Enter The Chanel Labyrinth At Art Basel
Actress Alisha Boe leads BAZAAR on a journey into Es Devlin's artful maze to celebrate 100 years of Chanel N°5.
Chanel is on a tour celebrating 100 years of its iconic fragrance, Chanel N°5, and it's latest stop was a jaw-dropping art installation at Art Basel Miami by artist Es Devlin. Entitled "Five Echoes,"the multisensory experience includes lights, a sculptural labyrinth, and more than 1,000 shrubs and trees that will be donated to Miami-Dade County for replanting after the exhibition closes to the public on December 21. The space also lent itself to a Chanel-worthy fete on Friday night set under the South Florida stars in Miami Design District's Jungle Plaza. Pharrell Williams, the members of Haim, Gossip Girl reboot star Whitney Peak, Joe Jonas, Latin singing superstar Rosalía (who performed at the event as well), and many more were in attendance.
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The French house has a long history of supporting young talent in film, music, and the arts. Alisha Boe is one young actress who has been anointed by Chanel—most recently having been invited to participate in its seventh annual Through Her Lens series for the Tribeca Film Festival, for which she created a short detailing her process as an actor. While outfitted for the night in a Chanel-logo sarong and black bouclé jacket, Boe says she wasn't always so into fashion. "When I was 12, I shopped at Hot Topic," she tells BAZAAR.com. To be fair, we note she is still rocking fishnet stockings for the evening. She laughs and says, "I've become way more appreciative of the art form that's in it. I didn't grow up looking at the runways, but that's been a more recent development."
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Boe is most famous for her role in Netflix's 13 Reasons Why, a project she began at age 19 (she is now 24) that catapulted her into a level of fame that can only exist at the unique intersection of streaming websites, Gen Z, and social media. She has amassed 3.8 million Instagram followers to date. "Being that young and not used to social media as a business tool, but just literally for social media to speak with your friends—that was the most overwhelming part," Boe says of her fast ascent. "And also just being so green to the industry. But I got to connect with a bunch of people who connected with me or the show. It was a strange couple of years for sure. But it was fun … fun and overwhelming."
After two seasons of the dark high school series, Boe has more big projects listed on her IMDb page coming, including a drama with Julianne Moore and an ensemble comedy currently entitled Strangers, in which she costars with some of the other rising brightest stars of her generation: Camila Mendes, Sophie Turner, and Maya Hawke. When asked whose career she finds personally inspiring, Boe points to some of these very women. "Honestly, I just like to keep up with my peers and what everyone's doing," she says. "Nowadays, people are creating their own work as well, and it's so fun to be part of their process and finding inspiration from that—that you can have creative control over yourself and what you want to do. My friends are actually a big source of inspiration."
The Norway-born actress holds onto a grounded feeling by surrounding herself with authentic friendships. Skye Bennike, whom she initially met when both modeled for Limited Too at age 11, accompanied her on her Miami trip. The two giggle about Danish food and chat about meditation with the ease of college roommates on our ride from the Faena Hotel to the Design District. "Honestly, it's who you surround yourself with, and I'm such a strong believer in relying on your support system," Boe shares. "I'm really lucky to have built such a strong one." And Chanel is on that short list of true advocates. "They've just been so supportive ... of me and my career over the years. I'm just really grateful for it, because they always take good care of me, and obviously, I'm a huge fan of Chanel. So it's just a dream," she says as she steps out of the black SUV and into an evening in celebration of the French house. True friendship goes both ways, after all.