Claire Danes Goes Eighties Excess for BlackBook Magazine. And Talks Her Upcoming Wedding to Hugh Dancy

by Lesley Kennedy (Subscribe to Lesley Kennedy's posts)
Posted Aug 21st 2009 at 6:15PM

More power to Claire Danes, BlackBook's September cover girl. Photo courtesy of BlackBook

Claire Danes has come a long way since her grunge-wearing days on "My So-Called Life."

The actress, now a mainstay on best dressed lists, tells BlackBook magazine that she used to belt the Garfield T-shirts she wore with mini skirts, blue tights and a dog collar.

"I remember spending hours and hours and hours getting it just right and then going into Tower Records, praying that the shop girls would notice me and validate my ensemble," she says in the September issue, on sale now.

One certainly can't help but notice Danes in the below gallery of steamy photos.

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Claire Danes in BlackBook

Actress Claire Danes goes Eighties excess for the September issue of BlackBook Magazine.

Courtesy of BlackBook

Claire Danes in BlackBook

A reinvented Claire Danes wearing a one-sleeved, Studio 54-worthy Herve Leger dress -- a far cry from the flannel shirts and Dr. Martens Angela Chase wore on "My So-Called Life."

Courtesy of BlackBook

The actress is so, like, totally '80s! Shown here in Alexis Bittar giant gold earrings that would have fit in perfectly during the Me Decade.

Courtesy of BlackBook

Pretty in pink Emilio Pucci and an era of excess-appropriate necklace.

Courtesy of BlackBook

Claire Danes in '80s-influenced power clothes, including this Gucci blazer and not much else.

"It's great, as a woman, to feel entitled to express strength and power, to not be in some kind of flowery frock running through fields -- though that has its place," she tells BlackBook.

Courtesy of BlackBook

Claire Danes, here in a D&G blazer and ripped KSUBI jeans, is now 30.

"... I think, growing up in New York, that my maturity was disproportionate to my actual age," she tells BlackBook. "So it's nice to kind of catch up with myself. I don't feel so freaky now."

Courtesy of BlackBook

Danes talks to BlackBook about her upcoming September wedding to Hugh Dancy. Set to take place in France, the wedding dress will be designed by Danes favorite Narciso Rodriguez.

"I've known Narciso since I was 16, and he's made a lot of dresses with -- and for -- me," she says in the story. "So it's really special that this time it's the dress."

Up next for Danes? She'll co-star with High School Musical's Zac Effron in the Richard Linklater-directed "Me and Orson Welles" and in an HBO film about autistic author Temple Grandin.

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