Miles Heizer Loves Etsy As Much As the Rest of Us
This New York Fashion Week was not the first for Miles Heizer, but he's still very much exploring his way around the city. Best known for his role as Alex Standall on 13 Reasons Why, the actor splits his time between filming in Northern California and hanging out in his home of Los Angeles, so when he makes it over to the East Coast, it's high time to take in the culture.
So it's fitting that we met on the newest section of the High Line just ahead of Coach's Spring 2020 runway show. The park, which has repurposed abandoned railroad tracks from Gansevoort to 34th Street, has become a can't-miss-it attraction since its opening a decade ago, so it lets Heizer experience another iconic New York location as he attends the show. The actor actually posed by the landmark as part of his shoot for the leather goods brand's fall campaign, which highlights many of the city's most recognizable places in a "21st Century Dreamers" theme featuring modern creative figures like Yara Shahidi, Michael B. Jordan, and Lolo Zouaï. Now, fresh off the Season 3 premiere of his hit show, Heizer got to soak in the decidedly less dramatic moment of seeing the label's latest collection debut on a sunny afternoon in Chelsea.
What was the rising actor, who's truly begun to shine over the past two years after getting his start playing the son of Lauren Graham's character on Parenthood, most excited about ahead of the show? Much like many of the other attendees, it was seeing Kaia Gerber walk, although of course, he is not just a fan—the young supermodel is one of his famous friends.
"I actually know someone who’s walking, so I’m excited to see her," Heizer said casually before explaining this mystery person was Gerber. "She's very popular."
While the actor's fashion week did not include attending the model's burlesque-themed 18th birthday party, it has consisted of shopping and trips to the Met. Heizer has a bit of a self-admitted addiction to the former—he loves finding vintage pieces and spends a lot of time on Etsy—and his time at the Upper East Side art museum always teaches him something new.
"I love art," Heizer said. "There’s always some painting I’ve never seen before there that excites me. There was one called ‘Inferno’ [by Franz von Stuck] that I’d never seen and I was blown away by. It looked like a scene from hell."
Heizer is in the middle of filming 13 Reasons Why's fourth and final season, and while he can't speak to the plot or even the premiere date—with the third release, he didn't find out until about a month before, as is common with shows on streaming services like Netflix—he was able to talk about his favorite activities with the tight-knit cast members as well as making music, a creative outlet he considers more of a hobby as he discovers inspirations and plays around with various influences. Below, he speaks with L'Officiel USA about the above as well as his signature style, favorite places to shop, and latest artistic interest.
Heizer hangs out with Miles Chamley-Watson and Princess Nokia in the front row.
How’s your fashion week going?
It’s good. I’ve just been sitting around, buying things, shopping, basically.
What do you like about fashion week?
Honestly, I love coming to New York. I don’t come here very often, and it’s nice to come visit and—shop, unfortunately.
You’re in Coach’s fall campaign. What was it like working with the brand?
It was so nice. Everyone was really cool and welcoming. It was a very easy, fun time. I was very happy to be a part of it.
How would you describe your signature style?
My personal style is a lot of more vintage ’80s, ’90s stuff. I really like kind of weird, muted colors that I feel like they did a lot of back then that they don’t really do anymore. But it’s very vintage, I would say. That’s what I like.
Very on-trend.
I guess so.
Do you have any favorite places to shop?
There are definitely vintage stores in LA that I go to, but sadly I’ve realized recently that Etsy has so much vintage clothing on it, and I’ve been sitting around mindlessly buying things that show up at my door a week later.
We all have to do it.
I know. I have the app now. It’s really, really unfortunate.
What has been your favorite part about working on 13 Reasons Why?
I would definitely say all of the friends I’ve made. We’ve all gotten extremely close. It happened really fast the first year, and now we’re four years deep. We’re just all very close. No one actually lives in the place where we film, so we’re all kind of stranded together and it forces us to get really close. So definitely all of them.
Where do you film?
In northern California. A little away from home, so we all have to move up there [during shooting].
What are some of your favorite activities to do with the rest of the cast?
Oh my goodness. Ross Butler, who is on the show, has game nights sometimes, and I really like board games, so that’s one of my favorite things to do with everybody.
Heizer poses backstage with Coach's creative director, Stuart Vevers.
You enjoy making music during your free time. Where do you get your inspiration for what you record?
Mostly just from other musicians and things that I hear. I grew up being obsessed with Tegan and Sara, and that’s what made me buy a guitar. I learned all their songs when I was, like, 15.
Did you teach yourself?
I did! It’s not as complicated as you might think. But mostly just from other music that I like. With a lot of older music, you can hear a lot of influences for current music, and I like listening to that and getting ideas.
Are there any additional artists that you really enjoy that inspire you?
Recently I found this band, The Cleaners From Venus. It’s from the ’80s, but it has a lot of the sounds that you hear right now. It’s interesting to me to [discover] they were doing this such a long time ago, that kind of synth-y stuff. I really like (Sandy) Alex G. That's newer music. It’s alternative but it sounds kind of like bedroom pop music, which I really like.
Who do you look up to in the film and TV industries?
God, there are so many people. Honestly, I look up to people that I’ve worked with. I was on [Parenthood] when I was younger with Lauren Graham and I very much look up to her in a lot of ways, just in life. And Mae Whitman. She was my sister on there, and she’s not really older than me, but I look up to her in a lot of ways. When I was growing up, she was kind of my role model.
What do you want to do next in your career?
I don’t know; we’ll see. There are all kinds of things. I’d love to do more film and TV stuff, maybe do more things with music. I started painting recently. It would be fun to maybe do something with that.
