CULTURE

Taissa Farmiga: Sister Act

Taissa Farmiga steps into the spotlight this fall with the slasher film “The Final Girls.”

by Vanessa Lawrence

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Photography by Steven Pan Styled by Jessica dos Remedios

Since falling into acting when her older sister, Vera, enlisted her to play her younger self in the 2011 film Higher Ground, Taissa Farmiga has been operating on pure instinct. “I’m just winging it, man—don’t tell anyone,” says the 21-year-old New Jersey native. “I keep getting jobs…so it’s working out, I guess!” Her string of recent projects has provided a fashion education alongside a cinematic one. She learned how to walk in heels while shooting a club scene for Sofia Coppola’s 2013 indie The Bling Ring, discovered her love of Saint Laurent through the costumes on the set of the FX series American Horror Story: Coven, and reveled in the grungy comfort of ’90s flannel and Dr. Martens while fleeing a machete-wielding villain in this month’s slasher-send-up film The Final Girls. “Trying to find my characters’ style has helped me find my own,” says Farmiga, who favors simple black and lacy looks on the red carpet from Honor, Elie Saab, and Alberta Ferretti. “My philosophy is, if I’m feeling good, then that’s it!”