Chloë Sevigny Is Over the Clean-Girl Look

Chloë Sevigny has never been one for hyper-polished beauty trends. The model, muse and mother prefers things a little lived-in, a little off-kilter. It’s an instinct that’s guided her for decades both on and off screen—and the reason her long-standing collaboration with Miu Miu has felt so natural. After walking their runway as a teen, and directing a film for the brand in 2017, Sevigny is now the face of Miutine, a new fragrance from the fashion house that’s overwhelmingly youthful, bubbly, and mischievous. “Exactly what you’d imagine Miu Miu would smell like,” she told us. To mark her latest collaboration with the brand, we borrowed a few minutes with Sevigny for this week’s installment of Face Card to talk Miutine, her beauty routines, and why she’s ready for the era of “Clean Girl” beauty to end.

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SANDSTROM: Let’s chat about the fragrance. I have it in front of me and I absolutely love it. What was your first reaction to it?

SEVIGNY: I was actually quite surprised by it. You know what? Weirdly, I have to say, I had never smelled a Miu Miu fragrance before.

SANDSTROM: Neither have I, actually. This is the first one.

SEVIGNY: The bottle was very familiar in my hand from having carried those bags for so many years with that same pattern, and I love those tops. I think it’s super cute and the color of the juice is really beautiful. I know they keep describing it as strawberry, but I think it’s just really playful, fun, and sweet. It’s very much what you would think that Miu Miu would smell like.

SANDSTROM: Yeah. It’s making me feel really young.

SEVIGNY: Yeah, it is so young. Very fresh and fruity.

SANDSTROM: People often say that fragrance is very tied to memory, so I’m wondering if you have a formative kind of fragrance memory that you want to share?

SEVIGNY: I mean, I just have so many. I have sensory sensitivity in my nose especially. [Laughs] I could just go on and on. Even just walking out the street or into that smell of the subway. You know, it’s really emotional–Every time I go to Miami and get off the plane, there’s something about the smell that takes me back.

SANDSTROM: What’s a scent that defines New York for you?

SEVIGNY: [Laughs] Other than exhaustion?

SANDSTROM: [Laughs] That’s a fair point. It’s kind of a crazy question.

SEVIGNY: I mean, I often think of the fall crispness in New York. I feel like it lends itself to the Miutine  fragrance, because it is such a dirty city to have this fresh, fruity scent on. Some fragrances work well in some cities and other fragrances work well in other cities, for sure. 

SANDSTROM: Do you remember the first perfume you ever bought?

SEVIGNY: It might’ve been Colors De Benetton.

SANDSTROM: Oh, whoa. That’s a fun throwback.

SEVIGNY: [Laughs] But I was given a lot of Chloé perfumes because my name is Chloë, so I feel like every birthday, or Christmas someone would give me a bottle of Chloé perfume.

SANDSTROM: Cute.

SEVIGNY: My mom wore Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent, and she wore Arpege by Lanvin, so those were fragrances that I grew up very strongly attached to.

SANDSTROM: Love that. I want to speak about wider skincare and beauty questions. I’m wondering what are some non-negotiable parts of your daily routine when it comes to skincare?

SEVIGNY: Non-negotiable?

SANDSTROM: Non-negotiable. What happens every single day for you?

SEVIGNY: Well, I can’t fall asleep without washing my face. I can’t sleep with makeup on. It drives me insane.

SANDSTROM: Okay, nice.

SEVIGNY: I use a Sofie Pavitt.

SANDSTROM: Nice. The whole system?

SEVIGNY: Not the whole system. Her wash. And then I like something thick and rich at night, so I’ve been using the Monastery or the Mario Badesco throwback. It’s like an Elasto-Collagen Night Cream.

SANDSTROM: That is a good throwback.

SEVIGNY: I’m a big moisturizer person and I go through so much. I kind of go between an expensive Caudalie, or one of my favorites is also the Palmer’s Cocoa Butters.

SANDSTROM: Oh, that’s also a throwback.

