A Scorpio Season Second With Chloë Sevigny
Photo: Madison Voelkel/BFA.com/Courtesy of H&M
Not only is Chloë Sevigny among the esteemed, extensive list of fashion Scorpios, she may be the most powerful among us.
"I'm a triple Scorpio," she tells Fashionista in the dark, red-lit basement hallway at new downtown hotspot Jean's, which has been taken over by H&M to celebrate its latest designer collaboration, with Rabanne.
The collection, which was announced during Paris Fashion Week, launches on Thursday. Sevigny got first dibs, wearing H&M x Rabanne — specifically, the blue floral high-collared, short-sleeved button-up blouse ($79.99) with the long, golden, sequined skirt with oversized coin embellishments at the hem ($299) — to the party.
Photo: Madison Voelkel/BFA.com/Courtesy of H&M
"I love a floral," she says. "I'm always for down for a ditsy." The skirt, she adds, is "very mermaid-y — an ode to Paco."
Though, she confesses, the look wasn't her first choice.
"Emrata's wearing the outfit that I really wanted to wear... Can't compete," Sevigny says. "I'm not going to wear the same outfit that she's wearing — but I am very interested in the chain mail."
Photo: Madison Voelkel/BFA.com/Courtesy of H&M
When I ask her what's the most Scorpio thing about her, as an elite among us Scorpios, she considers it for a second.
"I'm jealous as an m'er-effer," she answers. However, Sevigny doesn't really get fashion envy — it'll happen on occasion, but "probably more [with] people that aren't really boldface names," she explains, "just kids on the street or out at Lucien. I'm like, 'I wish I still had that body, when I was 20.'"
"It's more about that youthful exuberance or a lack of self-awareness, more so than an actual style — a way of wearing something or getting away with something that I'm not sure [I could] at my age now," she continues. "Maybe I think about it less in a way that's not as good. I'm too busy to actually take the time to get together a good outfit, and then I get somewhere, I'm like, 'I should've actually thought about it a little more, in the rush of the last half hour between the babysitter arriving and me leaving.'"
As far as her other Scorpio qualities, Sevigny says: "I'm stubborn as an m'er-effer. I'm loyal and fiercely protective." In terms of how she dresses, she speculates it might inform how she gravitates towards pieces that are about being sexy and "attracting men, attracting women."
Photo: Madison Voelkel/BFA.com/Courtesy of H&M
"There's a lot of validation, which I feel like now I'm getting over a little bit," she says. "But when I was younger, it was a lot about that. I feel like a lot of that came from how I felt in my body and how I looked in clothes."
Right now, Sevigny finds herself gravitating towards kitten heels and "cozy, soft sweaters you want to touch."
"It's more about tactile things than about actual skin," she adds.
Which brings us back to the brand now known as simply Rabanne: Sevigny's worn the historically innovative French fashion house for many years, drawn "the technical advancements that [the founder] made." She always loved the headpieces, and is considering copping some from the H&M capsule. ("They're pretty great — I didn't wear one tonight, but... for life? New Year's Eve? Who knows?")
The sparkle and movement Rabanne pieces offer have made it a favorite for party wear. Of course, Sevigny is a regular on party wear mood boards (see here, here, here, here, here) — and for her, it's usually all about a mini: "My legs is what I got, so I've got to work with what I got." Throw in the kitten heels and a Wolford bodysuit, she adds, and you're set.
"I think a great party outfit is something where you're cool and comfortable and can dance and feel sexy," she says.
Sevigny already has a birthday outfit picked out. For that, her H&M x Rabanne look and the Christopher John Rogers dress she wore to the 2023 CFDA Awards on Monday, it's about optimism.
"I feel like, right now, bringing color and fun and optimism to clothes is really important — not important, but fun for me. [I'm] trying to move away from the all-black uniform that I've stuck by, tried and true, for years and trying to bring a little more lightness and brightness and frivolity that's so lacking in the world. The one place we can do that is in fashion, so why not?"
H&M x Rabanne is currently available to shop online at hm.com and at select H&M stores.
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