Two-time Paper cover star Chloe Sevigny has a new self-titled book of photos, out Monday via Rizzoli. The 222-page archive chronicles everything from her days as a restless teenager in Connecticut itching to move to New York City to her career-launching 1997 big-screen debut in Kids to her tenure as the muse of high-fashion brands like Miu Miu. There's an image from her 1994 Jay McInerney New Yorker profile, which ushered her into the mainstream; lookbook photos from her days as a model for Kim Gordon's influential '90s streetwear line X-Girl; and recent shots from her collections for Opening Ceremony. More than any of the breakout actresses of the '90s, Sevigny came to represent the sort of Sassy-reading pre-Internet cool that's continued to encompass her over the past two decades. As Gordon writes in the introduction, "[Sevigny's] zest for freely roaming around space with an attitude and outfit to match evolved well ahead of what is now the homogenized look of the Internet. Her dark-side style is a like a breath of fresh air compared to the bland, candy-coated, Hollywood-ized proposal for female sexuality and the democratization of 'cool.'" In other words, Sevigny was probably the first and last person to ever attend the Academy Awards with a case of scabies she had contracted from thrift-store shopping right before. (An anecdote friend Natasha Lyonne shares in the book's afterword).
At 40, Sevigny's wary to launch into any lectures about what "cool" means in the Tumblr-moodboard era of instant access and inspiration, but she does feel a tinge of nostalgia for a time when digging through piles of old fur coats at a church rummage sale was just as wrapped up in your identity as wearing the clothes themselves. "I feel sad for kids today that thrifts aren't the way that they used to be," Sevigny says over the phone from Los Angeles. "That world is sort of lost now."
We asked Sevigny to reflect on a few images included in the book. Those photos, and her reflections, are below.
I'm
17 and a senior in high school. I was having a very difficult time in school. I was miserable,
which you can't really tell from looking at the photo, because my smile seems
genuine. I was dissatisfied with the town we live in and my high
school. There were only 500 people who went to my school and I had known most of them from elementary school. I was rip-roaring-ready to bust out of my hometown and, in fact, I moved out of town the day
after I graduated from high school. I'm wearing sandalwood beads that I made into a choker with elastic, and I always wore that long-sleeved T-shirt for some reason. I probably have on really baggy skater jeans, like something from Girbaud or Blind, and either combat boots or steel-toed Dr. Martens. I was working at Polo at the time, so I had a real affinity for the Lo Lifes -- the boys who dressed in all Polo. I probably had a tinge of that hinting into my look as well. I was so into the Tribe Called Quest / hip-hop / hippie / skater thing.
My older brother Paul was a huge influence on me as a teenager. Starting in high school, I gravitated toward older kids and older people -- people I felt like I could learn something from. I was like a sponge and I was pretty shy and not very confident. I was always on the periphery, watching everyone else. Not participating quite as much.
By the time I was a senior, I was going into the city every weekend. I sat alone at lunch. I had a couple of friends who were more like skater-y kids, but I still didn't feel like they were really my people. My people had already graduated or lived in different towns.
I
wanted a few photos in here that were
more personal, and not already on the Internet. I took these in my
bedroom on a Polaroid with a timer to send to a boy who I liked in
England. I was always talking to him on the phone, so I was trying to
come
up with this narrative photo. Like, "This is
me, calling from my bedroom." It was stupid! I still have that phone --
it's pink with grey buttons. I guess these were the rejects that didn't
make it to the boy, but I still think there's something kind of charming
about them.
This is by a photographer named Kevin
Hatt. I don't remember what this was for, but I have a ton of Polaroids
from this series. I like that it has kind of an Avedon feel. It was the mid-'90s and I had been
photographed a bunch by the time this photo was taken. So
many people were trying to get me to wear things in photos or to wear my
hair a certain way, but he really wanted to capture me for me. That's a
Brooks Brothers blazer and I'm wearing a neon-pink lace skirt underneath with some
ugly white pumps. I was probably trying to mimic Helmut Lang. I think
that sweater was Harmony [Korine's]. I don't have it anymore. But I've kept a
lot of my old clothes. I still have that Brooks Brothers blazer. I still
have those beads from my school photo. I have an exhaustive archive. 
This is Fourth of July. I was subletting Natasha [Lyonne]'s apartment on 16th
Street and 2nd Avenue. Brian DeGraw [of Gang Gang Dance] and Rita Ackermann are in the
background. I kind of had this Connecticut vibe going on out on the terrace, with the white
umbrella and the flags. And I had flower boxes. I've always made
my home in that classic kind of way. I'm wearing a blue and white '40s-style bathing suit that I still have, and I'm wearing Yves Saint Laurent
mules. We all went up to the roof to watch fireworks.
Those are
Norma Kamali shoes and I'm wearing a headband, so I'm not
totally naked. This was shot by Inez and Vinoodh for Purple magazine. I wanted to have
a sexy vibe in the book, but I didn't want photos of me like, arching my
back with my mouth open, which is not Inez and Vinoodh's style. And being photographed nude by a woman feels so
much safer. I think the images from this shoot are very strong and empowering. Urban
Outfitters made a big pre-order for this book, and one of the
stipulations was "no bush." So. This made it in. And I didn't really want to
show bush anyways.