If you asked me which woman I would like to be from 21 June 2022 to 21 September 2022, I wouldn’t have to think twice: I would like to be 24-year-old American actor Chloe Cherry at the last Coachella. I’d want her same attitude, that same shade of platinum blonde and, above all, the same outfits. Naturally I’ve been religiously following the Chloe Cherry Closet [pink bow emo- ji] Instagram page for months now, and it has long replaced and surpassed the decidedly more boomer everyoutfitonsatc page. My fave Chloe look from Coachella was the one with the statement T-shirt that screamed: SEX WITH YOU SUCKS. Which should probably be the footnote to my sex life, but we’re not here to talk about me. Come to think of it, there isn’t a single Euphoria star who hasn’t become a style icon: Hunter Schafer for Prada, Zendaya for Valentino and Chloe Cherry, who is the most indie of them all when it comes to fashion, for less mainstream brands such as Blumarine (styling by Lotta Volkova) and GCDS. We can definitely say that she’s the Chloe Sevigny of the series and of Gen Z in general, thanks to her underground and unconventional relationship with the world of fashion. Chloe plays heroin-addict Faye in Euphoria, a character who opens and closes the series in a truly elliptical and almost gestalt way—we have no doubt that Faye will become more of a MAIN CHARACTER in the third season. Oh, and guess what? MAIN CHARACTER is another fashion statement from another of Chloe’s tees.
Perfect_angelgirl is Chloe’s Instagram handle and she boasts 1.2 million followers. She comes from an Amish family and a career in porn films (she has appeared in over 200 X-rated films)—a biopic of her life would be the feminist red-light version of a Woody Allen movie. Her social media persona is a Lynchian Lolita. My favourite of all her fashion accessories is the artsy balaclavas she wears, representative of an aniconic minimalism with hints of kitsch like the one with the bunny ears, an aesthetic syncretism somewhere between Playboy, Bunny Boy from Harmony Korine’s cult film Gummo, and Rabbits by David Lynch. On 9 March, Chloe appeared on the latest hit podcast Call Her Daddy, where she confessed to the legendary Father Cooper that she had suffered from eating disorders for years because an agent in the porn industry called her fat. But I have to say that the main life lesson I learned from Chloe came from the Going Deeper podcast, which she appeared on in April, and in which she opened up on the now secularized theme of Sugar Daddies. Getting a Sugar Daddy is a transient dating practice whereby beautiful young women with financial problems date older, wealthier men for financial support. Without any sense of Judeo-Catholic guilt, in Chloe’s case; she confessed that the Sugar Daddies, whom she no longer dates, taught her the importance of care and she now demands the same level of attention and gallantry as those elderly knights from the young men she goes out with. The ghost of Lana Del Rey and I couldn’t agree more. Sadly, I don’t meet Chloe in Milan but on a Skype call. It is seven in the evening in Italy and nine in the morning over there.
GIADA BIAGGI: You’ve got a pretty varied background: you came from an Amish family and you ended up as a porn actor. What happened in-between?
CHLOE CHERRY: So many things [laughs]. But I don’t want to talk about that part of my life. I am what I am doing right now, I am my present. I think that a lot of people end up doing things that are very different from the environments they grew up in, I’m not special. I got into porn because being a porn actor is a job like any other, actually it’s probably better paid than most, meaning you can live, pay your rent, support yourself and indulge yourself too.
GB: Have you ever been stereotyped by your career choices in your personal life?
CC: No, I have always been surrounded by people who understand the difference between me and my work, between my personality and my persona. I am really very lucky—or perhaps I’ve just been very wise—in that I have managed to create the least toxic ecosystem possible given my career.
GB: I read that you were chosen for Euphoria because you did a porn parody of the series. Is that true or is it just a rumour?
CC: It is so crazy how that is going round the internet, but that’s not how it happened. The director of the series (Sam Levinson, Ed.) simply scouted me on Instagram and sent me a DM. It really annoys me that there’s this totally bogus version of how things went in the media.
GB: Well, as an interviewer, I’m very happy. You’ve given me a scoop!
CC: Yes! I couldn’t wait to call out that bit of fake news.
GB: Do you see yourself as an author in the future or do you imagine you will continue professionally as an actor?
CC: No, writing isn’t my thing but I really like interpreting and bringing to life the words of others. I think that the two things are equal in terms of difficulty and dignity.
GB: Let’s talk about Faye, the character you play in Euphoria. Can you tell me one thing you have in common with her and one thing that’s totally different?
CC: The thing we have in common is our clothes. The clothes she wears in the series are my actual clothes in real life. While we totally differ on the heroin addiction thing. Good thing too, I might add.
GB: The series starts with a very powerful scene where Faye injects heroin directly into her leg, how did you pre- pare for that?
CC: I have a very corporeal relationship with acting so I really tried to be inside the character in the most physical way possible for that minute of shooting. And the result was what you saw. It is always about being as physically empathetic as possible at the time.
GB: Let’s talk about fashion. We saw you walk for Blumarine and GCDS here in Milan. What’s your relationship with fashion?
CC: I have always loved fashion. I think of walking in shows as a sort of contemporary art performance. Like acting, walking in shows is a matter of how your body can dance in a very limited amount of time.
GB: What is one of your favourite brands?
CC: I really like Ashley Williams. Everything she does is really fun and her aesthetic is 100% me.
GB: Have you ever thought of launching your own brand?
CC: Yes, that’s one of the things I would like to do in the future; I think I’ve got my own personal and quite commodifiable vision. It’s not a priority for me right now but I wouldn’t rule it out as an option in a few years.
GB: You were the victim of body-shaming for your lip fillers. How do you deal with this sort of criticism on a daily basis?
CC: That kind of criticism makes me really sad, more than angry. Most people tell me that I would look better without the fillers, which I find kind of a nothing observation. It’s not that offensive, you know? Just useless. I think that it’s a gender issue as well, women are more exposed to judgement no matter what they do aesthetically. Sadly we just have to get over it and keep doing what we are doing.
GB: Any directors you would like to work with? I could really see you in a Tarantino film, you’re very pulp…
CC: I would like to work with Sean Baker, I think that Tangerine is one of the best films ever made!
GB: If you were an animal, which would you be? Imaginary ones count too.
CC: Oh, I’m very prepared on the theme of animals [laughs]. I would like to be a Beluga, the famous white whales from Alaska. They are so cute!
GB: And what object would you be if you were an object?
CC: I’d probably like to be a soap: very practical and you smell great, what else?
GB: Any role models you can tell us about? Women who have helped you be the person you are today or have motivated you in your work?
CC: The two actors that I most respect and who have helped me to be “more me” are Natalie Portman and Margot Robbie. They are both producers, as well as actors, and I find them both to be very empowering women in our industry.
GB: Plans for the future?
CC: I can’t say a thing except that I will be in the cast for Euphoria Season 3. The rest is extremely confidential.
