Chloe Sevigny was papped in NYC yesterday wearing a trash-baggy jacket over one of those tank dresses from the 1990s. On anyone else, this outfit would look ridiculous. The jacket remains hideous, but Chloe somehow pulls it off with her effortless, hipster ways. Chloe is one of those celebrities who disappears for months at a time and only gives interviews when she has a project to promote. She’s currently pushing The Cosmopolitans pilot for Amazon. The satirical show is about a group of expat friends living in Paris. Chloe plays a fashion editor.

The last time I spoke of Chloe, she was lamenting the jock takeover of NYC. Now she’s discussing how much she enjoyed filming on location in France. She also speaks out against the horrors of sample sizes. Playing a fashion editor meant wearing designer duds, and Chloe says her wardrobe was filled with size 0 clothing. Chloe is usually a 4 or 6. Talk about discomfort. I’ve cobbled together two interviews, one from Lucky mag and the other from Radio Times. Some highlights:

Her fave travel item: “Lavender oil. I like to put it on the pillow in the aeroplane or the hotel room. It helps me relax, especially when I’m dealing with jetlag.”

Filming in Paris: “I loved being there, and quasi living there. I really like Père Lachaise. I like cemeteries a lot. I love the gardens. My advice would be to sit down somewhere and people watch. Let yourself go and don’t feel like you have to run around and see everything. Experience it in the non-moving sense.

Her style changed in Paris: “I hear my mother’s voice in my head. She always told me ‘you better dress nicely.’ People treat you better when you’re dressed well. Which is true. I mean, she’s right–it’s really annoying. But if you’re traveling or in a restaurant and you look nice and have a nice bag, you’re treated better than if you look schlubby.”

Sample sizes on set: “It was a bit of a struggle. For me, wardrobe is always a bit of a struggle. They pull samples and then I’m left trying to fit into sample size, which is always a head trip. Instead of going shopping and buying, like, size four or six, I’m trying to squeeze into a zero. And that happens on photo shoots as well and it’s really unfair. I can’t imagine if I were any heavier or a different shape how much more difficult it would be.”

If she was a fashion editor IRL: “Oh, what would my fashion magazine be like?…I think I would have more real girls as models and less of this idea of young and skinny. I think I would have more street style. I always love those pages where they have more girls on the street. I’d have a lot of in-depth articles dealing with women’s heath and women’s issues–a bit like what Sassy magazine did, that kind of trailblazing.”

Her reading material: “I read New York magazine and I read The Atlantic. But I don’t really look at any fashion magazines right now, because as I said before, I’m having a fragile moment. It’s too hard not to compare.”

[From Radio Times & Lucky]

Chloe’s sample-sized clothing dilemma sounds awful. The wardrobe department had no way of making those clothes larger, so I don’t know how Chloe coped. Model Crystal Renn has advocated for sample sizes to be changed to an 8, which is much more reasonable. It’s possible to alter clothing down a few sizes if necessary (not vice versa). I guess fashion thinks it’s a lot easier for all models and actresses to stop eating than to bother with alterations. What’s sad is that sample sizes were usually a 2 a few years ago. Now they’re a 0. We’re moving backwards on progress of size acceptance, right? Ugh.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN