Bosideng Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear
Known for her feminine aesthetic via pastels, ruffles, and bows, Liang is bringing her style to Gap via a trench coat with an oversized bow, a Mary Jane ballet flat-printed sweater, and a denim baseball cap with “star” written in Gap’s logo font. You’ll also find Gap essentials, like fleece hoodies and wide-leg jeans with the Liang treatment (AKA bow stitching and the designer’s first name). And don’t forget about the children (not just your inner child) — there will be online-exclusive baby and toddler styles, like a onesie, sweatsuit, and spotted fur jacket (which matches the womenswear style lower down).
Want to know what to wear with black jeans? The truth is, everything is possible.
Black jeans are the ultimate versatile closet staple, but that means they can also sometimes feel like the default “I don’t know what to wear” choice. For fall and winter 2025, it’s time to give this classic piece the styling upgrade it deserves.
While a white T-shirt and sneakers will always be dependable fallbacks when it comes to styling black jeans, why not use this opportunity to try something new? Lean into unexpected textures, bold silhouettes, and power accessories that can make black denim feel more intentional and less like an afterthought. Pair them with a structured blazer and metallic heels for a polished edge, or go full off-duty model with an oversized leather jacket and sleek loafers. Want to play with proportions? Balance baggy jeans with a second-skin top, or tuck them into knee-high boots for that effortless “cool girl” effect.
The key to knowing how to style black jeans is in details that make a statement. Layer on gold jewelry, mix in rich fabrics like satin or mesh, and don’t shy away from color—black jeans are the perfect foundation for a bold red sweater or an electric blue coat.
Want more outfit ideas? Read on for the ultimate guide to what to wear with black jeans.
1. For a Casual Look: Keep It Classic and Comfy
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For an everyday outfit that feels stylish without trying too hard, pair your black denim with:
- A classic T-shirt or bodysuit. A jet black T-shirt or bodysuit with black pants makes for an effortlessly cool combo that works in any season. To keep things interesting, choose something in an unexpected cut.
- Sneakers or loafers. Keep it comfy with neutral sneakers in dark tones or elevate the look with polished loafers. If you want a more playful touch to the look, a bright shoe or laces can be a fun pop of color against dark straight-leg jeans.
- A cozy knit or cool-girl jacket. Add a layer to give the outfit another source of visual interest. A lightweight cardigan or sweater is perfect for a cozier vibe, while a bomber jacket adds a touch of street style edge. A denim jacket in classic blues adds a nice visual contrast, while a suede jacket or trench coat can give a black jeans outfit a more polished vibe.
2. For Something Edgy and Trendy: Add Street-Style Twists
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If you want to style a pair of black jeans with a modern touch, go bold with:
These are the stories making headlines in fashion on Wednesday. Nicola Kidman, Ayo Edebiri and Greta Lee front Vogue’s November 2025 covers. Photographed by Carlijn Jacobs and styled by Malina Joseph Gilchrist, Kidman posed wearing a Saint Laurent dress. Tyler Mitchell lensed …
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The Lineup is a monthly series where we’re giving you an inside peek at the beauty lineups of the most sought-after experts and tastemakers in the industry. Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at all the can’t-live-without products that make their worlds go ’round.
Kourtney Kardashian Barker is undeniably a wellness icon. For the past 18 years, her on-screen life has given audiences a behind-the-scenes look into the glitzy wellness world of Hollywood’s elite—complete with luxurious facials, Health Nut salads, private Pilates, and even that infamous sauna sweat test. But her POV on self-care actually goes much deeper. “My love of wellness has always been there, but it really grew once I became a mom,” she tells me. Being the multi-hyphenate that she is, people always ask her how she balances motherhood, work, and taking care of herself. This led her to create Poosh, a digital magazine and wellness marketplace where she shares everything from seasonal skincare tips to her signature matcha latte recipe.
As you can imagine, I’ve been soaking up KKB’s wellness tips ever since Poosh launched in 2019. Luckily, when I caught up with her to chat all things fall wellness, she shared some sage big-sister advice for prioritizing yourself during busy season. “Self-care should be about feeling good, not being perfect,” she says. “I’ve learned to listen to my body and to say no more often. For a long time, I overcommitted, which left me drained, but now, I give myself the space to rest and recharge. It makes the things I do say yes to feel so much more enjoyable and intentional.”
Another aspect of wellness she’s prioritizing right now is immunity. As a busy mom and the founder of Lemme, she has no time to get sick, so sticking to simple rituals like long walks and a trusted supplement lineup keeps her feeling her best. “The best routines are the ones you actually look forward to,” she explains. “Lemme Immunity Gummies make supporting your immune system simple, enjoyable, and reliable. They’re made with postbiotics, vitamin C, and zinc to give your body the daily defense it needs.” I can confirm you’ll definitely want to add these delicious gummies to your fall and winter wellness lineup. Keep scrolling to see more of KKB’s favorite products—from a plasma serum to a chili-pepper body mask to the cozy $13 hot water bottle you may already have at home.
