Tavi Gevinson graces the September 2016 cover of Teen Vogue magazine.
The 20-year-old actress was interviewed by Grace Coddington for her cover story, opening up about Rookie, her career turns and more. Check it:
On her fashion choices when she was younger: “We weren’t allowed to wear Halloween costumes, but when I wore my costume, no one said anything because they thought it was just one of my outfits. Kids would often say, ‘You look like you’re going to a funeral.’ Then there would be the occasional kid who would say, ‘I look forward to seeing what you wear every day. It’s so interesting!’ It just made me happy.”
On being a blogger then versus now: “When I was starting out, I saw it as something that was definitely going to end. Every time I came to New York for fashion week or to interview someone, I was so sad going back home because I thought, These things don’t get to last. That’s sort of the narrative of young success. I heard an interview with George Saunders where he was saying he was really glad his books didn’t do well until he was much older. Because, he said, when you’re young, you already think you’re the center of the universe. If you have success young, it seems to confirm…It’s like, even if you’re not stumbling out of a club drunk, you go another kind of crazy where you live in an echo chamber of your own opinions.”
On going into acting: “I liked the element of being a character—I think you find something that allows you to be more authentically yourself. In high school, I was doing my magazine Rookie and a lot of writing, and I became a little less interested in the fashion world. I was approached by an agent for writing, and I said I wanted to act as well. They sent me scripts, and then I got my first Broadway play, This Is Our Youth. There are a handful of roles I didn’t get, and it’s a bummer, but I’m very lucky because I have other outlets. I can wake up and just write—I don’t need to audition to do it. I would feel crazy if I were at the mercy of getting acting jobs.”
On Rookie: “We have six other editors, and it’s pretty delegated, but I still write my editor’s letter and conceptualize larger editorial direction with them.”
