According to Joey King, Anyone Can Be a Miu Miu Girl

As I ascend the steps of Miu Miu's 57th Street flagship to preview Joey King's Miu Miu Select Collection—her limited-edition curation of L’Eté clothing, bags, shoes, and more—I'm not sure I count as a quote-unquote "Miu Miu girl." I'm eight months pregnant and rotating through an ever-dwindling pile of maternity clothes. In my rush to make it to our interview on time, I walked right past the Miu Miu flats I’d carefully placed by the front door for this exact occasion. An It bag or teeny-tiny pleated skirt to blend in with the editors and influencers milling around the powder-blue jewel box of a store? Not exactly items I had on hand.

But barely seconds into meeting the night's host, I learn membership in one of fashion's favorite clubs is only partially about what you're wearing. With a "Stop, you're the cutest!" and a quick, hug-filled introduction to "My friend, AnnaSophia!" (as in, fellow actress AnnaSophia Robb), Joey King assures me that anyone can gain entry to the Miu Miu girl ranks. The way she describes it, it's as much about the It pieces as it is about the energy.

To be clear, King has the Miu Miu look down. She's a frequent guest in its Paris Fashion Week front row, where she'll style barn jackets and patchwork-print minis with equal ease. On last week's Met Gala red carpet, she nailed the evening's "Fashion Is Art" dress code in a sinuous, metallic-halter custom-made by the house. Naturally, when the time came for Miu Miu to grow its Select curator ranks alongside Coco Gauff, Gigi Hadid, and Chloë Sevigny, it was clear that King had the A-list experience to pull it off.

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Chatting with King, she shares that it's the way she feels beyond those buzzy, spotlight moments—what she calls her "regular closet life"—that was the deciding factor in pulling together a Miu Miu Select collection. The Miuccia Prada-helmed brand hasn't just dressed her; it's given her the good vibes she can pass to me as easily as one of the apps floating by while we chat.

"I feel like through my time with Miu Miu, I've grown more confident in my style in general," King says. "I feel like it's allowed me to be more playful with what I wear every day."

King's Miu Miu Select edit shows off the adventurous side of her personal style, with a range of pastel blues, rich greens, and lush suedes that are meant to be mixed and matched with abandon. "It was so fun to create—I had the best time because I feel like I got to really think about what I wanted the throughline to be without it being too structured," she says. "I started picking way too many things, and then I narrowed it down to what I wanted the curation to be, but ultimately, my favorite colors in the curation are the green tones. I'm a new redhead, and I really feel like green brings out the red so nicely."

By the time she assembled the full lineup of pieces to shop exclusively in select Miu Miu boutiques, complete with hand-sewn tags designed by King herself, she'd entered a new style mindset. "It's just inspired me to be much more confident, lean into my low-key maximalist vibe and just play around a little bit more," she says.

She's showing off that newfound ability with her look for the evening. The Practical Magic 2 actress is fully dressed in pieces she gathered from Miu Miu's current collection, but not in copy-and-paste styling from the runway. She's stacked two poplin shirts and a suede tank top one on top of the other, with a matching mini skirt and bubblegum pink Viviant bag dangling off her arm.

Even King's manicure fits her "low-key maximalist" aesthetic. "Today I had a very clear vision," she tells me, holding out her left hand so I can peer down at her fingertips. "I was like, I want fucking yellow nails with brown polka dots and ladybugs. I don't know where it came from, but it's springtime!"

King has always felt an affinity for preppy pieces that would make her an eventual Miu Miu girl, but she didn't know how to make them her own. "I think as I've grown and evolved in my style, I've learned how to take those elements of what I've always liked and make them a little bit more me today," she explains.

She points to a green shorts suit with a coordinating sweater, hanging from the rack of her Select collection, as an example. The shape checks the Ivy League-coded box; the ruffled sleeves and mini skirt have an "undoneness" that feels like her. "I just think it represents who I am more today—the more playful mini, just showing skin but not in an overdone way."

King only has time for so many more questions. There's a ring of clients milling about just beyond my recorder, hoping for her styling advice (or a selfie).

As we say goodbye, King's already thinking of who else could join the Miu Miu crew. After asking when I'm due, she shares that her sister has just had a baby girl. A member of the team who's listening in suggests a micro mini bag could fit in the infant's tiny wardrobe, and there it is: I'm not King's only recruit of the night. "Oh my God," she grins. "Baby's first Miu Miu!"