“This is an easy way to give your body the daily defense it needs.”
Slip
Pure Silk Queen Pillowcase
“I try to only sleep on silk pillowcases. Khloé’s godmother, the late actress Mary Frann, always told me and my sisters that you have to sleep on a silk pillowcase to take care of your skin and hair, and I’ve done it ever since I was 15.”
Phlur
Vanilla Skin Natural Deodorant
“I use natural deodorant because I love something simple and effective without weird chemicals. This one is actually good for your skin, and the vanilla scent is soft and dreamy.”
Sacheu
Stainless Steel Gua Sha
“Gua sha is my reunited best friend. I love to gua sha in the mornings for five minutes if I get a chance. It’s like a massage for all those face muscles that work so hard. [It’s] also an instant lift!”
Lemme
Purr: Vaginal Health Gummies
“This one is for the girls. If you’re looking for a clinically-studied probiotic that was specifically studied for the vaginal microbiome, look no further! Plus, we added pineapple extract (if you know, you know)!”
Jan Marini
Skin Zyme Face Mask
“I use this face mask at least once a week. I always use the Jan Marini Clean Zyme face wash first, and then I love to put the mask on with a makeup brush. I keep [a makeup brush] in my bathroom just for masks.”
Dr. Diamond’s Metacine
Instafacial Plasma Bioactive Growth Factor Serum
“I’ve gotten PRP facials with Dr. Diamond for years and love that this product mimics those results at home. It makes my skin feel plump and hydrated.”
Iota
Superchili Body Mask+
“This is like an ice bath in a jar. I’ll put it on when my muscles feel sore or when it’s hot out. It starts icy, then warms, like your body responding to a massage. It’s great for areas that need firming or plumping.”
Kourtney x Barker Wellness
Rejuvenate Magnesium Bath Flakes
“I love a bath, and adding these flakes makes it more than just relaxing. It feels like a wellness treatment at home. They soothe sore muscles and smell amazing. I even love the sound of adding them into the bath.”
Dawdix
Natural Rubber Hot Water Bottle With Cover
“I love using a hot water bottle at night as it gets cooler out. It becomes part of my night routine. I fill it up with my electric tea kettle in my bedroom and tuck it under the covers where my feet would go and then by the time I crawl into bed it’s all warm and cozy. My paternal grandmother, Helen Kardashian, always loved a hot water bottle so it reminds me of her.”
Mirabella
Phototherapy 7-Color Led Facial Mask
“I’ve always loved a good red light mask. This one is good because it has different settings—red light for fine lines, blue for breakouts, amber for brightness. I just pick what my skin needs that day. I love that it’s cordless, so I can multitask while I use it.”
Lemme
Debloat: Daily Digestive Gummies
“I may be biased but this is the best debloating supplement ever formulated. It uses two clinically studied ingredients and works fast!”
Bragg
Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
“Apple cider vinegar is such a classic. I take it in tea or in warm water before a meal once a day when I’m in an ACV phase, but I also love that you can use it in cooking, for skin, or in baths. It does everything.”
Surya
Copper Tongue Scraper
“The first thing I do in the morning before I can drink my warm water that my husband brings me in bed, is tongue scrape. It instantly makes my mouth feel clean and clears out any buildup from overnight. Copper is naturally antibacterial, so it’s the best tool for it.”
PurO3
Ozonated Oil Pulling Solution
“I do oil pulling every morning before I start my day (after I tongue scrape). My dentist told me 15 minutes is ideal, but I usually last about five. It’s an ancient Ayurvedic ritual that helps with strengthening your gums and enamel, and is supposedly very healing, too!”
The Things We Do
Ritual Set
“This one’s an easy at-home microneedling set with a serum ampule to stamp into the skin. It says to use it once a month so I make sure not to miss out each month!”
“I wear these on the treadmill, after workouts, anytime I’m traveling (flights or tour bus rides), or even [after] a long day on my feet, like a Disneyland day. The compression helps with circulation, soreness, and swelling, but they’re still comfortable and sleek.”
Kylie Cosmetics
Precision Pout Lip Liner & Lip Butter Duo
“If I wanted to apply one quick type of makeup, it would be lips! I love this because it gives that not-trying-too-hard lip look. The liner adds a little shape, and the Vanilla Caramel Lip Butter feels soft and hydrating. It feels natural but still put-together.”
