It has been nearly six decades since Truman Capote invited 540 pals to the Plaza Hotel for the Black and White Ball—a swanning crowd that included Frank Sinatra, Babe Paley, Gordon Parks, Andy Warhol, and the Italian princess Luciana Pignatelli gleaming in a 60-carat diamond (a Harry Winston loaner). But on a recent afternoon at the hotel, Elle Fanning is seemingly ready for a redux, wearing a high-necked white Paco Rabanne dress studded with tiny diamantés. Fanning, a student of history, summons another canonical reference: “Eloise at the Plaza!” she says, perched on a sofa in a high-floor suite. The 24-year-old actor has regal bearings in spades, as proved by her Emmy-nominated turn as the Russian empress Catherine II in Hulu’s The Great. But there’s an ebullient quality too, a through line from her earliest work onscreen—as a three-year-old in I Am Sam, playing the younger version of her sister Dakota’s character.
A woman so long in the spotlight is a fitting match for the latest Paco Rabanne fragrance, Fame. The bottle conveys the flashbulb sense of the word, styled with cat-eye sunglasses, au courant pierced ears, and the house’s signature chainmail. Fanning herself, having studied ballet through her teen years, also brings a performing-arts-kid magnetism to the role. If David Bowie’s “Fame” inspired the name of the 1980 cult movie, the song also soundtracks the Paco Rabanne campaign. In it, Fanning turns up at the brand’s Avenue Montaigne flagship, where the perfume sparks a series of understated homages to ’60s screen stars, including Audrey Hepburn (Two for the Road), Brigitte Bardot (Le Mépris), and Jane Fonda (Barbarella). It’s a familiar move for Fanning, slipping in and out of guises onscreen and on the red carpet, where she and her longtime stylist Samantha McMillen often showcase rare treasures pulled from Cherie Balch’s Shrimpton Couture. Here, the actor shares a few treasured looks, the makeup product she wishes she’d invented, and Catherine the Great’s approach to power dressing.
Businsiders: With fame in mind, what do you guard as private in your life and what parts do you relish being less precious about, whether TikTok or karaoke?
Elle Fanning: The relationships that I care about with friends and family, that’s kind of my private life. We’re multifaceted human beings, and I feel sane that I can keep a part of myself to me that other people don’t know unless they really are on the inside—when I can just really let my guard down and be jokey or whatever it is. And then through a character, I’ll explore anything. I’m not embarrassed easily. I think, since I started this at such a young age, I’m able to let things out of myself through the character. That’s on a stage that everyone sees, but they might not necessarily know that it’s something I relate to. It’s really cathartic for me.
Couture is, to me, a true perk of celebrity, and I love the world that you’ve made with Samantha McMillen. What borrowed dresses, new or vintage, have been high points for you?
Samantha and I have been working with Shrimpton Couture quite a bit. She has amazing vintage pieces. I wore an Alexander McQueen dress the other day [for a Critics Choice after-party]. And then for the Babylon premiere I wore this black Alexandra McQueen dress that was Samantha’s, because I didn’t have anything and I kind of wanted to be more simple. Samantha had given it to Kim Basinger for the Fifty Shades of Grey premiere, I think, as well. It’s a Lee [McQueen] design, so that doesn’t go out of style. It was super special. But I love that it just, like, came from Samantha’s closet.
A sisterhood through couture. Who have served as beauty inspirations for you? I saw your tribute to Vivienne Westwood, for one.
So many. Vivienne Westwood is a great example because I’m always drawn to the individual. Gosh, there’s no one more singular in what she created and how she presented herself and her attitude of, I’m going to show up and just be myself, whatever the occasion. I’ve started to get a little better at that because, living in LA, it’s very relaxed there and I’m not a super relaxed dresser. Sometimes I show up to things and I feel overdressed. I’m also tall, so things kind of look dressier on me, versus my sister—she’s petite and can wear something that blends in and is not so overly Wow, you look like you’re in a gown. I remember when I met [Westwood], I think she had drawn-on circle eyeliner around her eyes and lip liner that was, like, blue. Sometimes, if I’m not going out one night, I’ll be like, Okay, I’m just going to try and do this crazy [makeup] look. That’s usually a private thing; sometimes I’ll post it. But I love a risk taker—anybody that can dare to be themselves. Those people are going to continue to push creativity forward.
How has the transformation back into Catherine felt, mentally and also physically?
The third season is coming out soon! We just finished it. The costume designer, Sharon Long, is incredible—all of her designs are original. I think we really have a great balance of hard and soft with Catherine because she is quite feminine-ish but also practical. She runs a country. I learned that the real Catherine the Great—even though we’re not super historically accurate—used her clothes politically. It wasn’t that she loved fashion; she wasn’t like Marie Antoinette in that sense. She would dress for the political occasion to try to get her way or fit into a situation. The corsets, as uncomfortable as they are, I do kind of love wearing them. And it’s two hours of hair and makeup before each day, so I’m there before the crew. I wear a wig, which is better because to do it with your own hair would be impossible. And honestly the makeup just consists of lots of blush, which I love. I could give everything up except for blush.
