56 DAYS Star Dove Cameron Covers ALLURE Next Special Issue

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ALLURE’s February ALLURE NEXT special issue reveals a now 30-year-old Dove Cameron is braced, poised and “ready for anything” as she enters a new decade. The newly engaged actress and singer discusses themes of duality as she embraces growing older, navigates wedding planning, and explores new heights in her latest and bravest role yet in the murder mystery series 56 Days. 

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On embracing duality in life, love and career:

People tend to split you down the middle…You’re blonde again and you’re dating a guy, so you are not queer. Now you have brown hair, so you’re goth.

I think that the reason for me being an actor is my duality.  I can channel my energy in very different ways. On any given day, I could be more of one part of me or more of the other.  Outside of my job…I know who I am. I have a very strong personality. The core qualities that I possess are evergreen.  People tend to split you down the middle.  It’s like, ‘But you were this, and now you’re that. You’re blonde again and you’re dating a guy, so you are not queer. And now you have brown hair, so you’re goth, but you’re not wearing makeup, but you’re goth.’  I’ve stepped into myself more as a human. I have subsequently stepped more into myself as an actor. I think it’s really aided my work.

On turning 30 and growing older:

I think getting older kind of bangs. How you feel about yourself is what defines your life…and how I feel about myself has only gotten better as I’ve gotten older. I hated myself when I was younger; I don’t feel like that person anymore. I haven’t felt like that person in a very long time.

 On navigating the bridal space as a queer person:

I’m going to have to figure out a way to design a dress that feels inclusive of the fullness of who I am. I think it would be wrong of me to go too hard either way…I truly do feel split down the middle energetically between a masculine-feminine energy. I always, always have. I have never fully integrated the two energies. I am authentically both of those things.

I want to wear a dress. I like a beautiful white dress. It’s either going to be really simple—so it’s not about the dress and it’s just about feeling like myself—or something that is so avant-garde, so different, that it feels like an emotional expression.

If it’s my wedding day and we’re both in suits, I’m going to look back and be like, Well, f***. But if I go ultra-femme, I’m going to be like, Well, f***.

On her upcoming nudity scenes in 56 Days:

I wanted to be an actor since I was tiny, tiny, tiny, and I’d grown up watching actresses do nudity scenes, things that felt very normal to me as a viewer. I was like, “One day when I’m a big actress, that might be something that I brave and do.” I was always open to it.

When this project [56 Days] came around, I was at a time in my life where I wanted to challenge myself. I read the script, realized there was nudity required, and I blindly was like, ‘…I’m not scared. I’m ready to go. I’m an adult.’ I just didn’t anticipate that it would be so vulnerable. That sounds really silly in retrospect. How could I have not thought that it would be so vulnerable?

It’s not strictly about what your body looks like on camera. I’ve always been pretty okay with my body. I’ve never been massively confident in it. I’m not trying to go to the beach every day, you know? I have a little bit of stuff that I’m working on loving. I think every woman—conceivably, most humans—have insecurities.

On how filming the scenes in 56 Days changed how she viewed herself:

I feel less crumpled and hidden. I feel more like I celebrate myself in the way that I celebrate other women. Like I’ve just burst through something.

My number one—I guess you would call it a motto, even though that word makes me want to vomit—is if something scares me, that’s the thing I have to do next. If you were a piece of marble and every hard experience was chipping away the excess, you’d take more shape after you do something that scares you.

Photographer/Director: Erika Long
Stylist: Carolina Orrico
Hair: Gonn Kinoshita
Makeup: Laura Stiassni
Manicure: Leanne Woodley
Writer: Nicola Dall’Asen

[Photo Credit: Erika Long for Allure Magazine]

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