SEVIGNY: Yeah. [Laughs] I’m obsessed because the Caudalie is so expensive and the Palmer’s is so cheap. But it smells so good, especially in the winter. It’s so, like, cocoa-y. It’s just unfortunate that the bottle is not that attractive.

SANDSTROM: Yeah. Maybe you could do a rebrand with them or something too.

SEVIGNY: They could really use a rebrand, but there’s nothing like their moisturizer. It’s so rich. I also really like the Sisley  moisturizers. So yeah, moisturizing is the biggest part of my beauty. And now I’m really into the different tinted moisturizers.

SANDSTROM: Oooh, nice.

SEVIGNY: Tower 28 does one that I really like. And the Ilia one too.

SANDSTROM: Yeah.

SEVIGNY: I was never a big SPF girl, so I’m trying to be better at it, and I feel like these tinted ones really kind of kill two birds with one stone. 

SANDSTROM: Nice. Do you do lasers for your face?

SEVIGNY: I have done lasers and the recovery was so dramatic.

SANDSTROM: Really?

SEVIGNY: And took so long. I don’t really have the time, I feel like. I like the PRPs [Platelet-Rich Plasma]. I think that’s better. The other one’s, I don’t know if they were really worth it for me, honestly. I go with Dr. [Jessica] Weiser and whatever she tells me to do, I pretty much do. And she’s very conservative.

SANDSTROM: Nice. That’s probably good.  I’m wondering what is the most ridiculous beauty trend you’ve ever tried? Have you ever hopped on the bandwagon for something strange?

SEVIGNY: What was that thing where you go in the cold room?

SANDSTROM: Oh, cryotherapy?

SEVIGNY: Cryotherapy. I guess that was pretty silly.

SANDSTROM: Did it feel good?

SEVIGNY: No, it felt awful and cold. [Laughs]

SANDSTROM: [Laughs] Okay. That checks out. 

SANDSTROM: Absolutely. I want to know what you think about beauty standards in 2025, and where we’re at now with baby facelifts and injectables and things like that. It’s a changing world.

SEVIGNY: I mean, it’s terrifying. And it’s a terrifying time to be 50. I was actually saying that I’m really going to try and bring grunge back. Through beauty and fashion, this kind of plasticized, polished, over-retouched perfect thing has gone way too far. Whatever happened to wearing even a torn shirt, you know what I mean? We have to let some air into the world again, some life. It’s become too unreachable. I don’t want to just keep using the word plastic or too polished, but it’s just like, where’s the texture? Where’s the earthiness?  Everybody looks like little dolls out there. It’s like what is happening?

SANDSTROM: I totally agree. There’s a really homogenous look forming that’s sort of terrifying.

SEVIGNY: Yeah. But I mean I’m all for a lip liner, especially. I’m not good at injectables and I tried that lip flip thing once. I felt like I was on drugs and I got so paranoid. I couldn’t even move my mouth. How do people do this? I couldn’t use a straw. So now I do a little lip liner thing, I do fall prey to that. 

SANDSTROM: Wait, is the lip flip thing like when they inject Botox into the muscles around the upper lip and it pushes it up? 

SEVIGNY: Yeah, I got that done. It was so freaky-deaky.

SANDSTROM: Damn. But no, I’m with you. I still do my heavy eyeliner everyday. But what does grunge or earthiness look like in beauty for you? 

SEVIGNY: I think a lot of it is just skin, you know what I mean? Real skin. Not this over contoured, over-done base. Do we even need base? Can’t you just wear a little concealer?

SANDSTROM: Yeah. 

SEVIGNY: And what about a full bushy brow? Does it need to be this polished? I mean, I think Charli [XCX] has a really good grunge kind of beauty philosophy.

SANDSTROM: She does.

SEVIGNY: A lot of the time looks like she isn’t wearing a lot of makeup.

SANDSTROM: Yeah, and she has the great bushy brows too. Okay my last question is, what chapter would you say Miu Miu is in now?

SEVIGNY: I mean, I think they stick to their guns. And the whole apron thing [from SS26], that’s right up my alley. I can’t wait to wear all of those. But they always surprise me. Because to me, it takes a little guts, you know?