really curious. I end up learning so much about myself when I take on a role.''

That said, she doesn't buy into the myth of disappearing entirely into a character. ''It all comes from a prism [within] us. We dial things up or down, put on an accent or a wig. But I don't think you can fully throw away your personality and put on a new one, if you want to do [a role] truthfully.'' I ask her, if she were able to embody Alicent Hightower, her House of the Dragon persona, and rule for a day, what laws would she enforce? ''Oh god, so, so much,'' she says. ''The selling of arms, I would ban that. Dump all guns on Mars or something. I'd also release so many closed files, you have no idea. Then I'd make all world leaders women, just to see how things would change. Not to shit on all men, but, just for a generation, let's see what happens. And raise lovely boys who are respectful of women. It will be gorgeous.'' Show of hands for Cooke to become Queen of Everything as soon as humanly possible.

Cooke's path into acting, however, wasn’t set in stone. Growing up in Oldham, she attended after-school dance and acting workshops from the age of eight. ''I think I was always a bit of a show off; very 'daddy, daddy, look at me!'" But it wasn't until close friends began auditioning for drama schools that she realised the arts could be a viable career.

At 14, she auditioned for an agent in Manchester. Soon after, she landed on the agency's books. Then a casting director who worked next door began calling her in, and by 18, she had her first BBC job. ''Up until that point, I just couldn't ever see myself doing it in a proper professional capacity,'' she says. ''I'm not from an artistic background, and there was no reference point. But then I thought I'd better go for it.''

Her mum, supportive but pragmatic, worried when work didn't come quickly. "99% of actors are out of work 99% of the time. 'You need to get a job!' she told me. But I had the naivety of an 18-year-old to be like, 'No, the next job's going to come in.''' Today, Cooke still keeps a tight inner circle. ''I've got best mates [I've known] since I was 12, and a few really good girlfriends and guy friends. It's all gotten a bit coven and witchy, but it's so lovely. I do feel really held by them.''

Still, asking for help doesn't come easily. ''When I'm in despair and need help, I just don't. Sometimes it feels withholding, but really it's just not wanting an uncomfortable moment. I'm trying to get better at relinquishing myself to that.''

That humility, that sense of still figuring it out, makes her reflections on her younger self all the more poignant. If she could tell teenage Liv anything? ''All the things you're worrying about now will probably never come true. Stop exerting all that energy, fretting and making yourself ill over what-ifs. Try to live more in the moment. And ask someone if they know a really good therapist, because you need it.''

I can't help but see parallels between this sentiment and our autumn shoot; a celebration of frazzled elegance, of beauty found in imperfection. Cooke may admit to finding it hard to ask for help, but she's also disarmingly self-aware. She doesn't strive for flawlessness. Instead, she embraces the cracks and contradictions, and in doing so, reveals something far more compelling: her truth.

Stream The Girlfriend on Amazon Prime from 10 September 2025.

Photographer: Matt Healy
Stylist: Sophie Robyn Watson
Hair Stylist: Nao Kawamaki at The Wall Group
Makeup Artist: Lauren Reynolds at Bryant Artists
Manicurist: Saffron Goddard
Prop Stylist: Nicholas Rodgers
Editor-in-Chief: Hannah Almassi
Art Director: Natalia Sztyk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Editor: Maxine Eggenberger
Video: Natasha Wilson
Photography Assistant: Cameron Jack, Leigh Skinner
Digital Technician: David English
Styling Assistant: Brittany Davy
Production: Town Productions

Lily James is a busy woman. Our call is rescheduled twice, including once on a Sunday, because she's just flown out for a shoot in a different time zone. When she finally greets me on Zoom from a hotel suite in Vancouver—fresh-faced and makeup-free after a morning workout—she is brimming with apologies, and all is instantly forgotten. "Thank you for being so patient," she says, clasping her hands together in contrition. "It's been really wild over here."

Who can blame her for the packed schedule? James is the epitome of a modern-day workhorse. The SAG Award–winning actor has been working in Hollywood for over a decade and a half, and she's only 36. The British star has built a chameleonic filmography that most actors would happily sacrifice an arm and a leg to achieve. There's musical gold—who can forget her winsome turn as the all-singing, all-dancing young Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia 2? She's done achingly cool A24 fare, courtesy of the savage wrestling saga The Iron Claw, and ticked off nail-biting heist action in the form of Edgar Wright's surprise box-office smash Baby Driver. She's been Pamela Anderson for Pam & Tommy—for which she donned extensive prosthetics and was subsequently nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe. She's played Cinderella, zombie-slaying Elizabeth Bennet, and Winston Churchill's secretary (not in the same movie, obviously). Look close enough and you can spot James's moon-pale face and enormous brown eyes featuring in every single movie genre in existence. James doesn't just have range—she's got a veritable mountain of it.

"I do find acting kind of addictive," she admits today, pushing her newly dyed black hair behind her ears. "I feel lucky to do this job because you take on a role and go, 'God, I don't know where I am in that,' then you find it, and you've completely stretched the boundaries of what you think you're capable of." She's on a rest day (sort of) from shooting her latest film Harmonia, an '80s thriller that revolves around a mysterious all-female cult/commune. James, alongside The White Lotus breakout favorite Carrie Coon, plays a dazzling spiritual leader—hence the siren-esque raven hair and chunky moonstone necklace peeking out from her blue-and-white Hunza G shirt. It's all in service to her character, though she's no stranger to brunette hair. She last dyed it black and bleached her brows for a Versace campaign in 2023. ("Anything Donatella asks me, I would say yes!")

"I'm wearing a lot of crystals at the moment," James says as she pulls a beginner's guide to crystals off her desk. "I have some crystal tarot cards that I've been asking really important questions to. My agent's like, 'You can't answer questions based on crystal tarot cards that you don't even know how to use yet!'"

Right now, though, she is here to talk about another project—three, in fact. The 36-year-old British actress is pulling a hat trick this year. First on the slate is Finally Dawn, a fizzy Fellini-esque Italian period drama in which she stars as a malcontented movie star, which is set to premiere a few days after we speak. Next is Relay, a phenomenally sleek corporate thriller from the English director David Mackenzie. (I've been sent a top-secret screening link, and let me tell you—you're a smarter person than I am if you spot its mic-drop twist.) Finally, there's Swiped, the long-awaited Whitney Wolfe Herd biopic, in which James takes on the role of the Bumble founder and Tinder cofounder who took her former company to court for sexual harassment.

Phew, I'm exhausted just running through that list, so I can only imagine what it's been like for James. "I honestly feel quite schizophrenic talking about all these projects," she says earnestly. Finally Dawn (its original title is Finalmente l'alba, which she pronounces in flawless Italian) has impeccable European auteur pedigree in the form of director Saverio Costanzo, who is better known for showrunning the award-garlanded TV adaption of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend. Finally Dawn was actually shot years ago, and its release was delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strikes, James explains. "I'm so excited it's finally coming out and people will get to see it," she adds, clearly pleased as punch. "It's shot on film, and it's just utterly stunning."

Relay was a different proposition altogether. The Manhattan-set nail-biter features James as a whistleblower scientist who seeks help from a solitary fixer played by Riz Ahmed, who is also British. I ask jokingly, Did the two ever talk about stealing American jobs? James bursts into laughter. "I stay in my American accent when I'm on set just because I find it a bit harder to slip in and out," she admits. Around a fellow Brit, though, "it's slightly more embarrassing to be speaking in an American accent."

But it's Swiped that has the virtue of being closest to James's heart, partly because she also has a producing credit on the film. "It felt quite like an organic moment," she says of coming on board behind the scenes. It's one of the first films from Parodos Productions, the production company she started with her close friend and fellow actor Gala Gordon during the strikes. "Our remit is to find those stories that really champion women's stories, women with great grit and tenacity who have gone on to achieve things," James tells me. The story of Wolfe Herd certainly possesses twists and turns that seem genetically engineered for a big-screen adaptation. The former Utah sorority member helped build Tinder from day one, only to sue and win a rumored $1 million settlement in the process. In the midst of relentless tech-bro trolling as a result of the lawsuit, she went on to found Bumble and became the youngest female self-made billionaire on the planet when she took the company public in 2021.

"It felt kismet, beginning my own production company whilst playing such a phenomenal entrepreneur [who was] unafraid of breaking boundaries and pushing forward," James tells me. "I felt very empowered playing Whitney at this moment in my life."

These days, the phrase "born for the stage" is tossed around with wild abandon, but James is one of the few who seem to actually merit the description. She comes from exemplary acting stock. Her grandmother Helen Horton was a glamorous mainstay of British television and theater and even provided the voice of the computer in Ridley Scott's Alien. James fondly recalls a gold cape—"strappy, quite adult!"—that Horton made for her, which a 5-year-old James theatrically slunk around in while performing songs for her family. There is, she informs me with obvious horror, even a tape of it somewhere. "Is it nature, or is it learned behavior? I don't know, but there was something in me that liked to perform," she says.

Her dad, James Thomson, also acted when he was younger. "My father was really highly imaginative and always telling stories," she says. There must have been a lot of family opinions on offer once James decided to pursue acting as an adult. "I've had advice my whole life," she emphasizes. Sadly, both her grandmother and father passed away before she finished her first year at drama school. "I do feel really sad that they were such huge inspirations for me in terms of doing this job," she says reflectively. "And neither of them were able to see me in it." When she discovered that another actress had the name Lily Thomson, James took on her father's name in his honor.

After graduating from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, James got her big break in Downton Abbey, playing the free-spirit aristocrat Lady Rose. When it aired on PBS in America, it became the most watched TV show in its history. Even today, thousands of tourists flock to Highclere Castle. Then came her role as the titular pure-hearted princess of the live-action Cinderella, one of the few Disney remakes that was both box-office gold (it grossed $543 million) and critically acclaimed. That was the making of James in America and proof that the actor wasn't just an English rose destined for a lifetime of corset-bound romances. In fact, Downton creator Julian Fellowes regards her as the "greatest success story from the cast of the show." When fans complained about the lack of Lady Rose in the Downton Abbey film, executive producer Gareth Neame mischievously told Entertainment Weekly, "She can't be [in it]; she's in every other film at the world at the moment," and that was all the way back in 2018.

"It's not my first rodeo!" James laughs of her decade-plus in film and TV. "I do feel a great confidence and strength in that." What accounts for her ferocious work ethic? "I think I was more hungry to succeed and to keep growing. I feel like I'm a little less ambitious [now] but in a healthy way, a more grounded way," she explains. She recently celebrated entering her mid-30s with an intimate meal tucked away in the London courtyard of the Michelin-starred restaurant Luca surrounded by longtime friends, including Gordon, Poppy Delevingne, and actors Gemma Chan and Mamma Mia! costar Dominic Cooper.

Everyone talks about the switch from your 20s to your 30s, I muse, but turning 35 and up is the real headfuck. How does she feel about that transition? "I sometimes read stuff where women are all, 'In my 30s, I suddenly didn't give a fuck, and I had it all figured out.' I'm like, 'Really?'" she says, growing serious. "I think the biggest change has been realizing that life is finite. I only want to do stuff that I really care about. I want to spend time with the people I love. I want to make the most of this wild and crazy life, so I only want to work on stuff that I really love. That's changed."

It's impossible not to ask (she is playing a dating-app founder in Swiped, after all) if James is single, but she won't be drawn on it. "I would never tell," she says with an enigmatic smile, though the gossip mill went into overdrive when she was spotted giggling and carousing with Anyone But You star Glen Powell at a pre-BAFTAs party earlier this year. Is she on Bumble or Tinder? "I've never been on a dating app, personally," she says. "However, in research for the character, I went on my friend's Bumble account just to get a sense of the app that I'm pretending I created." Still, she's surrounded by dating-app stories in her personal and professional life. "One of our producers, Jen Gibgot, met her partner on Bumble. My best friend met her husband on Bumble. You start talking and you realize, like, how many matches, how many babies. That's the profound effect that these dating apps—Bumble in particular—have had. It's wild," she says.

Surely, she must be the only 30-something woman in existence who's never been on a dating app, I proclaim. "I was always in relationships when the apps started," James explains. "Now, I just don't know. I feel a bit self-conscious. … I try to stay really private, as private as I can. To be on a dating app feels a bit counterintuitive to that desire."

For all of her openness and buoyant charm, there is something about James that reminds me of a swan placidly steering through water, furiously paddling underneath the surface. She describes her internal rhythm as "pretty frantic" by nature. "I live in polar opposites sometimes and in extremes," she says. "A lot of that is born out of what I do. I'm always in a different place, in a different country, in a different city. Sometimes, I can feel quite unrooted." The last few years, she suggests, have been about charting a course back to her true self, an "authentic rhythm" that is "pretty slow and steady." On her birthday, she posted an Instagram screenshot of her horoscope for the day: "Be an active participant in your life. Believe in change. … Believe in new beginnings. Believe in fresh starts."

One of those fresh starts may involve music. James can sing (anybody who's seen her belt out "Knowing Me, Knowing You" in Mamma Mia 2 can attest to that) but had previously maintained that she never wanted to release music under her own name. "Now, I feel like I would totally if I started writing songs or found a songwriter to write with," she says. To the delight of Disney fans, she recently sang "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" with L.A. singer-songwriter Ben Abraham on his Instagram page. "His album Friendly Fire is just so beautiful, so I thought, 'Oh, I'll slide into his DMs and say, "Great album!"'" she recalls. "I just want to do stuff that makes me feel good. I wouldn't be so fearful of potential judgment or feeling like I'm an actor and I should stick to my lane."

If you want to get astrological about where James is currently at (she's an Aries, if that's of interest), well, your 30s are all about what happens once you make it past your dreaded Saturn return with all the hindsight and wisdom you bring with you into that third decade. James—always pushing, always searching for something more—is clearly charting onto an adventurous path. Not everyone essays a smooth course from playing a Disney princess to the cult leader of Harmonia, and not everyone is able to look back on their journey with the open-hearted equanimity that James brings. Earlier this year, she went back to being blonde and started to get recognized as Cinderella again, 10 years on. She ended up FaceTiming her friend's niece in full princess regalia with her hair done up, wearing an appropriately sky-blue top and brandishing one of the Jimmy Choo diamond-encrusted heels that the designer made for the film. "This little girl lit up," she remembers. "Then I said, 'Look, I'm going to put it on!' But I'd been dancing all night at Koko [a club in London], and my feet were swollen. I couldn't get the shoe on! I was like (she pulls a face of utmost concentration), 'Get your foot in, Lily!'" Obviously, it ended up working out. This is Lily James, after all.

Before we wave goodbye on Zoom (James still has lines to learn for the next day's shoot), I ask if there's anything that she wishes more people knew about her. "Oh, I hope this doesn't sound bad," she says. "I don't need people to know who I am beyond my work. … I think I can't define myself anymore, or at all, on what other people think I am. That's reserved for me, my friends and family, and my life that I'm building for myself." With that, Lily James logs off—the consummate chameleon, ready to take on another role of a lifetime.

Photographer: Noémi Ottilia Szabo
Stylist: Sofia Lazzari
Hairstylist: Fabio Petri at The Wall Group using Olaplex
Makeup Artist: Brooke Turnbull at The Wall Group
Manicurist: Simone Cummings at Arch the Agency using Bio Sculpture
Creative Director: Alexa Wiley
Special thanks to Rosewood London

Since last night, Keke Palmer has been on the move. It's Tuesday afternoon, and she just got back to Los Angeles from a turnaround trip to Las Vegas. After arriving in Sin City late Monday evening, she squeezed in a few hours of rest before slipping into hair and makeup at 4:30 a.m. to glam up for an appearance at the Starbucks Leadership Experience, where she hyped up coffee makers competing in a global barista competition. By 9:00 a.m., she was on the road again, heading to the Universal Studios lot back in L.A. to shoot the final episode of season 1 of The 'Burbs, her upcoming Peacock series based on the 1989 cult-classic film of the same name.

