Elle Fanning for Teen Vogue

Posted on Dec 30, 2011 in Fashion

Darlings, let’s all start the day off with some fresh-faced pretty. And you don’t get much more fresh-faced than Elle Fanning. We, along with some of our Bitter Kittens, have been mostly critical of how she’s been dressed for her public appearances, but leave it to Teen Vogue to get it just right: a combination of sweet and sophisticated, with clean lines and bright colors. You won’t see any of the pale ballerina dresses she tends to wear herself. Elle darling, take a hint from Teen Vogue. You really can’t do much better than them in terms of stylishly dressing an under-18.

Granted, in terms of real-world dressing, we do think the styling here borders on juvenile a couple of times, but mostly she looks pretty and chic without looking any more or less her age.

Elle Fanning featured in the February 2012 issue of Teen Vogue magazine, photographed by Sebastian Kim. Elle wears a Marni dress. Delfina Delettrez cuffs.

On acting while in school: “Some people do piano lessons after school; I do movies.”

Elle wears a Carven dress. Marc by Marc Jacobs necklace, $198. Miu Miu shoes.

On working with big name celebrities: “I always feel like they’re just a name—like they’re not real at first. Then once you get to know them, you’re like, That’s Scarlett and Matt! It’s not, like, Matt Damon.”

RED Valentino dress, and shoes, $450. Louis Vuitton tiara. Oscar de la Renta cuff.

On her acting method: “I never really pull from experience. I just sort of make believe. That’s why I like acting. You can create or imagine anything. It’s not like I’ve fallen in love but I’ve had crushes and things.”

Elle wears a Bebe top, $89. Aurélie Bidermann ring, $175. Lena Wald necklace.

On her crush on Ryan Gosling: “Me and my friends saw Crazy, Stupid, Love, and we were freaking out. “Everyone falls in love with him after that.”

Elle wears a Miu Miu dress.

On her relationship with Dakota: “I remember the first time Dakota asked me for fashion advice about what to put with what. I was like, My big sister is asking me?”

Elle wears a Christopher Kane dress. Kenneth Jay Lane ring.

Elle wears a Prada dress. Jane Tran hairpin, $35. Tatty Devine for Eley Kishimoto necklace, $56.

[Photo/Video Credit: teenvogue.com]

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foodycat

I complained about the last 60s-styled editorial, but I like this one! Much less literal. That blue Marni dress looks so pretty on her too.
Sobaika Mirza

Friggin’ adorable.
Anonymous

OMG, So fresh faced and pretty. And thank you Teen Vogue for not making her look like she’s 15 going on 40 (cough Aliana Lohan cough)

Love that red Valentino
Anonymous

The first photo in the blue Marni dress is perfection.
http://twitter.com/NC_Meg Megan

So, so cute. I love that blue Marni dress and the black and white Prada.
Anonymous

She’s the absolute cutest, isn’t she? No way I looked like THAT when I was her age. I was still rolling up my skirts and misapplying my eyeliner.
- http://twitter.com/NC_Meg Megan
  
  Hah, I wasn’t even at eyeliner yet, I was still at eye glitter!
- Anonymous
  
  At that age I was trying to figure out how to wear corsets to school as shirts without getting kicked out. I eventually settled upon “wear them with a cardigan.” I was pairing the corsets and cardigans with thigh high stockings that laced up the back and high heeled Mary Janes. I would have described this as “cute and kind of punky” my mother described this as “hooker. And terrible.” In hindsight I think she might have been a dash right.
  
  My makeup look was cream foundation (YOWZA!) much the consistency of cake frosting, black eyeliner more in basically the style of an Incredibles superhero or alternately raccoon, and red orange matte lipstick that clashed rather violently with my orange orange hair.
http://twitter.com/pointlesswords jaymeglynn

This is exactly how I wish she looked on the red carpet. They definitely nailed her vibe, but she looks incredibly put-together, and her skin tone is even!
Vaniljekjeks

She is just so pretty and sweet. She works the heck out of every look effortlessly.
Cathy S

She is so adorable. And the dresses are fantastic.
MilaXX

Very pretty. The color of that first blue dress should be her go to color. I don’t think any of the dresses are juvenile as much as the cut some of them, like the pink & the red don’t work on her leggy frame and look odd couple with the very grown up high heels she’s wearing.
http://heartprintandstyle.blogspot.com Vivi N

I’ll say this again: If this acting thing fails for Ms. Elle (and it probably won’t) she can go into modeling. This girl can WERQ!
- Anonymous
  