For their spring collection, Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox and Daniel Silver offered a melange of vintage Duckie pieces mixed with brand new ones. It’s the kind of thing that happens when you are packing and come across your old things and decide it’s time to give them a new spin. As it happens, the Duckies are indeed packing up their West Village studio up in a crate and sending it to Greece, where they’re currently in the midst of constructing their house. “Duckie Brown is definitely happening over there, and now we’ve gone from this apartment that we used to live in that Daniel bought in the ’80s and we made Duckie Brown in it, into a kind of slaughter—well that’s a harsh word—but there’s something about taking this desk, pushing everything off it, and start again,” said Cox with characteristic elan. And thus an oversized yellow suit (2016) worn with a pink blouse (new); a jacket adorned with trompe l’oeil beaded medals (2006) worn with their classic big shirt in red silk jacquard (new) and plaid trousers (2012); a gorgeous green cashmere coat (2007) worn over a paisley silk jacquard robe (new), and pink wide leg trousers (new). A red and blue patterned jacquard coat from 2014 looked just as amazing now as it did over a decade ago. All are for sale.
“The new pieces are all Duckie Brown favorites: the silk trousers, the tuxedo short, long skirt or dress, all done in crepe de chine and silk—we can’t do wool in Greece,” added Cox. They were primarily inspired by two things; the bathrobes worn by Josh O’Connor in The Durrells of Corfu; and the test swatches they painted on their studio walls in Brooklyn while trying to figure out the colors of the house in Greece. The pinks and greens from their kitchen and living room transposed into the clothes. (Frank, one of their best customers, has already taken home the kitchen-pink shirt). A terrific skirt made from a white fabric with the word SAMPLE printed on it came from their summer visit to SCAD, where they visited to advise the senior class and met a student by the name of Kaj Nielsen. “We really admired the fabric when we first met him and the next day he brought it to us, wrapped in a little bow,” Cox explained. They say home is where the heart is, but when the heart is built in to the clothes, then home can really be anywhere you want. We look forward to the next era of Duckie Brown.
My drive to the cinema, however, was filled with mixed feelings, as less than 12 hours before, I’d had an extremely lukewarm reaction to Swift’s 12th record, The Life of a Showgirl. I wasn’t the only one who’d picked up on a significant vibe shift and lack of…pizzazz that was promised from the Max Martin-produced record, marketed as a behind-the-curtain reflection on the pomp, grandiosity, chaos and confusion that comes with being a showgirl.
Instead, the record reads more like an attempt at appearing nonchalant towards the negative noise, while simultaneously only focusing on it, sandwiched between a few peppy love songs. Unlike the defined sonic-directions of Swift’s previous 11 records, there’s little through-line between the palette, and at times, the writing leaves little to the imagination. To me, there’s a distinct lack of yearning on this record — a defining trait in Swift’s lyricism.
Fellow fashion lovers, you’re in luck: The best Prime Day clothing deals of the year are here. Amazon’s annual Prime Big Deal Days event runs through tonight, October 8, and it’s absolutely stacked with of-the-moment finds. The shopping event—basically fall’s answer to Prime Day—includes discounts across every category on the site (including beauty and gifts), but I’m guessing you, like me, are most excited to shop the season’s biggest trends and gems from the labels you know and love.
Featured October Prime Day Deal
Updated: Oct 8 2025, 12:13 PM
As a style shopping editor who’s reported on every Amazon Prime Day for the past five years, I can vouch that this is the best time to stock up on whatever you’re missing from your current wardrobe, be it fall dresses, work bags, trench coats, or knee-high boots—you’ll find it all in my edit. So, make sure to bookmark this page; I’ll be updating my curated list of the best Prime Day fashion deals as tonight’s deadline approaches. (I’ve already added finds from Levi’s, Coach, and Veja, plus a rare find from royals-approved brand DeMellier.) Now let’s go shopping, shall we?
Glamour’s edit of the best Prime Day clothing deals
Shop the best Prime Day clothing deals by category
Best Prime Day sweater deals
Sweater weather, like Prime Day, is finally upon us—and you don’t need to tell me twice to stock up. I’m prioritizing trendy silhouettes and colors, since I can almost guarantee that this is the cheapest they’ll be all season. At the top of my list: sporty half-zips, tomato-red cardigans, and Naadam’s viral 100% cashmere sweater, which is now at the lowest price I’ve ever seen it.
Best Prime Day outerwear deals
A few major jacket trends, including dramatic trenches and cropped, sporty styles, are going to define the remainder of 2025—and this on-sale edit is your inside track. A floral boho topper layers so well over fall sweaters, barn jackets are only getting more popular, and I saw so many pieces like that utility jacket at New York Fashion Week. Meanwhile, you can also get a jump on your collection of winter coats; I suggest a puffer jacket with a dramatic collar and a wool-blend coat that’ll soften up all your cold-weather outfits.