Now, tucked in her trailer before stepping on set to film, she chats via Zoom. Despite her laid-back appearance—a gray Abercrombie & Fitch Super Bowl LIX sweatshirt, black-rimmed glasses, modest silver hoops, and a flawless no-makeup makeup look—Palmer's vibe is anything but. Her energy is up, and she's radiating pure, unwavering drive. "Even though it was a lot for today, I wanted my weekend off," she says of opting to keep it pushing and shoot today after getting up so early. "I said, 'I'll come in on my day off to finish up—finish strong.'"

Palmer is on a mission. She's determined to leave her mark on the entertainment industry as a trailblazer who acts, produces, sings, writes, and manages her own enterprise. These ventures require a lot of hustle, and she's here for it. "Anytime I am seen as a millennial diva, cultural phenomenon, prodigy, any of these titles somebody can throw out—I take it with so much pride," she says, tucking her sleek, chin-length bob behind her ears. "What I see my legacy to be is hopefully something that is a launching pad for others. I want nothing more than to do what I can when I can [and] to represent something positive the best I can."

Since stepping into the spotlight as the inspiring title character in 2006's Akeelah and the Bee, the 31-year-old, born Lauren Keyana Palmer, has evolved into one of Hollywood's most dynamic talents. After cementing her status as a child star with the lead role in the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP, she's gone on to star in hits like Hustlers, Nope, and One of Them Days. The sequel of the latter is in the works with Palmer—back to produce with Issa Rae—reprising her lead role in the buddy comedy alongside SZA. She's done all this while making history as the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Game Show for her work on NBC's Password and releasing her New York Times best-selling memoir, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative.

On the strength of her desire to triumph in show business, Palmer's slate remains packed. Her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, is currently in its second season. This summer, she not only stars in Amazon MGM Studios' heist comedy The Pickup alongside Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson, but she also released one of her most personal projects yet, her album Just Keke.

When Palmer began crafting her third record in early 2024, she knew she had a lot to say on it, but for the first time in her career, she wasn't sure how to get her point across. "I hadn't fully closed in on what my conversation was surrounding everything I had gone through that past year with my son and with my son's father," she admits. To tell her story through searing lyrics, she enlisted her longtime bestie Tayla Parx, who cowrote Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next," Khalid and Normani's "Love Lies," and Panic! at the Disco's "High Hopes." "I knew she would be able to help [me] say what I needed to say for this album at this particular time in my life," Palmer says.

Back in the summer of 2023, Palmer's relationship with ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson, with whom she welcomed son Leodis in February of that same year, became a focal point in the public eye following an incident at an Usher concert. The moment sparked a wave of media attention after Palmer's attire—a lace bodysuit—at the show was met with criticism from Jackson, an exchange that played out on social media. "It's the outfit tho.. you a mom," he wrote on Twitter. Four months later, Palmer filed a restraining order against Jackson, accusing him of domestic violence.

The legal action marked a significant turning point for Palmer, not only highlighting the complexities of personal struggles intertwined with public life but also forcing her to confront how she'd been processing her emotions. "I've had public moments that were embarrassing or humiliating [in the past], but they were not this," Palmer says, reflecting on the emotional toll of having her personal life laid bare for the world. "They were not something that felt this invasive and exposing."

For years, Palmer had carefully cultivated an image built on positivity, always striving to approach life with optimism and a "glass half full" mentality. "I process life through the frame of joy. That's a choice," she says. But as her relationship unraveled in the public eye, Palmer faced the reality that her carefully maintained façade was crumbling. She questioned how to make sense of her pain while still maintaining the strength and grace she'd built her career on. "How do I process what feels ugly and still be able to say 'I feel beautiful' at the end of the day?" she remembers asking herself. Making her R&B album, Just Keke, encouraged her to face this reality: "I have to go through the ugly, and it doesn't make me ugly," she explains.

Through her music, Palmer began to confront the hurt head-on. The first two songs she recorded for her album—the trap-leaning "Misunderstood" and the groovy, '90s-feeling "Off Script"—became the project's emotional core. They encapsulate the anger, sadness, and reinvigoration Palmer felt as she processed her pain, let go of her relationship, and began to reclaim her power. "I didn't realize how much I was holding in, how much I was trying to keep [it] all together," she admits. "But I had to accept the fact that sometimes life is going to life. No matter how much I try to wrap it up and make sense of it, sometimes it's going to go off script."

Making her album became a way to vocalize her frustrations, not just from her heartbreak but also from feeling insecure and, as she describes it, "disconnected from [herself]" after becoming a mom. "Something happens to you after you have a child. Hormonally, you're just so out of whack," she says. "You don't know this new version of who you are." The changes of motherhood only made the demise of her relationship more difficult to endure. "Not only did the love fail, but it failed at a moment when I couldn't even trust myself enough to stand on my own feet," she explains.

Stepping into the recording studio didn't just help Palmer find herself again; it also led her to embrace a new mindset—one that allowed her to drop the pressure she'd put on herself to maintain a lighthearted persona. Before she began working as a child actor, Palmer says she mastered the art of performing, particularly comedically, to mask her inquisitive nature. "As a kid, I was always looking at things from this objective point of view," says the middle child between three siblings who grew up in the southern suburbs of Illinois to a teacher mother and a father who worked for a polyurethane company. "Especially in a lower-income area, you start asking questions like, 'Are you sad, Mama? Do we have what we need?'"

After noticing that her inquiries either worried her folks or made them feel uncomfortable, she switched up her approach, conversely cracking jokes: "I learned to dampen [my questions] just enough and instead started saying, 'I guess we ain't going to eat tonight.' You start joking around to say what you want to say without spooking people." As she began booking acting gigs, Palmer—whose stage name, Keke, originated as a family nickname—used humor to connect with people. "When I would get a job, even when I would play a dramatic role, people would see the humorous side of me. Comedy has always been a unifier for me," she says.

It's also been a shield. "I remember being a young person and deciding I was going to be tough, strong, have fun, be grand," she says. Always forcing herself to be entertaining and "on" meant she wouldn't reveal her vulnerable side—the side that would lead her to admit, "I'm tired. I love this, but I don't want to do this right now," she remembers. "Our performative selves are defense mechanisms. We are all performing something."

The duality of her public identity versus her private reality has left Palmer feeling fragmented, she says. "My performative self is very grandiose," she describes. "She's very feminine, flamboyant, super, and big. She's going to get your attention, and she's going to keep you watching. Lauren Palmer, the real me, sometimes I'm quiet—not because I don't have anything to say but because I'm reserving my voice. I'm watching, and I'm observing. I'm watching how people relate to me and how I'm relating to them." She remembers working on a Nickelodeon cruise as a kid and wishing she could perform in a SpongeBob suit to cover herself completely. That way, when the suit came off, she could just be Lauren. "I remember being like, 'I'm not able to turn people off from seeing me as a character. I don't have an off button,'" she recalls.

When Palmer shot The Pickup, she noticed costar Eddie Murphy's ability to maintain a sense of self-preservation, and she admired it. "He's so lovely, but he is very quiet, which I relate to as a person who does a lot of comedy," she says. "Your resting baseline for preservation is reserved because you want to be able to have something to give." Palmer observed that even though Murphy was very serious at times, "it didn't mean he wasn't kind." She adds that watching how Murphy "plays to the truth of a crazy situation" in a scene taught her a lot about how to ground her own comedic performance. "It honed in on what my mom used to always teach me about comedy, which is that comedy stems from reality. Just speak to the truth of the moment. No one does that better than Eddie Murphy," she explains.

For Palmer, few entertainers have mastered the art of establishing limits as well as Murphy. "You have to think about it; he was 19 years old [when he got a] three-picture deal with Paramount. At 18 years old, he was already [a cast member] of SNL. This story that I'm telling about fragmentation and performance, he wrote the book on it. I respect the boundaries he's created that have allowed him to preserve, to be a real person outside of being the man that gave us Boomerang," she says.

Palmer is all about setting those boundaries too. Now, more than ever, she wants people to understand that there is a "difference between [Keke Palmer] the human being and [Keke Palmer] the public persona, the performer, and the artist that is essentially a product," she says. She's enforcing this through the raw lyrics on her album as well as the cover art of her project. On the cover, Palmer presents as a doll—she's positioned in a mechanical stance and is being held up by a display stand. This image of Palmer as a figurine is a striking metaphor for the pressure she has felt to constantly be a version of herself that the world can consume.

This awareness of the need for boundaries has also led Palmer to seek out moments of solitude and self-care. She has found peace in rituals that allow her to reconnect with her true self away from the spotlight, like journaling, Pilates, and prayer. "I grew up in the church, so that relationship with self that comes through prayer practice is a big grounding force," she says. She also goes on solo walks and wellness retreats to ensure she's "doing things where [she's] by [herself]" and makes sure to carve out "me" time at the top of her day. "I make my mornings a moment to just spend time with me to make sure that I have time before work begins to validate my existence outside of the job," she says.

Palmer's journey of self-discovery and strength is also reflected in the powerful images for this cover story. In the shoot, she stepped into the shoes of the iconic Black women who have inspired her: Whitney Houston, Eartha Kitt, and Josephine Baker. To Palmer, embodying these icons was not just about mimicking their looks—it was about capturing the essence of their impact. "These women found a way to articulate themselves in a world that had no space for them," she says. "They were always so much more than what the world wanted them to be."

Her words underscore the resilience of Black women who, despite the systemic racism and cultural barriers they faced, carved out space for their voices, talents, and identities. They not only redefined what it meant to be a Black woman in entertainment, but they also paved the way for future generations to assert their presence in spaces where they were once silenced or overlooked. "And they did it so perfectly," she adds. "To be able to have something so signature, so iconic about you that people can put it on and immediately get into your vibe—that's somebody that was able to embody or express who they were through image and performance. I think that's what every artist wants to do."

Seeking inspiration from the moves of trailblazers also fuels Palmer's entrepreneurial spirit. Her digital network, KeyTV, is dedicated to amplifying the voices of creators of color in entertainment, and she draws from the legacies of moguls like Estée Lauder, Queen Latifah, Walt Disney, and Tyler Perry to inform her vision. "I think about what a brand can stand for outside of the person," she says. "What their brands represented became universal. You see a whole community and culture being uplifted, guided, and being able to evolve because of what that brand represented. I hope to do the same. When I came into the industry, my parents always said, 'It has to be more than just you. You have to be performing for something, and it should be your community.' They would talk to me about how to use what I do to make it something that can be of service to others. I want to continue to bring joy into our community and for us to thrive together. Never forget where you came from."

As Palmer continues to define herself on her terms, she has been working with stylist Molly Dickson, who she says "knows how to take what's being desired and bring it to another level." Palmer's evolution extends beyond her music and personal life—it's reflected in how she expresses herself through fashion. "I want my brand to feel like something to aspire to while also feeling attainable," she says. She recalls the stunning Chanel Haute Couture F/W 93 LBD she wore to the BET Awards in June, a look that balanced youthful energy with an air of esteem. "That was casual and cool, something that felt movable, flirty, and young but also has this element of prestige—that's how I see myself and my brand," she says.

She adds that Dickson, who also styles Sydney Sweeney and Lana Del Rey, understands that the look Palmer wore to the award show (as well as the fly 2004 Versace dress with a sheer bodice, a flowy wrap skirt, and Messika diamond accents she wore to the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in March and the striking orange S/S 03 Christian Dior by John Galliano Haute Couture gown with a feathered hem she wore to the 2025 Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards in February) "speaks to where we're going and the level of intent that [she's] having behind fashion and what [she's] trying to say with it as a Black woman existing in this space. This is stuff straight off the haute couture runway. This is not a thing you can easily get access to."

This sense of assertion and confidence is also reflected in her close collaboration with designer Sergio Hudson, who teamed with Dickson to style Palmer in a dramatic Vera Wang suiting look for the 2025 Met Gala. "Sergio taught me how to use glam fashion as a place of refuge," she says about how teaming with Hudson changed her feelings toward fashion. "Sometimes, fashion and glam would be annoying to me because it was always kind of wanting me to be something and needing me to be something. I always felt like I was never fitting the task."

Referring back to her split from Jackson and becoming a parent, she adds, "What's so interesting is that after everything happened, I almost felt more open to being dressed up, to escaping into an idea of someone much more glamorous, someone outside of what I was existing in, especially in the daily life of being a mom and the breastfeeding and just feeling unlike yourself. I was 50 pounds heavier. I just felt so not me. Being glamorous became a sense of finding my way back to myself and back to a stronger, more confident version of who I was before."

As Keke Palmer continues to evolve, she is redefining what it means to navigate the complexities of fame while staying true to herself. She's no longer just performing for the world; she's found a way to carve out space where she isn't confined to the expectations of the industry. In her quest to live authentically, she's proving that true power lies in embracing all our parts—imperfections and all.

Photographer: Blair Caldwell
Stylist: Zerina Akers
Hairstylist: Kira Hameed
Makeup Artist: Kenya Alexis at Opus Beauty
Manicurist: Chyna Andre
Prop Stylist: Ali Gallagher
DP: Sam Miron

When my screen flickers to life on a grey Monday morning, actress Immy Waterhouse appears in soft focus, sitting cross-legged on her bed, her hair pulled back loosely, leaving a few strands to frame her makeup-free face. She's dressed in a printed white tee, a silver chain resting at her collarbone, and a stack of books in the background. I spot Intermezzo by Sally Rooney and smile. It feels like a fitting detail considering this paperback also sits atop the book pile next to my bed. This is my first proper introduction to Waterhouse, though she already feels familiar; that rare kind of person who gives you the full, unguarded shape of herself from the outset.

We are speaking just a few days ahead of our Who What Wear UK cover shoot, set to take place on the Eastbourne coastline. The weather, naturally, is forecasted to be the kind of damp, wind-whipped British summer reality we know all too well, but Waterhouse, in true form, isn't phased. "I'm actually really excited," she says. "You know, that kind of rain-and-romance [atmosphere] feels really true to what our summers are like here." When shoot day rolls around, the forecast delivers—overcast skies, relentless rain—but Waterhouse arrives calm and bright, easing everyone on set into the day with the same serene energy she brought to our call.

Waterhouse is often introduced in tandem with someone else, her sister, Suki, a model-turned-actor-turned-singer and fellow member of a family of creatives, but what strikes me most is how firmly rooted Waterhouse is in who she is; someone who has learned to tread their own path confidently, calmly and authentically.

Whilst she may be visibly relaxed now, she's no stranger to emotional intensity, particularly through her character, Jinny St. George, in The Buccaneers, which has since returned for its second season on Apple TV+. "I think it's a really good season," she tells me. "It takes the best bits of season one and runs with them. There's still the drama, and it's seductive and all of that, but there's also this groundedness. You get to go deeper with everyone."

Jinny, one of the show's American socialites navigating British high society, began as a girl chasing status and stability through marriage. But season two sees her living with the consequences of her choices. "She's had to flee everything she's ever known. She's isolated, with a baby, trying to survive—it's a lot," says Waterhouse, describing the arc with the kind of care actors often reserve for roles that have moved them. "There's this statistic that it takes a woman, like, seven times to leave an abusive husband, and I really held onto that when I was playing her. Because it's not always a clean break. There's so much guilt and confusion in that process."