  Hell yeah. That kid gives good face.
  - Renee Thomas
    
    I third this sentiment. To me it goes along with her comment about acting as make-believe; it strikes me that she’s brought that approach to this shoot as well. It reminds me of a feature Vanity Fair did a couple of years ago that recreated a bunch of Hitchcock movie moments. It was filled with big-name actresses like Gwyneth and Charlize, but the one who really nailed it was Zellweger as the girl from Vertigo. She’s acting in that photo, not just sitting there looking pretty. I know a lot of people are not fans of Renee Z, but it’s worth a Google to see if you can get a look at this photo.
Anonymous

Absolutely perfect. Super fresh and cute styling without gawpy trout mouth poses. Nicely done Teen Vogue.
Anonymous

i wish we could see more of that last prada dress!!1
Anonymous

My daughter gets Teen Vogue so I see the same girls that are so misrepresented in the magazines for grown ups get sensitive, age appropriate coverage in this magazine. The Teen Vogue people know how to style and photograph the very young.
- Alisa Rivera
  
  Yes, it’s so nice to see her in a setting where she’s not being used to sell clothes to grown women.
Anonymous

adorable!
Anonymous

“Some people do piano lessons after school; I do movies.” That’s pretty fucking pretentious.
- Anonymous
  
  How? It seems to me like she’s saying “that’s my activity” and trying to show how she is a normal kid with an activity. Silly, of course, because she’s not, but still, what’s pretentious about that?
- Anonymous
  
  I disagree. I think she’s young enough to actually say something like that matter of factly.
  Anyhow, neither of us heard the inflection in her voice when she said it
- http://twitter.com/starrika Ali
  
  It’s fairly true though – despite making movies, she and Dakota have continued to go to school, rather than employ tutors, and have had a rather normal childhood/teen years, at least compared to other child stars. It’s always been more something that they “do”, rather than an actual career for them at this age.
  - Anonymous
    
    I think I heard Dakota say on a talk show that she was home schooled until her last year of high school when she requested to go to a regular school.
    - http://www.GiftedCollector.com Nancy Abrams
      
      I hope that whoever is responsible for this girl’s education explains to her that “Me and my sister…look good in blues” is not proper English. The constant misuse of pronouns makes my skin crawl.
    - http://twitter.com/starrika Ali
      
      She was voted Homecoming Queen two years in a row, so I know for sure she went longer than a year. I feel like I’ve heard her talk about it before, but I could be wrong. I do know for sure that she was in high school for a while.
      - Anonymous
        
        Cheerleader, too. How cute is that?
http://twitter.com/thelilerin erin l.

I absolutely love this little lady. Perfection in every shot, especially the one with the parasol. I think what I love the most about her is she hasn’t been destroyed by Hollywood; her answers, attitude, and appearance all are extremely genuine.
Anonymous

OMG! She actually looks her age.

And that’s a good thing.
Anonymous

Fabulous styling. Nice quotes too.
Anonymous

Wow, she looks so very pretty here! And the dresses suit her to a T!
Anonymous

I don’t think any of these look juvenile at all. She looks great but that blue outfit in the first pic looks like a very successful woman executive. *The red lace and first three looks, look older than this teen (or any teen I know)
- Anonymous
  
  I agree. I mean she looks great, she’s not all sexed up, and the choice of colors helps, but the clothes still look awfully sophisticated for someone as young as she is.
  - Anonymous
    
    Sigh. They are too sophisticated for the tastes of most teens – who either don’t want to dress up or want to look 24, in my experience. But they ARE what I’d buy for my teen if I had the money and she’d actually wear them.
Anonymous

Love that last Prada dress. She looks just perfect in these photos!
http://twitter.com/VicksieDo VicksieDo

Yes child, wear COLORS!
Anonymous

I especially enjoyed the video. She’s quite charming and so pretty.
But I never looked like that at thirteen, or had that self-confidence, which seems genuine and not affected.
As a baby boomer, and not having any young ladies directly in my life, I can never guess the age of any girls anymore. I think we were so much *younger* at thirteen.
- Anonymous
  
  At thirteen, we all went to Lee Ann Sullivan’s house for her birthday party, where we watched Elvis movies and played Barbies, as we put it “just this one last time.” We were younger then than the 13 year olds are now.
Anonymous

I love those bright colors on her. I have the same coloring she does and brights are very flattering.
Anonymous

I wish she’d cut some hair off, but I like this photo shoot. Fresh, cute and modern! I also like that she looks her age.
Anonymous

A really sweet 1960s young Cybil Sheppard vibe. How cute is the little red Valentino with those shoes?
Anonymous

Those are some fabulous looks for her. I especially like the last shot.
R. L.