Best Prime Day bag deals
As it turns out, many labels beloved by Glamour readers, including Tory Burch, Madewell, and Kate Spade, are on sale at the mega-retailer right this minute. (Snap up that trendy suede bag while it’s still in stock.) But don’t be afraid to branch out a little—newer brands like the viral JW Pei and editor-loved Anine Bing are also discounted in the gold rush. But perhaps the best Prime Day handbag deal of the bunch is a chic DeMellier shoulder bag that’s now somehow under $400; the brand has been worn by Meghan Markle. Don’t miss it.
Best Prime Day designer deals
I’ve been around the block long enough to know where to look for the secret designer deals during every Amazon tentpole sale. And the October Prime Day selection is looking particularly lovely; who doesn’t need a sporty rugby shirt or an event dress right now? Don’t skip the accessories, which include a healthy assortment of leather bags and high-end sunnies.
Best Prime Day dress deals
Amazon’s selection of dresses is here to save you from a fall fashion rut. Whether you’re updating your work wardrobe, planning a photo shoot at an apple orchard, or headed to an autumn wedding, you’re about to find a new obsession below. Just don’t wait around too long, as some sizes tend to disappear fast—and I’m not anticipating any restocks. (Yes, that’s Free People!)
Best Prime Day clothing deals
Look closely enough and you’ll realize that Amazon is a gold mine for of-the-moment wardrobe staples. Each of these picks, including highly coveted fleece pullovers, crisp button-downs, and refined wide-leg pants, deserves a place in your autumnal rotation, especially as temperatures continue to cool and layering becomes even more important.
Best Prime Day jeans deals
Amazon’s best jeans are cooler than you’d expect. Whether you’re on a hunt for a classic straight-leg pair to wear with everything (try the Levi’s and Madewell picks below) or you’re livening up your rotation with a wide-leg or baggy pair (try Astylish), these finds are guaranteed compliment magnets. And if you’ve been looking for an excuse to try the season’s biggest denim trends, this is your sign: barrel jeans, cuffed styles, and faux-leather pairs are all available from $34.
Best Prime Day sneaker deals
Super-popular white sneakers from Veja and Reebok are available on Amazon for as much as 43% off, but you’ll want to hurry—sizes are selling out fast. Elsewhere, you can pick up fresh New Balance, Adidas, and Nike silhouettes (all lookalikes for their more popular and never-on-sale counterparts) starting at just $56. And I’ll give a special shoutout to those Golas, which are a steal at under $85 and feature an attention-grabbing color scheme that’s surprisingly easy to style.
Best Prime Day shoe deals
All the wear-to-work footwear you’ve been dreaming of is available at nice discounts. Need some eye-catching ballet flats or the most perfect pair of penny loafers? They’re on sale right now. And while flip-flop season is mostly done for the season (at least in some locales), they’ll look great through October with roomy slacks and light jackets—and they’re only poised to be more trendy come next spring.
Best Prime Day boot deals
We’ve officially entered boots season, meaning it’s high time you invest in a proper pair before your next big outing. Knee-high pairs make great investments for dressy occasions and are especially trendy right now, while Coutgo’s faux-suede pair has major Kate Middleton vibes. Oh, and of-the-moment Hunter rain boots are available for a rare 35% off—perfect for the rainy weather on the horizon.
Best Prime Day leggings deals
Take it from me: Prime Day is the absolute best time to dive into the expansive, budget-friendly world of Amazon leggings. While there are way too many brands on sale to mention here, I’m sticking to the site-specific labels that Glamour editors have tested, including CRZ Yoga, Baleaf, and the incredibly popular Colorfulkoala. Not every Prime Day deal is incredible, but I spend a lot of my time tracking the prices of leggings—I can vouch that these pairs are all genuinely much cheaper than they usually are.
Best Prime Day basics deals
It’s prime time—no pun intended—for investing in all the hardworking basics that get you through the week. While you can also find plenty of stunners above, these top-rated T-shirts, versatile tank tops, and just-right bottoms help keep it all together, whether you’re layering them under jackets or tucking eye-catching tops into them. Pay special attention to the deeply discounted picks from Madewell, Levi’s, and the cult-favorite label Leset.
Best Prime Day accessory deals
Slick watches, designer wallets, suede belts—Amazon is showing off with some truly remarkable finds in the accessories department. If you still haven’t hopped on the bag-charm train, Madewell’s pear-shaped option is a great way to dip your toes in. And silk scarves, perhaps the biggest trend of the moment, are also available at shockingly low prices; this skinny one has near-endless styling potential. While these accoutrements will only set you back as little as $8, they’re the secret to high-minded style.
