Chloë Sevigny on the cost of being cool

Back in the '90s and early '00s, there was no one cooler than Chloë Sevigny. In a 1994 New Yorker profile, author Jay McInerney dubbed her "the coolest girl in the world," cementing her status as the ultimate It Girl, not only of her time but possibly all time.

She was an in-demand model and actor who was known for her unique eye for fashion as well as for starring in indie films (such as Kids, Gummo, Boys Don't Cry, American Psycho and Dogville) that are now considered cult classics.

But just as you would expect from any cool girl, Sevigny has a self-deprecating sense of humour about her many accomplishments. In an interview with Q's Tom Power, she pokes fun at being referred to as a model in the host's introduction.

"Just to reverse back to my intro, model? That's a stretch," she tells Power with a laugh. "I get 'modelling jobs' more as a personality than for my looks, per se, or my height. I think people think that I bring a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain audience, a certain, you know. So I guess I don't like to refer to myself as a model. I was a terrible model when I tried modelling or whatever it was at the time."

Sevigny recalls a few different early influences that put her on the path to becoming the cultural icon she is today. Some of those influences include seeing other kids perform in the musical Annie on Broadway as well as on her favourite TV show, Little House on the Prairie. She was also inspired by a girl she knew in elementary school who was a child model.

"She was like a storybook child," Sevigny says. "This child was gorgeous. She's still a beautiful woman; I still know her. But I saw her doing it, and I was not that. I mean, I was a cute kid but not like her. And I was like, 'I want to do what she's doing!' I don't know, I just had this bug from a very young age to want to work."

Rather than modelling, Sevigny says "acting was always the plan." Around second or third grade, her mom let her start doing commercials and after-school specials until it got too hectic.

"My mom just got exhausted by the whole process," she says. "Like having to go into the city and doing these big cattle calls — and I was getting rejected a lot because either I wasn't very good or I wasn't very cute…. I think it was a little bit painful for everyone involved. So she's like, 'Nothing professional until you're 18.'"

Sevigny's big break came in high school when she was street cast by Sassy magazine, which was a seminal publication for Gen X. "They saw me on the street in New York, and they wanted to put me in the magazine," she says. "Then my mom said, 'Yes, she can model if you give her an internship.' So my mother was very clever."

It was at her summer internship in Manhattan that Sevigny landed a gig to appear in Sonic Youth's 1993 video for Sugar Kane. It's also where she became close friends with filmmaker Harmony Korine, who she'd later go on to work with on the controversial films Kids and Gummo.

"I was always interested in people who were busy. I was always interested in working and being creative. And so I just kind of surrounded myself [with] people doing those sorts of things," she says.

The cost of being cool

While being cool comes with a ton of advantages, there's also a price to be paid.

For Sevigny and her generation, you couldn't be considered cool unless you were also indie, underground and anti-establishment — badges of honour that don't square with mainstream success.

"When I started to appear in more mainstream magazines or there was mainstream interest, I kind of disengaged," she remembers. "I didn't embrace that to a fault. I would probably now have more opportunities had I [done so], but at the time, I shunned fame. I just wanted to be a working actor. I wanted to be like a character actor. And I was obsessed with Cassavetes and Godard and, you know, people who I thought were breaking the mould and doing new things."

Looking back, Sevigny says she was "kind of a snob" about what projects she chose to engage with. "Now, I feel like I've embraced a wider range of genres and filmmaking styles and fantasy movies and things that, at the time, I kind of pooh-poohed," she tells Power.

Sevigny's latest film is Durga Chew-Bose's debut feature Bonjour Tristesse, which is an adaptation of Françoise Sagan's novel of the same name. It recently had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"I love working with new talent like Durga," Sevigny says. "I love taking risks on first-timers. I think there's something about their naiveté and enthusiasm that's very contagious and fun to be around."

The full interview with Chloë Sevigny is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. She also talks about being featured in Charli XCX's video for 360 and her role as a celebrated fashion designer in Bonjour Tristesse. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Chloë Sevigny produced by Kaitlyn Swan.