It was important to Waterhouse that Jinny never feel like a caricature. "On the page, she could seem a bit bitchy or hard to root for. But I wanted to play her with empathy—like, here's this young woman who's been told her whole life that if she doesn’t get married and succeed in this very specific way, then she’s a failure. So when she loses that version of herself, she doesn’t know who she is anymore."

During our conversation, Waterhouse's clarity never veers into cliché. She talks about complex things plainly: difficult storylines, self-worth, female friendship, and yet never makes them feel weightless. There's a level of emotional attunement to her that makes it clear why The Buccaneers team handed her such a delicate storyline.

Filming season two also brought a geographical shift. Whilst the first was largely shot in Scotland (a treat, especially as I live just outside Edinburgh and most of the filming locations were within a 15-minute drive of my house), Jinny's escape took her—and Waterhouse—to Croatia, doubling as Italy. Needless to say, I can think of worse places to work. "It was just stunning. Colourful little towns, cobbled roads. It weirdly felt like a whole other project, almost like we were filming an indie." With fewer cast and crew around, she describes it as intimate, a rare moment of breathing space. "It was such a special experience. I'm really grateful I got to be in that part of the story."

And though the work is immersive, Waterhouse doesn't sugarcoat its emotional toll. "To get into Jinny's headspace, you kind of have to think her thoughts, and a lot of those thoughts are really self-critical. After a while, I'd finish the day and feel just… low. Your brain doesn't always know the difference between 'this is a character' and 'this is me.' It made me realise how powerful our internal monologues are and how important it is to be kind to ourselves. Because those thoughts stay somewhere."

It feels as though this mix of reflection and resilience sums Waterhouse up. She'll make space for the hard bits but won't stay stuck there. She also knows how to have fun. "I still do," she laughs when we talk about her twenties. "I just think I've let go of a lot of things that used to hold me back. And maybe that's just getting older, hitting 30 and realising everything's a bit calmer. You kind of stop caring about the wrong things."

Acting isn't the only string to Waterhouse's bow. She's stepped behind the camera, too, first directing three episodes of The Outpost (in which she also starred), then helming music videos for sister Suki, two of which younger sister Maddi, another impressive Waterhouse creative multihyphenate (DJ, photographer and model are just some of her credits) also worked on as an editor. "Directing was something I always wanted to do, but didn't quite see as an option for a long time," she says. "But then I started watching how directors work and began to tell myself, 'I can do this.'" With the support of a tight-knit crew she already knew well, her directorial debut unfolded as something both creatively fulfilling and confidence-building. "There was a moment where I was looking at the [monitor], and all these ideas I had were right there. It was surreal."

Now she's writing more, too, working on short films and dreaming of directing a feature or series down the line. "In this industry, especially as an actor, you don't always have control. So, creating something of my own, that keeps me sane."

Her creative drive doesn't exist in a vacuum; it's been shaped by the people closest to her. "Watching Suki succeed definitely gave me a boost," she says. "I saw her do it and thought I could too." The sisters, along with Maddi, collaborate often, even if just as sounding boards. "We're each other's first audience. When one of us finishes something, we'll send it to the group chat and ask, 'What do you think?' It's always met with honesty. Brutal, sometimes, but with love."

Her family unit keeps growing, too; Waterhouse is an auntie to Suki and her partner, fellow actor Robert Pattinson's, first child, a daughter who already has a slew of strong female role models around her. I ask Waterhouse what type of auntie she wants to be, and we share a laugh about the pressures of being a "cool aunt."

"It's hard, kids just know how to make you feel really uncool," she quips. "They bring you back down to earth. But I love being an aunt. It's amazing, and it only gets better as time goes on."

Sticking with the concept of sorority, our conversation shifts to include her friendships. When I ask what sisterhood means in her own life, given how central those themes are in The Buccaneers, she lights up. "It's everything," she says. "I've got friends I've known since I was a kid, and they've seen me grow into who I am now. When life gets messy—and it does—they're the ones who are there. You go off, do your thing, and when you come back, it's like nothing's changed. That kind of grounding is so precious."

A phrase Waterhouse uses during our chat sticks with me: "Following the fun vibe." It’s how she explains getting into acting in the first place; not through some grand career plan, but because it was always what felt most natural, the most "her" thing she could do. That spirit still guides her, whether she's directing, writing or just trying her hand at pottery or tennis (two current hobbies, she says, where the success rate varies but the joy remains high). "I'm all about balance," she says when I ask what this summer looks like for her. "Hopefully, a hike in the French Alps—though I've only ever really walked up Hampstead Heath—and definitely Glastonbury. So, you know, a bit of everything."

And fashion? "I'm probably due a style upgrade," she laughs. "I've been trying to wear fewer tracksuits out of the house. But I do have a Miu Miu bag I love—I've held onto that one." She's the first to admit that fashion didn't fully click for her until she started modelling, a part of her career many still associate her with, but that she sees as something of a past life. "I didn't grow up obsessing over magazines or designers. But once I started wearing those pieces and felt what they were about, I got it. I feel like I've closed my modelling chapter now, though."

Our shoot, however, is a far cry from her former modelling days. This time, she's not just the face, but the subject. "It feels more personal now. More creative. More me." It's a distinction that matters, because Waterhouse isn't just part of the cast; she's shaping the story. Her story.

When I ask her, finally, what she would tell her younger self if she could, she pauses, thoughtful. "I try to remind myself how proud she'd be of what I'm doing now. It's so easy to focus on what you haven't done yet. But this, all of this, was a dream once. You have to celebrate all the little stages because they’re all leading you somewhere. You don’t know where, but it’s somewhere."

Season two of The Buccaneers is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Photographer: Phil Dunlop
Stylist: Sophie Robyn Watson
Hair Stylist: Linnéa Nordberg
Makeup Artist: Eoin Whelan using Luminous Silk Cheek Tint Shine by Armani Beauty
Editor in Chief: Hannah Almassi
Creative Director: Amy Armani
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Editor: Maxine Eggenberger
Video: Natasha Wilson
Photography Assistant: Gareth Williams, Luke Simmonds
Digital Technician: Jakub Gloser
Styling Assistant: Brittany Davy
Editorial Assistant: Grace Porter
With thanks to Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis

About halfway through our lunch at Cafe Cluny, Molly Gordon leans over the table, eyes wide, and lowers her voice to a conspiratorial tone. "Reese Witherspoon just walked in, by the way," she says.

The presence of the superstar actress, blonde hair tucked under a baseball cap, is briefly distracting as she settles in across the room from us. (Actually, it's an A-lister-packed day at the West Village hot spot: Glenn Close and Andrew Garfield are also at tables in the other dining room.) As we settle back into our interview, I can't help but note what a handy metaphor it is to have them in the same room like this considering that Gordon is on the cusp of creating a career just like Witherspoon's—a young, super-talented actress carving out her own path instead of taking whatever Hollywood is willing to hand her.

"I don't want to wait around for people to tell me that I can be creative. I have to be creative every day," Gordon says. "I'm at an interesting age in the industry where I'm not a mother, but I'm not 25 anymore, and there just aren't that many roles for people my age. We're in this nebulous, not-fuckable moment of 'Who are you?'"

(My reaction to this bordered on unpublishable, so you're not alone in feeling appalled by the concept that this could be true of a 30-year-old woman as skilled as Gordon.)

So Gordon is taking matters into her own hands. First, there was 2023's hilarious Theater Camp, which Gordon wrote, produced, directed, and starred in alongside Ben Platt. This summer, she's following it up with Oh, Hi!, which will hit theaters in July after making the rounds at prestigious film festivals like Sundance and Tribeca. Gordon cowrote the film with her friend Sophie Brooks, and to call Oh, Hi! a romantic comedy is technically correct, in that there is romance and there is comedy—they just don't come together the way you'd expect. Gordon plays Iris, a woman who snaps after discovering Isaac, the man she thought she was dating (played by Logan Lerman), isn't actually after anything serious. In a desperate attempt to change his mind, Iris handcuffs Isaac to the bed and… Well, you'll have to see Oh, Hi! to find out how that goes.

The seeds for Oh, Hi! were sown during the pandemic when Gordon and Brooks were both going through nightmare breakups. "Our partners couldn't communicate and work through it to end on good terms. It was this communication breakdown, and it made us go a little crazy," Gordon says with a laugh. "It's like that thing: Are women crazy, or are they driven mad? We both just wanted to have a fucking conversation and have some closure, and we weren't able to have it."

Dating isn't quite Iris-level maddening for Gordon, but talking to her about the dating scene reminds me of every conversation I've had with my friends over the past several years—with the notable exception that my friends have never been romantically linked to Jeremy Allen White in the tabloids. While she doesn't address those rumors specifically (the way she seamlessly works in a cheerful "I don't like to talk about my personal life" is an example of boundary-setting that would make any therapist proud), she's in the same dating trenches as the rest of us, and if she can turn her war stories into art like Oh, Hi!, it's all the better.

"I do feel like it's the worst time to be dating ever, even though it's always been hard," she says. "But dating is also really fun! I feel lucky, as Nora Ephron said, that I can turn my pain or weird things that happen into funny movies, and people might feel seen by that, and I might feel less alone."

Gordon isn't immune to the impossible beauty standards we impose on women, either. (See: the aforementioned "unfuckable" era.) She's been revisiting media like the HBO series Girls and the 2015 movie Trainwreck and finds it disturbing how we talked about Lena Dunham's and Amy Schumer's bodies, and her social media feeds are interspersed with the insecurity-inducing "photos of women with no stomachs." When she was about to shoot Oh, Hi!, Gordon had nerves about doing the nude scenes, and she was able to get advice from, arguably, one of the most iconic sources: Emma Thompson, her costar on the film Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie.

"She was like, 'Don't change a thing about yourself. Every actress, when they find out they're gonna be naked, they're like, "Great, I'll lose 15 pounds"—no. If you're playing a normal person, look like yourself, and do the fucking nude scene. You're carrying all the insecure women on your back. Reflect them in the projects that you're doing, and be yourself,'" Gordon says. "Now, I feel like I have that voice in me constantly, which is helpful."

If you've paid any attention to Hollywood over the last decade or so, then you've heard how hard it is to get movies made that aren't either existing IP or packed with stars who collectively have millions of social media followers—or, ideally, both. As a producer, Gordon has been privy to those conversations not just about herself but also about other actresses. "I hear the studios being like, 'She doesn't have any foreign value,' and they have a huge career. And I'm like, 'Well, if she doesn't have any foreign value, I'm probably a loser,'" she says, laughing at the absurdity. Getting Oh, Hi! across the finish line was far from a given. "People are just scared," she says with a shrug. "I also understand it because people are not showing up to see movies."

That Gordon and her team were ultimately able to get Oh, Hi! financed is nothing short of a tiny miracle by today's industry standards, but there was one other hurdle to jump: finding a male lead who would be comfortable spending most of the movie tied up. They would get bites from actors who said they would be cool with it if Iris was the one tied up, "which was really disappointing," according to Gordon. That wasn't remotely a concern to Lerman.

"The script was so good," he says. "Rarely do I read something that's a comedy that actually makes me laugh out loud while I'm reading it, and I had a few moments where that happened, and I knew I wanted to be a part of this."

His instinct was correct. Oh, Hi! is absurdly funny, in part because of a brilliant script but also because of the environment Gordon created on set that enabled everyone to experiment and have fun.

"One of the great talents that a filmmaker can have is to inspire your crew and your actors and everybody involved, to make them excited for what they're working on any given day. Molly brings that energy, and it's so infectious that it elevates everyone else's work," Lerman says. "She elevated every moment, every scene and made it even better than what was on the page, and that was already really good. She's a massive talent."

I tell Gordon one of my favorite lines from the movie (mid-argument, Iris angrily says, "Why would you eat me out in broad daylight? That's boyfriend shit."), and she proudly shares that it was ad-libbed.

"I love that line. I'm really proud of that scene in general," she says. "We had just shot the scene where he went down on me, and I was thinking to myself, 'This is insane. It's so bright in this room. I'm so exposed. I was also just in a car all day sweating, and he's gonna eat my pussy and then tell me we're not in a relationship? What the fuck is going on?'"

One of Lerman's favorite moments was also an ad-lib of Gordon's, a "blink and you'll miss it" clip in a montage where she comes into the room where he's tied up with a pillow shoved up under her shirt to show him what she would look like pregnant. It's unquestionably unhinged behavior, but Gordon grounds the character with so much love and comedy that she becomes relatable again. Lerman says watching her act "made [him] a little better at what [he does], a little more comfortable to do stuff like [ad-libbing]."

That ability to ad-lib also makes Gordon an asset on the set of The Bear, according to the show's creator Christopher Storer. "She is somebody that can turn on a dime, whether it's comedically or dramatically," he says, calling her a "spark plug."

Both Storer and Gordon are extremely tight-lipped about what we can expect from her character Claire in this upcoming season of The Bear, promising only that it's a real season of change for everyone on the show. But what Gordon will tell me is that she spent much of the last season on set watching Storer work, taking notes on how he runs things from behind the camera. Storer says that Gordon's skills as an actor also make her a great filmmaker. "She's an incredible listener, and she's hyperaware of what everyone's doing in a scene," he says. "The more I get to know her, I'm like, 'Oh, you're going to be a fantastic director.'"

Being on The Bear has been a blessing for Gordon. She calls it "the best thing that's ever happened to [her]," but it hasn't come without its challenges. By the time Claire showed up in season two, The Bear was a certified hit show with a cult following, and not all of its fans were happy for White's Carmy to have a love interest. There's a subset of fans online who strongly believe Carmy is destined to end up with Ayo Edebiri's character Sydney ("I don't know if Sydney would want to put up with that shit," Gordon quips); others complained that Claire wasn't a three-dimensional character, slapping the dreaded "manic pixie dream girl" label onto her. It's not that Gordon doesn't understand those complaints, per se, but she thinks that maybe those fans are missing the point of her character's role in the show.

"It would be really weird if suddenly we went home and started learning about Claire's family. That's not what the show is about. Carmy and Claire's storyline is about Carmy working through his trauma and seeing if he can actually be close to another person," she says. "This is Chris's vision and this story he wants to tell. Some fans want a different story, and they want a different outcome, but this is what he wants to share."

"With Claire, and because of what Molly brought to her, you get to see Carmy fumbling and uncomfortable in a sort of different way, in a way where he might be enjoying himself and enjoying her," White adds. "Molly is so funny and charismatic. It can be really disarming, and I think it's nice to see Carmy charmed by her and transported back to this sort of teenage love."

We end up chatting for a bit about how our current moment in pop culture leans toward ironic detachment, how social media tends to reject sincerity in all forms, and how fans develop parasocial relationships to characters and actors alike. It's not exactly an environment that rewards an actor whose entire purpose is to serve as the main character's love interest.

"People don't like sweet things right now; we've become so allergic to joy and maybe even romance. I almost felt sometimes that people were annoyed by having two characters just look at each other," Gordon says. "We used to watch romantic comedies, people falling in love! It's been interesting, some of that criticism, and that's just what romance is on-screen. Maybe you just don't want to see that."

Her debut on The Bear marked the first time that Gordon was on the receiving end of negative comments on social media. "I hadn't ever been in anything that anyone watched, so it was just a totally new experience for me on every level," she says with a big laugh. (Shout-out to early adopters who started following Gordon after scene-stealing appearances in movies such as Shiva Baby and Booksmart and FX's excellent series Ramy.) She doesn't engage with it, but the nature of social media means that it finds her anyway. "It's weird to be able to see all this stuff. You just open your phone, and I'm looking at Rachel [Sennott] posting a sweet photo of herself, but then it immediately shows me something mean about me," she adds.

All of that considered, though, Gordon makes clear that being on The Bear has been a net positive for her: "Once every 20 years, a show has an experience where the cast really likes each other and the show is successful. This is my experience, and I can look back on my life and be like, 'Wow, I got one of those.'"