Best Prime Day sunglasses deals
Why choose between cheap and designer? Amazon’s sunglasses selection runs the gamut from affordable, site-specific labels (like Glamour editor-worn Sojos) to high-end brands like Ray-Ban. I’ll let you make the final call yourself, but cat-eyes, ovals, and oversized aviators are majorly trending for fall—and available from just $12. I anticipate bright things ahead.
Best Prime Day jewelry deals
Whether you like to keep it low-key or make a statement, my Amazon Prime Day edit has you covered. The red-stone earrings and stacking rings I’ve been seeing everywhere are now the cheapest I’ve ever seen them, while coveted picks from high-dollar brands like Tory Burch, Éliou, and Jenny Bird are now available for up to 25% off. Oh, and that very giftable Kate Spade bangle—an all-time Glamour bestseller—is literally the cheapest I’ve ever seen it, so act fast.
Best Prime Day activewear deals
Whether you live at the gym or you just love stretchy fabric—no judgment here!—you probably already know Amazon as the place to pick up trendy, nice-looking activewear on the cheap. For the next two days, though, it’s shaping up to be just about the cheapest place to buy any and all workout clothes. Shop some of Glamour’s go-to running jackets, airy tees, and workout sets while they’re at their absolute most affordable.
Best Prime Day loungewear deals
Everyone at Glamour (myself included) is a loungewear enthusiast. And we’ve got good news for you: So many of the season’s biggest trends, including high-neck sweatshirts, roomy sweatpants, and matching sets, are now up to 40% off for Prime Day. You don’t have to stick to this neutral color palette, but we promise these whites, grays, and browns will go with everything.
Best Prime Day lingerie deals
We go big on intimates here at Glamour, where we have contributors dedicated solely to bringing you the absolute best bras and underwear. So trust that these super-popular picks—including the Amazon Essentials undies we named the finest underwear for women on the market—are worth your time, especially now that they’re as much as 33% off for a limited time only.
How to save big on Prime Big Deal Days
Glamour’s team of shopping editors has reported on Amazon’s annual two-day sale—Prime Day’s little sister—since it was first introduced in October 2022. If you’re looking to secure the biggest discounts before the clock runs out, here’s how to make the most of it:
- Try a free Amazon Prime membership: Not a member? Start a free trial now to unlock the best deals before the sale ends, since the best markdowns are available exclusively to Prime shoppers.
- Check competing retailers: Although Prime Big Deal Days is an Amazon sales event, other stores are known to run their own discounts, sometimes matching Lightning Deals with markdowns on everything from buzzy tech to kitchen gadgets. On the style side, I suggest you also pop over to Nordstrom and Shopbop. (The latter is an Amazon-owned site with its own slate of very chic deals.)
- Save your picks: Take it from me—the sheer number of deals can feel overwhelming at first. Use the Amazon app to your advantage by tapping the heart icon to build a shopping list of your favorite products. This allows you to jump on deals before they disappear and track if any discounts are getting better over the 48-hour period.
- Explore sizes and colors: One quirk of shopping on Amazon is that clothes and accessories often have different discounts based on the sizes and colors you pick. A dress that’s not on sale in a size small, for example, could be 30% off in medium. So if you’re between sizes or colors, it’s worth checking out every possibility to net the highest discount possible.
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It’s been a tough year in retail: Every week, there seems to be a new store closure; Trump’s tariffs have jacked up prices; inflation has led to a decline in consumer spending and a recession seems imminent. And yet, despite these troubling signs of economic strain, things are looking up as we turn …
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I meet Mia Goth in late August in Pasadena in a small park in the middle of the California Institute of Technology’s campus. She selects a bench in the shade, fronted by a series of small ponds and encircled by buildings housing the genius minds of tomorrow. It is rather on the nose, I tell her, given the day’s subject matter. She is the female lead in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, the celebrated director’s 149-minute, $120 million three-decades-in-the-making passion project about a cursed inventor, and here we are, poised between the natural world and the ever-widening reaches of scientific exploration. Goth looks over her shoulder at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory. “That did cross my mind,” she says impishly. “Scientists…” Really, she says she chose this little park, with its boulders and terraced pools full of friskily scrumming turtles, because it doesn’t feel like L.A. (more on that later) and because she comes here regularly with her 3-year-old daughter, Isabel. It’s one of their favorite outings. “That’s one of the beautiful things about having a child. … Things that you used to take for granted or you just weren’t present for or just completely glazed over as an adult, she really slows down,” she tells me. “This, if I was on my own, I might just look at it and appreciate it. Move on. Turtles. But with her, it becomes a whole morning.” Goth is wearing no makeup (and not in the usual starlet no-makeup makeup way—really, none), and she is beaming. Parenthood, she tells me earnestly, “is the greatest gift of my life.”
