Chloë Sevigny’s early-fashion archive is getting a fresh look, and the center of it is a black, ankle-length gown she wore in 1998 at a The Fashion Group event. The dress had a mandarin-style collar and short sleeves, and she finished it with a fur coat and a vampy lip stain.
That look matters because Sevigny was already being talked about as an It Girl by then, but her rise started long before a red carpet could smooth it over. Her career had kicked off with fashion spreads in Sassy and i-D, and her role in the controversial 1995 film Kids pushed her into mainstream fame. By the time she was photographed in 1998, the clothes were doing the same thing her name was doing: making a case for a style that felt offbeat without trying to look accidental.
In 2026, Sevigny described herself to Elle in a way that fits that reputation and undercuts it at the same time. “I’m pretty wacky,” she said. And when people call her a style star, she does not play along. “When people say I have such good style, I’m like, ‘Do I?’” That hesitation is part of why her best looks still land. They never read as branded perfection. They read as someone dressing by instinct.
The 1998 gown is only one stop in a run of early looks that now look like a map of her aesthetic. In 1999, at the premiere of Existenz, she wore a long blue shirt over a sheer white dress, with knee-high leather boots and a classic tan trench coat. In 2000, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, she wore a loose, sheer Yves Saint Laurent dress with tropical flowers, a boatneck and flowy short sleeves, then sharpened it with a sleek bob, side-swept bangs and a red lip. At the Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon, she traded glamour for grey tailored shorts, a white blouse with navy cuffs and ruffles, an undone tie and a gold necklace. That same year, she also gave a nod to Old Hollywood at the Academy Awards and the Vanity Fair after-party.
What ties those outfits together is not polish. It is the loose, grungy ease that made her early work feel immediate in the '90s and, later, useful to the indie sleaze look that borrowed from that era. Sevigny has said as much herself, recalling that she was “just teetering around” and that her style then was “quite grungy and carefree, whereas now things seem more polished.” The unknown designer behind the 1998 gown is still part of the mystery, but the silhouette does enough on its own. It shows how Sevigny became a lasting reference point without ever dressing like one.
