Havana Rose Liu Is Keeping the Chanel Team on Their Toes With Her Looks

Even before she broke out as Ayo Edebiri's love interest in "Bottoms," Havana Rose Liu had landed the big ticket: a Chanel contract. The actor and model signed on as a brand ambassador as her star was beginning to rise, and, as a result, the majority of her public-facing fashion journey has been with the French house — dinners, red carpets and, yes, fashion shows.

At the Spring 2024 debut in Paris Tuesday, she told me that what made her connect with Chanel was "the fact that I could be sort of androgynous in their clothing — it wasn't ultra feminine all the time." Working with the brand, however, has opened her up, and steered her in a more feminine direction that she "never expected."

Liu set out to push herself with her fashion choices from the get-go, even within the offering of a single brand. Take her look for the show, for instance — a two-piece knit set with a faux necklace pattern on the neckline.

"It's very unlike anything I've worn before," she said. "I always like to do that with Chanel because they have so much variation, like, 'Okay, I've done the black, shiny look. What's the next thing?' It's keeping me on my toes and keeping the team on their toes... I like to shock myself via what I end up resonating with in the showroom. Almost every time I choose one that I'm surprised by. I don't think I've ever walked in and known right away, 'Oh, that's my one.'"

She likens the process of putting together a look — "once you accessorize and everything comes together and you have a bunch of really talented stylists building on top of you" — to a paper doll: "You have this vision that you create together, and it's very collaborative."

Liu's been to a Chanel show before, but this was the first time the brand flew her out to Paris to watch the big seasonal ready-to-wear event. "I was able to attend a tour of the atelier, and it made me see the show through an entirely different lens," she says, of visiting 19M, where the different maisons responsible for the collections are housed. "Seeing all of the little work that goes into all the sequining that's so special, and then being able to see some of those motifs on the runway — it was a totally different experience. It reminds you how much effort and thought and meticulous decision-making and practice goes into these shows."

"I thought I wanted to be a fiber artist at one point," she continued. "Looking at all these people doing this very beautiful and meticulous embroidery work, I just found that to be so special. You look at all of this glam and sparkle — especially in the last show in California — and you remember that there are people making the samples of that. I just wanted to take a piece and bring it back and put it on my wall. I didn't, but I would've."

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