Of course, being on a hit show means that fans have begun to develop a parasocial relationship with Gordon too. Her private life has become a matter of public interest: There were those rumors about her relationship with White after they were papped together, and after eagle-eyed fans noted that Gordon wasn't spotted in any photos from Platt's wedding, their friendship became a matter of much speculation online. It reached peak absurdity for Gordon when her dad sent her a post he'd seen linking her with the actor Pierce Brosnan after they were spotted together at a Bruce Springsteen concert. "This is my dream, obviously, that people would think that, but I had just met him an hour before," she says. While she accepts that this kind of speculation is the cost of success in her field, it's also made her rethink her own relationship to celebrity gossip.

"It's been funny to be on the receiving end of that and see how fake everything is, how no one knows what's going on, and how wrong all of these platforms are that put out the information," she says. "I used to jump on this shit and send it to all my friends and be like, 'Oh my god, I can't believe they're cheating on each other, or they’re dating, or they're not friends anymore,' when that's not true, so it's interesting also to think about my own behavior in the past."

It's hard not to be interested in Gordon's personal life when her friend list reads like a who's who of young Hollywood, though. It includes The Bear costars Edebiri and White, Shiva Baby costar Sennott and director Emma Seligman, actor and podcast host Owen Thiele, Oh, Hi! costar Geraldine Viswanathan, and comedian Allie Levitan. "A really fun part of this chapter is that a lot of my friends are having their big moments of success," Gordon says. "Watching how hard they've worked at this moment and knowing how rare it is to get has really been filling my cup."

They inspire her and serve as a sounding board for industry issues, but it's very clear that Gordon is just as appreciated in return. "She's a great friend, very caring, and consistent. Her circles are big. She's loved by many, and it all makes sense," White says. "She takes care of people and brings people together; she's incredibly empathetic." Despite the fact that this interview is about her, she doesn't hesitate to gush about her friends' achievements, bragging about Levitan's new dream writing gig for Saturday Night Live and how she's attending the premiere of Thiele's new show, Overcompensating.

Here's a sampling of the kind of friend Gordon is:

"When Ayo and I met, she was a writer, and I was an actor, and she was like, 'All I want is to have an acting job.' Watching her manifest has been the most incredible thing ever; it's amazing to watch your friend get exactly what they want. Chris [cast] her in this role that is so perfect for her—we get to see all of her colors in such a beautiful way."

"Jeremy is a really incredible leader, and it's completely smashed the jaded vibe that I had that successful actors are assholes. He's just not that way."

"I met Rachel, and she completely rocked my world. Just as a fan, I can't wait to see Rachel's show. I think that we all need it."

Even her stylist, Jared Ellner, is a friendship connection, as he's dating Thiele, her childhood BFF. "That makes all of the fashion stuff way easier," Gordon says. "He's one of my best friends, so he's like, 'Molly, you look horrible. You're not wearing that,' or he's like, 'I think we should take this risk.'" She says she plays it safe with fashion in her real life (when I compliment her perfect white long-sleeve tee, she sheepishly admits it comes from Brandy Melville), but Ellner has helped her have fun with the red carpet part of her job, which still feels surreal to her.

"You have to understand [that] a lot of people still don't know who I am. I get on a red carpet, and I'm next to Doja Cat, and I'm like, 'Take a picture of Doja Cat' and 'I just need to go to sleep,' 100%," she jokes.

That chapter of her career is likely coming to a close. She's writing and directing Small Parts, a remake of one of her favorite movies, the 1987 Bette Midler comedy Outrageous Fortune. ("I've loved it for so long. I can't believe they're letting me do it," she says sincerely.) A24 acquired her comedy Peaked, which has just started the casting process. As she becomes a triple threat—acting in, writing, and directing her own work—she's stepping into an arena occupied by stars like Witherspoon. "I'm so excited to see all she does," White says. "One day, I hope I'll be working for her on her film or her show if she'll have me. I'd be so lucky."

As rewarding as all of that is for Gordon, it's the human connection of it all that really matters at the end of the day.

"What I like about the things I have coming out this summer is [that] Claire is ready for someone to meet her on the bridge and connect, and Iris is also like, 'I am ready,'" she explains. "I'm so uninterested in playing it cool. I want to be the clown. I want love. I want to be brave enough to put myself out there."

Photographer: Zackery Michael
Stylist: Peghah Maleknejad
Hairstylist: Barb Thompson
Makeup Artist: Misha Shahzada
Manicurist: Yukie Miyakawa
Creative Director: Natalia Sztyk

It's midday on a Tuesday when Leomie Anderson bounces onto our video call, fresh-faced and radiant between workout sessions. She apologises for her off-duty appearance and the gym-café backdrop, but with her post-exercise energy, I can already tell our conversation is going to be a good one.

Although we've only met once before, years ago, we greet each other like old friends. "I remember your face," she says warmly. In an industry where people tend to blur and introductions are fleeting, it's a flattering surprise—but not entirely unexpected. As I recall, we had a bit of a moment; after some fangirling on my part, we kiki-ed and snapped some photos together. And though our first encounter was brief, it has stayed with me. As a Black woman in media, you don't always find someone in the room who talks like you, let alone looks like you.

Anderson started modelling young at 14, after being scouted on the streets of South London with burgundy hair. "It was a rinse, not a dye! I didn't want anything permanent," she clarifies, laughing at the memory. Since then, she has walked some of the world's most iconic catwalks—think Vivienne Westwood, Tom Ford and Burberry, to name just a few.

Comparisons to Naomi Campbell are inevitable—both are tall, Black, British models who command a room—but Anderson's path has always been distinctly her own. She's outspoken, elegantly confident and curious, with an impeccable track record for calling out industry faux pas and addressing diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry. These are the traits that saw her evolve from the girl from Wandsworth, who spent much of her time on the track as a young athlete, into the multi-hyphenate supermodel she is today. She has gone on to become a TV presenter—currently fronting the BBC's Glow Up, a reality competition series where aspiring makeup artists battle it out for a golden ticket to the world of professional makeup—a two-time TEDx Talk speaker and, most recently, a survivalist on Netflix's Bear Hunt. Throughout all of her achievements, it's her interest in beauty, propelled by her modelling heritage, that has become a firm passion point for Anderson.

"When I started, I didn't even think makeup was made for Black people," she says. "They couldn't match my shade. They'd say, 'Your skin's so nice, you don't need makeup.' I thought it was a compliment until I realised [they just didn't] have anything for me." This realisation sparked something in Anderson. She taught herself makeup basics, which led to her creating a YouTube video titled The Black Girl Survival Kit in 2016. She later joined Rihanna's groundbreaking Fenty Beauty campaign, which showcased the brand's 40-strong range of foundation shades. "It shook up the industry," she recalls. "It was a full-circle moment for me, being a part of that change, because it was something that I was very vocal about from the beginning of my career."

Despite the lack of diversity, often finding that she was a rare—or sometimes the only—Black model in the room, Anderson's positive relationship with her skin, hair and body has thankfully remained intact, which is a refreshing contrast for someone working in an industry notorious for unhealthy pressures and fostering feelings of insecurity.

Modelling throughout the 2010s gave her a front-row seat to an industry that desperately needed change. "[It has] come a long way," she acknowledges. "When I started, even mixed-race girls with curls were told to perm their hair [straight]. Now you see braids on runways—that wouldn't have happened back then." But she's not sugarcoating the reality. We talk about life post Black Lives Matter; the surge in diverse campaigns, panels and opportunities that came, only for it all to quietly fizzle away. "They gave us three, four good years of 'diversity and inclusion', then it was goodbye," she says. "Jobs I was getting through 2020 to 2022? Gone. It's back to how it was before."

This is why her TEDx Talks, where she's discussed everything from modelling's hidden struggles to racial inequity, matter so much and resonate so deeply. "I use humour to keep it real," she explains. "Some stuff I've been through is bad, but it's funny too—like, how did this even happen? I want people to see it's my lived experience, not just me complaining." Stepping into that space takes guts, especially for women who look like us. "If I can speak up on a stage to 500 people, maybe a young model will feel brave enough to advocate for herself, too."

Anderson is quick to add that she has also had positive experiences. Her time as a Victoria's Secret Angel is something she considers one of her proudest achievements. "I loved being a Victoria's Secret Angel; that was definitely a pinch-me moment," she beams. "[It] was a great time because they treated us really well." Quick to acknowledge the brand's rocky reputation—"Obviously, no brand is perfect"—it was the sisterhood that she cherished. "It was just all the girls and everybody there and the opportunities we had—I really enjoyed being a part of that." It's clear Anderson likes working with people, as her energy and grace on the set of her Who What Wear UK cover shoot attest. "I had an amazing day with the team," she tells me with pride.. "I think [the shots] came out so well."

I can't help but notice that her roomy zip-up hoodie offers a peek of a LAPP. sports bra; the athleisure brand she founded and led for eight years before pressing pause in 2024."Retail is brutal," she admits. "I faced every obstacle: crooked businessmen, broken promises and funding falling through after 10 months of talks. As a Black woman, it's harder to get support." She's right—a February 2024 report by the UK Government identified persistent funding disparities for Black female entrepreneurs, noting they received just 0.02% of total venture capital funding between 2009 and 2019.

Still, Anderson is not deterred. She's cooking up a new venture in the beauty space, set to launch later this summer. I try my luck with some speculative guesses, but she's only willing to spill lukewarm tea. "I'll say [that] it's not makeup or skincare—those are done to death. [But] I want to be the Rihanna of this lane, shake things up," she reveals. "We need to create our own tables, spaces we control."

As with anything, serendipity can play a role—and there's the beauty lottery, of course—but Anderson's journey has never been about "pretty privilege". She's welcomed the hard work and has remained outspoken and candid about her experiences, even when the stakes are high. She's not about giving up or quitting, but admits sometimes the best thing you can do is relinquish anything that no longer serves you. "Let things go," she says. "I used to think everything had a fix if I worked hard enough, but sometimes you need to step away. More will come."

As our chat winds down, she tells me she's worried about her missing passport ("I know it's in the house!"), but before she can look for it, she's committed to another gym class. "Today's been stressful," she confides, "but the sun's out and talking to you [has] helped." As a parting gift, she gives me her advice on navigating stress and an endless to-do list, "Honestly, on these types of days, accepting that [the] emotion is going to pass is the best thing to do. I try to remind myself that things are always going to be in balance. And today I might feel like the bad outweighs the good, but that's just how it feels [in the moment]. I analyse my life and the situation I'm in, and I'm like, 'Okay, I've been through much worse than this, so this is actually not that bad'. Better days are coming."

She's not wrong. Anderson has a lot of exciting things to look forward to, from the imminent release of Glow Up's seventh season on 24 April ("Trust me: you will not be able to predict who wins… I can't wait for it to come out," she teases) to diving into beauty entrepreneurship, where she's poised to bring about change in a space Black women have been overlooked. "I still feel like I'm just getting started," she says.

Photographer: Aaron Crossman
Stylist: Sophie Watson
Hair Stylist: Marvin’s World using MFA Hair, Color Wow and Schwarzkopf
Makeup Artist: Chelsea Uchenna
Manicurist: Shea Osei
Editor in Chief: Hannah Almassi
Art Director: Natalia Szytk
Executive Director, Entertainment: Jessica Baker
Beauty Director: Shannon Lawlor
Video: Jonathan Middleton
Video Editor: Natasha Wilson
Makeup Assistant: Ellie Durburdge
Styling Assistant: Brittany Davy

Megan Thee Stallion, née Megan Pete, is ready for reinvention. Earlier this year, the Houston native turned 30, sharing a Saturn return–themed photo shoot on Instagram complete with cosmic glam, dark-goddess energy, and a nod to the transformation the rapper has gone through over the last few years. If you've talked to any of your woo-woo friends (or survived your own astrology spiral), you already know that your Saturn return is a period often defined by the self-reflection, growth, and coming-of-age challenges taking hold of you between the ages of 27 and 30. For many in the music business, it's a source of album inspiration. The ruling planet is often called life's greatest teacher, full of tough love and karmic lessons. For Pete, that lesson seems to be about power—how to protect it, wield it, and evolve with it.

And evolve she has. The woman we met during her "Hot Girl Summer" breakout in 2019 isn't gone, but she's grown. She's sharper and softer in the right places. Pete is less concerned with proving her worth and more focused on embodying it. Her third album, Megan, isn't just a victory lap—it's a statement, one that says, "I've done the work, I've taken the hits, and I'm still standing stronger, smarter, and shinier than ever."

"Everything that I do, I do it because it's my own choice," Pete affirms during our conversation on a Saturday afternoon. "I am my own person. I am a person, a human being, and I'm just it. I don't need anybody else to tell me if I'm the shit or not."

The last five years have been a whirlwind for the rapper. Since turning 25, Pete has won three Grammy Awards, founded her own independent record label, graduated from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor of Science in health administration, and shaken up the internet with her food review at the 2025 Met Gala. (Before you ask, she confirms she's not banned from the event, even though she did break its "no phones" rule.) Pete has embarked on numerous tours—the most recent being her global Hot Girl Summer Tour, a 36-stop flex across North America and Europe—and had a viral Coachella 2025 performance, where she surprised the crowd with Queen Latifah and Ciara. Not to mention the countless red carpets, music videos, and string of celebrated singles alongside Cardi B, Beyoncé, and Ariana Grande. Megan Thee Stallion has the kind of résumé most artists spend their entire careers chasing, and she's just getting warmed up.

She's done it all and then some while navigating unimaginable personal loss, relentless public scrutiny, and headlines no 20-something should have to endure in real time. Now, at 30, Pete's not chasing moments. She's building a legacy. The rapper has conquered music (her first single of the year, "Whenever," is out now), fashion, and now tequila with her latest brand venture, Chicas Divertidas (a cheeky Spanish translation of "fun girls"). On the horizon? Her very own swimwear line, fittingly titled Hot Girl Summer. Could there be a better name? Probably not.

"As the creator of Hot Girl Summer, I curate the vibes of the summer. … [It's] how I like to party and how I like to turn up. I wanted to expand beyond just vibes in a going-out sense, and I wanted to have a uniform for that," Pete explains of her choice to venture into swimwear. The line—launched in collaboration with Walmart—offers 18 head-turning, beach-ready pieces, each dripping in confidence and high-octane glamour. Think fringe-trimmed bikinis, gold-foiled one-pieces, and sultry snakeskin corsets that glide seamlessly from sun-soaked afternoons to late-night functions. The pieces practically ooze sex appeal and an undeniable confidence, a testament to the fact that Pete sketched the entire initial collection herself. She jokes that some early designs may have pushed the envelope a little too far, even for America's biggest retailer. "The line is probably gonna be one of the sexiest things that I've seen in Walmart," Pete says, followed by her unmistakable boisterous laugh filling the air. With the launch of Hot Girl Summer, Pete becomes the first hip-hop artist in history to have their own swimwear line. Talk about raising the bar.

Just like with her music, Pete is intentional about the deals she makes. Partnering with Walmart for the Hot Girl Summer swimwear line wasn't just a happy accident—it was rooted in purpose. The fact that the collection is available at over 500 stores nationwide and all pieces ring in under $30 means she's making swimwear easy and democratic for all Hotties. "I've created such a bond with a lot of my Hotties, and I feel like I just know what they want," she explains, nodding to the line's accessibility. "I want people to feel confident in it and like they had a little piece of me wherever they go this summer."

