The British actress and Chanel ambassador gets ready for the Los Angeles premiere of Hulu's The Greatest Hits with L'OFFICIEL.

Mere hours before the Los Angeles premiere of The Greatest Hits&mdash;a sci-fi romance that explores the meaning of music in our lives, streaming on Hulu now&mdash;British actress <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/lucy-boynton-red-carpet-style-fashion">Lucy Boynton</a> isn&rsquo;t exactly sure what the inspiration for her look will be.&nbsp;
The heads of organized minds are spinning. But for <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/lucy-boynton-netflix-politician-interview" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Boynton</a>, it all comes down to trust: in her glam team and in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gabrielle-chanel-history">Chanel</a>. For the premiere, Boynton, whose vintage-inspired style skews eclectic and feminine, wore a look from the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/chanel-spring-summer-2024-haute-couture-dance-ballet" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 collection</a>: an organza bomber jacket covered in three-dimensional pastel flowers with a high Elizabethan inspired collar paired with a skirt with a sheer panel, opaque white tights, and black heels. The glam gave the look a dark, Boynton-style twist: black graphic <a href="https://www.chanel.com/us/makeup/p/183650/calligraphie-de-chanel-longwear-intense-cream-eyeliner/">eyeliner</a> that swoops down (very mod-punk) and <a href="https://www.chanel.com/us/makeup/p/191210/le-volume-de-chanel-mascara/">eyelashes</a> to the gods, accompanied by a <a href="https://www.chanel.com/us/makeup/p/171536/31-le-rouge-satin-lipstick/">vampy wine toned-lip</a> and an updo with long wispy <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/curtain-bangs-celebrities">bangs</a> framing her face. Boynton says the look is not an exact reference to the film: it&rsquo;s a blend of her own personal style and her character, Harriet&rsquo;s.&nbsp;
On the precipice of getting ready for the big premiere, Lucy Boynton spoke to L&rsquo;OFFICIEL about her look, her long-running relationship with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gabrielle-chanel-nickname-coco">Chanel</a>, The Greatest Hits, and the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/music/new-albums-of-2024">music</a> that changed her life.

Photography by Bryan Carr

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: What do you do while you get glammed up for events?
Lucy Boynton: The highlight of getting ready is the team that I get ready with. So today I'm with [makeup artist] <a href="https://www.instagram.com/missjobaker/?hl=en">Jo Baker</a> and [hair stylist] <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jennychohair/?hl=en">Jenny Cho</a> and it's the dream team. So it's pretty much just playing music, hanging out with them and discussing inspiration for the look and stuff in relation to the film.
L&rsquo;O: What music do you play?
LB: I love 60s music, so it's always in that vibe and it's always a good party starter.
L&rsquo;O: What is the inspiration for your look tonight?
LB: That has yet to be determined. The look is this incredible Chanel couture look, this flower bomber and these silvery white tights. I am honestly deferring to Jenny and Jo and their creative expertise. They're the bosses.
L&rsquo;O: How did you find the right glam team?&nbsp;
LB: We were put together by my publicist in 2016 when I was promoting Sing Street. It was an immediate click, as people and as personalities. I love being around them and spending time with them, and we've become such close friends. Creatively, it's a combination of really loving their aesthetic eye and really trusting that as well. With both of them, I genuinely would find it easy to not look in the mirror before leaving and I would feel great. It's just a total joy all around.

L&rsquo;O: Your movie, <a href="https://www.hulu.com/movie/ac6ed39b-a4e7-4f1c-b085-d071d52df314">The Greatest Hits,</a> is essentially about the effect that music can have on our lives. You already mentioned you like to get ready to music from the 60s, but is there any other music that's had a profound effect on you?
LB: The center of my relationship with my dad has been the exchanging of music. Only in the last few years have I really been able to offer any decent music in return. I've grown up listening to his vinyls and a lot of my love for the 60s has come from his influence, but he has a really eclectic range of vinyls of country music and contemporary music. But it always ends up going back to Sam Cooke or Dylan or The Beatles.
L&rsquo;O: Is that personal connection you have to music something that drew you to this project?
LB: Absolutely. I first approached it as a time travel sci-fi film, and then realized you could take the sci-fi element out of it and the film would still stand on its own as a psychological insight into our relationship between music, nostalgia, and memory. It immediately spoke to me and I found it really accessible and quite moving. I thought that the music is such a universal connector that it would hopefully resonate with a wide audience as well.
L&rsquo;O: Does your look connect to your character or the film in any way?
LB: It does. My stylist, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/leithclark/?hl=en">Leith Clark</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/leithclark/?hl=en"> </a>and I are always looking for a nod to the film whenever we're doing a press tour or premiere looks. [It&rsquo;s] never too referential, but definitely the tone of the costumes I'm wearing throughout the film are all cool with a grunge edge. This look was a perfect marriage of my aesthetic and my love for Chanel and then an appreciation for this film and the character. The film feels psychedelic with the time travel element, so that's the sheen in the tights in a way, and then the bomber just felt like a hybrid between me and Harriet, my character, that both of us would wear.

