Women's Lifestyle April 29, 2026 0 Comments

Unlocking the Secrets Behind Chloë Sevigny’s Unforgettable Style: What Insiders Reveal That Will Change How You See Her Forever

For over three decades, people everywhere have been stunned, puzzled, and utterly fascinated by one burning question: how on earth does Chloë Sevigny consistently flip the script with her style? It’s not just fashion; it’s a kind of alchemy—like pairing a vintage Cramps tee with suspenders while strolling the East Village, sporting those iconic yellow tiger-print stockings from a relic of a vintage shop, or rocking that daring black lace YSL cycling shorts and peplum combo at the Venice Film Festival. Each look a statement, a stroke of genius only Sevigny could conjure with her unique flair. Now, isn’t it wild how she’s never really letting us in on the full story? As she puts it, “Nobody sees all those outfits, sadly, and they’re really good.” This isn’t your typical red-carpet-only style queen — Sevigny turns every single day into a runway, painting a vivid picture of effortless cool that you just can’t fake or learn. So, buckle up as we dive deep into the looks that have defined her iconic journey—from raving in a shiny blue baseball jacket in ’93 to commanding the runway at Miu Miu in ’96, and beyond. Ready to peek behind the curtain and see what truly makes her style tick? LEARN MORE

10 min read

Girls around the world have been asking the same question for the last 30 years: How does she do it? How does Chloë Sevigny pull out look after look that turns the fashion axis on its head? Maybe it’s the vintage Cramps tee with suspenders as she walks around the East Village. Or the set of yellow tiger-print stockings—a pair that launched a thousand replicas—from a vintage store that’s long shuttered. Or her black lace YSL cycling short and peplum combo from last year’s Venice Film Festival. All unique, all unexpected, all pulled off with Chloë-specific finesse.

Hers is a fashion fluency you just can’t teach. You are born with it or you are not. In our May 2026 cover story, Sevigny laments, “Everyone’s always like, ‘Chloë’s style!’ but it’s like, none of you even know my style because you don’t see me every day! There’s very few paparazzi [shots] of me day in, day out or me going out to Sway once a week. Nobody sees all those outfits, sadly, and they’re really good.” It’s true. Sevigny doesn’t just wait for a red carpet; she uses every day as a display of the sartorial cleverness lurking behind her seeming nonchalance.

We wanted to pay homage to her style alongside the cover, but instead of reporting out a straight-up oral history or asking Bazaar editors to wax lyrical about her best looks (though we did it anyway, and it inspired some lively debate), we gathered Sevigny’s nearest and dearest—think longtime friends and confidantes—to talk about which of her looks are most important. From her outfit as a teenage shop girl at Liquid Sky to her runway debut at Miu Miu in 1996, these are the looks that epitomize Chloë Sevigny.

Wearing a Shiny Blue Baseball Jacket After a Rave in 1993

Carlos Slinger and Claudia Rey, founders of Liquid Sky

Carlos Slinger

Sevigny (in a blue jacket) standing behind Moby (in a silver minidress) at a Liquid Sky party

In the early ’90s, Sevigny worked at Liquid Sky, a downtown New York boutique with a vaguely cosmos-inspired theme popular with ravers and skaters alike. “I think the photo at Liquid Sky reflected her style at that moment. She was wearing sleepers and a bright baseball jacket,” says cofounder Carlos Slinger, adding that it was taken after a rave with the electronic musicians Altern 8 and Mark Kamins.

The Casting Card for Kids, 1993

Larry Clark, director, photographer, artist, and producer

Larry Clark

Sevigny and Rosario Dawson in 1993, when Larry Clark first casted Kids.

“When I first met Chloë, I remembered thinking this girl can stop a room,” says Clark, whose harrowing 1995 film, Kids, about teenagers in New York City, kicked off Sevigny’s acting career. “Just the way she carried herself seemed to set a tone. She was just the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.”

Trying On Liquid Sky Merch, 1993

Slinger and Rey

Ruth Slinger

“I remember Chloë very individually had unique style,” says Slinger. Here, she’s wearing a miniskirt from the brand, as well as a T-shirt by Gabriel Hunter. “She never was a raver,” Slinger says, trying to put a finger on her style. “More grunge, Seattle … mixed with NYC street skate.”

Walking the Miu Miu Spring/Summer 1996 Show

Luca Guadagnino, director, producer, and screenwriter

actress chloe sevigny on the runway at miuccia pradas spring 1996 miu miu ready to wear collection at 7th on sixth in new york on november 2, 1995 photo by george chinseewwd via getty images

George Chinsee//Getty Images

new york, ny november 2, 1995 kate moss and chloe sevigny attend miu miu fashion show on november 2, 1995 in new york photo by patrick mcmullan via getty images

Patrick McMullan//Getty Images

“This image shows Chloë catwalking in the Miu Miu Spring 1996 show,” says Guadagnino, who worked with Sevigny on the films After the Hunt and Bones and All, as well as the HBO series We Are Who We Are. “I found this image so endearing. It looks so powerful for so many reasons. First of all, you can see the grace of Chloë at play, as always. You can see the way she effortlessly carries those clothes as if they’ve been hers forever. And you can see everything that will happen afterward and the iconicity of this young woman becoming who she is: Chloë Sevigny.”

