Exclusive Images of Chloe Sevigny’s New (& First!) Book
From Vice magazine, 2006. Photo: William Strobeck
The New Yorker famously called her “the coolest girl in the world,” so Chloë Sevigny needs little introduction. Boasting a resume of eclectic credentials—each one more impressive and unique than the last—she is that rare creature who is cool without trying, effortless without being conceited, and interesting without being pretentious. A muse to film directors, designers, and musicians for over two decades, her latest venture is a self-titled book published by Rizzoli that chronicles her journey from a teen trawling skate parks in the early ‘90s, to her career as an it-girl, actress, and model bar none.
Featuring high-school portraits, Polaroids, diary entries, outtakes from fashion shoots, and more from her personal archive (including three images you can see exclusively here), the 224-page book is part-style bible, part-autobiography. Coming full circle, the book’s introduction is by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, who gave Sevigny her first big break when she cast her in the music video for her song “Sugar Kane” in 1992. Released tomorrow, April 21, the book also contains film stills from Sevigny’s numerous starring roles in cult classics like Kids, Boys Don’t Cry, and American Psycho. Described by Gordon as a sneak peak into her teenage bedroom, we also like to think of the book as a celebration of alternative choices and a how-to guide to almost being as cool as Chloë.
On the set of Party Monster, 2002. Photo: Lizzi Bougatsos
In spite of being famed as an original New Yorker, Sevigny is, in fact, from Darien, Connecticut (by way of birth in Massachusetts). A social drifter through high school, she spent her teenage years hanging out with hippie-kids, listening to The Grateful Dead, and driving up to Vermont to camp out in the countryside. Content with life in the suburbs, it was not until her elder brother Paul moved to New York, that she came to be acquainted with the city she would come to represent and call her own. Dipping in and out of the Tompkins Square Park skate scene whilst visiting him each weekend, a Sassy Magazine editor noted Sevigny’s style and asked if she would like to spend the summer as their intern.
A few modeling jobs ensued, along with a budding relationship with then-aspiring film writer Harmony Korine [Kids, Spring Breakers], through whom Sevigny met Gordon. “She was sweet and fresh and androgynous,” writes Gordon in the book’s introduction.
From Purple magazine, 2005. Photo: Inez & Vinoodh
Instantly transfixed by her signature style of Salvation Army and thrift store finds and hair cut into a short pixie-crop, Gordon decided to take a chance on the teen and cast her—both clothed and naked—in Sonic Youth’s aforementioned music video, alongside designer Marc Jacobs. Shortly after, Sevigny and a young, unknown actress named Rosario Dawson, agreed to play two of the lead roles in a low-budget film Korine had written about New York’s AIDS crisis from the viewpoint of the city’s youth. Now a cult-classic, Kids received mixed reviews upon its release, but its controversial subject matter succeeded in catapulting Sevigny into public consciousness and securing her forever unshakeable, of-the-moment, downtown cool status.
The cover of Chloe, published by Rizzoli.
Sevigny’s ascension from indie to A-list came from carefully choosing individual, cool-girl roles over supporting parts in blockbusters like Legally Blonde. Prioritizing interesting scripts over bumper paychecks has meant playing a secretary in American Psycho, a sister wife in HBO’s hit-series Big Love, and scoring an Oscar nomination for her role in Boy Don’t Cry.
“Chloë was the reason for the reinvention of the horrible term ‘it-girl’” Gordon says in her introduction, but “[she cannot] be reduced to "sexy” or “pretty” or “cute” or any of the other tags the world uses to tell girls what they are.” She’s just Chloe Sevigny—and she’s unlike anyone else.
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