We're used to seeing Elle Fanning roaming the streets in girly, more conservative styles…but she's changing that all up for her November cover shoot with Nylon magazine!
The 17-year-old channels her inner Goth, going grunge-chic in leather hot pants, a sequined tank and lace leggings, wearing her makeup on the darker side with a deep red pout and platinum blonde locks.
Within the publication itself, Elle dons several other edgy, tattered styles that include ripped tights, platform boots and a leather jacket.
But transformation really isn't anything new for the actress. In fact, she plays a transgender teen in her latest role for About Ray.
In order to prepare for the role, Elle says she sat down to chat with trans teens about what life is like for them on a daily basis.
"They opened up to me in the most incredible way–I'm just a stranger who's doing a movie, but they told me their different journeys and even little details like what chest binder brand is the best one, like, ‘They all suck, but this one's all right.' They were so helpful," she revealed.
She would also get into character as Ray and go out in public to see how people treated her.
"I would go to lunch, and I wouldn't change, so I looked like Ray. The waiter would come over, like, ‘Oh, are you done eating sir?' The actor in me was like, ‘Yeah!'" she explained. "Then I thought, ‘Whoa, actually if that happened to Ray, he would be so excited that someone just saw him for himself.'"
Susan Sarandon, who plays Ray's grandmother in the film, can't help but gush about her young co-star. "Elle is like a gangly, enthusiastic colt, bounding out of rooms, laughing, and full of fun," she tells Nylon. "Then when it's time to be in character, she settles down with super-sharp focus and is fierce. She invested so much in Ray and his quest for authenticity that it grounds the film. I can't imagine anyone else in the part."
But despite diving head first into this challenging, history-making role, Elle is still just a regular teenage girl.
She believes in aliens, used to beat up her older sister, Dakota Fanning, and still can't fall asleep without her three "essential sleeping devices:" a stuffed cocker spaniel named Jessie ("He's a Ty stuffed animal but not a Beanie Baby, just normal stuffed-animal size"); a bunny named Mr. Purple, which Dakota sewed back up for her when the stuffing fell out; and Waffle, a blue blanket that is made up of "that waffle-y material."
For more from her Nylon interview, click here.