TUESDAY FEB. 14, 2023 6:25 PM NEW YORK.
At Thom Browne‘s Fall Winter 2023 show on Tuesday evening, we found ourselves in the desert, parched, surveying the wreckage of a plane in the middle of the The Shed, which the designer had transformed into a sort of intergalactic playground. There, our digital editor Jake Nevins caught up with the Atlanta actress Zazie Beetz to talk fashion, dreams, and astrology.
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JAKE NEVINS: Hi, Zazie! What did you think of the show?
ZAZIE BEETZ: I just really loved how playful it was. I feel like fashion shows used to be a lot more storytelling and honoring of personality and body and character. And that’s what I love about fashion and clothing. So many shows just have people walking up and down a runway and then that’s it. And I find I actually get rather emotional and very connected to shows that do more than just that. Maybe because I’m an actor and I like stories. It just feels like a real expression of who Thom Browne is and the idea of the alien and the male and female body, and feeling perhaps alien in your body. I really responded to it.
NEVINS: You said you’re feeling emotional. What did it bring up for you?
BEETZ: I love the feeling of curiosity and wonder in it, and the message of connectivity. I just also really loved the play in it. It reminded me of why I love fashion because it’s playful and it’s expression and it’s why I started dressing myself in a matter of play when I was 12, super inspired by Harajuku.
NEVINS: Wait. Was Harajuku your earliest fashion era?
BEETZ: Yeah. I just remember it being like, “Oh my gosh. I can just put my inside on the outside.” There’s such a difference between fashion and style. I think style is an emotion and where you’re at. And I feel like Thom Browne really encapsulates that. His work is really an expression of something he wants to say in the world versus just, I don’t know, trying to be a part of an industry. He has pushed a lot of boundaries about how we see bodies, both male and female.
NEVINS: It also felt pretty timely, with UFOs in the news.
BEETZ: That’s true.
NEVINS: Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?
BEETZ: I do. I don’t think that we’ve made contact with extraterrestrial life, but I do believe statistically that there must be something else out there in the great big, beautiful universe. I don’t really think we are alone. It would make me quite sad if we were. But what do I know?
NEVINS: What’s your star sign?
BEETZ: I’m a Gemini.
NEVINS: Does that feel true to you?
BEETZ: Parts of it do. I think I used to be more of a true “Gemini” than I am now. My moon is in Capricorn, which I think has been coming out more as I’ve gotten older. I definitely have elements of Gemini though, a more introverted Gemini. I think that’s why sometimes it seems a little misleading. But I’m quite non-committal, I’m quite flighty.
NEVINS: Are you?
BEETZ: I’m a jack of all trades, master of none. And I think that’s a very Gemini thing to be. You dip your hand in everything, but you don’t want to be stuck in anything.
NEVINS: Like our friend Thom Browne.
BEETS: Yeah!
NEVINS: Is your look from the collection?
BEETZ: Yeah, it is.
NEVINS: It’s amazing. Where else would you wear it?
BEETZ: I think there are no real rules to where you can wear something. People will wear quite wonderful things to a supermarket, because it’s just about how you feel. So I’d wear this anywhere.
NEVINS: There were a lot of amazing accessories in the show: the veils, the bags shaped like dachshunds. Did you have a favorite?
BEETZ: I really liked the caged golden things around their faces. I just thought they looked quite delicate and beautiful and whimsical. I enjoyed that.
NEVINS: Are you a dreamer?
BEETZ: Oh, goodness. I actually am quite a dreamer. I dream a lot, and very vividly.
NEVINS: Did you dream last night?
BEETZ: I definitely dreamt last night. I’m trying to remember what it was. I feel like I’m someone who never really hits REM or something, because I’m constantly active in my brain. Recently, I’ve been dreaming a lot about having children, actually.
NEVINS: Maybe a little alien baby?
BEETZ: Yeah! Raise it out to be an alien being in the world.
NEVINS: Thank you for taking the time.
BEETZ: Oh my goodness, thank you.
Thom Browne FW23
Thom Browne FW23
Thom Browne FW23