But confidence, Pete explains, is much more than just what you look like. It's almost like you can feel the deep feminine rage radiating off the screen when she talks about deconstructing the notion of having a "bikini body." "You should wear whatever you want to wear whenever you feel like it—not when you're like, 'Oh, I've lost five pounds, and I can finally wear this swimsuit,'" she pleads. "You need to be confident because when you're confident, you make the clothes look better."

One only needs to look at our cover shoot in Miami, where Pete stepped into a tropical, lush paradise wearing the pieces from her line. The designs are deeply Megan Thee Stallion, aligning with her personal sense of style and the fiery Texan heat. "In some capacity, I've always had on a bikini at some point, whether it was going to the pool or mixing and matching bikinis with jeans," she says, alluding to the inspiration of the line. "It's also inspired by vintage swimwear and models I used to look at for inspiration—like Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks on the runway—[and] things that made me feel good when I was coming up."

Style is a powerful force of change for up-and-coming artists, who are often guided by teams forcing them to fit the mold of what a celebrity should and shouldn't look like. A star's look is often hypercurated by a large team of men in suits and stylists, who put them in a fashion box of what's deemed appropriate for their brand. Pete admits that her image was something she used to get lost in before reconnecting with who she really is and centering that version of herself above all else. "My whole vibe and silhouette changed, and I feel like it really wasn't me when I would let people dress me in the beginning," she says. Before the world knew her for "Savage," it was just Megan Thee Stallion and her cargo pants, sneakers, and booty shorts against the world when she was onstage during the early days of her career. "As I kept going and I realized I could use the word 'no,' my style definitely started to form back into who I am now," she adds. "I definitely learned that I don't have to dress how people expect me to dress like a 'celebrity.'"

While the scandalous bikinis and thigh-high boots act as an armor for Pete, there's a softer, more vulnerable side that comes out when she talks about the way fashion makes her feel. She divulges she often wears her favorite T-shirts when she's in Megan Pete mode as compared to her Megan Thee Stallion persona. They're practically like a security blanket, she admits, and when paired with jeans and a few signature chains, the look becomes her version of casual camouflage.

Fashion, for Pete, isn't just about performance; it's about protection, comfort, expression, and control. Just take her look at the 2025 Met Gala, for starters. The artist paid homage to one of the first pioneers in Black stardom, Josephine Baker. "She was a trailblazer, and in that sense, when you see a woman daring to be different at a time where it definitely wasn't accepted, history just repeats itself," Pete says. "I was going through a list of different Black women who had broken ceilings, and it's only right to honor them as well. I just wanted people to remember that Josephine was one of the original baddies." Baker and Black women at large are the backbone of society, often pioneers of everything deemed cool and trendy ages before the masses adopt the same things. It's something Pete honors in her work, day in and day out. "Black women have always been the blueprint, so you've just got to give flowers when they're due," she adds.

By all accounts, Megan Thee Stallion is ready to stand up and demand the public's attention even more in 2025. She teases a string of singles potentially dropping later this year, although a full-bodied album is yet to materialize. ("I'm finding exactly what I want to sound like this year," Pete tells me.) She's already making her game plan for the next business she's launching. (Perhaps in the food space? I make sure to tell her the Hotties are demanding a meal-prep cookbook in her comments section.) With the debut of the Hot Girl Summer swimwear line, Megan Thee Stallion is not only a rapper. She's a full-blown multi-hyphenate. "I just want this hot girl shit to be worldwide. I don't want it to only be about one thing," she admits. "I want to take over all the spaces I want to be involved in." Megan Thee Business Woman, if you will! Above all, though, Pete tells me she's doing this for the women who see her taking up space. "I feel like I've been through some of the most horrible things in my life, and I feel like a lot of people wanted to count me out. … I even wanted to count me out. At one point, I didn't even know if I could keep going," she says. "But you know what? There is somebody that is going through something equally as bad, and they're watching to see what I'm gonna do next—like, 'Is she gonna be better? Can she prevail?' And I did, and I do every day."

Megan Thee Stallion may have started as a viral sensation with a fire freestyle and a dream, but in 2025, she's the embodiment of resilience wrapped in rhinestones. At the heart of all the hustle is a woman who's still evolving, still dreaming, still showing up for herself and for the women watching. She's rewriting the rules of what it means to be a rap star, a CEO, and a cultural force, all on her own terms. So what's next for Megan Thee Stallion? Whatever she damn well pleases. When the hot girl coach says she's just getting started, you better believe her.

Photographer: Kanya Iwana

Stylist: Eric Archibald

Hairstylist: Kellon Deryck

Makeup Artist: Diana Shin

Manicurist: Ginger Lopez

Special Thanks to The Standard Spa, Miami Beach

Shop The Collection

I have, by virtue of my years in the worlds of fashion and publishing, had plenty of occasions to sit in restaurants with all kinds of very famous people. I cannot remember a single one who was received as warmly as Florence Pugh was at The Benjamin Hollywood on an early Friday in April. To put it another way, I have never in my life gotten better—or more rapturously friendly—service in the entire city of Los Angeles. The 29-year-old actress strode into the oak-lined, windowless restaurant on a shaft of setting sunlight in a two-piece navy silk ensemble, backlit like the action-movie heroine she currently is (she's reprising her role in the Marvel universe as Yelena Belova for Thunderbolts*—we'll get to that in a minute), and greeted everyone with a massive grin followed by a charmingly decisive order: Grey Goose martini, dry as a bone, twist. "I've been thinking about that all day," she smiles. Did she twinkle? I've read about movie stars twinkling before. This may have been my first taste of it.

Pugh—fresh from a day of filming promotional content for Thunderbolts* with the expertly glowing glam to prove it—warned me early that she couldn't say much about the production, whose details (including that pesky titular asterisk) have been kept tightly under wraps in advance of its May premiere. I warned her that Disney wouldn't let me see it beforehand, so I wouldn't know what to ask her anyway. She let loose her famous laugh, a sort of gloriously husky, deep belly shaker. Her martini in its frosted glass was delivered by our beaming waitress. "Our bartender says this is the best martini he's ever made," she says. "No way," Pugh replies warmly. "My friends are going to be so jealous." She snapped a picture of it for a group text: "We have a little martini crew." She'd actually been to The Benjamin a few nights prior with friends and said they'd had the burger and sampled several house martinis. (The most popular is Ben's Martini: gin, vermouth, lemon oil, its own pile of potato chips.) For the record, I don't think her repeated patronage is why our waitress, rhapsodically attentive, lingered—or why the barback later came over to catch up.

Pugh lived here in Los Angeles for a few years. Still, when she arrives, she rolls down the window in the car to smell the city, the sunshine and jasmine and smog. "L.A. always makes my heart go," she says, but these days, it's London that is home. It's where she was able to live her dream, "to have a place and have a local pub and have friends nearby." But as her roles have ratcheted up in visibility, the increased recognition has made the UK capital a bit less comfortable. She says the one-two punch of her Oscar nomination for Little Women and her introduction into the Marvel universe completely changed her reception in the film industry: "It was like I entered a completely different career. Once those two things happened, it's like I walked through a door, and everybody spoke to me differently. And it's not that my work had changed or what I could provide had changed. It was just that there was a whole different way of approaching me—almost like I didn't need to explain my corner anymore. It was like, 'No, no, we got it.'"

Before, her fans all knew her from different things; they all had their separate corners of the room. Now, all those groups in the corners fill the space. That kind of mass appeal means people notice when and where she goes, who she's with, and what they're doing while they're there, which makes going out at all a decision that can't be taken as lightly as one might like. As a result, "I feel like I don't get the most out of the city that I live in. … It feels more and more like it's not my place," she says. Pugh thinks she'll eventually settle somewhere a little slower-paced, a bit more pastoral. "That's probably on the cards at some point," she smiles, "to have a bit of dirt outside."

The four Pugh siblings grew up in Oxford, England, to a dancer mother and a restaurateur father. Big personalities abounded, and the kids were all creatively inclined: Florence remembers realizing that she was going to be an actor when she was 6 years old. "I distinctly remember knowing that I was going to be it—knowing it wasn't 'Oh, one day I might…' or 'One day, I hope….' I remember knowing and thinking and imagining my future as an adult when I was tiny and knowing that I would be doing this," she says. Her family was in full support. Her older brother Toby, an actor and musician, began acting before Florence did, so she got to see how it really worked. "Auditions, auditions, auditions, auditions, and you rarely hear much back," she says. "That was a really important thing that I got to witness before I even stepped into it: Oh yeah, I'm going to have to be okay with a lot of rejection." Her older sister Arabella is a vocal coach at the University of Liverpool, and her younger sister Raffie, "who also can sing and can dance, has decided to do something completely left field. She's basically training to be a captain of massive ships—deep-sea ships. [It's] a predominantly male field, and she's like, 'Yeah, I can shatter 'em.'" It's one of the hardest things to study, and Pugh tells me with evident pride, "She's amazing."

It's not quite piloting deep-sea ships, I say, but her filmography is pretty impressive. Even before you factor in the Marvel of it all, it's a murderer's row of auteurs and interesting, chewy roles: Midsommar, The Wonder, Don't Worry Darling, Oppenheimer, Dune: Part Two, We Live in Time. She doesn't shy away from indies, which has made her beloved across the industry (and clearly in this restaurant), and she uses her body on-screen in a way that always manages to feel unique and resonant and honest—the famed chin-crinkling "ugly cry" twist of her mouth from Midsommar and Little Women and, most recently, the scene where Andrew Garfield (really) shaved her head for last year's weeper, We Live in Time. ("I was terrified 'cause we didn't know how it would look until it happened. Can you imagine if I'd had [a head shaped like] an egg?!" she cackles.) "I feel like I've always had a good understanding of what makes me tick," she says now about how she selects her roles. "In my mind, I definitely have a clock of understanding what I know I still have to show and when I want to show it. So I know of things and characters and ways that I want to perform for like the next 10 to 15 years. It's just about finding the right one that I can associate that with." It's those unexpected indie projects that she says "keep your brain active."

She feels lucky to have begun her career when she did. For one thing, she managed to neatly avoid the worst of social media hysteria. "I was on Instagram, but it wasn't really used as it is now. … I literally posted absolute shit," she says. "Not embarrassing stuff thankfully, but more like, 'Oh, my friend with a beanie all the way down her face.' It wasn't anything special, and I actually even remember when a stranger liked one of my pictures. I was like, 'Ew, stranger danger. Who's that? Why are you liking that, @Nick123ILikeSocks or whatever it was?" (Her IG follower count today is 9.4 million. That's a lot of strangers.)

She's lucky, I say. These days, actors report that they need to have a high follower count to even get in the room for certain auditions. "It's so shit," Pugh says. "It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing at all. I had this conversation recently with a friend. … It's just mental that red carpets are even an expectancy of someone that is not… That's not even their job. … They don't model. They are good at being on a camera that is this close with that face, and they know how to show how raw their soul is on the flick of a switch. That's their talent. Their talent isn't anything beyond that. I mean, it might be, but that's what they're getting paid to do, and that's what we recognize them for. And you're supposed to be able to be like a runway model, and you're compared against runway models."

She speaks from experience here. It wasn't easy in the beginning when she'd get asked to pose for magazine shoots as a part of promoting the films she was in. She is 5'4" with curves, and it felt like designer clothes weren't made for her. The whole endeavor made her feel lost: "You don't know how it works. You feel so self-conscious in the clothes. You feel like you're not doing them justice. You're not doing what a model is going to be able to do." Pugh says she felt embarrassed a lot of the time because she didn't know how to help herself. She didn't know how to look the way the clothes needed her to look. But she kept learning from each project she was a part of, and she was a quick study, picking up how to work with her body, how to pose, and eventually how to advocate for herself on set.

"Once you do, you know, shoot after shoot after shoot, you get better, and you get more confidence," she says. "You see the pictures, and you see the work, and you're like, 'Okay, that looks great. I'm going to now make sure that I know how to argue when a certain piece of clothing isn't working.'" Through the years, you learn to understand your body, she says, and you learn to be proud of it and that there's no point in telling yourself you should be any different than the way you are. I ask whether it's like playing a role. It's the opposite, Pugh says: "It's so exposing because it's you being beautiful, which is like everybody's inner hell."

Thankfully, Pugh has learned to make the most of those moments—the film festivals and galas and premieres where she gets to don gowns by the likes of Valentino and her friend Harris Reed. She even enjoys it, though she sometimes has to remind herself why she's there. "If I'm disappointed about how something turned out or looked or if someone's saying something nasty about the dress that I was wearing or if I was a bit too heavy for the dress or a bit too this or that or whatever shit someone wanted to say to me, I have to be like, 'Babe, this is not even why you're… This is not your job,'" she says.

It's a trip, Pugh says, processing that kind of thing and being perceived by millions of people online at any given moment. If you think about human beings, it was not so long ago that we only ever met a few hundred people in our entire lives. "We're supposed to know this village and maybe the next village and maybe the butchers a bit down the road if we catch the horse and cart for a day," she says. "We're not really supposed to care about more than that, and we've kind of gone from one level of being to suddenly an entirely different way of thinking and feeling in like 15 years. We're now allowing ourselves to feel and care about what thousands of people around the world think about you in this moment right now. That's insanely hard for your brain to process." She gets overwhelmed when she invites 20 people for a party and they're all there looking at her—now, imagine thousands. (In her case, it's many multiples of that.) "It's no wonder that we're all anxious and sometimes mentally unstable and unaware of what has triggered us to make us feel a certain way about a certain thing. It's not surprising that we're vain. It's not surprising that we're scared. It's not surprising that we want to look 700 different ways because it's just too much," she says.

So how does Pugh—who, here in this deep leather booth, seems almost ludicrously well-adjusted—cope? She is getting better at taking breaks, for one thing. She just took a three-week holiday (she says it was her first ever at that length: "I've always gone back-to-back-to-back, and I was like, 'something fudged in the schedule—I've got to go away now'") with her partner and friends in Sri Lanka, staying for some of it in a national park with no phone signal. "The phone literally died of battery that night, and I didn't turn it back on, didn't charge it for another four days," she says. Straight away, she slept better, deeper and woke up without feelings of panic. "I was like, 'Oh, I have no anxiety waking up. I have no anxiety!'" she says. But she knows she can't hide from the internet forever. I mean, come on. She's in Marvel movies.

"I think my argument with it has always been, if I can put my version in it, in this incredibly complex pool of social media, if I can give what I can give to it in a slightly different way, then hopefully there's a way of people looking at that and going, 'Oh, I don't need to do the gorgeous mirror selfie face all the time,'" she says. "My younger sister is seven years younger than me, and when she was at school, all of her mates followed me, and I remember plenty of times when I was on the rise thinking, 'I don't want to deal with this shit anymore. I don't want to be on social media,' and I was always then like, 'No, well, I think it's really important that I keep doing my stupid shit so that all those little teenage girls can keep seeing my stupid shit alongside all of the other beauties that we see online.'" That's why she stays. "We can honor the amazing moments when we're on a red carpet and looking gorgeous, and then we can also honor the in-between [and] keep it real, and we can also promote our work," she adds. You're allowed to be proud of it all—even the real, messy nonsense of being human.

Her Marvel character is a bit of a messy, nonsense human, which tracks for a superhero. As introduced in Black Widow (2021), Yelena Belova was raised from infancy as a Soviet asset, brainwashed into becoming an exceptionally efficient trained assassin. She is given an antidote to the brainwashing, seeks revenge, and intercepts with the Avengers—which includes Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), who she believed to be her sister growing up. Some family-style superhero drama ensues. Belova also turns up in the TV series Hawkeye and now has made her way to this summer's troupe of mismatched misanthropic anti-hero superheroes, Thunderbolts*. (If you want more plot than that, you'll have to see it yourself.) In one much-publicized clip from the new film, Pugh serenely walks off the roof of the second-tallest building in the world, the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur. There is no hesitation on her face. She falls as smoothly as silk. You'd think it was a green screen if not for the BTS clips.

