When actress Laura Harrier was in high school, she was voted “best dressed” — but it didn’t make it into the print copy of the yearbook. “They gave it to the person with the second most votes because I had already won another award,” she explains with a self-aware grin. “I guess I won the popular vote, but I lost the electoral college,” she concludes with a contagious laugh, borrowing the vernacular of the post-election moment. Regardless of who was crowned the formal title, her teenage achievement was a glimpse at what was to come.
Since high school, Harrier has held starring roles on the silver screen, frequented best-dressed lists, and inspired style mood boards curated by her following of over two million people. Feeling at once “flattered and grateful” for these accolades, Harrier recalls how she obsessively cut models and fashion looks out of magazines, pasting them on her childhood bedroom wall. “It’s really surreal to think that, now, there’s a different version of that happening,” she says. “It’s really sweet and it makes me happy, and I hope, also, more little girls feel seen. When I was growing up, there were not a lot of people in [the mainstream fashion magazines] that looked like me, and I would literally scour the pages looking for anyone who did.”
When Harrier was 17, she left her native Chicago to attend university in New York City, simultaneously taking on modeling jobs that led her to defer her studies. Soon after, she felt the pull to act and enrolled in the city’s premier acting school. Harrier has since worked with highly esteemed directors, starred in multiple Hollywood blockbusters, and recently wrapped a major biopic in which she plays the girlfriend of an iconic and troubled American pop star. Magically, the person Harrier portrays is not only still around, but has diligently archived her wardrobe, lending period-correct, vintage pieces to the production’s costume department.
In Harrier’s eyes, immersing herself in a film’s wardrobe is hugely important in her acting process. “Clothing is so instrumental in how it makes you feel and the energy and emotions you want to evoke,” she says. And to have such personal access to the actual clothing of the person she’s playing? “It just changes everything. It gave me really good insight into who she was, and hopefully helped me to embody her more.”
This deep awareness of fashion’s inner power has also fortuitously led her to become one of capital F fashion’s favorite It Girls. You can catch her sitting front row at fashion shows and starring in shoots like this, for Saint Laurent – a brand she’s long admired for its elegant-yet-edgy Parisian ethos (which is tangibly conveyed throughout the Spring 2025 collection). The color black is core to this spirit, executed in a way that renders the shade more striking than neutral; see Harrier’s monochromatic sheer top and maxi skirt look, bursting with sensuality. Oftentimes, the most effortless-seeming looks are the most painstakingly crafted, and it’s Saint Laurent’s ingrained intuition and expertise that can turn a brown leather jacket into one of the most exciting pieces of the year. Of course, this is only accentuated when worn by someone like Harrier.
“The Saint Laurent girl has always been powerful, intelligent, and sexy, with just this innate cool,” Harrier observes. “And I think the women — from the ones Saint Laurent was dressing to those Anthony [Vaccarello, the brand’s creative director] is dressing today — have that throughline. It’s people who are always incredibly beautiful but have more than their looks going on. There’s always that cool — an interest in art and the world and culture that I’ve always really admired, and the people that Anthony brings together now are always women that I’m just so flattered to be around.”
Laura Harrier is indeed one of these cool, interesting women she describes, juggling work and appearances at seemingly every important event in fashion and film. So, what is her secret to keeping it together amidst all the glitz, glam, and transatlantic travel? Well, for one, it’s a really big airplane bag, which in Harrier’s case, is the Saint Laurent Y. “I’m very serious about my plane bag, I really am,” she chuckles. “In it, I’ll have a face mask for the flight, I’ll have eye drops, I’ll have lip balm, melatonin, my E-book, something to write with, a notebook, my passport, my laptop… There’s just, like, a lot.” A lot of which she’s happy to share (she’s not at all committed to gate-keeping), without giving too much of herself away.
Creative Director: Diana Weisman; Wardrobe Stylist: Danielle Goldberg; Hair: Lacy Redway; Makeup: Hung Vaango; Nails: Natalie Pavloski; Senior Fashion Director: Jenna Wexler; Senior Fashion Editor: Kate Marin; Producer: Danica Butkovich
“I don’t want to know too much about my favorite actors because it makes it harder to believe them in the roles that they portray,” she muses. “So I’ve always tried to be aware of that. I want to be able to dip a toe into everything. I love being able to be online… but, first and foremost, I want to be able to do films and strike the right balance… or at least try.”
Discover the Saint Laurent spring 2025 collection.