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Marc Jacobs dress and bow.)
This, it must be said, differs wildly from Victor Frankenstein’s experience—as written by Mary Shelley in her iconic 1818 novel and as depicted in del Toro’s 2025 film, in theaters and on Netflix this fall. The director has taken some liberties with the text: his Dr. Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) has a cruel, demanding father, and transforms the sorrow of losing his mother, played for a few scenes by an unrecognizable Goth (truly, I triple-checked it with both Netflix and personal reps), at a young age into the determination to create life out of pieces of recovered corpses. He makes himself a parent too— just a really, really bad one. His repulsion by and abandonment of his creation (Jacob Elordi) results in a lot of unnecessary death and destruction. It’s mayhem that could have been mastered by patience, understanding, and love—basically, good mothering (there’s a lot of Freudian emphasis on Victor’s preference for milk) but also a sense of humanity. There is a reason this story has remained relevant for over two centuries and has found its moral lesson applied to everything from the French Revolution to the creation of and increasing reliance on AI: Just because we can do something, Shelley’s work insists, doesn’t mean we should.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Richard Quinn look; Manolo Blahnik shoes.)
(Image credit: Future)
Goth’s real role in del Toro’s film is playing Elizabeth Lavenza. In Shelley’s novel, she is Victor’s pure-hearted cousin and later wife, a benign victim who pushes the plot along. Here, the character is a refined young woman with a mind of her own who Victor finds himself inexplicably drawn to. (Could it be her uncanny similarity to his mother? There’s Freud again.) She is engaged to Victor’s guileless and kind younger brother and has a deep-pocketed uncle (Christoph Waltz) who is willingly and increasingly entangled in Victor’s experiments. Goth’s Elizabeth possesses a genuine appreciation for science, specifically entomology, and a love of both the natural and metaphysical worlds. She has spent her most recent years in a convent. The part is basically the human embodiment of pure female virtue turned all the way up to Virgin Mary levels—all quiet kindness, grace, and maternal instinct wrapped in the halo of a cerulean-feathered fascinator that highlights Goth’s eyes.
Goth spent time with some nuns in Alhambra, California, to prepare for the role, she tells me, and read the stacks of books that del Toro had given her (subjects: entomology; the book of Job; a biography of the 17th century Hieronymite nun, poet, and playwright Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz; a study of the fashions of the time). She also made a playlist, which she does for all of her film projects, mostly made up of scores by the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, though she later decided she needed to break up all the “composer energy” with songs by Jeff Buckley, Beirut, Eve, Big Sean, and Mariah Carey. She found the most success when she’d meditate and try to channel a higher spirit. “I started to realize that actually when I get quiet and I’m able to sit with myself and get silent and really connect to the most authentic part of me, that’s where she exists,” Goth says.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Richard Quinn look; Manolo Blahnik shoes.)
Though she describes the shoot as magical (“I would have done anything Guillermo asked me to,” Goth says with a “pinch me” air. “I never got over the fact that I was a part of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. I still haven’t gotten over it”), the set was not a nonstop party. “I was taken by how focused and how quiet and how detail oriented the set was,” she says. “I mean, everyone knew what time it was and what this represented and what it could be if we made it work. I guess, in that sense, there were parts of the job that were quite lonely.” She often feels that the energy of the character and the story end up translating to the dynamic and the vibe of the set. She says, “I think just the nature of my character being a woman, the only woman, in a Victorian world is intrinsically lonely.”
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Colleen Allen coat; Erik Charlotte bonnet; Falk tights; Alice Waese earring (worn as nail art); Tiffany & Co. ring; Stella McCartney shoes.)
Goth believes all storytelling is, in some part, biographical, and she thinks there was a part of Shelley in all of these characters. At the time of writing Frankenstein, the 18-year-old Shelley had run away with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, just lost their out-of-wedlock child two years prior, and was pregnant with another. It was a period that The New Yorker, reviewing Muriel Spark’s 1951 biography of Shelley, summarized as “eight years of near-constant pregnancy and loss.” Shelley was no stranger to the latter: Her mother, the writer, philosopher, and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, had died soon after childbirth, and her father, the political philosopher William Godwin, rejected her at 16 for her trespasses with Shelley. The impetus for Frankenstein came from a bored Lord Byron (who, it has been suggested, served as a fair amount of the inspiration for the impulsive and morality-challenged Victor and who himself impregnated Shelley’s stepsister with a child he would effectively abandon a few years later). During a stormy weekend visit, he suggested a ghost story competition. Shelley’s story became Frankenstein: a parable of man’s genius perverted to folly, as expressed through the eyes of a hideous, powerful, innocent. (Ultimately, as is so often the case, the problem was other people; as Wollstonecraft had written in 1794, “people are rendered ferocious by misery.”) “I thought a lot about [Mary Shelley] and who she was,” Goth says. “At the core part of it, she was a very lonely woman. She created a friend in the creature,” who, like all infants, didn’t ask to be born and fumbles through the world looking for love and kindness and finds mostly cruelty and fear. “That’s something that I was drawn to in the character,” Goth continues, “this feeling of always feeling kind of an outsider myself.”
