Tavi Gevinson

Gevinson started a fashion blog, Style Rookie, in 2008. The blog, featuring photos of the 11-year-old in distinctive outfits and her commentary on the latest fashion trends, began drawing nearly 30,000 readers each day.[10] Her father "wasn't terribly interested" in her new hobby until she asked for his permission to be interviewed by The New York Times for an article about young bloggers.[11]

Because of the blog's success, Gevinson was invited to attend New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. She made overseas fashion-related trips to Tokyo and Antwerp, funded by Pop magazine,[4] and was commissioned to write articles for Harper's Bazaar and Barneys.com. She styled a shoot for BlackBook magazine,[4] acted as a muse and model for Rodarte's clothing line at Target stores,[4][12] and partnered with Borders&Frontiers to design and sell her own T-shirt.[13] In 2010, she spoke at a marketing conference in New York and at Idea City, a Canadian version of the TED conference.[4]

There was a backlash to Gevinson's early success in the fashion industry. New York magazine questioned whether it was possible for Gevinson to write her blog without "some help from a mom or older sister".[14] Sarah Mower of The Daily Telegraph, while conceding that Gevinson had a "truly independent, original voice", criticized her father for taking her out of school "to go to haute couture shows ... It's hard to imagine a kid being able to come back down to reality."[15] A Grazia fashion editor complained on Twitter that a large bow worn by Gevinson had blocked her view of a runway during fashion week.[4] Anne Slowey of Elle felt her success was "gimmicky" and commented, "She's been thirteen for, like, the last four years."[4] Gevinson later remarked: "A lot of people on the Internet have a problem with a young person doing well. I felt like, there were people who were [at fashion week] because of their name, their money or their family, and I didn't have any of those things."[16]

In early 2011, Gevinson decided to stop writing primarily about fashion: "Lately I've been looking to other places for a creative outlet and for inspiration ... Now I'm more intrigued by mixing fashion with the other stuff I've been enjoying."[17] Gevinson's personal style also became less outlandish: "Before, dressing up was my outlet, and now I'm pursuing other creative things that take up a lot of time and energy, so in the morning I usually want to put on something simple and comfortable."[18][19]

In the fall of 2011, at the age of 15, Gevinson founded Rookie magazine.[20][21] The site was originally conceived of as a joint venture with Jane Pratt, but Gevinson ultimately decided to maintain sole ownership.[22] Ira Glass acts as a mentor figure to Gevinson. The website focused on issues impacting teenage girls and was written mainly by teenage girls. It also featured guest contributors. A one-off print edition of the magazine, Rookie Yearbook One, was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2012.[23] In 2012, Gevinson spoke at TEDxTeen, with a focus on representation of women in popular culture, and at The Economist's World in 2012 Festival.[24][25] She is also a contributing editor at Garage magazine.[26] In November 2018, Gevinson announced that she would be shutting down Rookie due to the site no longer being financially sustainable.[27]

Gevinson first acted in a short film, First Bass, in 2008, but became more visible in 2012.[28] That year, she voiced a character in the animated short film Cadavar, which was long-listed for an Academy Award. Cadavar was directed by First Bass's Jonah Ansell and co-starred Kathy Bates and Christopher Lloyd.[29] In the film, she sang renditions of both Neil Young and Pet Shop Boys songs.[30] Also in 2012, Gevinson filmed a role in Enough Said from director Nicole Holofcener.[9] Gevinson is interviewed on screen in the 2013 documentary film The Punk Singer, talking about riot grrrl punk icon Kathleen Hanna.[31] In 2014 and 2015, she starred in This Is Our Youth in Chicago and at the Cort Theatre on Broadway.[32] In 2015, she made a guest appearance as Feather McCarthy on "Beware of Young Girls", the seventh episode of the American comedy horror television series Scream Queens.[33] She played Mary Warren in Ivo van Hove's 2016 production of The Crucible at the Walter Kerr Theatre.[34] Late that year, she played Anya in The Cherry Orchard at the American Airlines Theatre.[35]

On the MSNBC chat show So Popular!, host Janet Mock dubbed her the "Queen of the Millennials".[36] She then made a guest appearance on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on a panel critiquing Sean Penn's Rolling Stone interview with El Chapo.[37]

In 2016, Gevinson recorded a duet with Hunx and His Punx frontman Seth Bogart, singing on "Barely 21" from Bogart's self-titled debut solo album.