"How was that for you?" I ask.
"Insane," she says, her eyes gleaming.
"Did you like it?"
"Loved it. Mad, though. Mad."

The hard part of jumping off a 2227-foot building is wrestling with every instinct in your body telling you not to, she says. Logically, you may know how well you're secured and strapped in and that the Disney corporation would never let anything bad happen to you—that doesn't stop every single synapse from screaming at you to step back from the edge. And then it's three, two, one, go. "The moment I jumped, every time, my brain went, 'Oh, well, you fucked it. You're gonna die,'" she says. They shot it over two days, maybe nine jumps in total, and she fell around six meters each time and was dangling by a harness over the city. Each day they shot, she went straight back to her room and slept for three hours afterward. It was the adrenaline crash, she says. If you think about it, her body thought it was going to die nine different times. The scariest part after doing it, Pugh says, was realizing she could: "I could persuade myself to do that. I could fall down the mountain. I was like, 'That's not a good trick to have. Oops.' … I can basically pretend to myself not to listen to my instincts."

What's next for her instincts? She has her heart set on a Western. "I want to just be like a really greasy, gritty head," she says, and the martini, by now, has run dry, not to be replenished, much to our devoted waitress's chagrin. "I want to have, like, mountain fluff on my face—like an earth person, a person from the earth." Horses will be involved, naturally. She recently shot the Zoe Kazan–helmed miniseries East of Eden in New Zealand, based on the John Steinbeck novel (the 1955 James Dean–starring adaptation of which was directed by Elia Kazan, Zoe's grandfather). She stars as central antagonist Cathy Ames and earned her second-ever producer credit on the project. She's increasingly interested in collaborating behind the camera. "I think my writing, directing era is probably getting closer and closer," she says. She likes the idea of helping to guide a story from the very beginning.

But hopefully—between the press days and public appearances, red carpets, photo shoots, reading of scripts, and preparation for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday shoot in Atlanta—Pugh can get some rest. Hopefully. "I always say this, but it never happens," she says. "It's tricky; I'm a Capricorn. I work hard—if we believe in that. I mean, it tracks. I like working, and I think I just need to find a better relationship with also appreciating that I am a better person after I've rested. I'm a kinder friend. I'm a kinder lover. I'm a kinder sibling. I know that I have more capacity for patience when I've rested." First, she has to leave (dinner with friends before tomorrow's photo shoot for the glorious images that accompany this interview) and floats out on the collective goodwill of the restaurant into the early evening gloaming. It feels like everybody inside the place looks wistfully at the door as it shuts.

Photographer: Greg Swales

Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen

Hairstylist: Bridget Brager

Makeup Artist: Alex Babsky

Manicurist: Queenie Nguyen

Step into the universe of the coolest creatives in the fashion industry with our series My World, where readers will discover how the top stylists, designers, and tastemakers built their careers; their favorite restaurants, beloved albums, and fashion finds; etiquette rules they stand by; and so much more.

"I'm a Giggler," I say before I even begin my chat with Paige DeSorbo. "It connects us," she says. By Giggler, I'm of course referring to my love and connection to the Giggly Squad universe that DeSorbo and her best friend, Hannah Berner, created in 2020. It has become a pop culture phenomenon with a podcast, multi-city tours, and now a new book—How to Giggle: A Guide to Taking Life Less Seriously.

Combining Giggly Squad with her television career as one of the stars of Bravo's hit series Summer House with her hosting moments and numerous fashion partnerships and collaborations (her Amazon Live shows are not to be missed), DeSorbo is a legit powerhouse. And trust me, the term powerhouse is used to describe many in the entertainment and fashion industries, but not everyone delivers on that description—DeSorbo isn't one of them.

"I'm so thankful," she said to me. "I literally will wake up in the morning, and [I'm] like, I'm obsessed with what I do as a career." DeSorbo made her childhood dreams a reality. A glimpse into her world is nothing short of inspiring. And that's what's coming below.

Ahead, take a peek into Paige DeSorbo's world, including her thoughts on adding "author" to her bio, go-to fashion items (ahem, a Zara standout), her dream apartment that she shares with her adorable cat, Daphne, and so much more.

Let's start at the beginning. In one of the episodes during Summer House this season, you said something to the effect of what you're doing right now is what you've wanted to do since you were 5 years old. Did you always know you were meant to be in the fashion-and-entertainment space? And could you ever have pictured your career from your first job as an assistant at ABC News to the life of Paige today?

I actually wrote a story in our book that when I was in fourth grade, I can remember a Sunday night when my mom was helping me study for a science test. I asked her when we were going to be done studying because the Oscars red carpet starts at 7. I've never seen her more enraged in her entire life, and she was just like, "You don't know anything for this test tomorrow. You should not be worrying about the Oscars red carpet." I remember thinking, She's crazy—I'll never need to know this science stuff, and I will need to know what's happening on the red carpet tonight. So when I booked the Vanity Fair red carpet, my first call was my mom, and I was like, "Do you remember that fourth-grade science test that you were adamant that I needed to know?" And so it was such a full-circle moment for both of us. I always knew that I loved fashion-and-entertainment news. When I was younger, E! News used to be more of a fashion channel, and they would play actual runway shows. I remember sitting on the couch and just being like, this is so cool. I've always really loved the space.

You started Giggly Squad during the COVID lockdown with Hannah Berner. Tell us about the Giggly Squad journey. Did you ever envision it would grow to what it is today with a tour and now a book?

Never. We started on Instagram Live because we were bored. Summer House had really kind of popped off at that time because there was nothing else on TV. We were one of the only shows that was putting out new episodes each week. And so we would go live. We would talk about the episode, but then we realized it was just a bunch of girls in the chat. And so we just started talking about whatever was going on. And it truly was because Hannah and I were so bored, and we would FaceTime for hours and just laugh so hard. And I would be like, This is funny. We should just like go on Instagram Live. We didn't even think about starting a podcast. One of our agents was like, Hey, why don't you guys make this into a podcast and see where it goes? And so that's what we did. So, no. Did I ever think that we would write a book from it or perform at Radio City? Absolutely not.

Tell us more about the process of writing this new book?

It was such a surreal experience. I was like, I don't know if I can write a book. But Hannah's mom, who was a middle school principal, helped us edit our book a lot. And every comment for me was like, Paige, rewrite this. We really don't know what you're talking about. But it was the most fun process truly.

You clearly have so much going on, but what does a typical working day look like for you in New York City?

It totally depends—it's different each day. Like yesterday, I was in glam at 6 a.m. to do a whole press day for a brand, and then I went right to Amazon Live. But then there are days where I'll get a facial in the morning and then go record Giggly Squad. So it's different every single day, and I'm so thankful. I literally will wake up in the morning, and [I'm] like, I'm obsessed with what I do as a career. I actually feel like I'm tricking people because I'm like this is the best job ever. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I love this so much. It really does make your days better when you like what you do and you like the people you're around.

Okay, let's talk fashion. Your personal style is so covetable. Are there any style icons on your mood board? Who do you turn to style-wise?

For red carpet, I think Zendaya knocks it out of the park. She kills it all the time. I also love Victoria Beckham for street style. She's just so chic. She does trendy in such a good way—you would never describe her as trendy; you would say she's classic, but yet she always looks trendy. Like I just can't explain it. And then I would say I turn to the classics. I do feel like I pull from Audrey Hepburn a lot. I do love a classic silhouette of just like a black capri, a black top, and a headband. Like there's nothing more classic than that look.

But my mom would say, like from when I was little, You're just like a Barbie doll. Like, every day you want to be in something different. And so the term personal style always makes me anxious because I'm like, oh, I feel like that means every time you step out, you have to have an outfit that's very you. And I feel like each day truly is different for me. Like some days I want to be a pink Legally Blonde Barbie. And then other days I'm like, I want to look like I used to skateboard. I feel like it really does depend on my mood with how I want to dress that day.

As you said, it changes every day, but are there specific wardrobe staples that you do often gravitate toward?

I definitely gravitate toward a heel. I really do find myself always putting a heel on. And I used to be one of those people that's like, is everyone wearing heels? Because I don't want to wear heels if no one else is wearing heels. And I feel like that changed in my later 20s, and I was just like, yeah, I'm wearing heels. I don't care where we're going. And then I have this one top in my closet that's vintage from my grandma. It's like this white chiffon, multilayered top, and it just always fits into something when I need an outfit. I've worn it in so many different ways. I gravitate toward pieces where, in my head, I'm like, I know three places I would wear that and I also know three different ways I would wear that. And so I like stuff like that.

What are some of your favorite heel brands?

I'm gonna be so honest. My favorite heels are from Zara. I have spent more getting them fixed and bringing them to the Leather Spa than I've spent buying them. But I'm like, this is a great heel. I also have a pair of heels from Forever 21 that I'll never get rid of. I feel like they always end up going with something, and they are so comfortable and cool. They're a black heel, but they have clear straps.

Okay, what are some of your favorite outfits recently? I mean, that Oscars dress…

I loved my Oscars look—I was so stressed about that. I went to the CFDAs for the first time, and I loved my dress so much. I was really nervous because Naomi Campbell wore it on the runway, and I was like shoot, if they're going to put pictures of Naomi Campbell and I both in the dress, like that makes me anxious. And I kind of changed the dress, like I pushed the top back, and it was supposed to be worn down. So I was nervous about doing that and then people comparing it. But when I saw it in pictures, I knew I loved it. I thought it looked very Audrey Hepburn, and I thought it looked very chic, but I was nervous that people weren't going to like it. But then when they did, I felt like I was like, oh okay, I took a risk, and it paid off, but that doesn't always happen.

Favorite designer brand?

Prada is my top for clothes. I couldn't afford designer growing up or anything. The first time I walked into a Prada store and was prepared to buy something was three years ago. I was in Italy, and I remember the sales associate kind of looking me up and down and just like walking away. And I was like, that's fine. Like, that's totally fine. And then I remember this other sales associate came up to me, and we just instantly clicked. And by the end of our session, he was like I actually have something in the basement that I think you'll love, and it's not out yet. And he brought this baby-blue dress up, and I was just like, you are my Lord and Savior. And then for the rest of the trip, every time I walked by Prada, he would knock on the window and wave to me.

Are there any favorite investment purchases you've made over the years?

The Prada dress is definitely a favorite. I have two Prada dresses that I bought that I think about all the time. I also think about like, wow, when my daughter is in college, the vintage Prada that I'm going to be able to show her literally lights a fire in me. I get so excited because anything I have of my mom's that's vintage now, I do have a different emotional connection to it, and I do love it so much more. So I can't wait for my daughter to be looking for an outfit for something, and me just be like wait, I think I have the perfect thing. And I pull out this maxi backless white Prada dress, like hello?

Do you have a favorite fragrance that you wear also?

Okay, actually, I'm obsessed with Victoria Beckham's Portofino fragrance. Her bottles are really cool. It's so good, and I get compliments on it all the time.

Okay, so moving on to your space. I know you moved into your dream apartment recently. How was the experience of finding your apartment?

Okay, my apartment is like a true serendipitous moment. When I first moved to New York and I worked at ABC News, I lived on the Upper West Side, so I would be in this area all the time. I would walk by this building at least once a day. There's a courtyard in the middle, and I would always look in and be like, this building is top-tier. Like I'm obsessed with this place. And then years went by. I moved out of the Upper West Side, I was in Midtown, but I had to move. I'm looking for an apartment, and my mom said, "What about that building on the Upper West Side?" And I was like, Mom, one, I'd never be able to afford to live here. Two, I don't think they even rent in there. I think everyone owns their apartments. I'm not kidding, two hours later, my real estate agent sends me this listing. I click it, and it's in that building. And I'm like, this doesn't make any sense. I go, I want to see it tomorrow. I go the next day, my real estate agent is like, When we walk in, do not act like you like it, don't say anything. And I'm like, Kevin, I got it, don't worry. I walk in the front door and I go, I need it. This is my home. Like, I'll move in tomorrow. And I moved in a couple of weeks later. I love it—I'll literally die here.

Any favorite pieces in your home?

This is so bougie, but I got a Frame TV, and I'm obsessed. I would say I love that, and then I have a plant that I have had for five years, and she is my pride and joy. I think that everyone needs to get one of these plants. I think they're actually good luck. It's a money tree.

Switching gears, are there any other podcasts you listen to?

I would say whenever I need something uplifting, I'm turning on a Jay Shetty podcast. He did a podcast over a year ago now with Marianna Hewitt. For one, I'm obsessed with her. I've been obsessed with her for years. But I was listening to her on his podcast, and I'm not kidding, it truly motivated me to be like, I could be a business owner too. Like I could start a brand. I could do this. I don't listen to any podcasts like religiously. It's more like when I'm searching for something. Like oh, I need something that's like really motivational today, or I need something that's like really funny today. But I would say he's one that I turn on a lot.

What are you watching right now?

When we were on tour in the fall, I was like, I need a show that has a thousand seasons. And so I got so deep in Grey's Anatomy. I really watched it from start to finish. I was so deep in Grey's Anatomy to the point where I finished the series, and I was just like I need something else, so I started watching The Pitt. I'm obsessed. Obviously, I'm watching The White Lotus, and I'm also watching 1923. I'm obsessed with Brandon Sklenar. He's like the next big thing. I love any of the Yellowstone series. I'm a big scripted person.

Okay. So do you watch any other reality shows?

The only other reality show I watch is Love Island. I can't watch anything with an ensemble cast because I know how it's made.

What about music?

I'm really into Charli XCX right now, like everybody else. But I am a big rap fan. My favorite rapper is Future.

Best New York City restaurant?

I would say forever and always Bar Pitti.

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Oh my gosh, my biggest pet peeve is probably when my girlfriends don't believe in themselves. That makes me so angry.

What's something that's overrated and then also underrated?

I think getting your full eight hours of sleep. It's underrated because you truly need it to perform, and you feel so much better when you have a good sleep schedule. But I think it's so overrated like when you're in your 20s or if you're single. Like any advice I would have for someone in their 20s would be like, go to the party, go to the club. You can stay an extra 30 minutes. You're gonna remember more the times you had fun than when you went home and did the responsible thing. So I'm gonna say a whole eight hours. It's overrated, but it's also underrated.

Okay, then finally, what is your favorite thing to give and then also to get as a gift?

I have many people in my life that say I'm the best gift giver. I truly pride myself on getting gifts for people that, when they open it, they're like, well you really know and you really thought about this, so I take that very seriously. I think the best gift I've been giving recently because I've been giving it to so many of my girlfriends who have had babies is these personalized trunks. Because not only are they functional in New York City—or really anywhere because you can put all of their keepsakes in it—but it's like an art piece. You can leave it out, and it looks so good, and you can get it monogrammed inside. So that's been my recent favorite gift. And then my favorite gift for me to get is probably something unexpected. When I'm like, oh, I just really wasn't expecting you to get me something. My brother stays at my apartment a lot when I'm gone, and whenever I come home, like on a Sunday night, he will have gotten me a bunch of different things—whether it's my favorite candy or he walked by a bakery and was like, Hey, I left doughnuts in the refrigerator for you. So like those kind of gifts I love.

"I think I have a very Machiavellian twinkle inside of me," Chase Sui Wonders says with a smirk. The burgeoning actress's most ruthless side jumps out and onto the screen in the acclaimed Apple TV+ series The Studio. It's fiction, but is it really? Hollywood loves to tell stories about itself, and surprise, surprise—the series is a meta commentary on the film business doing just that. It obliterates the lines between fantasy and reality with the kind of witty humor that pokes fun at the industry's self-seriousness in a way that only creator Seth Rogen could, all while featuring cameos from Hollywood heavyweights. Everyone from Zoë Kravitz to Martin Scorsese makes an appearance.