L&rsquo;O: How would you describe your aesthetic?
LB: Eclectic and ever evolving. At the core of it is always an appreciation for the past. I love vintage pieces and a nod to old aesthetics... cuts and old ads and everything. What Chanel does so beautifully is incorporating a grunge or contemporary twist to that, a very useful twist to these odes to the past, which is why I gravitate towards Chanel.
L&rsquo;O: The next question I was going to ask is how Chanel fits into your personal style, but you literally just answered that question.
LB: I so appreciate the genesis of their staple looks. Chanel moved in a different direction to create a look that was beautiful and well-crafted but that you could move in, and best of all, breathe in. I've had the great fortune of getting to see them up close and wear them, and you see how much care and consideration goes into each piece, which also speaks to my love of vintage pieces because everything used to be made with durability in mind and long-lasting rather than the fast fashion that we see now. In the same way that I love the costume fitting process for work, it feels the same fitting with Chanel because it's such an elevation of your mood and you get to wear these incredibly crafted dream pieces. It's such a privilege to get to be involved with them and get to wear these pieces of art.

L&rsquo;O: Have you always been drawn to Chanel?
LB: Always. They're one of the most iconic brands, and it just seemed like the highest echelon of fashion and somewhat out of reach. That's the appeal to them as well, that it feels so otherworldly and ethereal and yet the ready-to-wear pieces and stuff that I get to wear for press feel, I don't know, wearable. That sounds so obvious, but you feel very mobile and you can feel like yourself for them. That's something that is really vital to me in terms of fashion. I used to be very daunted by the fashion industry, and I've found a way to be still myself and self-expressive with Chanel.
L&rsquo;O: Chanel's eclectic, but has a practicality to it. Do you remember the first Chanel item that you owned or tried on?
LB: Probably <a href="https://www.chanel.com/us/fine-jewelry/coco-crush/c/3x2x5/f/3x1x4/earrings/">Coco Crush earrings</a>. My first Chanel show was actually a couture show in 2017. That outfit was just&hellip; I couldn't believe I got to wear it. But the thing that has really stood with me is the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/chanel-watches-fine-jewelry-boutique-fifth-ave">jewelry</a> and the decorative nature of it. It's just again, that grunge youthful edge to something very classic. That's definitely the most memorable.
L&rsquo;O: Do you have a favorite Chanel era or collection?
LB: Oh God, that's impossible. I mean, how long do you have? I have a thesis on all of that. I have pieces from so many different collections. Both shows I most recently went to in Manchester and then the Couture show in Paris, [showed] both ends of the spectrum of what Chanel executes so exquisitely and uniquely.&nbsp; I keep using that word grunge, but what Virginie [Viard, creative director] did with that <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/chanel-metiers-d-art-manchester-collection-photos-looks">Manchester show</a> was bring such a contemporary twist to paying homage to the original Chanel suit. The Manchester element was bringing the music influence and the British influence into an otherwise very Parisian brand. <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/chanel-spring-summer-2024-haute-couture-dance-ballet">The couture show</a> was an example of the absolute art history that goes into this house and their collections, and it felt very inspired by ballet: the movement in all these pieces was just, again, it's that phrase walking art that comes to mind. So it's hard to narrow down a collection because I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing about the next one.

In 'The Greatest Hits,' Lucy Boynton Faces the Music

L'OFFICIEL USA December 2024 - Julianne Moore Cover

In 'The Greatest Hits,' Lucy Boynton Faces the Music

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