As the landmark V&A exhibition 'Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto' opens this month, ELLE takes over the museum with three breakthrough actors. They show us how they wear their favourite classic pieces from the house - and share their own style stories.
Simone Ashley
A teenage passion for vintage Hollywood movies – and their costumes – sparked the actor’s love of design.
Fashion is a 'completely different world’ to the one Simone Ashley, 28, inhabited growing up between Surrey and California. ‘I was never like, “Oh my gosh, I really want that handbag.” Where and how I grew up, I was always outdoors. So I wore what I could go and play in and whatever my mum put me in,’ she explains.
Ashley is now, of course, a world- famous actor and fashion-month darling – a front-row fixture and regular on best- dressed lists thanks to her flair for glamour. She’s a woman who looks at home in some of the world’s most dazzling labels, from Chanel logo-embossed platform heels to shimmering 16Arlington dresses.
The first fashion show she attended was in Paris for Chanel’s SS22 presentation, which celebrated the golden era of the Nineties catwalk complete with photo- graphers lining the runway and George Michael covers blaring over the speakers.
The show resonated with Ashley, who spent her teens in California watching films from the same decade. Among the most treasured pieces in her wardrobe is a vintage Hawaiian shirt that belonged to her mother, reminding her of the Tarantino movies they’d watch together.
The era’s pop culture and fashion left an indelible mark on her own personal style. The trademark tumbling curls Julia Roberts had in Pretty Woman is a look Ashley emulates often, while Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard is another influence: ‘The coolest hair, the coolest outfits,’ she says.
In keeping with the Nineties theme, mini-skirts and knee-high boots are a combo Ashley frequently wears; her most recent purchase was a pair of Paris Texas boots. ‘My boots are very dear to me,’ she says, recalling her first time visiting Chanel’s iconic Rue Cambon store in Paris ahead of the show. ‘I was just so drawn to the boots!’
Clara Rugaard
For the actor and singer, playing it safe in her fashion choices is never an option.
Clara Rugaard, 25, the Danish actor, is loyal to her roots, embracing classic Scandi brands. But she’s equally excited by those labels developing the traditional minimalist aesthetic into some- thing more playful. ‘I love the saying, “The only constant in nature is change.” My biggest fear is staying stagnant or not evolving, and I try to express that through my style,’ she says.
For Rugaard, red-carpet dressing is a fine balance. ‘You want to make sure you feel comfortable so you can do your work. But I also think the beauty of it is challenging yourself just enough. It’s accentuating the person you are, but adding a twist.’ The Chanel bodysuit emblazoned with multicoloured logos she wore to a 2021 photocall is a perfect example. ‘I remember thinking, “I’ve never worn anything like this before,” and, yes, there is a level of discomfort in that, but as soon as I saw myself in the mirror I just felt really great.’
Pushing boundaries is a lesson that’s been passed down to Rugaard. Her first style icon was her grandmother, ‘a very chic lady’, who would recycle her old clothes into designs for her children, including Rugaard’s mother, and matching versions for their dolls, too. She also had a liking for tailored trousers and oversized shirts that has stuck with Rugaard: ‘She was always very elegant.’
Jasmine Jobson
The actor’s personal take on fashion has evolved as she grows comfortable in her own skin.
A growing self-confidence has been key to actor Jasmine Jobson’s style evolution. When she worked as a bartender between auditions, she would wear a long-sleeved top under her short-sleeved uniform to conceal the psoriasis on her arms. Now she’s the first to opt for showing her arms when planning a red-carpet look. ‘Who doesn’t want to look like a goddess for the night?’ she says.
The 28-year-old is quick to reel off a list of wide-ranging style inspirations, both close to home and further afield. Her elder sister introduced her to a more sophisticated way of dressing, thanks to their five-year age gap (‘When she dresses up for a girls’ night out, she looks phenomenal’), and her aunt, ‘was the first woman I saw rock a tracksuit with high heels’.
A tracksuit aficionado herself, whose off-duty style recalls the heyday of Nineties streetwear, Jobson feels her ultimate fash- ion trailblazer is Aaliyah, specifically for her baggy jeans. Versatility is key and she enjoys switching up casual looks one day with getting ‘glammed up to the nines’ another. Another inspiration is the sartorial ingenuity of Rihanna. Jobson rhapsodises over the singer’s 2014 metallic-tweed Chanel mini-dress: ‘The fact she wore matching trainers, too; that look was gorgeous.’
Talk of Rihanna brings us back to body confidence. Jobson references the star’s bump-baring looks worn during her two pregnancies: ‘Throughout, she was glowing and so confident through her fashion. I think she’s done something amazing for women.’