It's easily one of the biggest roles of Sui Wonders's career to date, and in it, she plays Quinn, a young, hyperambitious assistant turned executive who spares nothing to claw her way up the corporate ladder. Just like Quinn, Sui Wonders found herself with big shoes to fill. Not only was the actress stepping onto set as the wide-eyed newbie among comedy legends like Rogen, Kathryn Hahn, and Ike Barinholtz (she describes herself as "fresh meat"), but there also was no warm-up period before diving into filming her character's most divisive arc. "The very first day, scene one was a scene of me and Ike screaming at each other in the episode where we tear each other's heads off," she says. Talk about a high-pressure moment.

"I'm obsessed with Ike," she continues. "He's a dear, dear friend now, but that was a crazy thing to jump into. You don't really know your castmates as well, so I was like, 'Nice to meet you, Ike' and then spitting in his face." While she admits to being scared in the moment, you'd never know Sui Wonders had any hint of nerves while watching the scene play out in episode five titled "The War." That, I'm quickly gathering, is simply the Chase Sui Wonders magic. In fact, I think a part of her delights in being the underdog.

It might be her character Quinn who has to "buck up and find her sea legs," as she puts it, but that's also how Sui Wonders felt while costarring alongside a slew of comedy legends she's always looked up to. Of course, I was curious to know who she was most starstruck by on a set filled with A-list name after A-list name. She replies instantly: "I can recite all of Kathryn Hahn's monologues from Step Brothers and often do. That one was surreal just because here is a woman who is so unabashedly a freak but is also so hot while doing it." Of course, Rogen and Evan Goldberg rank high for anyone born in the late '90s. "I came of age with all of their movies: Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Superbad. I actually think This Is the End is the last great American comedy," Sui Wonders says.

It may be a big step up for the 28-year-old star, but she's had the energy of Quinn in her all along. She grew up in suburban Detroit and was "kind of sheltered" before heading off to study film at Harvard, where she was the only girl in her program. "When I went to college, I experienced a whole new world," she remembers. "I was meeting coastal elites for the first time and people who were so cultured. I felt like a fish out of water and then felt like I needed to prove something."

It's hard to tell sitting across from such an animated personality as hers, but Sui Wonders battled extreme shyness as a kid and didn't speak for the first decade of life. Acting classes served as a way to come out of her shell. "I did a play in college. It got torn apart in the school newspaper. I was like, 'How could anyone ever do this for a living? I don't have thick enough skin.' That's when I decided I just want to write and direct," she says. So she pivoted. After graduating with a degree in film production, she put all of her energy into getting her foot in the door, and nothing was too shameless for a young Sui Wonders. "I was knocking at that door a bunch of the times in every which way [and] sending cold emails to people I wasn't supposed to be emailing. [I was] finding their emails on IMDb and sending them my spec script and then getting scolded by someone being like, 'That's so embarrassing that you did that.' I just saw it as, 'I'm young. People are going to assume I don't know any better, so I might as well shoot my shot,'" she says. It turns out it was all worth it in the end. "There's a bit of ruthlessness and lack of shame that comes from putting yourself out there so many times and getting rejected," she tells me. I'm starting to realize her portrayal of Quinn isn't quite so fictionalized, after all.

As for what The Studio gets right about Hollywood? "Obviously, it's heightened, but I think it's extraordinarily accurate," she says. "There is a weird thing about studio execs coming to visit sets. Some are obsessed with movies and want to be an actor or director, and then there's some studio execs who have zero film knowledge but just want to be around famous people. The obsession with fame also is a big one." It may be exaggerated, but Sui Wonders concedes, "There will be many people in the industry who will feel both exposed and seen at the same time."

It's not a series just for industry insiders. It's also for film buffs far and wide. The references are as varied as they are layered, from the mood of classic noirs like Chinatown to moviemaking tropes like the single-shot take. "It's like a film bro's wet dream," she quips. "It's very meta. There's a fourth or fifth wall that stays up that allows you to enjoy it, so it's like a double metaphor. But it's great because you can enjoy it as any kind of viewer. My parents, who wouldn't know every single reference, would still enjoy it, but the amount of knowledge you bring to it is your choice. It's like a wink."

Settling into one of the cracked vinyl booths at her go-to New York deli, we give our orders—a tuna salad sandwich for Sui Wonders and a tuna melt for me—to a waitress who jots them down on a pad of paper that appears to be as old as the establishment itself. Just as I bemoaned how long the line for a table can get on the weekends, she quickly informs me that the key to getting seated quickly is to come at the off times. A true regular. She sips on an iced coffee, her grown-out pixie cut tucked neatly behind her ears. She's dressed comfy for a Monday afternoon in a pair of vintage pinstripe trousers, Isabel Marant wedge sneakers (yes, those 2011-era ones), and a Cartier Tank Française slung daintily on her left wrist.

Caffeinated and nourished, Sui Wonders begins recounting the whirlwind period she's coming off of that sees the actress jetting between back-to-back film sets for the three major projects that are coming to screens this year: The Studio, the legacy sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex. "Right now, I'm like the SpongeBob meme where the world is spinning," she laughs. This is a big year for the star, who admits that this is the longest stretch of continuous work she's experienced in her career thus far. "I've been so lucky to be working pretty consistently for the past year. That's never happened before," she says. Just as quickly as she's reacquainting herself with her routines at home in New York—including, importantly, a visit to this very lunch counter—she's off again, boarding a flight the very next day to L.A., where she's set to continue doing press for The Studio.

Sui Wonders burst onto the scene in the 2021 HBO Max teen drama Generation, where she played the confident cool girl Riley Luo. Little did anyone know then that she was living on her brother's couch and weighing two polar-opposite life paths just three months prior to being cast in her breakout role. One: Pick up and move to Beijing to begin a corporate job that would appease her family. "This is probably what I should do," she recounts of her mindset at the time. Or two: Relentlessly pursue a career in film. Thank goodness her brother gave her the nudge to keep auditioning. "Just try this for six more months, and if nothing happens, then you can pick a different path," he insisted. "That was the crossroads for me," she says. "Three months later, I got this part in Generation. That's what changed it all. It gave me so much confidence." Talk about kismet.

It was that tenacity that led her to booking the Max gig, and well, the rest is (mostly) history. Since then, it's been a steady ascent up the Hollywood ladder with roles in 2021's A24 slasher flick Bodies Bodies Bodies, the 2023 Apple TV+ series City on Fire, and Pete Davidson's brainchild Bupkis. The Studio is only the beginning of a meteoric year for Sui Wonders. She leads the sequel to the 1997 cult horror I Know What You Did Last Summer that brings together an ensemble from various parts of the zeitgeist, such as Lola Tung, Madelyn Cline, and Nicholas Chavez, who are excitingly joined by some of the original cast. "It's very daunting," Sui Wonders admits of her first leading role in a major studio movie. "I have to fill the big shoes of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze." I already know there's no question she's up to the task. Her role is a sharp departure from bitey Quinn. "She's a real all-American girl," she notes.

She'll do another 180 in the upcoming Araki-directed I Want Your Sex that also stars Olivia Wilde and Charli XCX. "Araki's movies are crazy [in a good way]," she says. "He was the pioneer of queer cinema throughout the '90s, and this one is very in line with that. You feel like you're squirming in your seat."

From crashing on her brother's couch to leading an iconic film franchise, Sui Wonders's path looks more like a vertical rise than a slow climb. "Each project I do feels like its own unique arrival," she counters. "I'm grateful that it hasn't felt like all of a sudden you're a celebrity."

Even her relationship with the term "celebrity" is very grounded. "That word doesn't register," she says. It's not as if Sui Wonders is the kind of face that gets stopped in the street at every turn—instead, it's more likely that people will stop her thinking they know her personally. Surely, she must be an old classmate or friend of a friend, they think. But that's even more proof of Sui Wonders's secret sauce. She possesses a certain instant familiarity that makes it seem as though you know her from a past life.

You see, unlike most young stars who have their minds laser-focused on the spotlight from day one, Sui Wonders didn't fan the flames of her ambition at the earliest age. At home, her three siblings and the single mom who raised them were her "whole world." Family and, well, hockey. Despite the glamour of her recent red carpet appearances, Sui Wonders was a huge tomboy growing up. She played for the boy's team and was more comfortable in a sports jersey than she ever was in a dress. A dream to most 10-year-old girls, Sui Wonders tells me that picking out something to wear to one of Anna Sui's runway shows (did I mention the designer is casually her aunt?) was more of an out-of-body experience than a "pinch me" moment for her. "I was a serious tomboy. I never took my hair out of a ponytail. Wearing a dress felt so alien to me," she says. "I was like, 'What do you mean I have to take off my Heelys and put on ballet flats?'"

Even though she's swapped her hockey jerseys and Heelys for full Chanel looks and rare designer vintage these days, Sui Wonders is still sticking to her guns. It always has to feel like her, and more often than not, that means diving into the archives. "[Stylist] Thomas [Carter Phillips] and I talked about the reason why I wanted so much vintage, and it's because of social media, which is an annoying thing to say, but it's true. Everyone looks the same. It's the world we live in. So any place where I can deviate and stick to my guts, yeah, I'm doing that," she says.

Most of Sui Wonders's wardrobe is vintage, and she tells me that she's really gotten into silhouettes from the '90s and early 2000s—"the cute parts of the early 2000s," to be exact. Her archival sensibilities are already beginning to define the Chase Sui Wonders aesthetic. She recently posed for Marie Claire in a Prada spring 1997 dress cut from the same print that Gwyneth Paltrow famously wore to a premiere with Brad Pitt that year. For The Studio's South by Southwest premiere, she picked out an Anna Sui corseted skirt set from the early aughts. "She's very protective," Sui Wonders says of her aunt's personal collection. "This is kind of the first time I've gotten a key to the castle, and I am loving it here." She tells me that Carter Phillips and her have been on a treasure hunt to curate the looks for this press tour, diving deep into the archives. The indie singer-songwriter Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and early aughts style icon Devon Aoki are both fixtures on her mood board.

When I ask if any of this is strategic to position her in a certain light, she shrugs. "Even if it's a designer that nobody knows about, I'd rather be wearing something cool that makes me feel like myself rather than something that's strategic," she says.

If there's one thing I learned from my lunch date with Sui Wonders, it's that she knows exactly what she wants—out of her wardrobe, out of her career, and, yes, even for lunch.

Get the Look

Photographer: Daria Kobayashi Ritch

Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen

Hairstylist: Eddie Cook

Makeup Artist: Kara Yoshimoto Bua

Manicurist: Betina Goldstein

DP: Kyle Hartman

Special thanks to Santa Monica Pier Corporation

In 1969, the incomparable Nina Simone gifted the world with a powerful anthem that transcended time and history—a celebratory battle hymn for the ages. "Young, gifted and Black. Oh, what a lovely precious dream," she croons, her velvety voice rising in tandem with the thunderous brass and drums. Released in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, the song became an ode to the boundless possibilities of a newly liberated generation of Americans. In that moment, no dream was too bold, no ceiling too unbreakable. Simone may have passed before Zaya Wade was born, but if she were here today, one can't help but imagine that she'd be singing it about Wade, too.

At just 17 years old, Wade has the world at her fingertips—she's a model, professional jet-setter, and one of Gen Z's most visible advocates within the transgender community. It's a lot to juggle for any all-American teenager, never mind the slew of college applications and standardized testing Wade is navigating, as is par for the course for a high school senior. It's the second semester, and she can almost taste graduation, but while most kids might coast through their remaining weeks, Wade is just getting started. The teen has much to prepare for, as this fall, she's leaving the nest and heading off to college in pursuit of a career in astrobiology (more on that later), on top of spearheading her arts-focused nonprofit, Translatable.

When I meet Wade over Zoom, she's casually hanging in her childhood bedroom wearing sweatpants and in the midst of her 10-step skincare routine. It's Monday night, and following our conversation, she will head straight into tutoring. It seems like her to-do list never takes a holiday. In between telling me about her favorite lip gloss and a rant about how terrifying the open sea is ("When I heard the fact in the second grade that we have not explored more than 6% of the ocean, I was like, 'Nope!'"), I'm struck at how "normal" Wade is. When your parents are basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade and A-list movie star, model, and fashion icon Gabrielle Union, the term nepo baby almost feels like it isn't grand enough. Wade comes from Black royalty, yet by all accounts, she's just like any other 17-year-old girl. She loves late-night group FaceTime calls, binge-watching Heartstopper with her dad, and fantasizing about what her prom dress will look like. You'll have to wait to see the last one. When I ask if she has any dream designers in mind, Wade coyly smiles and says there's a team cooking up something. I'm sat.

The concept of girlhood is a luxury not everyone has. Black women are often hyperscrutinized throughout adolescence, their childhoods erased by society telling them they need to shed the frilly dresses and dolls and instead grow up. It's an even harsher reality for Black trans women, who may not have lived in their truth until well into adulthood. The conscious choice for Wade to revel in the special moments almost feels like a quiet act of defiance in a world that never wanted to see her thrive in the first place.

"For 12 years, I didn't have any sense of girlhood. I didn't know what it was like," she admits. In 2020, she came out publicly as transgender. Without warning, Wade was immediately thrown into the spotlight and dissected for everything she did—her hair, her nails, her outfits—all were subject to a wave of online hate and transphobia. It was enough for Wade to want to shrink and hide herself. "I just feel like I'm trying to find my own version of what girlhood is," she tells me. "These are peak years. Everything is so exciting," she adds, alluding to the bright future that is to come—one she couldn't even imagine five years ago. "I didn't really see that far ahead for myself when I was younger. Because of the experiences I've had over the last couple of years, I now have a hopeful outlook on my life," Wade says. "I just feel like, honestly, what is more impactful than being a teenage girl?"

Now, Wade's making up for lost time. Since publicly coming out, she and her family have been staunch advocates for trans and queer liberation. During the 2025 NAACP Image Awards, Dwyane Wade and Union delivered a fiery, passionate speech dedicated to their daughter. In a moment of what can only be described as motherly frustration, Union asked the audience a simple question, "Will we fight for some, or will we fight for all of our people?"

Despite Black trans women constantly demanding justice by any means necessary, the intersection of racism and transphobia continues to be overlooked. If they don't continue the good fight, who will? Wade knows this fact well—since the beginning, she's constantly been taking up space. Just a month after Dwyane Wade introduced Zaya to the world during a viral Ellen DeGeneres interview, the then-tween made her red carpet debut at the 6th annual Better Brothers Los Angeles Truth Awards aimed at highlighting and uplifting the queer Black community. Flanked by her parents, Wade admitted she always had a feeling that there was something she was meant to do, but she didn't quite know what it was at the time. Enter Translatable.

Founded in the summer of 2024 by Wade and her father, Translatable is a digital arts initiative designed to empower trans youth of color and their families to help bridge gaps and foster empathy through education and understanding. In a time when being trans in America can feel increasingly uncertain—especially for those whose families and loved ones refuse to offer affirmation—Translatable seeks to provide a safe space for connection and support. In lieu of making things feel too stiff, formal, or incredibly "millennial," Wade and her dad landed on showcasing trans stories through art. People can submit poetry, vision-board collages, photography, and more to be featured.

When I ask Wade why she was compelled to use art as the driver of Translatable, her face lights up. I joke that advocacy and education don't always have to come in the form of another TEDx Talk. She nods her head. "Art has always been one of the great monikers of culture. Art is people. It represents how we feel and interact with each other," Wade explains, nodding to the influence Black art and, stretching even further back, how African art was used as a way to document history. "It's one of the most visible ways that trans people can show who we are. I think that's beautiful."

