See’s Nesta Cooper Loves a Y2K Trend and Has the Hat Collection to Prove It

When did you know that acting was going to be your career path? Was there one moment, or was it a culmination of moments?

It’s hard to say because it happened really young for me. When I was maybe 12 or 13, I think I really just knew. I was a middle child and was so loud and annoying. Again, back to the Haniwa thing, I was just constantly searching for an outlet. I watched a ton of TV and a ton of movies, and as soon as I was 13, I started watching CW shows and stuff. I would watch Veronica Mars and Tessa Thompson, Kat Graham in Vampire Diaries, those types of things. I was like, “Oh, I can do that!” I was fiercely inspired by it. I was so intense about it. I guess I just tried to do it. I wasn’t very good at first, but I liked pretending and feeling the connection of other people—like being able to play out being divorced when I had never even had a boyfriend before and connecting to a feeling of betrayal that was inside me right then so that someone who had been divorced could watch it and get it. I thought that was so cool that we were all connected at the core emotionally in that way, and then I just became obsessed with it. I was such a fangirl. I mean I don’t need to get into the details, but Myspace, Facebook, everything, I was messaging actors and stuff. I was crazy. 

While perusing your Instagram, I noticed two things: You have great off-duty style, and you have a very cool hat collection. Can we talk about both?

I love that! Thank you for noticing my hats. I wear a lot of hats. Well, with my off-duty style, I have gotten a lot better, especially during the pandemic. The only chance I’ve really had to dress up is when I show up to work and go from my car to the makeup trailer. I got an extremely, I think, impressive collection of mix-and-match sweatshirts and sweatpants. I have to thank Aritzia for that because they have an amazing selection of colors. And for my hats, I’ve been very into the whole Y2K trend right now, so I have this one Von Dutch trucker hat that I’ve been wearing nonstop. And then I have a huge collection of floppy bucket hats. I just got a new one from Free People that is a crochet one with these Easter pastel colors. It is just so cute. Love a hat. It makes any outfit seem put-together when you have it on. 

Do you have a fashion/style philosophy?

I would say now my philosophy is just to be funky. I think any outfit can be funked up in any kind of way, whether it’s putting on chunky jewelry or a crazy pattern or adding a texture that is very different. I always go for that, and that makes me feel like myself and stylish and on-trend. Lately, I have been trying to not follow too many micro-trends, which is really hard for me. I just see things on Pinterest or Instagram or TikTok especially, and I’m like, “Oh my god, I need that. I want it.” But I’m really trying to make good use of my closet now and find fun ways to layer and make things look cool and feel chic. 

I love the Venice shoot you did for this story. I heard you were involved with some of the creative. 

I had so much fun with this shoot. The photographer, Nicholas Chalmers, is a dear friend of mine, and his wife Julia, she owns a branding company called Lucky Chalm. Nick shot Samara Weaving for Wonderland, and I thought the shoot was amazing. We go on RV camping trips together and hang out, and he always takes photos, and we’ve just been trying to get together to do a shoot for so long. So when this came up, it felt perfect. Working with Nick, he’s so effortlessly cool and is able to create images that have that laid-back Australian effortlessness. So I decided I wanted the clothes to be very extra. Not like “haute couture” extra, but just super funky and fun. We went back and forth sending each other voice notes for a whole day. I was like, “How about we do things inside?” And he was like, “No, let’s do it outside.” And I was like, “We can do it walking the dogs,” and he thought of going to Bob’s Market on Ocean Park. It was a very collaborative experience. And then the braids were done by Fesa [Nu], who Emily Cheng, my makeup artist, suggested, and she just absolutely nailed it. I hope to do more shoots like that, where it’s just friends all getting together. I was drinking rosé all day. It was just a blast! 

Season two of See premieres Friday, August 27 on AppleTV+.