Joey King on Styling Her Younger Self, Sabrina Carpenter, and Max Mara’s “Subtle Sexiness”

“Jet lag, baby,” is how Joey King describes her mindset on a whirlwind trip to Italy for Milan Fashion Week. Lack of sleep aside, she’s keeping morale high: “There’s almost a slap-happy vibe when you’re this tired that’s kind of fun,” King tells Vanity Fair.

The 25-year-old actor is used to running on fumes. After starring as a Holocaust survivor in Hulu’s based-on-a-true-story limited series We Were the Lucky Ones, she headlined the Netflix rom-com A Family Affair alongside Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron. Her latest film for the streamer is a long-percolating adaptation of the YA novel Uglies—a book King read at age 11, pitched to Netflix at 17 as an executive producer, and filmed at 22. “It’s been an insane year. I’m so grateful and fortunate,” she says. “I am really open and willing to be surprised, and I want to surprise my audience always as well.”

Fresh off the release of her last major project, King is in town for Max Mara’s spring/summer 2025 runway show, where, for the first time, she’ll sit front-row next to Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. “She’s so cool, and she’s really funny, honestly,” says King. “She’s a lot more easygoing than people might think, and I really admire her. What I love is that you can really feel when you’re sitting with her how much she just loves and appreciates fashion and finds so much joy in it.”

On King’s other side is her husband, writer-director Steven Piet, whom she met while playing Gypsy Rose Blanchard on Hulu’s The Act. “Oh, he is a fashionista,” she says. “This is the first show that we’ve been able to attend together…. He really gets into fashion, and I love that about him. I really love it when a man cares about what he looks like.” King will be the first to admit that the couple, who married in September 2023, dress similarly. “We accidentally end up coordinating often,” she says. “We’ll separately get dressed, and then we’ll come out and be like, ‘Oh, and we match,’ which is cute.”

Despite her upbeat disposition, King decided to channel “a bit of a stormy vibe” with her long-sleeved, collared dress for the Max Mara show, which features ruching details at the bodice and a midsection cutout, offering “a very subtle sexiness,” says King. “This look really stood out because I felt like it had a youthfulness to it, even while still having parts of the body more covered up. There’s a playfulness with the cutout and the way the buttons are structured.” Plus, the floor-length hem meant “I could cross my legs comfortably,” she adds. “I love to be fashionable and comfortable at the same time.” Ultimately, the ensemble felt a little like King herself: “It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but yet it’s so elevated and stunning.”

To accessorize, King opted for simple gunmetal Max Mara jewelry—a ring and a pair of hoop earrings that wouldn’t distract from the silhouette’s geometric shapes, styled by Jared Eng. As for hair and makeup, “I was totally not sure what the hell I was going to do,” King says with a laugh. She turned to makeup artist Polly Osmond, whom King credits with “incorporating some gray liner underneath the eye and a terracotta lip.” Hairdresser Owen Gould and King traded ideas, with the actor taking inspiration from Emma Chamberlain at the 2021 Met Gala. “She had this gold dress on with a little bit of a hair flip, and her hair was almost like a headband,” explains King. “I thought that just felt like a beautiful but playful, feminine, youthful vibe.”

“If I have an idea, I’m so happy to be convinced out of it,” she continues. “I really want to feel like everyone’s contributing to making the look as elevated and good as it can be.” It’s less about knowing she’s in the right look and more about sensing “when I know I’m in the wrong thing,” King continues. “You learn by trial and error, and I’ve been experimenting with being on carpets for many years now. People always tell me, ‘Oh my God, you really know the angles for your face and your body.’ Yeah, because I’ve taken so many shitty pictures before that I had to learn.”

Amid early roles in Ramona and Beezus and Crazy, Stupid, Love, alongside Selena Gomez and Steve Carell, respectively, King had to cultivate her personal style in the public eye. “It’s funny, man. Some of the stuff I used to wear, I’m like, What was I thinking?” she says. “It’s honestly hilarious that they exist forever online. You can’t get totally mad at yourself when you’re a kid experimenting with fashion…but I’m certainly glad that I have developed more of a sense of style.”

King is relatively relaxed before big events, prone to setting out snacks for guests or sipping an Aperol spritz if the mood strikes. “One thing I do like to do consistently is keep my legs elevated while I’m getting my hair and makeup done,” she says. “I get really swollen…so that’s one of my wellness tips for myself…. After a long day of travel, I give myself a leg lymphatic massage.”

LCD Soundsystem is her go-to getting-ready music, but these days everyone wants to know what songs she loves from her best friend Sabrina Carpenter’s new album, Short n’ Sweet. “I keep changing my answer. I want to lock down a fave, but it’s really hard,” says King. “Today—as in September 19—my favorite is ‘Don’t Smile.’ It’s so good, my God.” While she got an advance preview of the music, it was a whole new listening experience once the album was officially released. “The world loved it as much as I did,” says King. “She’s amazing. I’m so proud of her.”

Carpenter, a fellow former child star, previously told VF, “I thought I was really old when I was 21. I feel now that I’m truly just getting started”—words that also resonate with King. “That’s the thing,” she says, “I have so many years behind me, and I know I worked so hard to get here, and I’m so proud of myself…but I also do feel, in some ways, I’m just getting started. Now that I’m a little bit older, and now that I’m more observant, I’ve learned a lot more in these last several years. I have more of an understanding of what my taste is and will be going forward, and I can’t really wait to put that particular mark on my career.”

In October, King will become the 19th recipient of the annual WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award, joining the ranks of past honorees including Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldaña, and Elizabeth Debicki. “I’ve been working in the industry for a really long time, and I absolutely love what I do so much, so anytime someone recognizes me just for loving what I do, it feels extremely special,” says King. “It’s also a really exciting indicator for this next chapter of my career.”