Eye On

Tavi Gevinson

Spend a few hours with Tavi Gevinson and you’ll discover that she’s an absolute treasure trove of cool, quirky stories and information. So much so, that’s it’s easy to forget that she’s only 19 years old. The editor-in-chief of Rookie magazine is certainly very driven—the actress, writer, and singer started her popular fashion blog Style Rookie at age 12, and recently appeared on Broadway in This is Our Youth beside Michael Cera and Kieran Culkin.

Lately, I really like a bold,
juicy, jewel-toned pink.
I want to eat my lipsticks.

Within moments of meeting Tavi, it’s clear that her success stems in no small part from her insatiable curiosity and reverence for music, film, and pop culture history.

We sat down with Tavi, who is currently part of Clinique’s #FaceForward campaign, and after discovering a shared love of Stevie Nicks, got to know her a little better.

Clinique: Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Tavi: Night owl. I just get this crazy energy and I feel I can really focus because everyone else is asleep. I will do a lot of apartment stuff, like cleaning and making it look nice. Then it’s also maybe getting ahead on work or writing. I love that space of time so much.

Clinique: What’s your favorite movie of all time?
Tavi: So hard! Maybe Paris, Texas.

Cinique: Any food you can’t stand?
Tavi: Not really, but I will say, if I order a dish and there are vegetables but also meat, the vegetables don’t get touched. I just consume a leg of chicken and there’s a sad salad left over. Just give me meat and dessert.

Clinique: What’s your favorite movie of all time?
Tavi: So hard! Maybe Paris, Texas.

Clinique: Uh, I don’t know what that is. Does that make me lame?
Tavi: [laughs] No, it’s fine! It’s from the eighties and it’s really sad. But I think sometimes movies trick you. You think it was really sad, so it must be good.

Clinique: What’s your first music memory?
Tavi: My sisters would dress me up like Shirley Temple, put my hair in curlers and teach me dances for On the Good Ship Lollipop and Animal Crackers In My Soup. That tells you a lot about who I really am because I loved it.

Clinique: Who is your beauty icon?
Tavi: I have a few. Love Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. Classic, simple, the skin, those powerful eyes. Same with Meryl. It’s like, take note. You don’t have to be fighting time. It’s very inspiring.

Clinique: What beauty products can you not live without?
Tavi:: I use the yellow lotion [Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion] a lot. Also, it gives me a lot of joy to see my collection of lipsticks. Lately, I really like a bold, juicy, jewel-toned pink. I want to eat my lipsticks. Sometimes I do blue eyeshadow like in Moonrise Kingdom. Love that. Any kind of blatant eyeshadow with no gradation at all.

Clinique: It’s like disco!
Tavi: I love a disco eyeshadow look. This is a great story—last Halloween I went asChloe Sevigny in Last Days of Disco. At 4am this girl comes up to me, and she had on all this face paint and I couldn’t tell who she was. She was like, “It’s Chloe! I’m a devil—what are you?” And I was like, “I’m…you. In Last Days of Disco.” I thought, my worlds are blending—I’m living this movie! She was cool about it but I hope she didn’t feel Single White Femaled.

Clinique: Speaking of Single White Femaled, how badly do you want to be Stevie Nicks?
Tavi: Ahhh, yes, she’s so amazing. Have you seen the old backstage video of her singing Wild Heart? It’s the best thing ever.

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