Chloë Sevigny’s Latest Collaboration Is For Skater Girls Everywhere

Chloë Sevigny is cool and collected first thing on a Thursday morning, despite a slew of interviews in the early hours. With just days leading up to the release of her latest partnership with famed skate brand Fucking Awesome, she appears on Zoom, casually dressed in a striped polo sweatshirt and silver wired frames, pointing out our matching curly fringe. This feels true to what is known about Sevigny, and it’s no wonder that she fits the FA bill so well.

At this stage of her career, Sevigny, now 48, has a stacked resume: award-winning actor and director, as well as a dedicated fashion collaborator. Now, she’s adding designer under her belt, taking charge of the label’s first-ever foray into womenswear — though she emphasizes that calling it a collection is a bit of an overstatement. She created a 12-piece capsule that follows the DNA of underground skater culture blended with her personal style, most reminiscent of the beloved ‘90s and 2000s.

In it, you’ll find feminine yet functional streetwear silhouettes epitomizing the aesthetic of the early aughts: pleated skirts, an argyle derivative sweater vest, and shrunken baby tees. Sevigny points out cheeky short-shorts as a standout favorite, along with delicately embossed polos and graphic hoodies. Most styles are lined with adornments like deadstock lace sourced in Los Angeles, Japanese ribbons and embroidery, and chenille patches.

The highlights of the collection are T-shirts printed with Sevigny’s classic high school yearbook photo, the same one that graced the brand’s skate decks back in 2014, now highly coveted on resale platforms with prices listed over $1,000. This time around marks a revival of that popular image, which also comes updated on the quintessential board with iridescent paint.

“I don’t even know how to begin,” Sevigny says before diving deep into the genesis of her collaboration with the skate brand. She tells the story as such: Jason Dill is a dear friend she met through filmmaker William Strobeck. “I fell in love with him. His skating style, his clothes, his brain... I was just obsessed with him,” she tells NYLON.

Soon after Dill started his label, he released skateboard decks surrounding the team’s school portraits, but it was a mutual friend who suggested using Sevigny’s senior high school photo on a deck. She’s admittedly not a skateboarder, but after agreeing to the cause, the item quickly became a hit novelty. Its accompanying T-shirt also sold out lightning fast. “I would even see it around town,” she recalls.

Unlike her inaugural collaboration, she’s more in touch with how she wants her capsule with Fucking Awesome to be — reviving the old while introducing the new. “There’s a new generation that wants this skateboard, and even though they could buy it on eBay, it’s really expensive,” she explains. “We wanted to make something accessible to the kids again and thought of a capsule collection. This time is more about releasing a skateboard and adding a few cute things to surround it.”

Sevigny’s collaboration with Fucking Awesome is priced from $50 to $200 and will be available on the brand’s website, as well as at their three brick-and-mortar locations in Hollywood, New York, and Seoul. Ahead, Sevigny discusses the collection in detail, along with her personal style, and more.

Do you have any favorite standout pieces from the collection? How would you style them?

Aside from the short-shorts, I like the black baby tee because I feel like it minimizes my boobs. I’m into a large trouser look, so I’d pair it with that and a shoelace belt to give a more sophisticated version of the skate uniform.

You've been busy with fashion-related projects lately, from your Proenza Schouler campaign to starring in Chopova Lowena's look book, and of course, your famous closet sale. What are some things you learned while working on these fashion projects, and how did you apply those lessons to this collaboration?

I learned that it’s nice to be able to protect yourself, because as a collaborator, you’re giving yourself over to people, but you also want to be seen the way you want to be seen. It’s important to surround yourself with creatives that you trust, but it’s also fun to give yourself over as well.

For Chopova Lowena, for instance, they wanted me to be this character. It was very standalone; there was no money, but I love those girls and I wanted to help them grow their brand, similar to the Fucking Awesome situation. Proenza Schouler is a little more refined and in my head, I thought that kind of job could lead to a different job just like it, and that could help free up time for me to do this other job and help someone, so it’s cyclical.

These days, I get offered more and more stuff, and I wonder if I’m doing too much or if I’m overexposed. But all of these brands I’ve worked with lately have different audiences. I love working for people that I’m inspired by and I love supporting brands that are friends. I want to see them do well and succeed because I’m into their vision and their aesthetics.

How would you describe your personal style today, and how has it evolved over the years? Would you say your style now is similar to what it was in your 20s, for example?

My hemlines are getting a little longer as I get older, for sure, but I’d say my style now is a little more subdued. I look back at a lot of my insecurities when I was younger: I felt that I wasn’t interesting enough, and if I was single and going out, I wanted to wear something new so I could feel sexy. My self-worth at that time in my life was weirdly related to clothes, and it’s taken years to evolve out of that mentality.

I’m still very much into shopping and vintage, and I love the thrill of the hunt. I get so much satisfaction in it, but I’m trying not to acquire as much and let it dictate my mood as much because there’s such an endorphin hit from things like shopping, and that’s what drives our consumerism. I’m trying to figure out a way to be more comfortable in my own skin; to be able to wear something simple over and over again and feel good in it, and not need something new all the time. I know I’m saying this as I’m literally releasing more products into the world.

Would you say the internet and social media have a significant effect on your style these days? If so, do you have celebrities or creators you keep tabs on?

I usually know what I want, but I’m also taking in stuff everywhere. I’m inspired by a lot of kids I see on Instagram since I don't really look at magazines anymore. I find the best pieces by walking around New York and window shopping, to be honest. For example, there’s this brand called ERL and they did puffy skate shoes that I saw in Los Angeles, so I bought a pair. I was inspired by the garments they were making, and after purchasing them, I ended up wearing them all last year and will continue to.

As an OG It girl, do you have any advice for those wanting to better develop their personal style?

Honestly, whatever makes you feel good, and if you find something that works, lean into that and buy the same thing over in different variations. I did a collection for Opening Ceremony where I had different patterns and cuts of things so that if customers really wanted, they could have all of them. Don’t be afraid to lean into something, even if it seems goofy to others. This is always such a hard thing to answer but because I feel like style is so personal, as much as this may feel like a cop-out answer.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.