AN OUTSPOKEN VOICE IN A NEW GENERATION OF ACTIVISTS, MULTIHYPHENATE ROWAN BLANCHARD OPENS UP TO RODARTE’S KATE AND LAURA MULLEAVY ON FASHION, FILM AND FEMINISM

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZOEY GROSSMAN CREATIVE AND FASHION DIRECTION BY ALISON EDMOND EDITED BY MELISSA GOLDSTEIN MICHAEL KORS COLLECTION dress, $9,500. MANOKHI choker, $71. GLYNNETH B necklaces, $395 and $550. CHANEL dress, $11,600, gloves, $1,475, and earrings, $1,425. GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI boots, $1,495. True to her Generation Z roots, Rowan There was something very exciting about short, so you have to take every moment Blanchard isn’t one to stay in the lane you. We didn’t know anything about you, to observe everything you can. It informs assigned to her. She made her name star- but we did wonder: Who is this person? every artistic process—to be a part of life ring in the Disney Channel series Girl It was cool to meet you and see that you and to experience it. In fashion, I do notice Meets World, and followed that with a have such a broad and wonderful curiosity. how fast it’s all moving, and how much it’s turn in Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time At what point in your life did you realize changing. What makes you love fashion? (2018), but for the 16-year-old Angeleno, that you had an artistic inclination outside Rowan: Well, I find the idea of having a the label “actor” doesn’t begin to skim the of acting? body to be so weird. Like, it’s weird to be surface. There’s also her recent campaign Rowan: I started acting when I was 5, so born into a skin and just have to figure it for Miu Miu (which, for the record, has it is basically the only thing that I remem- out. And I think that fashion is this way— her “on cloud nine,” she says), yet adding ber. There was always this part of me that especially now in my teenage years, where “model” to her bio is, at best, reductive. couldn’t really see myself just acting— I feel so strange about what it means to be Instead, Blanchard describes herself as just being somebody’s puppet. The more looked at, and, like, wanting to be looked “a person who thinks a lot,” and backs movies I watched and accumulated, and at and [wanting to] manipulate that. But it up: Look no further than her public the more books I read, the more artists I also, it’s fun. And, of course, it’s serious musings on intersectional feminism and learned about, I felt like I had more ammu- and an art form, but it’s fun to try on identifying as queer (she has 5.2 million nition or something. Even on Girl Meets clothes and I get excited for fittings and I followers on Instagram and more than World, once I realized I could have input get excited when I get to go to your studio. half a million on Twitter), her speech in the show rather than just playing Riley, Laura: It is! Fashion is fun. And you at the U.S. National Committee for UN it made me interested in creating more know, the participation of women fashion Women’s annual conference as part of things. designers in fashion history is so pow- #TeamHeForShe, and Still Here (Razor- Kate: Was it set up in your household to erful, and yet, still such a marginalized bill), her art project-styled book, pub- be interested in the arts, or is that some- voice. I was just told that only 14 percent lished earlier this year, which features thing that kind of came from you? of major fashion companies are designed “IT FEELS LIKE EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO QUICKLY AND SO IN THE MOMENT THAT IF I STOP TO WRITE ABOUT IT, I’LL MISS IT.” multimedia contributions from the likes Rowan: My parents definitely influ- by, or headed by, women. But I feel like of Gia Coppola and Jenny Zhang on the enced me. It was encouraged: I saw The fashion is a world that is super accepting subject of teenagehood and growing up. Rocky Horror Picture Show too early, and still has so far to go...I mean, the great- Naturally her friendships manifest in and I was allowed to view art as art, and est changes in fashion have happened a creative crew, including Coppola, Yara spend time in museums and sort of wan- because of women: Vivienne Westwood Shahidi, and Rodarte’s Kate and Laura der. When I started to have access to the with punk, or Madeline Vionnet removing Mulleavy, who first met Blanchard at a internet on my own, I was able to fall into the corset, or, you know, Coco Chanel say- dinner party they hosted to celebrate their these internet spirals of artists...I think ing, ‘Let’s wear flats.’ I think that’s what’s 2016 collaboration with & Other Stories, that’s a lot of why it seems like my gener- so cool about it. What do you want to and later invited her to co-star in their Fall ation is impressively well-informed in art achieve with your voice? 