Chloë Sevigny: ‘There’s a quirk to me. I’m not a conventional beauty’

Miu Miu uses the name Miutine, their irreverent fragrance, as an adjective to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding and unconstrained. “One who navigates life on their own terms…effortlessly,” the brand says. “They do not always show up on time... But when they arrive… You notice.” Fittingly, as Miu Miu Beauty’s new ambassador, Chloë Sevigny did in fact show up to our call late – but she did so with noticeable conviction.

Sevigny joins tennis champion Coco Gauff and model Paloma Elsesser as one of the three new US Miu Miu Beauty ambassadors, with a digital campaign brought to life by artist-filmmaker Petra Collins. The first thing Sevigny did when she heard that she’d been chosen as the US ambassador of the brand was tell her mum. “She seems the most pleased and proud of me more than anyone else in my life,” she says. “And she also knows my longstanding relationship with Miuccia, and how much I respect and value her as a businesswoman and creative type.”

And it’s true – Sevigny has long been (or as she puts it, has “forever” been) a Miu Miu girl. She’s been mu(i)se for Miuccia Prada since the 90s, when she walked the runway as an angsty teenager wearing one of the Spring 1996 ready-to-wear crop tops, and even directed a film for the brand in 2017. Even when she speaks about Miuccia, she gushes. “I just find her so inspiring; so for her to want me to be one of the faces of the fragrance was such an honour,” says Sevigny. “She’s celebrated me for almost 30 years now, and just having her support throughout my career has meant so much to me.” 

Sevigny, Gauff and Elsesser join the global face of the fragrance, Emma Corrin, to paint a multifaceted picture of what the spirit of Miutine looks like: youthful in spirit and unconventional. “This is a celebration of women who exist on their own terms. Women who know the rules – and quietly undo them,” says Petra Collins. And there’s perhaps no greater example of someone who has built a career on being unabashedly themselves, staying true to their tastes and sensibilities, than Sevigny. She’s one of the rare celebrities whose years spent in the industry haven’t seemed at all to impact her ability to have an unfiltered (and often hilarious) conversation.  

Dazed caught up with Sevigny ahead of the launch to talk more about rebellion, building an unconventional career, pouting like Lily Rose Depp, and finding ageing “terrifying”. 

Congrats on being named one of the US ambassadors of Miu Miu Beauty! You’ve obviously had such a long-standing relationship with Miu Miu. Why do you think you’re so aligned? 

Chloë Sevigny: There’s a kookiness, perhaps, or a playfulness that I inhabit that aligns with the brand. People associate me with that; I’m very irreverent. I don’t want to say quirky, but there’s a certain quirk to me. I’m not a conventional beauty. I’m not a conventional actress. I’m not a conventional celebrity or personality. That’s a lot of the things that Miu Miu leans into, and our strengths align. 

So what’s been your favourite moment in or with Miu Miu?

Chloë Sevigny: Every one kind of surpasses the last, but there was a show that I walked with Gwendolyn Christie and Uma Thurman. There were a group of actresses involved in that show, and I love the fact that they have always celebrated actresses. And, of course, being an actress myself, I just think it was cool to have us all walking the runway because we’re not models. There’s something very freeing about celebrating these more unconventional beauties. I felt very proud to be a part of that show.

Tell me more about ‘Miutine’. Where do you like to wear it?

Chloë Sevigny: I like to spray it on my wrists and then dab it around with my natural oils. And it’s very long-lasting, you don’t have to use a lot, which I think is rare in a fragrance these days. It’s very hard to find. I usually spray it on my wrists and then behind my ears on top of my head, and then sometimes on whatever garments I’m wearing.

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve caught up with you at Dazed Beauty. Is there something new that you’ve added to your beauty routine since then?

Chloë Sevigny: I was never into this lip liner thing, but I have been plumping up my lips with a little lip liner. Lily Rose Depp, to me, is like a pretty doll version of Christina Ricci. I’m just so obsessed with her and her make-up artist, Nina Park. I want to have lips, and I’m also 50, so I’m not doing injections and stuff. For me, lip liner is a fun way to kind of plump ‘em up when you’re going out, just to feel a little sassy. I tried doing a little Botox lip flip once, and I went to the doctor the next day, like, ‘I can’t handle this. This makes me feel insane. Make it stop right now.’ I couldn’t even suck a straw. I’m the worst contender for that kind of thing, so the lip liner is a really good sneaky alternative. 