Dancing at a Party in a Medieval Headdress, Late 1990s

Lizzi Bougatsos, artist and musician

Lizzi Bougatsos

“The nostalgia of this photograph for me is of course catching Chloë in a fierce dance move,” says Bougatsos, who met Sevigny while DJing a SoHo loft party. “This photograph was taken at a dance party in the late 1990s after we met. This phase preceded the lederhosen. She wears a Yankees jersey, showing her allegiance to being a New Yorker, but the thing that always got me in this photo is the headpiece. No one can pair a medieval headpiece with short shorts like this. I guess you just need those legs.”

On a Self-Service Magazine Shoot in Her Own Clothes, Early 2000s

Bougatsos

Jess Holzworth

“Chloë and that perm! That phase killed me. I think she got the inspiration from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s muse and lover, Hanna Schygulla,” says Bougatsos. “She got a photo-series job offer with Self-Service magazine for a photo shoot where she and a friend style each other and take portraits. In this particular photo, Chloë is seen in my bedroom in Williamsburg in the early 2000s. She is hunched over my drum kit disguised by a leopard blanket; one has to put a kit somewhere. Her gaze: a stone-cold fox with bedroom eyes in my boyfriend at the time’s Black Flag band T-shirt. She showed up with about three pairs of lederhosen, which became a staple of her style at the time. We also styled ourselves in tube socks and high heels; I think that trend escalated from our shoot. I added a few styling elements, like the necklace and the vest, but it was the perm that ignited me. The purse was hers that she brought, but I’m not sure why we added that to the portrait. I think it’s a badass element to the composition that brings out the strength of her pose.”

Wearing Head-to-Toe Imitation of Christ, 2001

Humberto Leon, cofounder of Opening Ceremony and creative director of Katseye

firstVIEW

“Chloë and I met the summer after she nonchalantly mentioned to WWD, when asked if she would ever design a collection, that she would like to design a couple of pieces for Opening Ceremony,” explains Leon, referencing the influential downtown New York retailer he cofounded with his friend Carol Lim. “We became homies forever after that.”

Leon concedes that she has too many good looks to pick just one but adds, “If I had to choose, I absolutely loved when Chloë was creative director of Imitation of Christ”—a fashion brand that doubled as an art project for which she collaborated with founder Tara Subkoff from 2001 to 2003. “I remember this outfit distinctly because it epitomizes her ultimate coolness. This is not an outfit most people can pull off. Only someone as incredibly cool as Chloë Sevigny could wear this with such ease and confidence. She’s carrying this vintage leopard jacket she always wore around town. The outfit also has a clash of all things Chloë: a bit punk, a bit elegant, a bit Connecticut, a bit tomboy, a bit vintage, and a lot of downright coolness.”

Wearing Her Signature Denim Shorts at a Party in New York, 2002

Carol Lim, cofounder of Opening Ceremony

Djamilla Rosa Cochran//Getty Images

“It was so hard to choose a photo! But for me, it had to be one of her in denim shorts,” says Lim, who also got to know Sevigny through Opening Ceremony. She identified this image from a party at Spashlight Studios in 2002 as a favorite. “For as long as I have known her through our travels together, she always has the perfect denim shorts. This photo shows her skill in knowing exactly how to pull a look together. She is aware of the total silhouette that is created with her body—from her hair down to her toes—and she knows how to mix both masculine and feminine elements together. Most importantly, she knows her body. Anything that she wears amplifies her confidence. My favorite style icon.”

Wearing 7 For All Mankind Jeans at the Brand’s Park City Pop-Up, 2002

Nicola Brognano, creative director of 7 For All Mankind

James Devaney//Getty Images

Brognano became creative director of the classic Y2K denim brand just last year, and one of the first things he did was tap Sevigny for the spring/summer ad campaign. “When it came time to choose our campaign star, I went back through the 7 For All Mankind archives, looking for someone who truly embodies that cool-girl style at the heart of our brand,” he explains. This photo of her at the brand’s Aspen pop-up in 2002 “immediately stood out. There’s something so effortless about her—downtown cool with just the right amount of chic. I kept coming back to this image.”

