Elle Fanning On Looking For Whimsy In New Coach Campaign

ELLE FANNING CANNOT be persuaded to buy a micro bag. “Oh, I like a big bag,” she tells me, when I ask her what her ideal carrying companion would look like. “I want to be wrestling in my bag and throwing all sorts of things in.” (Including some makeup, her passport, multiple chargers, and wired headphones.) She adds, “There’s a lot of wires going on in my bag.”

For the new spring Coach campaign, titled “On Your Own Time,” the A Complete Unknown star models a series of the brand’s latest handbags, including a blown-up version of the Brooklyn shoulder. “I was like, ‘This is my dream bag,’” Fanning excitedly says as she talks about posing for the shoot.

In 2024, the Emmy-nominated star became a global ambassador for the house, a collaboration she notes felt completely natural. “There’s just a sense of whimsy in the brand, and they don’t take themselves too seriously,” she notes. “Which I love that kind of sentiment.”

Fanning reveals that creative director Stuart Vevers even invited her out to lunch at the time she was offered the ambassadorship, and it’s clear that there’s a sense of intimacy and loyalty within the team. For further proof, just look to the fact that for her first campaign, called “Unlock Your Courage,” Fanning got to work with Elaine Constantine, who returns to capture images and moving pictures for “On Your Own Time.”

“She is just clicking away at the camera and you are just moving constantly,” Fanning recalls. “It’s quite frenetic and… she has such a beautiful, vibrant, big energy.”

Teaming up with the photographer was a match made in heaven for the actor, because it turns out Fanning was a huge fan of Constantine long before they ever collaborated together. “I was quite obsessed with her work for a long time, and I would save images on my computer or my phone,” she says. “I have so many, too many images — over 100,000 photos on my phone.”

Along with Constantine’s vibrant shots, Fanning also stars in a corresponding short film directed by Henry Scholfield. In it, she is seen getting overwhelmed by the pressures and busy schedule of her life, before she ultimately shuts her phone away in her Tabby. Soon after, she discovers that she can control the flow of time, and she gets to slow down all the things around her.

The campaign clearly celebrates living at your own pace and taking moments to relax, something that Fanning can certainly relate to. When asked what tasks she likes to do in her own time, The Great star reveals, “I love a bath. I take a bath every night and… I don’t know how long I’m gonna sit in there.”

When it comes to her career, Fanning doesn’t like to rush things either. “When you’re on a film set, I think finding a character is something that can only be [done] in your own time,” she notes. “You don’t necessarily know when it’s all going to click and come together; when you’re really gonna feel like, ‘Oh, I found her.’ So that’s just something that’s organic.”

Like any role, Fanning takes her part in the Coach campaign quite seriously, too. “I think what’s cool about these campaigns is that they’re not just necessarily about looking pretty and selling the bag. It’s like, there is a message behind it,” she says. “I feel like in a way, [with] fashion, it’s like you get to create this character.”

And just like with her bags, Fanning will always opt to go big with her fashion, leaning into the “theatrics and whimsy” any chance she gets. “I think the quirkiness and anything that’s a little off about it is what makes it beautiful,” she says.

This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US.