2018 lookbook alongside Kirsten Dunst, and movies and stuff, because so much of Rowan: I still toy a lot with whatever Grimes and Miranda July. “Rowan has an online culture is based in aesthetic. it means to call myself an activist or an individual soul,” notes Laura, “and you Kate: That reminds me: You wrote a artist or someone who just likes words, want to see that within fashion, because book. Are you going to write another one? and I guess at the end of the day, I’m just fashion is about individuality.” Rowan: The book came out in February, a person who thinks a lot, and sometimes The designers-cum-filmmakers, who and I still feel like so much has happened it feels like I can compile those thoughts will be the subjects of the first fashion to me personally since then. So much of enough to share them with others. For exhibition organized by the National your teenhood is about dreaming about me, the thing I really want to achieve by Museum of Women in the Arts in Wash- what it’s going to be like...and I’m finally using my voice is to have more of a con- ington, D.C., this November, connected hitting the point where I feel like I’m living versation. For now, I want to listen more with Blanchard on the heels of her Miu the movie [moments] and having all these and not speak as much, and maybe speak Miu campaign to discuss artistic ammuni- glimpses—like, oh, that’s like Heathers! At when I feel like what I have to say hasn’t tion, the power of a public platform, and some point, when I’m able to get a bit of been said, or it’s important for me to say it. the unadulterated fun of fashion. distance from it, I will sit and write. But There’s this sort of construed thing online Laura: When Kate and I and Kirsten right now, it feels like everything is hap- that anyone who has a platform has to [Dunst] were shooting the movie we made pening so quickly and so in the moment speak on everything. together [Woodshock], we ended up watch- that if I stop to write about it, I’ll miss it. Laura: For me, social media is a very ing Girl Meets World on our Saturdays off. Laura: People always say that life’s different language Continued on p.194

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SEE SHOPPING GUIDE FOR DETAILS, P.195. BEAUTY AND THE ANGST Finally, another establishment opening pertains to a male gaze—I really couldn’t CONTINUED FROM P.134 in the next year promises to leave its mark be happier to have my first official cam- on Downtown Los Angeles. Next spring, paign be representing her brand and her… Classical dance appealed to Prager right the long-awaited Soho Warehouse will Kate: I’ve seen you be involved in fash- away; she counts The Red Shoes as one open near the Arts District, in the former ion for a while now. There’s some people of her favorite films. “From far away, bal- music rehearsal studios at 1000 S. Santa who fit in naturally with it, and don’t let let looks like the most beautiful fantasy Fe Ave. The 80,000-square-foot space is it take over their lives, and when those you’ve ever seen. But then you see the to be Soho House & Co’s third and largest people come around, you notice them. For makeup up close when you’re finished opening on the West Coast, bringing 48 me as a designer, I come from the school with the performance, with all the sweat bedrooms, a spa and gym, a 9,700-square- of thought that fashion is about challeng- coming through—it’s got a horror film foot club space and a seventh-floor rooftop ing the status quo and sharing ideas, and aspect to it.” pool to the area near Bestia. Like Little working with you, Rowan, is always a In La Grande Sortie, the female dancer Beach House Malibu, Soho Warehouse is pleasure. Is there anything else you’re begins to interact with her audience expected to draw members from its sur- looking forward to on the horizon? and embarks on a tortured mental roller rounding neighborhoods, in this case Sil- Rowan: Hopefully I get to make more coaster that ends with a narrative mic ver Lake, Echo Park and Downtown. weird movies. I just want to write more drop. For Prager, it was not only an oppor- “Soho Warehouse is a keystone that will things and act in more things and make tunity to explore “the ugly underbelly help create critical mass in the neighbor- things that I think are worth making. So coming together” of that world, but also hood,” says Oliver Wilson, a key player in much of the culture is to put things out to dive into the mental pressure on artists, the Downtown community and CEO of East and not take your time. I’ve been thinking expected to be so public and no longer Eighth Street-based Gladys Tamez Milli- about this quote by Solange where she says just speak through their work. nery, whose clients include Lady Gaga and she doesn’t put things out until they’re fin- “For me personally, La Grande Sortie had Beyoncé. “It will give the area a legitimacy ished. I’m sitting with that quote this sum- a lot to do with me confronting an audience,” that will break the ‘I don’t go east of La Brea mer and thinking about what I can make. she says. “How you can become your audi- or west of Vermont’ mentality.” And I’m not going to release it into the ence when you’re up on a stage, or when “Downtown L.A. already has an incred- world until it’s finished.