Camila Mendes Brings ‘Whimsical and Grungy’ Vibes to Latest Coach Campaign: ‘Killing It’ (Exclusive)
The actress talks PEOPLE through her early Coach memories, the virtual reality shoot and more
Charlie Engman
Camila Mendes for CoachCamila Mendes loves a good dichotomy.
Her latest role in the fourth chapter of Coach's Find Your Courage campaign not only gives her the split between virtual reality and the real world but also the simple fashion division between "whimsical and grungy."
Mendes, 29, stars in a virtual world with imma, a virtual human, model and digital creator, while wearing Coach pieces that balance grunge and femininity, which the Riverdale alum says depicts her perfectly.
Charlie Engman
Camila Mendes for Coach"I love combining those two vibes," she tells PEOPLE exclusively. "You have this really delicate lace that feels very springtime and feminine and sensual and then underneath there's this leather bralette and leather bottoms with the leather boots. It adds a little bit of edge, and I think for me, it feels like such a good alignment with my own style, because that's where I feel like Coach and I have a lot in common — I do like to mix those two aesthetics a lot. They're killing it."
Mendes may have settled into synchronicity with Coach now, having worked with the brand and creative director Stuart Vevers for a few years, but that wasn't always the case with the brands she's worked with. She admits that in the past, she's felt like she's "compromised my own personal style to appease brands."
Frank Terry
Camila Mendes for CoachMendes' ongoing partnership with Coach also just makes sense because she's loved the brand for more than half her life. In fact, she has fond memories of being gifted her first Coach bag back in fifth grade. She's told the story many times, of how her dad gave her a pink Coach bag, but she revisits the memory, recalling just how special that moment truly was.
"I felt so trendy and chic," she says of her preteen self receiving that bag. "I think it was the first name brand that I owned and [the bag] was also baby pink, so it was just so girlie and feminine and I just remember there was this feeling when I put it on. You know how you could tell that something suits you when you put it on and then all of a sudden you pose in the mirror and you're feeling yourself? I remember putting it over my shoulder and doing that. And I think that's such a testament to how clothing and accessories can make you feel."
The Mendes in elementary school who loved that Coach bag also loved fashion as a whole, she says. She would play dress-up and experiment with clothes all the time. The Música star recalls another time in fifth grade when she rocked a skirt over jeans because she felt like it — but her older sister was not having it. Mendes tells PEOPLE that her sister told her that everyone was going to make fun of her, but she walked out the door for school anyway.
"I was just trying to be cool and different," she says. "I've always enjoyed playing around with clothing."
Charlie Engman
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Coach's Find Your Courage campaign debuted in February with Lil Nas X. The campaign encourages people to be who they are, and each piece of the campaign has a different message. Mendes' message is Courage to Evolve, which she says she "loves."
"[Something] I am always striving to do is evolve in the next phase, whether it's in my personal life or in my career," she tells PEOPLE.
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