Chloë Sevigny On “Fake Disneyland” Dive Bars & Style In Her 50s
Chloë Sevigny talks to NYLON about her Ecco campaign, her upcoming film projects, her favorite New York establishments, and her styling tips for spring.
Chloë Sevigny knows what she likes — and what she doesn’t. In previous interviews, Los Angeles, fake flowers, and athleisure have all been on the receiving end of her impassioned New Yorker-style takedowns, but her strong feelings also apply to picking up her son, Vanja, from a playdate and John Turturro, whom she gushes about on the phone to me before heading off for spring break with another mom-son duo. She doesn’t tiptoe around the truth, which makes her an essential storyteller and a constant muse to filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Saint Laurent, and, now, Ecco. 
In true Chloë style, the journey to her becoming an Ecco “Icons That Last” campaign star was not the way things typically go in fashion: After noticing she spent much of 2024 doing the school run and errands in her own pair of C-Trail lace-up sneakers, the brand reached out to photograph her in its Spring 2025 offerings. (You’ll find slides, slingbacks, and, yes, the grippy fave Sevigny can’t stop wearing.) 
Ahead, we get into film, fashion, the color brown, and which New York institutions she’s happy are still around.
I love these campaign pictures you shot in Los Angeles. You were an unofficial Ecco ambassador on the street wearing those shoes all the time.
I love those damn shoes. They’re sending me a new pair. They have these new colorways that are more earth tone, so I’m excited to challenge my regular black footwear. I’ve been moving into browns now that I’ve turned 50. I bought some brown Dr. Martens, so I’m excited to try these earth-tone shoes. I bought more brown jackets. I’m trying to incorporate softer tones.
A lot of brands now are doing brown leather versus just black.
I'‘ looking for a great brown leather bomber, which you’d think YSL maybe would’ve gifted me, but no such luck.
You wore a great black one to the show. They should give you a brown one.
I wore a brown one in the campaign. I was like, “This is nice. Hint, hint.”
You're a Saint Laurent girl now. That show looked incredible.
I know. I love those ballgowns at the end. Ugh, I want to wear one so bad.
You’ve worn your Ecco shoes with a skirt and a sturdy jacket. What else do you picture yourself wearing with these shoes?
I love them so much; they’re so versatile. I’m really not into girls who wear sneakers with dresses, but these ones could work, so I’m going to try. I always go back to a calico, ditsy print, so I have some summer dresses. This girl, Giovanna Flores, do you know her? She’s a young New York designer. I got a couple of her pieces that are very whimsy, kind of Susan Cianciolo, deconstructed-art dresses. I think grounding them with this modern, structured, solid shoe would be a nice juxtaposition. I’m thinking of that for spring… and I got these Jeanerica khaki cords that are a real throwback to my youth. I love a light brown cord, so those are going to be in heavy rotation.
Is there anything you will not be wearing this spring?
I’m not up on the young-person trends, but I won’t do any midriff-baring. That time is over for me. I don’t know if that’s still trending, but yeah, done and dusted. I am very excited about these Prada granny dresses. I like having loose things on when it’s really hot and feeling free running around on the playground and not being too constricted.
I’m not up on the young-person trends, but I won’t do any midriff-baring.
That last collection was all wide dresses.
I know, but it’s very grunge with the right shoe. I think it’s so cute.
Yes, and the right hair too.
Which is disheveled, undone hair. Exactly.
I got the chance to see Bonjour Tristesse in New York last week.
My character is the opposite. She’s very polished and tightly wound.
This role — and also your role in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans — is prim and proper. I’m curious about how fashion plays into finding the character and how much it complements your process.
Well, with Bonjour Tristesse, it’s a four-parter, and the way she presents herself to the world very much informs you of this character and how different she is from the father’s other lover. It was very important for her to be very together. That was intentionally written into the part and in the novel. The costume designer, Miyako [Bellizzi], and [director] Durga [Chew-Bose] had specific ideas about her being an artist. I was thinking about Susan Cianciolo, actually, when I played her. Not that she presents herself as such, but that this person who came up in fashion and loved it so much has to approach it in a more corporate or conventional way but still hold on to some sort of edge.
And C. Z. Guest is obviously a well-known person, and even though we're playing her in the show a lot older than the images you see of her, we wanted to still have her be a certain class and present a certain fantasy, so that was also written into the part.
You went to Sundance for Magic Farm and Atropia. What drew you to these projects?
Magic Farm is coming out in April. It’s being distributed by Mubi. Both the movies are great and very different; they’re both directed by young women. [Director] Hailey Gates is an old friend of mine; she was in a short film I directed, and she asked me to come in to do a cameo for Atropia. I had seen the Miu Miu short the movie is based on, and of course I love Hailey, I love Alia Shawkat, so I went to Los Angeles to do this small bit for her.
For Magic Farm, I was a huge fan of El Planeta. [Director] Amalia [Ulman] and I met, and she told me about the idea for Magic Farm, and I thought it was hilarious. It’s like this Vice TV news organization that goes to film this music trend, and it’s not there. They wind up in the wrong town by accident, so they manufacture this trend. In the meantime, this horrible atrocity is going on with this ecocide and this pesticide they’re spraying all the soybeans with. All these people are getting birth defects, and they totally ignore the fact that’s happening. It’s pretty hilarious and disturbing, and reflective of what’s happening in our time.
And you have another Luca project, After the Hunt, coming out soon.
Yes, I think it’s slated for an October release with Julia Roberts, excuse me! And Ayo [Edebiri] and Andrew Garfield. It’s our third project together. We shot that in London, and it takes place at Yale. It’s a #MeToo examination between a student and a teacher. It’s more of a straightforward, tight script, which Luca has veered away from a little bit. I haven’t seen it yet, but I heard it just really moves. It’s less of this dreamy, meandering thing, which Challengers had moments of. This is more plot-driven.
Since the theme of this Ecco campaign is “Icons That Last,” I would love to hear your favorite New York icons that have lasted. What’s your favorite legendary bar?
I don’t really go to bars anymore, but I love Holiday [Cocktail Lounge] on St. Marks. I used to frequent that a lot. I’m glad it’s still there; it’s kind of a dive-ish bar. They had a good jukebox, cheap drinks; it’s a solid throwback. It’s not one of these Disneyland fake “old bar” bars. It’s a real old bar. Also Fanelli’s — that’s in my neighborhood, and it’s been very happening.
What about a movie theater?
I love Film Forum. It’s also close. They have a nice stand; they have nice merch. I’m glad it’s still there and able to survive with the kind of programming they do. They have a good Film Forum kids thing on Sundays at 11.
And a restaurant?
I love Omen [Azen], and if it were ever to close, it’d be very upsetting for me. It’s a neighborhood thing, where you go and always see people, and the food is always consistently good. The staff are very sweet. It’s a comfort place for me.
Patti Smith is there all the time.
Yeah, it's full of art- and fashion-world people. It’s very low-key.
What about an actor?
I like seeing Rosie Perez. I saw her at this event during New York Fashion Week, and I think she is a great New York actress. And I think John Turturro might live in Brooklyn, but I often see him around. I’m a big John Turturro fan.
Did you watch Severance?
I haven’t! I don’t have Apple TV+.
Oh, he’s incredible.
I saw him in this Philip Roth adaptation last year [Sabbath’s Theater], and then I ran into him at Sundance. But I have to do the Severance thing.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
