Amandla Stenberg Thinks Every Chanel Show Feels Like a Film

Amandla Stenberg’s first memory of Chanel is catching a whiff of her mother’s perfume.

“My mom’s N°5 was my first association with Chanel,” the actor and singer told me after the house’s Spring 2024 show in Paris, earlier this week. “And there was a movie about Coco Chanel that I remember watching with my mom. She has always been a huge lover of Chanel … and Chanel actually was the first brand that ever reached out to dress me!” Now, Stenberg is a fixture at the brand’s shows and events, often dressed head to toe in right-off-the-runway Chanel, a detail she still finds surreal.

For the Spring 2024 show, the Hunger Games and Bodies Bodies Bodies actor wore a long leather trench covered in stars, with a Chanel buckle, and a matching pair of stellar pants. She chose the look because it is what she normally gravitates to in everyday life. “I love suits in general, and this one had a kind of luxurious feeling of being structured. That's my favorite part of how some Chanel pieces are made,” she said. Plus: “It is fall, so I decided I wanted to lean into the option that was as Black as my soul.”

Her favorite thing about the most recent collection is how “playful” it felt. Models wore flip-flops and large thick-rim glasses with long tweed coats. They wore layers of necklaces and blue knee-high boots. Virginie Viard captured the essence of a woman so excited to get dressed that she doesn’t take off one accessory before walking out the door but instead adds one or two.

Stenberg pointed out that despite Chanel feeling like a feminine fantasy, it is also distinct in the way its shapes and silhouettes challenge what’s become expected for women. “I feel connected to the clothes and the story of Chanel,” she said. “There’s a functionality and boyishness to some of the clothing in a way I really like. I like that very fine balance—there’s this toughness of masculinity, but also a lot of elegance and grace. It’s a good yin-yang.” As for the shows themselves: “They are so classic, and it is what you imagine a fashion show to be like in a movie.”

Her story also feels like one from a fashion film: a girl who grew up watching the 2008 Coco Chanel film from her parents’ couch, now sitting front row at the house’s Paris Fashion Week show. The runway this past Tuesday felt particularly cinematic, with one of Stenberg’s favorite songs playing—Jeanette’s 1974 hit “Porque Te Vas?”—as a series of black transparent dresses walked out in front of her. She told me they’ll likely be what she wears next, as her own Chanel fairy tale continues to unfold.

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