Cosmopolitan USA – September 2019

She stans a suit.

And a crop top. And a power

sleeve. And a “granny”

sweater. And super-bright

separates. Basically, just give

Sydney all the clothes.

But suiting, in particular,

has become a staple for the

actress when she wants to feel

“feminine but powerful,”

which happens...a lot. Look,

when you find yourself work-

ing the same red carpet as Brad

Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio

(they all starred in this summer’s Once Upon a

Time in Hollywood), any little confidence boost is

welcome. Of course, she’s proven herself plenty

powerful already, delivering achingly emotional

performances of women who tend to meet tragic

ends, from a psych-ward inmate in Sharp Objects to

a brainwashed child bride in The Handmaid’s Tale

to the in-over-her-head, lovestruck high schooler

Cassie on Euphoria. Complex young beauties are

kinda her thing.

I n r e a l l i fe , t hou g h , S yd ne y i s a ny t h i n g b ut

tragic—or easily manipulated. A trained mixed

martial arts fighter (yep, seriously), the 21-year-old

also squeezes college classes into her jam-packed

schedule between shoots. And she isn’t in school to

brush up on her acting skills. She’s majoring in frea-

kin’ business, tyvm.

Years ago, when a producer asked her why she was

bothering to further her education, she remembers

t e l l i n g h i m, “ I w a nt t o b e a ble t o r e a d my c ont r a c t s

and know what the hell

they say when I’m making

$20 million so I’m not get-

t i n g f ucke d ove r.” He r

expression turns serious.

“You will always be the

number one person look-

ing out for yourself.”

Honestly, she’s pretty

serious about all her plans,

which can probably be

attributed to what she

calls “the Virgo in me.”

Beyond nabbing those $20

million roles, her goals for

the next few years include

getting behind the camera

to try her hand at produc-

ing and directing and

potentially getting in front of a sewing machine—

she’s toying with the idea of designing her own red-

carpet outfits.

Until then, she’s filling her off-the-clock closet

(which she keeps meticulously organized by strap

width, fabric weight, and color because, remember,

Virgo) with mostly low-key looks. Her current casual

uniform? A constantly expanding collection of high-

waisted jeans and “super torn-up” vintage T-shirts.

She also finds herself buying variations of essen-

tially the same baby-blue fuzzy sweater over and

over again—right now, she estimates the count is 10.

That should be enough to get her through the

season. “I can never wait for fall to hit so my granny

style can come back,” says Sydney. “Middle of

September, I’m pulling out my boots.” That’s just

Sydney for you: one step ahead.

Sydney Sweeney can kick your ass. And probably

a l s o d o y o u r t a x e s , o r g a n i z e y o u r c l o s e t , a n d m a k e

you a dress. By ELIZABETH KIEFER

BTW,

this girl is

on fire

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Cosmopolitan September 2019