Chloë Sevigny landed her debut film role as Jennie in Larry Clark’s Kids, but the future actress found her footing as a style icon as a Sassy intern modeling baby doll dresses in the magazine’s pages back in 92. Earlier this year, Sevigny compiled iconic images of her most legendary looks — these Sassy shots included — and Rizzoli released the collection as a monograph. Many have tried to channel Chloë’s serially cool style, but none have succeeded quite like Chloë Nour and Mateja Buila, the Aussie duo behind creative platform In Your Dreams Club.
Recently, In Your Dreams published “Chloë as Chloë,” a shoot which near perfectly recreates five of the book’s most memorable looks using borrowed boy’s threads, eBay finds, sequins, and a bunch of staples. Nour and Buila positively nailed the details, from the pictures hanging on Sevigny’s wall to the wave of her peroxide Gummo mullet. We caught up with Nour to find out more about what went into becoming — as Jay McInerney once dubbed her — the “Coolest Girl in the World.”
What makes Chloë such an idol?
There’s this complete honesty about her. I love her eclectic, experimental style over the years, the fact that she’s not wearing a thick face of make up and getting her hair done every day, and this 90s realness of jeans and a t-shirt and a shaved head. She’s just being herself and not giving a fuck. She also subverts the prehistoric expectations of what it means to be a woman and a celebrity — a perfect, sexy, agreeable thing. She’s this fabulous mix of masculinity, femininity, and self deprecating humor. She boasts a thoughtfully curated list of roles in film and TV that prove her unmatched taste and style, and pushes boundaries in a really careful and non-aggressive way. She has relationships with all these weird visionaries who have changed the way we watch films and see the world and wear clothes and talk about shit in a way no one else ever has. She’s just fucking cool.
How did you guys get the idea to recreate the images?
When I first got my hands on the book, I actually wanted to shoot a real model and had a stylist on board, but then the shoot fell through. Mateja was like, ‘Fuck it, let’s shoot you as Chloë.’ The idea was ‘Chloë as Chloë’ — basic bitch me as the real deal!
What was your favorite look to recreate? Dot from Gummo is my #1.
Dot is definitely my favorite, too! Dot is such an interesting character and her look is so unique. I didn’t want to bleach my eyebrows, so just painted them white instead; I think that definitely adds to the comedy. But recreating the front cover image was probably the most satisfying look. We’re so proud we actually managed to create an almost identical leotard out of sequin fabric, scissors and a stapler — and cut an almost identical haircut out of a terrible wig!
Recreating these looks, especially Dot, made me realize how otherworldly it is to be Chloë Sevigny. Me dressed as Dot with white eyebrows and a mullet is so unflattering and hilarious but Chloë Sevigny as Dot is still so sexy and cool. She can literally rock any look, no matter how ridiculous, and still look fabulous.
Do you plan to do any more?
Maybe!
If you could raid Chloë’s closet for anything, what would it be?
I’m obsessed with the matching panties and crop top she’s wearing in that image by Marcelo Krasilcic in which she’s flashing her panties in front of the subway. I’ve been trying to find out who the crop and panties are by and what the actual print on them is. To me, it looks like two naked women wrestling and I’m into it. Mateja is obsessed with the leopard print suede and fur jacket she wearing with red lingerie in that Self Service portrait.
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Photography Mateja Buila, courtesy In Your Dreams Club