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Colleen Allen coat; Erik Charlotte bonnet; Alice Waese earring (worn as nail art); Tiffany & Co. ring.)
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Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth was born in London in October 1993 into what she succinctly describes as “quite a hippie background.” She moved with her mother to the latter’s native Brazil in the early days of infancy, and a few years later, they joined her father in his native Canada. She and her mother permanently relocated to London when she was 12. To the consistent surprise of those who’ve only ever seen her in character on-screen, she speaks in a girlish lilt that betrays her British heritage but also feels slightly out of time. Some of her many devoted online fans have described her as sounding like a Victorian ghost.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Simone Rocha dress and harness; Commando underwear; Tiffany & Co. earrings.)
The young Goth spent her early years watching the American movies that played on Brazilian TV in English, regardless of their subject matter or rating. She remembers 21 Grams, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Free Willy all leaving a positive impression. “I’ve always appreciated heavier, complex subject matter,” she says. She would also visit her maternal grandmother—Maria Gladys Mello da Silva, a popular actress in Brazil—on various film and TV sets. “Some of my earliest memories are of being on set,” she says. “I just remember thinking to myself, ‘I want to do that‘ and looking up to her and just being in awe of her and what she was doing. It was kind of that way my whole life.”
Goth’s unique, doll-like look drew attention, and she started modeling and then auditioning when she was a teenager back in the UK. “It just always felt like [acting] was the path I was going to go down,” she says. “I couldn’t explain it, and I didn’t know how it was going to happen, but it just always felt like that’s what was going to happen.” Her big-screen debut was at 18 when she decided to forgo university to act in Lars von Trier’s notoriously boundary-pushing X-rated erotic film Nymphomaniac: Volume II instead. Her parents knew von Trier’s work and were thrilled for her to get the opportunity. “I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive family in that sense, actually,” she says.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Simone Rocha dress and harness; Commando underwear; Tiffany & Co. earrings.)
Goth had no doubts herself about skipping college. There was never a plan B, she says, turning her gaze to the ground, where a nearby squirrel surveys, spread eagled in a patch of shade. “I always thought to myself, ‘You can’t have a plan B. You can’t live your life like that because if you have a plan B, you’re not going to work as hard on plan A. So you have plan A, or you’re fucked.'” It’s the first flash I’ve seen of the intensity she’s known for in some of her grittier roles, the expletive delivered with the matter-of-factness of a punchline. (It isn’t one. She’s quite serious.) “I think I come from such a world where it was like my planning had to work,” Goth continues. “I could never go back to what that was, so it just had to work. It just informed me in every way and my drive and how I’d show up for auditions, and I would be prepared for sets.” The squirrel shoots up a tree trunk, and we both turn to watch it watching us, a ring of eyes staring at each other, waiting for the next move. She shrugs, “I just put all of my eggs in one basket.”
Nymphomaniac was a foundational experience, and not only because it’s where she met her now partner and the father of her child, actor Shia LaBeouf. “I love that movie. I’m very proud of that movie. It’s still one of my favorite movies that I’ve been a part of,” she says. Von Trier’s set provided what “really became my whole blueprint for what I wanted my career to look like,” she tells me: “the directors that I wanted to work with, the style of directing that I gravitate toward, the kind of films that I enjoy most, the actors that I really respond to. I think one of the reasons it was such an incredible experience was because it was so free. Lars would tell me, ‘Go through the script, and if there’s anything that doesn’t sound right coming out your mouth, change it.’ To give that to an 18-year-old that didn’t have any experience was really empowering.” Her CV quickly turned into a murderers’ row of critically lauded auteur projects: A Cure for Wellness, High Life, Suspiria, Emma, X, Pearl, Maxxxine. Many of these (notably the X trilogy, the second installment of which, Pearl, she cowrote with creator Ti West) had small budgets and obsessive fandoms, for whom she quickly became their favorite star. They also tended to show off her excellent capability for elevating considered gore and talent for big, full, theatrical screaming. She doesn’t love the oft-applied “scream queen” label, though. “Someone came up to me the other day, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re one of my favorite actresses,'” she says. “I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you!’ And they’re like ‘…in horror movies.’ And I was like…”” She blinks and presses her lips into a thin, quizzical smile. But look, that’s okay. That’s unlikely to be the case for much longer.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Marine Serre dress; Michael Kors gloves; Tiffany & Co. necklace and bracelet.)