At the Ghost Flagship Store Opening, 2002

Hailey Benton Gates, model, actor, director, and writer

Alamy

When reminiscing on Sevigny’s distinct sense of style, Hailey Benton Gates—who cast Sevigny in her 2025 film Atropia, which she both wrote and directed—says this photo of the style icon at the Ghost flagship store opening in 2002 was her “first thought.” Ghost was a beloved British fashion label founded by Tanya Sarne in the 1980s that encapsulated a mid-1990s moment in fashion with its bias-cut slip dresses. Their unfussy approach to style attracted It girls like Sevigny to their orbit.

In Her Bedroom at Her Childhood Home in Darien, Connecticut, 2005

William Strobeck, filmmaker and director

PATRICK O’DELL

“Chloë grew up in a small town in Connecticut. Darien was to the right of ‘Weed Beach’—had to add that—to be exact,” says Strobeck, who first worked with Sevigny on his film My Lovely Mess and later shot her short film Where’s Bambi for Opening Ceremony. “I know what it’s like to grow up on the lake and be kind of enclosed to your neighborhood. Thoughts and dreams [confined to] your room—there was no internet at the time—to put posters and stickers up and read the inside of a cassette tape and look through a magazine over and over again. And to be aware that there is something bigger out there. I think that really sets people like her apart from others who just stay in the places they grew up. Lucky for her, NYC was close enough that she could get over here and be in an unsupervised playground, to learn the ropes of interaction and caution. I think a lot her style was bred from growing up in a small town and finding a new big city to run around. Also, I think time and place: being on earth in the ’80s/’90s/2000s and learning to navigate that era while being aware and being attractive and fun. That said, her room and club-kid days really start the career.”

In Costume on Halloween, 2007

Strobeck

Sara Jaye Weiss/Shutterstock

“It was pretty wild looking through photos of Chloë for this; there is so much to pick from,” says Strobeck. “I mean, glamour and glitz to paparazzi to kid flicks. Life on film. Chloë’s love for Halloween—I’m the opposite and don’t really dress up for it—really stood out to me. When everyone is dressing kind of lackluster, she’s getting all passionate. (She ain’t goin’ out like that.) I feel like it was her time to really dig into her Scorpio, mysterious, creative, and from-the-heart style. Joan of Arc at the Bowery Hotel and Little Red Riding Hood at Sway. These stuck out. Her love for putting a fit together is obvious, but it’s just much more about her art on Halloween.”

Wearing Simone Rocha at the 2016 Met Gala

Simone Rocha, designer

Taylor Hill//Getty Images

“We met when I dressed her for the Met Gala in a tinsel dress with provocative bites in it,” says Rocha. The theme that year: “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.”

Posing in Simone Rocha, 2019

Rocha

Photo by Harley Weir, Courtesy Simona Rocha

“This look was made for Chloë; he literally wore it in my AW19 show,” says Rocha. “It felt so her: the peep of skin, the embellished bralette, and how the look was both done and undone. That collection was also influenced by Louise Bourgeois, another formidable New York resident, so it felt fitting.”

Posing for Chopova Lowena’s Conversations With Angels, 2023

Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena, fashion designers

Photo by Charlotte Wales, Courtesy Chopova Lowena

“Having Chloë in our book Conversations With Angels was a dream come true. Seeing her in a carabiner skirt was such a special moment. She has always and will always be the best dressed and coolest person on earth, so her wearing our clothes was amazing,” Chopova and Lowena wrote in a joint email. Their 2023 tome combines their Fall 2023 collection with a romantic retelling of the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen.

Asked for one image, the two sent over the Valentine’s Day spread. “It was a defining moment for our brand!” they went on. “She was so kind and generous to be featured in our book at such an early stage of our brand. That was so cool of her. We had such a great time doing this project with Charlotte Wales in New York. It was an amazing day, and we both still can’t believe it! Her work has always been a huge inspiration for us: Kids, Party Monster, Gummo, Boys Don’t Cry—all very defining films for us growing up. Dogville. We can go on and on!”

At the Los Angeles Premiere of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, 2024

Jen Brill, creative director of Homme Girls

Leon Bennett//Getty Images

“Chloë straddles the line between being the most refined Darien, Connecticut, darling with a popped shirt collar, running that perfect Mason Pearson brush through her gorgeous blond locks, and being a punk princess covered in ruffles and ribbons,” says Brill, creative director of the magazine Homme Girls—and a close friend of Sevigny’s for decades. “Of course, I could look at billions of photos of her perfect outfits through the years, but the thing about Chloë is she’s still got it and will always have it. One of my favorite outfits from recently was her Phoebe Philo look at the premiere of Monsters. I was with her that night. She wore a peplum jacket as a minidress and let her face and legs do the work.”

At the Fall 2026 7 For All Mankind Runway Show

Brognano

Taylor Hill//Getty Images

“This is from our most recent FW26 show, my debut as creative director and the brand’s first-ever show. Seeing her sitting front row in the full look, it just clicked. Chloë is the 7FAM girl.”