Yara Shahidi is a new kind of It Girl—a TV teen who flaunts style and social justice in equal parts. Chosen by Beyoncé as a new face of Ivy Park, the Black-ish star hits red carpets and protest rallies alike, pushing hard to ensure young women see that loving clothes and changing culture aren't either-or propositions. (Example: This week she's front row at London Fashion Week; next week, she's giving the keynote speech for Georgetown University's Diversity Dialogue Conference.)
We spoke with Shahidi backstage at the Topshop show, where Sofia Richie was her seat mate and half the collection migrated straight to our shopping cart. Oops.
You're already wearing the denim heels from the runway.
Yeah, because of the jet lag, and also just because of life, I feel like there's no need to put on a heel that's too high. There's nothing cute about wobbling. There's nothing cute about not wanting to dance or walk somewhere because you're in pain. It's not worth it. And I'm obsessed with denim, so these are perfect.
What else are you obsessed with?
Turtlenecks, so I picked this top that's like a turtleneck with a slit. It's not exactly a choker, but it gives a similar effect. It's like if you took a turtleneck and just slashed out the middle. It's pretty cool.
As a child, you modeled for Gap Kids, Ralph Lauren, and Guess. Did you learn anything from being in the fashion industry at such a young age?
What modeling taught me at a young age was how to say "no," which is something girls—we're not always good at saying "no." We want to be nice, and then we forget to look out for ourselves. There have been moments when I was on a modeling job, and it was the most fantastic thing in the world. And there have been moments where I've realized, "Okay, I'm ten years old, and I've spent the past six hours outside in the rain." It taught me how to be specific about what kinds of projects I wanted to do, and what kind of work I wanted to do.
What's the craziest thing you had to model?
Oh, I was all up in the Disney store! I was Tinkerbell, Princess Jasmine, Cinderella, and Kim Possible. But the craziest thing I was supposed to do as a model, it didn't end up happening. I was on a fashion shoot for kid's clothes somewhere in the [Hollywood] Hills, and I was seven or eight years old. They said, "Yara, go run through the field! Just watch out for snakes!" My mother overheard and she stepped in. "Snakes? Not happening. No thank you." We found a different field.
You've spoken out against the travel ban, and for more diversity in the fashion industry. Do you have conversations with the 'Black-ish' team about issues facing your generation?
It's becoming more of a collaborative experience. There are times when I'll get a call from Kenya [Barris, the creator of Black-ish], and he'll say, "Hey, I want to talk about this issue. What do you think about it?"
And do your thoughts mirror Zoey's?
Not always! I didn't vibe with Zoey's take on the [election] episode. She wanted to stay apolitical. She said she wanted her only contribution to the conversation to be "love." And I love Zoey, but I can't get down with that. If I could call Zoey, as me, I would say, "Hey, you can make lemonade, and call it 'love lemonade,' and use it to bring everyone together, and still donate all the proceeds to the ACLU. You can have a party and support Planned Parenthood, Zoey! Come on!"
That election episode has gotten a lot of attention...
What you might not know is that we were shooting an episode on Election Day. And every cast member, we were all on set for the whole day, so we saw when the results started coming in. And we were going insane, but at least we were all processing the results together. And because [Kenya Barrish] saw the whole cast and crew going through those emotions, he put a lot of the discussion and the feelings from our set into the actual dialogue. It felt so real.
Sometimes it's hard to be honest about your feelings—whether you're 17 or 40. How do you stay calm when emotions are literally part of your job?
It's easy when you trust the people you're working with, and I feel so lucky because we have the best group of people [on Black-ish]. Kenya is so collaborative. And with the potential of a spinoff happening, that's been one of the main things we're trying to figure out—what kind of collaboration can this be? And he's totally down to work together, which is amazing. The entire writing room tries to make it as authentic as possible, that's why they're the best!
So the 'Black-ish' spinoff! Can you tell us anything about it?
The idea is, it's going to be an extension of Black-ish, with the same tone of the show, but really expanding Zoey's world and seeing what else we can expand with that. Because we address race politics on the show all the time, but watching Zoey go to college is the perfect opportunity to address intersectionality. Zoey has to figure out what it means when she's exposed to the fact that sexuality is a spectrum. Gender is a spectrum. And college campuses can be very political, but they're also where you make best friends and so many connections. But we'll just have to see!
