Myha’la on Miranda Priestly, Runway Diversity, and the ‘Industry’ Character She’d Marry

The actress Myha’la, who used to be Myha’la Herrold until she wised up, has been to more fashion shows than some editors this season. She was at Tory Burch taking in the patent leather pencil skirts. Then at Burberry with bestie and Industry co-star Marisa Abela. Poof! She appeared in the front row of Courrèges wearing a leather bra. McQueen. Calvin Klein. Marc Jacobs. The Thom Browne presentation over Super Bowl weekend. And now like Hilary Duff in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Myha’la has taken over Rome.

She’s there to take in Valentino’s latest collection, a series of wildly embroidered opera coats and lace-edged slip skirts in candy colors by Alessandro Michele that unofficially closes out Fashion Month. “In my opinion, Alessandro remains one of the few dissenting voices in fashion,” says the actress, who stars with her husband, Armando Rivera, along with Zazie Beets and Tom Felton in the upcoming horror flick They Will Kill You. “His designs are singular and he is not afraid to sell us a fantasy! I felt a really beautiful restriction in some of the looks, without making any of it feel reductive while maintaining his Alessandro flair. I loved [the show] so much!”

The self-proclaimed “fashion obsessive” also has some choice thoughts about the end of the world, the beginning of her “Miranda Priestly era,” and the Industry character she’d choose to marry.

Courtesy of Valentino

The Rockstud shoes you’re wearing to the show…I think you’re the second person to get them after Miranda Priestly.

Are you kidding? Wow. Am I in my Miranda Priestly era? I feel like I could be…except, you know, this is the first time I’m meeting Alessandro [Michele, Valentino’s creative director]. I’ve been an admirer from afar for such a long time. When he first started doing Gucci was right when I started getting more into fashion. I’m honestly hoping I don’t fangirl too hard when I meet him.

You seem to be going really hard at Fashion Month this season. Was that a deliberate strategy?

It’s so funny because I definitely said no a lot, actually! I picked the shows that felt important to me. Yes, absolutely, there’s strategy in fashion, and for an actor the visibility is amazing and the relationships you can build can be fruitful. But I genuinely just love fashion. I’m passionate about it, and I want to be involved in the conversations around fashion and culture today because I actually care about it. Fashion shows are like performance art—they feel like an extension of my world in a new way. When I see a show with real theatrical elements, I feel inspired as an artist. So beyond it being good for me professionally, I just actually dig it.

I read that you’re also into crystals and tarot. Do you have a metaphysical ritual when you’re traveling?

I really slacked this time. I didn’t pack any of my gear, and I was really pissed that I didn’t bring my pendulum. I had a couple of decisions where I thought, I could use some guidance right now. But I ended up stumbling upon a psychic in Paris anyway. I was at an Alo Yoga event, and Zita was there. I sat with her for a little while and she was really fabulous, so I got my metaphysical fix that way. I don’t necessarily go to it for hard guidance—I always find it really interesting to see what comes through, what kind of truth or perspective surfaces. It can be really informative if you choose to let it be. I don’t take everything a psychic says as gospel, but it’s more information, and you can do with it what you will.

What would your character Harper Stern think of you?

Oh, this is a great question. Nobody’s asked me that before. Honestly, I wonder if she’d even know who I am. I don’t think Harper consumes that kind of media. She definitely does not use Instagram—even in season one her Instagram was like stock photos, it was terrible. She doesn’t really have time for the internet. Maybe she goes on the odd Twitter thread, or Reddit forums for finance, which I’m sure exist. I really think she stays off the internet. And I don’t know that she watches much TV either. Maybe she puts on a celebrity game show as a guilty pleasure? Something in the background? But I don’t even think so. She’s watching the news.

Courtesy of Valentino

Who is your Roman archetype while you’re in town: Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, Lizzie McGuire from The Lizzie McGuire Movie, or Emily Cooper from Emily in Paris?

Lizzie McGuire. All you had to say, ever, was Lizzie McGuire. I was born in 1996. Please let me be Lizzie McGuire.

So you also lived at the core of Harry Potter mania. And your upcoming movie stars Tom Felton. Did you care when you got to set?

Of course I cared! I freaked out. Draco?! And now that’s my homie for real—not even on the low, like on the regular. He is one of the most normal people I’ve ever met. He gets absolutely tortured, and some fans can be really entitled, but he always handles it with so much grace. He’s always so generous with his time no matter what, and I’m always like, “Leave him alone.” He is genuinely the sweetest man, and he works really hard.

Your profile has risen dramatically, too. Are you getting strange or parasocial fan encounters?

Nothing horrible has really happened to me at all. There was one person who got really excited and touched my face, which I really didn’t like—I don’t think anyone would like it if a stranger came up and held their face, right? But they got excited, and I understand. Sometimes you can get overwhelmed when you feel like a version of someone has been in your living room while you were watching TV, and now they’re in real life. It can be confusing. So I give a lot of grace and have a lot of patience for the way people respond, until they disrupt my personal space. Like, please don’t touch my face.

You’ve spoken about your eating disorder as a teen, and your recovery as an adult. Fashion week can be a very challenging place for those of us with a history of disordered eating. How has your experience been this season, especially as body diversity seems to be getting less common on the runways?

It’s really hard. I’ve been talking about it with a lot of my friends, actually, because to me it’s very triggering! I’ve been really distracted looking at some of the runway collections because of how thin the models are right now, to be honest…I think it has a lot to do with capitalism turning the human body into a hanger, just forcing consumerism down our throats. There’s also something really anti-woman about it—draining the woman’s body of all of its life so that it’s the only way it’s considered appealing or necessary. And I think it’s affecting the clothes themselves—there’s no sex in a lot of the clothes anymore.

Because it’s all on your TV show.

I will say the Miu Miu show turned that around for me a little. I was like, “Okay, Miuccia!” She said, “I don’t care! I’m going to make it nasty; I’m going to make it dirty.” I felt the same way about McQueen. There’s some sex coming back. I think when people feel like the world is ending, they stop caring and just make what they want.

Courtesy of Valentino

Let’s do a quick Fuck, Marry, Kill: Yasmin, Eric, or Henry?

You’re going to get me into so much trouble here…okay, I’m answering this as myself, not as Harper. I have to kill Eric Tao—I can’t be in any sort of intimate relationship with him, he’s my senior. I’d fuck Henry, because it feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And I’d marry Yasmin because she’s the hottest out of all of them. Not because she’s a good person. I want to be very clear! It’s just because she is clearly the hottest.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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