Tavi Gevinson Reflects the Moment in 'XOXO Tavi' for Vanity Fair by Nick Riley Bentham

Tavi Gevinson is an American writer, magazine editor, and actor. And ‘no’, she’s not skinnying into a pair of jeans, heading off to Vogue Paris. Tavi won’t be adopting former Vogue EIC Emmanuelle Alt’s trademark style, to the best of AOC’s knowledge.

Now 25, Tavi has a superb set of images by Nick Riley Bentham [IG] in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair. Nicole Chapoteau styles the founder of an incredibly popular, fashion and feminism blog ‘Style Rookie’ at age 12 in eccentric artistry from Alessandra Rich, Chanel, Collina Strada, Dior, Emilio Pucci, Wales Bonner and more./ Hair by Roberto Di Cuia; makeup by Akiko Owada

Kenzie Bryant interviews the actor, who plays preppy schoolgirl Kate Keller in HBO Max’s ‘Gossip Girls’ reboot. (See Monday’s feature on Ugandan-Canadian actor Whitney Peak, who plays Zoya Lott.)

The convo is no puff piece, as the two women delve into an essay Tavi published in late February in New York Magazine about the documentary ‘Framing Britney Spears’.

The documentary, which seemed to make the case that Spears was in control of herself and her image at the age of 16, frustrated Gevinson, who posted “a little rant” about it on Instagram. An editor at New York reached out to ask if she would write something; Gevinson said no but then began waking up in the middle of the night with fully formed sentences in her head. (Have you ever been roused from sleep by syntax? It’s hard to ignore.)

“You can either do this now and see how it feels,” she told herself. “Or you can continue to obsessively think about this stuff and continue to wonder what it would be like to share it and let that continue to eat away at you.”

AOC adores Tavi Gavinson — and at our age — we’ve covered her since day one. The Vanity Fair feature is firing on all cylinders, making it the third event this morning that sends a smart-people pulse through the air that is post-pandemic different.