Art, and the radical act of making art, is something that's filled with joy and frustration. Wade tells me she used to dance for years as a child, training her body to move and express itself in ways she couldn't communicate with her words. It's something she admits she carries with her. "Art isn't this abstract, detached thing that you simply put on your wall," she says before pausing in what appears to be a moment of vulnerability for the teen. "Like, this is us. These are our souls for you to see in the way that we need you to see them."

Wade's commitment to visibility isn't just something she preaches through Translatable—it's something she's living every day. Take her dream of pursuing a career in astrobiology, for example. Wade geeks out for a second when I ask about her interest in the scientific field. In short, she's hoping to find microbacteria and fungi on distant galaxies and planets as proof that life can exist beyond planet Earth. Don't get it twisted, though—she has no plans to go to space herself. "This isn't about space colonization," she jokes. "I think we have our own planet to worry about. Maybe if we get this done, we can start talking about a different planet. Now's not the time."

STEM as an entire field is something Wade is fiercely passionate about. As it's long been a male-dominated profession, she's determined to show that women, especially trans women of color, belong there too. "I have wanted nothing but to set an example and be that person for myself," she explains. "If I can't see it, I need to be it. Who else is going to fill the blank in my mind about a Black trans scientist?" Plus, Wade adds, the idea of correcting people who don't refer to her as doctor after she gets multiple PhDs is kind of a slay.

Ensuring the world sees her for who she really is and all of her different facets is Wade's life purpose. Visibility isn't just a buzzword—it's the fuel behind everything she does. And while there are still leaps and bounds to go in terms of equitable representation for her queer brothers and sisters, she's taking every win in jest. Every campaign, magazine cover, movie secured, and deal brokered for trans people is a milestone to celebrate. "I have nothing but high hopes for us," Wade affirms. She brings up Alex Consani, a Who What Wear Girls of Summer alum, who won Model of the Year at the Fashion Awards in 2024. During her speech, Consani praised the way that Black trans women laid the foundation for the community she advocates for every day. "Once that happened, I was like, 'Oh yeah. We're going to do it. It's a wrap," she explains. Wade comes in a long line of Gen Z icons breaking barriers today: Consani, Ethel Cain, and Hunter Schafer have all come before her. Now, it's Wade's turn. "This past year was a year for the dolls," Wade says, beaming. "Yes, we need activism, but it's so hard to even be out there in the first place. Like, seeing people in the media who are trans just showing up and processing the courage is activism to me."

To reach big dreams, you need a vision too vast to imagine alone. Wade owes nearly all of her success in life to her family, friends, and creative team, she admits. "It's not even a village at this point," she jokes. "It's like a whole metropolis." It's the close community who make sure she's able to attend school full-time while building Translatable and attending fashion week. It's a blessing she doesn't take for granted. "I really wish I could say I was just that girl, but honestly, it takes copious amounts of effort," Wade admits. "Everyone says that I make it seem easy, and in the most honest way, it's because it is easy. When you have everyone supporting you and watching your back, making sure you don't get tripped up when you're trying to balance it all, it allows me to just be me."

So what does a day in the life of Wade look like with her support system? It's giving SAT prep on Friday night, photo shoot on Saturday morning. When the 17-year-old shows up to set for our Now Playing shoot, she's accompanied by her godmother and Thomas Christos Kikis, her trusted stylist. Traipsing from an Eastside cycle shop to a local diner with an adorable bunny named Smudge, Wade effortlessly poses in front of the camera. Chanel, Miu Miu, Burberry, and Moschino—she exudes a perfect mix of glamour and edge. With every click of the camera, she seems at ease, her confidence radiating through the shots.

Fashion, Wade says, is more than just the pretty clothing she gets to borrow from big brands—it's a pivotal lifeline for trans youth, often the first step in gender-affirming care. For Wade, her first form of fashion-induced gender euphoria came when she slipped on a pair of knee-high boots. "You can't touch me, both metaphorically and physically, because I'm like 7 feet tall," she jokes. "I might be so crazy to say this, but sometimes, when I'm feeling down, I just go in my closet and form an outfit just to see what happens. And sometimes, if the outfit comes out good, my whole mood is fine."

It took Wade years to feel confident in her fashion sense, much less her own skin. It was a journey made possible by the guidance and support of her stepmom, Gabrielle Union. With a fashion icon like Union to look up to, it's no wonder Wade's style flourished as she discovered herself. "My stepmom has just instilled such a confidence in my femininity," she admits. In her first year of publicly being out, Wade wrestled with an identity crisis: What does it mean to be a woman? What does that even look like? Was she already that? It took Union sitting down with Wade to reassure her that not wearing pink dresses or frilly clothing didn't make her any less of a woman. "I tried to compensate in every single way, and it was so draining," Wade reflects. "She was so adamant about telling me that I don't have to look or act a certain way—I can just be me. And, oh my god, I thank her every day for it."

Before we wrap up our call and Wade heads to tutoring, I ask if she thinks college will change her. It's a rite of passage for many teenagers—the idea of a glow-up, newfound freedom, and the possibility of reinvention in a place where transformation is the norm. Wade nearly chokes up at the thought of leaving behind everything she's known. "I'm not one of those kids who's like, 'Wooo! College! I'm ready to leave,'" she says. "Like, I'm ready to grow and pursue my education, but I'm not ready to leave my village—at all. They have done an incalculable amount for me. They're the sole reason I'm here. My relationship with them is so holy. I could never relinquish it." Despite being the self-proclaimed "worst texter," she says, "When I get to college, I promise our group chat will be on fire."

Zaya Wade is more than a rising star—she's the blueprint for self-discovery and resilience while making the incredible appear effortless. Whether she's owning a photo shoot, acing school, or pushing Translatable forward, she's grounded in purpose and fueled by a desire to change the world. Behind the polished exterior is an unwavering authenticity and a rock-solid support system. Much like Nina Simone's anthem, Wade embodies that audacious spirit of being young, gifted, and Black. With every ceiling she shatters, one thing is clear: This is only the beginning. The world is her playground, and with each step, she's joyfully expanding it for all of us. So hop in, and enjoy the ride.

Photographer: Sophia Wilson

Stylist: Thomas Christos Kikis

Hairstylist: Miles Jeffries

Makeup Artist: Tasha Reiko Brown

Manicurist: Cathay Truong

Creative Director: Jeanie Mordukhay

DP: Kyle Hartman

Shop Zaya's Looks

When artist, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey was a child growing up in Iceland, she performed in a handful of local singing competitions. "I never really talk much about this," she tells me of her humble musical beginnings. "I was singing songs like 'Singing in the Rain.' … Everyone else was doing pop music. She lost. I remember feeling, 'Okay, this is not what people want.'" She made it far enough in the competition to believe in her talent, so she entered again. And again. And again.

For one of her final shows, she sang "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone. "I tried to find the songs that fit my voice and were more classic but that people still knew," she says of her choice. "But I only listened to jazz music and classical music [growing up]. I felt like I just existed on a completely different cloud of music than anything popular."

Laufey's mother was a classical violinist, as was her grandmother, so she always thought she'd follow in their footsteps as an instrumentalist over pursuing a career as a singer. "That was the most natural thing to me just because I spent my whole life playing cello, violin, and piano," she says. "I thought, 'I guess that's what I'll do.'"

The girls Laufey would compete against were often white and petite. She says they'd go onstage singing traditional pop songs and walk off with offers for modeling contracts and small record deals from local producers. Laufey's experience was different. "I wore glasses. I was always a little bit chubby. I had natural curly hair I didn't know how to [style]," she tells me. Because of her mature voice and song choices, everyone painted her as this adult woman, but in actuality, she felt like a baby. Their validation confirmed her belief that she had talent but not that it warranted any special attention or even a career. "Everyone was like, 'I'm going to be the next Hannah Montana,' and I was like, 'No you're not … and I'm not going to be either!'" she laughs. With no signs of a pop-star double life materializing for her, she decided to "study something normal" in college.

"I thought, 'I'll just study really, really hard and get into the best university I can get into,'" Laufey adds. She did, however, apply to one music school—Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she not only was accepted but also received a presidential scholarship to study cello. Ultimately, her mother persuaded her to go and study pop and jazz instead of attending her original first choice, University of St Andrews in Scotland, with her twin sister Junia.

When she finally arrived on the Berklee campus, Laufey was quite stressed that her life experience felt so limited in comparison to her classmates. "At that point, I was a jazz singer, a classical cellist, and a lover of pop music, but I'd never kissed a boy. I'd never gone on a date. I'd never even gone to a party," she says. She quickly accepted that maybe she needed to step outside her comfort zone. "I just realized that playing by the rules doesn't get you that far. I maxed out playing by the rules!" she says. "The last time you get rewarded for hard work and it actually gets you somewhere is getting into a good college or getting a scholarship. … I honestly believe that. Something clicked in me at Berklee. I was just like, 'Okay, let's fuck things up a little bit!'"

Attending Berklee was an eye-opening experience for Laufey. Everyone around her was writing and making music in ways that were unfamiliar and untraditional. Some of them weren't even reading music at all, which felt unfathomable to her. She described it as both cool and terrifying; it was a classical musician's nightmare but also a transgressing creative's dream. "All of a sudden, I was in all these jazz combos with these jazz musicians, and I was forced to improvise for the first time in my life, and at the same time, I was improvising with my life too. I started writing and dating and drinking and being a little bit of a heathen!" she laughs. Finally, she had material to write about and had the kind of confidence she'd been chasing up until that point in her life. The little girl so eager to please on those competitive stages started to feel like a distant past. "There were no rules anymore," she adds.

Except, there were still the rules of classical music, jazz music, pop music, and soul music, which she was studying every day. "I realized that nobody had been writing modern songs in a jazz standard form, and those were the songs I wanted to sing, but I wanted to sing my own stories," she says.

Laufey recalls sweating from excitement after writing her first-ever song. "It was the first thing I wrote where I was like, 'Oh my god, this is my style! This is my genre,'" she says. It was a modern story based on her life over a jazz harmony with elements of the Great American Songbook, a canon of the most influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. But just as she was about to record the song, her campus was shutting down because of COVID-19.

Laufey thought, "Oh my God, if I don't do this today … we are never going to. The song is not getting done." As her mother and sister packed up her dorm room, she went to her friend's place to finish the song.

Once she was back home in Iceland, the quiet of the pandemic inspired Laufey to post a video of her singing jazz standards to Instagram for her nearly 2000 followers. There was nothing else to do, and she had nothing to lose. "I made one video singing the song 'It Could Happen to You' [by Chet Baker] and accompanying it on cello. It kind of went viral," she says. Viral might be an understatement. The following day, she woke up to around 10,000 followers. The rapid overnight growth, while confusing, gave Laufey the clarity and validation she needed: Maybe people did want this kind of music, after all.

Three weeks later, in April of 2020, she released "Street by Street," the song she originally recorded at school.

The debut track was about someone who used to give her butterflies—a quick college fling gone wrong. "Step by step, brick by brick / I'm reclaiming what's mine / This city is way too small / To give away to just one guy," Laufey croons. Without her knowing it at the time, it would be her entryway to fucking things up—just a little bit, of course. Within the first month of her dropping the single, it garnered 100,000 streams. Today, it has over 43 million streams on Spotify.

Laufey chalks up her initial online success to people wanting something new and searching for an escape. "Nobody had done that before, and I know this because I am such a fan of music, and I wanted so badly to find an artist that was close to my age, that dressed in a way that I related to. I feel like I was looking for an Alexa Chung that sings jazz," she says.

I laugh when she tells me this because when I first came across Laufey on TikTok—where we've been mutuals since 2021—I was documenting my career as a fashion editor, and Laufey was charting hers as an emerging singer-songwriter. Up until that point, jazz music had never felt accessible to someone like myself, who grew up in Queens, New York, in a family of Spanish immigrants. It wasn't the kind of music I was raised on. But when Laufey came on my screen, outfitted in flowing lace tops and pastel ballet flats, it felt like music that could be the soundtrack to my life. To me, she was exactly like an Alexa Chung that sang jazz.

In many ways, that has always been somewhat of Laufey's goal. It's not the It-girl status or the perfect wispy hair, both of which she possesses. It's the ability to introduce classic genres of music to new audiences. "I was indoctrinated into classical music," she tells me. "It was just something that flowed through my veins, and I really care so deeply about keeping this kind of music and tradition alive and reintroducing it to young people. It's always been very sad to me that classical music and jazz music is something that feels not very accessible … or that it feels like something that's just for old people, intellectuals, or very educated people. For me, it's always just been this thing of beauty and joy [and] sometimes sadness."

Since making her mark in 2020, Laufey has gone on to release two full-length albums: 2022's Everything I Know About Love and 2023's Bewitched, for which she won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Her 10,000 social media followers have now grown to over 13 million across Instagram and TikTok.

Last May, I went to Radio City Music Hall to see her perform during her Goddess Tour. When I walked through the doors, it didn't feel like I had just entered a concert. It felt like an after-school club, where who you're with is almost as exciting as what you've all agreed to do together. There is a charming camaraderie among her fans, and nearly every other attendee could be spotted with a long bow in their hair—a signature Laufey accessory—as if it were a team uniform.

Some of them were just meeting for the first time, complimenting each other's Laufey-inspired baby-doll dresses and asking which songs they were hoping to hear. When she walked onto the stage, I was just one person sitting in a sea of ribbon hair accessories, excited to hear jazz songs that didn't remind me of a bygone era but rather the exact time I was living in. When she performed "From the Start," a song about unrequited love with a friend who you wished was more than a friend, I watched someone in front of me nudge a friend and raise an eyebrow. "This is like with you know who," she said before whipping her bow-pinned hair back around to attentively watch Laufey as she pranced from stage left to right in a light-blue tulle Rodarte gown.

It's been almost a year since that show, and Laufey's latest single—this month's "Silver Lining"—marks the beginning of an exciting new era for the artist, where she's exploring love found instead of lost. "I love how when you're in love, you become this very silly, almost stupid version of yourself," she says of the inspiration behind her latest track. "Every single part of you is represented. The anxious! The beautiful! The kind of shitty! But the silver lining is that you're with this person, and I feel like that very perfectly encapsulates what I want to capture right now." The song doesn't take itself too seriously and includes a zinger line about going to hell: "So I propose / It's long overdue / When you go to hell, I'll go there with you too / And when we're punished / For being so cruel / The silver lining's I'll be there with you." It's a little less pristine than normal for Laufey. "I'm ready to show I'm an adult. … I can be both serious and silly," she says.

She's been thinking a lot lately about being a woman and the emotions you go through when you fall in and out of love. This idea is at the core of what she wants to tackle next with her music. "No matter how famous or whatever you get or how many people are watching, I've discovered that you're gonna go through those emotions. No amount of fame is gonna change that," she says. "When I was growing up, I thought that the biggest singer or actress in the world—who was so beautiful and so perfect and got to wear designer clothing and be in front of paparazzi—was somehow spared from the very dark and deep and painful emotions of heartbreak or fear of getting cheated on or anxiety, and that just couldn't be further from the truth. It doesn't really change anything."

That's precisely why everyone actually keeps asking for this, the exact thing Laufey is now known for doing. She's no longer that little curly-haired girl with glasses onstage in Iceland who played by the rules. She feels real—like a best friend with clothes you want to borrow and songs about the kind of love that feels familiar, all through a vintage lens you didn't know you loved. "I wanted somebody who wore the costume of a pop singer but was making music that was more tuned to my ears," Laufey tells me.

And so she became her.