Thank doG for these being age-appropriate fashion photos. I was prepared to be skeeved out when I saw her name but these are great.
http://twitter.com/delysia_lafosse Delysia LaFosse

I love this editorial! I am continually impressed with Teen Vogue’s styling. If I were a 13 or 14-year-old girl, this is how I would want to be photographed. She looks sophisticated and beautiful, but there’s a playfulness and sweetness here that is absent from most of her shoots. I’m not sure I agree that the styling is borderline-juvenile. I would be thrilled to see her go out in any one of these outfits (hell, I’d wear most of them myself, and I’m 26). I hope she sees how great she looks here and abandons the pale pinks and whites and nudes for some of these colors.
Anonymous

classic american beauty. It’s soooo nice not seeing her sexualized. bravo!
Anonymous

Oh how do I so subtly and tactfully point my 14 year old niece in this direction?!
- Anonymous
  
  If you figure out how to do it & she follows your lead, there are legions of moms out there who’d pay for the secret.
- Anonymous
  
  Go back in time and turn her parents in product making machines when your niece was 2.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3AJ237ND3GAHDQJZ4TLCO4WLRA Emily

So great.
Anonymous

Super cute.
http://twitter.com/stopENtalk Brittany Johnstone

Kudos to them for brushing her hair. She looks so much more polished! Love the barrette and scarf too. Why can’t she do her hair like this on the RC more often?
Anonymous

Teen Vogue is always confusing for me – what with most teens and definitely almost all celebrity/public person teens dressing as if they’re 24 starting at about the age of 13.

That said, I like these (with the exception of the red Valentino, which just looks like she put on something she’s grown out of) and can’t say the styling strikes me as juvenile if the market really is teens and almost-teens, especially if mom is still paying for their clothes.
- http://twitter.com/saturnwings Alexis
  
  Thank you! I keep hearing “age appropriate” all over the place, and it baffles me because, well, as you say, age appropriate according to what values? Any teen I’ve ever met tries to dress like they’re, well, my age, and the kids who dress with a similar vibe to these photos are all very young – pre-teens at most, usually less than double digits. And to be honest, even when I was a teen (and I was one who didn’t care about make-up or anything like that), I didn’t dress like this.
  
  I’m starting to think my inability to understand what “age appropriate” means is why I can’t tell what anyone’s age is.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1046681022 Paula Berman

She’s right about Crazy Stupid Love…
Anonymous

She is lovely but what is happening to clothes? All of these clothes remind me of things my sister (who graduated from high school in 1969) made for herself on her Singer sewing machine. The red lace on the next to last photo, that is the EXACT lace that’s on a dress she made for herself back then. I just got off the phone with her. So what gives? These dresses remind me of the frankly sortof stiff, polyester stuff worn circa 1967-1971. Eek.
- Anonymous
  
  But that 1967-1971 look is back, intermittently. I’m pretty sure it’s intentional.
  - Anonymous
    
    Ugh. Why? Everyone ends up looking like Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched. Sigh.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=625120374 Jessica Walsh

I totally have that beige phone, and I use it all the time. BUT, somehow, I don’t look like Elle Fanning when I use it, which frankly is the real tragedy here.

Good editorial, and I’m not annoyed by the soundbites. whoa.
Anonymous

she’s so gorgeous it makes me sick
Judy_J

Cute and adorably age-appropriate.
Anonymous

“I never really pull from experience.” Yeah, well, she’s … what did she say? … 13 years old?!
Anonymous

Shes a super hot Brady girl. Seriously she looks great here. Damn legs forever in that red dress and I love her in the turquoise
Anonymous

They got it exactly right! Vogue – take a lesson.
Anonymous

Just watched the little video – THAT’S the cover? Cripes.
Anonymous

She looks wonderful. I don’t think I realized she was this pretty.
Anonymous

She looks so pretty in COLORS. Pretty and fresh-faced…and giving good face.
Anonymous

Elle is so gorgeous and I love her ’70s Face. She reminds me of the girls from The Virgin Suicides!
http://twitter.com/leaftowers Mo Torres

That is one of the most beautiful houses in Los Angeles. They did not take advantage of it. Check out The Stahl House Architectural Monument.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Cheryl-Smith/1236306052 Cheryl Smith

She is so beautiful! I loved her as a small child and find her even more beautiful now. I think the word is ethereal (sp?). I love the long legs and the short dresses.
Allison Woods

The pictures are really great, but if she’s really 13, I think those big ass high heels are a little much.
http://twitter.com/anacedillo Ana Cedillo

she looks so beautiful on all these colors, i really dont think she is that great often but she should def take some pointers from this styling.
Anonymous

She’s sweet looking. But I teach, and I have at least a few students each year prettier than she is. It’s all relative. Somehow, she made it in the movies. I am unimpressed. If she becomes a Jodie Foster or Meryl Streep or a Cher, I will care. Other than that, yawn. Vacuous little girl.
Wrenaria

Adorable. I wish I looked this put together at her age. Or, heck, even now. lol. So cute.

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Elle Fanning for Teen Vogue

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