Yeah, I’ve seen on TikTok some people can’t drink from a straw with that. 

Chloë Sevigny: Oh my God. I couldn’t even suck a straw! It was terrifying. I was like, ‘How do people do this?’ And she’s like, ‘It’ll go away eventually’. It made me feel paranoid and insane.

Aside from your lip liner, what are three products that you don’t leave the house without? 

Chloë Sevigny: I can’t leave the house without a comb or a brush. I have an OCD about brushing both my eyebrows and the hair on my head, which is really weird and gross. I obviously try to do it in private areas like bathrooms, but I have a thing about it. I have this little comb in my bag and then a little hair brush from Jenna Perry, my colourist, who makes these pocket brushes that flip open. It’s purple. It has her initials on it, and then you pop out. The brush also has a mirror. It’s very helpful.

Then I can’t really leave my house without Dr Paw Paw Balm. I’m an obsessive hand washer, so then my hands get dry and I need something to rub on my fingertips and my cuticles. That is my favourite. The third thing would be Weleda Skin Food, which is to make my cheeks a little more dewy and also for my hands.

I was so staunchly against Hollywood that I would’ve told my 19-year-old self to just be more open to more commercial work, more comedic work. I was very scared. I didn’t think I was funny. And now I get to do a lot of comedy

‘Miutine’ has been described as ‘irreverent’ and ‘unconventional’. Do you consider yourself a rebellious person? 

Chloë Sevigny: I think rebellion is something that I’ve always been attracted to; people who exist outside of the norm and aren’t interested in bowing to convention, who would rather break moulds and introduce new ways of seeing things. Or even introducing conversations that people aren’t necessarily having. That can be through film, fashion and art, however, especially with the filmmakers that I’ve been drawn to, from Kids to Boys Don’t Cry to even all of my work with Ryan Murphy. It’s just making people have uncomfortable conversations that can hopefully help propel society forward. I feel like those kinds of things always come out of a more rebellious nature. 

It’s actually been 30 years this year since Kids first came out. What would you tell your 19-year-old self now? 

Chloë Sevigny: I was very selective. Now, things have changed, but in the 90s, it was like you were either indie or you weren’t. I had a very staunch commitment to being indie and not Hollywood. Now, I think there’s more fluidity, and you can kind of do both. I mean, I probably could have gotten away with it. There are women now who have come out on the other side, like Michelle Williams or Kirsten Dunst, and they navigated both. I was so staunchly against Hollywood that I would’ve told my 19-year-old self to just be more open to more commercial work, more comedic work. I was very scared. I didn’t think I was funny. And now I get to do a lot of comedy. But if I had been open to doing more comedies early, maybe I would have had a different career path. I don’t know.

How has your relationship to beauty, or overall beauty philosophy, changed over the years?

Chloë Sevigny: I feel like it’s been pretty consistent. I feel like I’ve always tried to play up my strengths: my eyelashes, my hair and dressing for my legs, or whatever. I know what works for me, and I think I leaned into the red lip for so many years because I felt like it would draw people’s eyes to my lips and not my nose. Just ways of finding beauty tricks to accentuate whatever you already like about yourself, instead of focusing on things you don’t. That’s something I still try to do, but now I’m 50 and ageing is really terrifying. Middle age is a really weird place to be in. I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate that and find confidence in that – to not be so scared of it.

Speaking of beauty tricks, do you have any for us all?

Chloë Sevigny: I mean, other than going to my dermatologist for a very expensive PRP? They are so boring: if I have a big event, I try not to drink alcohol for a few days before just to be really hydrated. Dehydration is really from the inside out. I’m also very into doing an ice bath before an event for my face. I don’t even know if that really works. But I love under-eye patches and keep those in the fridge. Even if it doesn’t work, it makes you feel like it goes.

I also have a little Ziip, a microcurrent device, that’s also expensive, so now I feel like such a cow just naming all of these expensive devices. But also just moving your body around and jumping up and down a bunch. If it gets you to emotionally feel better, you’re going to look better. That can help with all of that: getting your nerves fired up.