• you’re doing anything where you feel vulner- ible community of local businesses, able. Your reality can be warped by whatever artists and creatives, and it only contin- state your mind is in.” ues to grow. We want Soho Warehouse Silver Lake Drive may mark the end of 10 to be a place that is integrated into the HOUSE OF STYLE years of one thought, but she’s already mov- neighborhood,” says Jones of Soho CONTINUED FROM P.180 ing on. “I like to come up with an idea that House & Co. “As the nine-to-five way of I’m really into and I feel like it challenges me, life fades, our spaces become even more expansive stainless steel island, is where terrifies me. If I’m not a little bit scared, then important to people.” they often prepare meals using Givenchy I’m just coasting,” she says. You can feel that “The time is right for private member- family recipes, including those culled she’s on the brink of something bigger, mov- ship clubs, because now more than ever from Hubert’s personal cookbook. Sunday ing forward purely by instinct, like a woman we are so disconnected and crave human nights are reserved for family dinners, for grappling in the dark. So then what’s next? interaction,” says San Vicente Bungalow’s which Olivier makes his French-style roast She plays it coy. “I’ve already started it,” Klein of joining the ranks. “I feel this chicken, ratatouille and sautéed rice pilaf she says. • senseRunover of isolation is more and more preva- with foie gras. lent with everyone... That is why provid- “We love to entertain,” says Zoë, cit- ing a community of like-minded people is ing Easter egg hunts, a Halloween monster so powerful right now.” • mash, and La Fête de Rois (the Feast of Kings), a French celebration beloved for the ACES OF CLUBS traditional pastries that are served. Dinner CONTINUED FROM P.141 parties at the de Givenchy residence—such as a private members club just a hop, skip GIRL TALK as the one they hosted with interior designer Nathan Turner for their mutual friend India and a jump away from the Tower Bar, at 845 CONTINUED FROM P.151 N. San Vicente Blvd. Hicks—are coveted invitations. “We set up Klein bought the gay countercultural form—it’s not something that I’ve ever felt here,” Zoë says, gesturing toward a gor- landmark and former clothing-optional like opening up on. I can get maybe four geous 9-foot round walnut dining room bathhouse (which had been operating as a sentences out and that’s my limit. But it’s table, which she designed to complement men-only sex-and-drugs retreat since the powerful to see someone so comfortable the glass-walled square dining room. “And 1980s) for a reported $11 million in 2013, with it, using it. Because it’s natural to I love to do the flowers,” says Zoë, who is attracted by its historic bungalows. After you, you have something to say that can besotted with the flower markets down- four years of being run as a cleaned-up go deeper, and I really appreciate it when town. “But if I run out of time, I call Eric pop-up hotel, the 29 cabanas are being con- people use it that way. [Buterbaugh].” verted into a members club with a pool res- Rowan: Thanks, Laura! From the master bedroom, with its floor- taurant, bar, Academy-standard screening Laura: You’re welcome. Let’s talk about to-ceiling windows, you can see planes tak- room, private dining rooms and nine hotel your Miu Miu campaign, which just came ing off over the ocean. It’s an apropos scene rooms for members, all created under the out. It’s such a huge moment. I hope you for the international couple, who spend aesthetic direction of Rita Konig. The Brit- celebrate [the campaign] and let it be fun summers abroad in London and Monaco and ish interior designer has also overseen a sec- and exciting. Sometimes you don’t take the visit Le Jonchet, the family chateau outside ond property, No. 850, Klein’s newly built time to appreciate these really big things of Paris, throughout the year. From their 23-bedroom boutique hotel set behind the that happen because you’re in a world L.A. vantage point, you feel at once con- clapboard facade of a landmark Victorian of bigness—like, everything is about the nected and removed from the city below. bungalow. With Klein’s connections—he public eye—but when you do have those “A life above it all” is what Paul Trousdale owns the Monkey Bar in New York with moments you should take the time and say, promised residents of the neighborhood he Graydon Carter and is married to producer ‘This is really special,’ because the first developed, after having purchased the land John Goldwyn—and a new Sunset Tower one doesn’t happen again. from the Doheny family in 1954. “There’s business partner, Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Fer- Rowan: Teetering on the edge of mod- that Frank Lloyd Wright quote, ‘Tip the rat’s owner Len Blavatnik, San Vicente Bun- eling is terrifying to me, so being able to world over on its side and everything loose galows is poised to restore exclusivity to the work with someone like Miuccia Prada— will land in Los Angeles,’” says Zoë. “I’m not private members scene and be the new inti- who is literally a radical and considers sure exactly what it all means,” she admits. mate playground of elite Hollywood—over herself a communist, and never strives “But L.A. and the people here have been so all of which Dimitrov will faithfully preside. to make girls look desirable in a way that wonderful and welcoming.” •

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