Havana Rose Liu on Gifting Chanel to Her Chinese Grandma: ‘She Gets a Lot of Lip Liner’

As the daughter of Carley Roney and David Liu, co-founders of the popular wedding planning website The Knot, Havana Rose Liu seemed destined for a career in the spotlight. But don’t call her a nepo baby: “I don’t think [my parents] would classify themselves as being in the fashion industry,” the actress, model, and newly-minted Chanel ambassador tells ELLE.com at the brand’s Hamptons Summer Tour event to celebrate its seasonal boutique in East Hampton, New York.

“They dissuaded me from ever being at all in the limelight because of their job, so I never imagined myself in this kind of career at all,” says Liu, who is of mixed heritage, with a Chinese father. “I was very shy, and very opposed to following strangers into Williamsburg basements for casting calls—that felt really odd—as a woman, as a New Yorker, as someone who’s street-smart. And then I was feeling extra brave one day and the same casting director came up to me a couple of times, and I felt comfortable enough with her at that point to follow her into the Williamsburg basement.”

It’s no surprise that the aforementioned casting director was persistent; apart from being stunningly beautiful, with voluminous honey-colored hair and piercing hazel eyes, Liu happens to be incredibly talented in front of the camera, whether she’s walking runways, fronting fashion campaigns, or starring alongside fellow NYU alumni Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri on the big screen. Here, Liu talks more about her upbringing, personal style, and growing up in a mixed-race household.

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Considering your parents’ job, did you grow up wanting a big wedding?

My parents’ wedding was very bare bones, so, to me, I was always deterred from having a big wedding. But now I feel like…why not?

How would you describe your personal style?

I like contrasting elements that go together that I wouldn’t necessarily see together. My favorite way to put an outfit together is… I have bad eyesight, and on the streets of New York, I’ll often see an outfit that I think is amazing, then I’ll get closer and it’s not the same outfit that I thought it was. So I’ll mimic that outfit. I’d say my sense of style is essentially misremembering and misperception [laughs].

When you first started modeling, you were consistently featured as one of the few that embraced her freckles. Were you surprised by the reaction?

[Laughs.] I honestly was shocked, but it felt flattering and it helped me embrace my freckles more than I ever had before.

What was your first Chanel memory?

I had always thought of Chanel as finding some way to bridge the classy and the playful, and I felt like they had so much variation amongst everyone that they worked with. So I had appreciation for them as people who I thought really advocated for really interesting creatives, as well as dress them incredibly well. And that perception has stayed the same.

Is your family incredibly jealous about your ambassadorship?

My family never owned any designer things, but my aunt did work in retail at one point. Now, because no one really had any designer stuff, I’m the one who gets to gift the Chanel stuff to people, and it’s really great. My [Chinese] grandma is pretty pumped. She gets a lot of lip liner.

How was your experience growing up mixed?

I don’t know anything different than being mixed. My normal is a mix of contrasting elements that come together to make something that is a whole, and so, moving into any kind of career space, and especially a fashion space, I just feel like that sort of relationship to identity and that relationship to understanding people’s differences and different cultures and how they can interact… I have never been able to see it another way, because that’s who I am.

The past few years have been hard on all of us, but as a young twenty-something, your entire career has taken shape during the pandemic. How have you navigated that?

I feel like working in difficult climates has become a norm for me and I don’t know why, but I feel like it’s definitely a testament to our resilience and the fact that we try to make things work all the time, no matter the circumstances.

Did you make friends with any other NYU students during your time there who have since become colleagues?

Not at all! When I was at NYU I was at Gallatin, which is very individualized, and I was with a lot of people who were studying biomimicry and computer science and really amazing other things, but I didn’t really touch other mediums, and I didn’t touch fashion until after I graduated. Now I’m a part of this whole illustrious community.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.