Frankenstein is the biggest and most mainstream project that Goth has been a part of to date. That will remain true for a little under a year until Christopher Nolan’s behemoth The Odyssey premieres next summer and she appears alongside what sounds like nearly every star in the Hollywood firmament. (Along with most details about the project, her exact role remains under wraps, though she does say that filming was “one of the greatest experiences,” that Nolan was a master class in directing, and that she “learned so much on that film set.”) Following that comes a new stratosphere or, really, galaxy: Star Wars: Starfighter, helmed by Shawn Levy and costarring Ryan Gosling. (It’s a standalone project, she says, meaning they won’t be inserting themselves into the universe’s prior storylines, but that’s really all she can say about it. Gosling has said that it is all new characters and takes place in a time after the Battle of Exegol, after Episode IX.) And then there’s the next project, which has not even been announced, so mum’s the word, though, she says earnestly, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever read.” Apologies to all of those who would prefer to keep her as their favorite indie horror actress, but what’s happening now is a pointed turn to the very big time.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Marni dress; Alice Waese earring (used as nail art).)
(Image credit: Future)
“I’m making a mindful decision of wanting to branch out and just not do the same thing,” she tells me. “In any career, in any profession, you want to keep growing and trying new things. Otherwise, you just kind of get stagnant, and it’s not fun anymore, and you’re not exploring anymore, and it’s just not enjoyable anymore.” She gives too much of herself to each project to shoot things back-to-back-to-back; she prefers to go off and live her life and fill that well with experience so that she can draw from it later in her work. The key to having an interesting and fulfilling career, she tells me later, “is to cultivate a really fulfilling life outside of work so that you’re able to have patience to wait for the right projects to come around.”
To that end, she also has her 3-year-old daughter to think about. “I was always quite picky to begin with, but now even more so,” she says. “It has to make sense on many levels. Oftentimes, you are waking up before she wakes up, and you’re coming home after her bedtime. You have to justify it in your head to be away, for it to make sense, to be away from her, to be taken away from her. I feel very lucky that the projects that I’m working on [do] make sense to me.” Isabel came with her to the Scottish Highlands to shoot some of Frankenstein, and they will relocate to London for Star Wars, which both she and Goth are excited about. “I miss London,” Goth says. (She doesn’t like L.A.? “I hate L.A.,” she whispers.) “I miss my friends. I miss the people. I miss the culture. I just miss the sense of the city, being able to step outside and be around something.” L.A. has been a fun place to raise a child with its easy weather and natural splendor, but she worries about the preteen years and how much quicker it seems the loss of innocence happens here thanks to the prevalence of social media, the exposure to the film industry, the emphasis on celebrity and money and the access to everything it can buy. “It feels like that awkward stage doesn’t happen anymore,” she says. “I feel like I was in my awkward stage until about 26.”
(Image credit: Erica Snyder. Wardrobe: Tom Ford dress.)
We walk to a nearby café and chat about the prep she has to do before the Venice Film Festival in a week. There will be a facial and hair and nail appointments—the usual glam before takeoff. She doesn’t fear or loathe the red carpet or summon a character beforehand in order to face it; she likes celebrating a project she believes in this much alongside the people who made it with her. Plus, the grandeur of Venice! And then there’s the parenting part, getting Isabel ready for the trip. (Luckily, her daughter’s favorite game is “airport”: They pack suitcases, and a stuffed giraffe collects their tickets.) Inside where we wait for our drinks, there’s inexplicably a life-sized cardboard cutout of R2-D2 by the cash register. When I point it out, she poses next to it, finger-gunning with a goofy smile like a tourist at Disneyland. (Sorry to disappoint R2 fans, but she says that particular droid is not one of her future costars.) None of the dozen-plus customers in line seem to clock that there’s a movie star, let alone a future Star Wars star, in their midst. In her boxy white T-shirt, frayed jean shorts, kelly green Doc Marten brogues, and red socks, Goth looks every inch a cool young Pasadena native or fellow Caltech student. I ask if she often gets recognized. “Sometimes. Not a lot though. It’s not to the point where it’s uncomfortable or unmanageable,” she says. In bigger cities around younger people, it happens more, but typically, they just want to say hi. “It’s like living in a small town,” she shrugs. Let’s hope she’s ready for it to get a whole lot bigger.
(Image credit: Erica Snyder)
Photographer: Erica Snyder
Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen
Creative Direction: Sarah Chiarot
Hair Stylist: Bryce Scarlett
Makeup Artist: Nina Park
Manicurist: Betina Goldstein
Set Designer: Francis Cardinale
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Luciana De La Fe
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