Margot Robbie steps into Kylie Minogue’s world

On a perfectly sunny day in December, on a soundstage in Los Angeles transformed to evoke a bustling rue parisienne, Margot Robbie – movie star nonpareil – was channeling the jaunty musicality of fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue.

Fronting a new campaign for the Chanel 25 handbag, Robbie was working with filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind) to recreate the technically dazzling video for Minogue’s dance-pop hit 'Come Into My World' that he’d made in 2001.

The moment represented several concentric full-circle moments. For one, it reunited Gondry and Minogue, who makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at the start of the new video. “I’ve been dreaming about Kylie for 25 years,” Gondry tells Vogue, warmly recalling their original shoot on location in Paris. “So I finally found a way to see her again.”

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The project was also personally meaningful to Robbie. The very first concert she attended was one of Minogue’s shows in Sydney during her Fever tour – and 'Come Into My World' was the fourth single from that album. And there’s more: years later, when asked by E! News who she’d most like to portray her in a biopic, Minogue named… Robbie.

“There’s nothing Margot can’t do,” the pop star says now. (Robbie herself politely disagrees: “I can’t sing!”)

All that admiration and deep-seated familiarity added up to a breezily collaborative shoot experience – at once sweetly nostalgic and entirely new – and a joyous meeting of three creative minds. Below, Robbie sits down with Vogue to talk Kylie, karaoke, and, of course, a little Chanel.

Vogue: What looks of Matthieu Blazy’s have you been dying to wear?

Margot Robbie: There are so many things of Matthieu’s I’ve been dying to wear. These jeans, for one – there are so many great pairs. And in the most recent collection that walked in New York, there was this amazing brown trench coat I’m very excited about. I also love the three-quarter-zip sweaters.

I think you’ve sold everyone here on the jeans, because I’ve literally heard everyone talking about them.

They’re so good – they’re comfy and tailored really nicely. And the belts – I can’t wait for those, too. And the cotton – okay, I know I’m listing too many things – but those cotton shirts are definitely going to become a staple in my wardrobe. These shoes are really comfy as well – I don’t know if you can see them. I’m just going to run away in this outfit.

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You’re doing this campaign with Michel Gondry directing it. I know he directed the music video – what’s your favourite film of his?

Yes, I’m very excited that Michel Gondry is directing this shoot today. It’s kind of a full-circle moment for me, too, because the very first concert I ever went to was Kylie Minogue’s Fever tour. 'Come Into My World' was one of the songs on that album, and Michel Gondry directed the video. I remember watching it as a kid and thinking it was so cool and clever – the in-camera trickery he’s so famous for. So that’s what we’re recreating in this campaign. He’s brilliant – an iconic director. If I had to pick a favourite film, I’d say Eternal Sunshine.

I was just thinking, you get to play Kylie without having to sing!

It’s actually perfect, because I can’t sing. So I’m doing Kylie without having to sing and ruin it for everyone.

If you and Kylie were together at a karaoke bar, what would you sing?

If Kylie and I did karaoke together, I would die and go to heaven – that would be so fun. What would we sing? It feels too on-the-nose to do a Kylie song. Since we’re both Aussies, maybe we’d go with the unofficial Australian anthem, 'The Horses' by Daryl Braithwaite.

From that first Kylie concert you went to, do you have a core memory?

My best friend, her mum, and I drove to Sydney for it – I don’t even know if I’d been to Sydney before, which is obviously a big city in Australia, so that was exciting. The vibe was insane. Afterward, I got a blue T-shirt with 'Kylie' written in pink, with her silhouette – like on the Fever album cover – in pink as well. Ugh, I wish I still had that T-shirt. I remember everything about it. It was my first concert, and it was incredible.

What was one of your favourite costumes in Wuthering Heights?

The costumes are incredible. I think I wore over 50 – maybe even 60 – different looks in the film. Jacqueline Durran, the amazing costume designer, had a lot to do. It’s really hard to pick a favourite because there are so many good ones. In a lot of them, we incorporated Chanel archival jewellery – we even stitched pieces into my hair or onto the clothes. So for anyone who can recognise those archival pieces in the film, there are quite a few. But a favorite costume… I wore this amazing leather corset, where the leather crosses over at the front. There’s a scene where Jacob [Elordi]’s character, Heathcliff, puts his hand under the corset and lifts me up with one arm. It was kind of epic.

I know in Barbie you also got to wear archival Chanel.

Yeah, it’s great. It’s so nice to have this relationship with Chanel where I can call them and say, “Hey, we’re doing a movie – this could be a really fun opportunity.” There are so many amazing instances of Chanel being featured in films over the years, so it’s nice to keep that tradition going. From Barbie to Wuthering Heights – if Chanel can work in both, there’s nothing it doesn’t work for.

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That brings us to the Chanel 25 – what’s your favorite thing about it?

It’s so great. I love that they’ve made it in three different sizes and a number of different colours. I’m sure some people will really collect them. I’m such a practical person, I love it because I can just squeeze so much stuff in it, but it still looks chic. I feel like I could go to work and I feel like I could go out to dinner and I could keep my same handbag. You know how it is – you leave for the day and don’t get home until 10 p.m., and so much happens [in between]. So to have that one handbag that works for everything you’re doing, I love that.

Given we’re in LA, what’s the last movie you saw that you can’t stop thinking about?

There are so many good movies out right now, but my favorite of the year is Pillion. It’s so good – and actually, the less you know about it, the better, because it’s so unexpected. It’s weirdly a perfect rom-com, which is not what you’d expect from the logline, but it’s incredible.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.