Chloë Sevigny: The Original It-Girl, Still Off-Script

Being declared cool in the 1990s is one thing. Still looking slightly ahead of everyone else while wearing clothes that, individually, could belong to three entirely different women is another. Chloë Sevigny has been associated with the It-girl idea since The New Yorker famously profiled the then-19-year-old downtown fixture in 1994, and her wardrobe has somehow avoided becoming trapped inside the decade that made her famous.

At Sundance in January 2025, that instinct appeared in particularly useful form. Sevigny stepped through snowy Park City wearing an Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood Spring 2025 knit set under an enormous Saint Laurent Fall 2022 fur-trimmed bomber, finished with black boots, a scarf and narrow sunglasses. The outfit has plenty going on. Somehow, none of it looks particularly worried about getting along.

Matching knitwear carries a certain danger. Give it the wrong shoes, the wrong coat, perhaps one tasteful pearl necklace, and suddenly you are dressing for a very elegant lunch you never agreed to attend.

Chloë’s cream cardigan and midi skirt flirt with exactly that territory. The muted floral pattern, buttoned front and long straight silhouette have something slightly proper about them, with a trace of 1980s polish hiding underneath. But softness is useful. It creates a pale, almost domestic base before everything heavier enters the picture.

Recreating that mood today does not require a matching set. A white cardigan from COS keeps the upper half clean and fitted, while Princess Polly’s asymmetric satin midi introduces movement below. The textures are different, which actually helps. One is quiet and familiar; the other catches light and slips away from the neatness of traditional knit dressing. Staying within cream and ivory keeps them visually connected without making the outfit feel overly coordinated.

Then she puts a gigantic bomber over the whole thing and ruins any chance of looking too respectable.

The Saint Laurent jacket is the visual interruption the outfit needs. Its dark body creates weight around the shoulders, while the shaggy fur collar nearly takes over the upper half of the silhouette. Against the neat cream layers underneath, it feels almost disproportionate. That excess is precisely what makes the combination convincing.

ROTATE offers a particularly good route into the same idea. The oversized bomber shape keeps the body loose and rounded, while the contrast faux-fur trim brings all the drama to the neckline. It is a useful winter trick: when outerwear is doing this much, the clothes underneath can afford to behave themselves.

The skinny black scarf makes that contrast even better. WEEKDAY keeps it narrow and uncomplicated, which is exactly the point. A giant fluffy scarf here would turn winter dressing into a competitive sport. The thin strip of black simply continues the dark vertical line through the middle of the outfit and leaves the fur to enjoy being excessive.

Chloë Sevigny has always been unusually good at mixing something slightly glamorous with something that looks as though it was grabbed five minutes before leaving the house. That tension stops this from becoming a polished winter uniform. It still feels alive.

The boots bring the weight downward again. Chloë’s black knee-high pair disappears beneath the midi hem, creating a solid dark base that balances the bomber above. They are substantial enough to stop the pale skirt from becoming precious, yet still carry enough heels to keep the silhouette long.

Steve Madden is an easy alternative here. A tall black boot gives the same visual anchor and also makes the formula far more useful outside Sundance. Wear it under a midi skirt now, under denim later, and with a mini once tights return to regular service. Few autumn purchases earn their keep quite so quickly.

Her sunglasses go in the opposite direction proportionally. Against the huge collar and heavy boots, the oval frames are relatively small, slim and slightly retro. SOJOS captures that late-’90s shape without turning the accessory into the expensive part of the outfit. There is something particularly Chloë about sunglasses that look a little thrifted even when they are brand new.

The reptile-effect bag adds one final texture that nobody really asked for, which is probably why it belongs. ASOS keeps the shoulder shape casual while the snake finish introduces another print beside the floral skirt and shaggy fur. A more obedient stylist might have chosen a plain black bag to connect everything neatly.

That is the enduring appeal of Chloë Sevigny as an It-girl. Her clothes rarely look as though they were selected to prove that she understands fashion; they suggest she understands herself well enough to let fashion get a little messy around the edges. Three decades after the title first followed her around downtown New York, being an It-girl still looks less like owning the right thing than knowing exactly how much wrongness an outfit can handle.