Chloë Cassens is a Frankenstein Purist

The transatlantic Scorpio shares what's on her Wist List

Chloë Cassens is a writer with a specialization in the French surrealist artist, Jean Cocteau. She “grew up in LA, which I thought nobody did” – Diane Keaton in Nancy Meyers’ Something’s Gotta Give and the stories from her adolescence will fill many memoirs to come.

Her newsletter SACRED MONSTER recently released her second collection of essays, SACRED MONSTER VOL. 2. and her writing is most recently featured in the newest issue of S&M Magazine.

Chloë has been referred to as “The Little Scorpion of the French Riviera” and with a glimpse at her astrological chart, it’s not hard to understand why. Among the many lives she has lived, she is also a certified sex educator. I just had to know what’s captivating her attention at the moment so I present to you…

CHLOË CASSENS’ WIST LIST

📍 Hollywood, CA/Ile-Saint-Louis, Paris

🌞Scorpio 🌙Aquarius ✨Pisces
+ a stellium of scorpio placements in the 8th house.

What’s on your bedside table right now?

An inhaler (I have asthma), my glasses, a couple of books and my jewelry. What’s *in* the drawer for the table is another story ...

What are you reading?

I just finished Allie Rowbottom’s Lovers XXX and am wading into my friend Molly Crabapple’s Bundist tome Here Where We Live is Our Country.

What are you watching?

Love Island USA is deeply horrifying and interesting — the older millennial cusp boys are more willing to put their hearts on the line than the red-pilled Gen Z’ers and it shows. Meanwhile, “lustful” is thrown around as a slur amongst the cast while they simulate sex acts each night on national television. For some reason many of the ‘challenges’ and games on the show involve food play. Compelling, trashy and revolting. I can’t look away.

“What’s Your Beef?” challenge during ‘Love Island USA’ season seven. Source: Ben Symons/Peacock

What’s your comfort film?

Shrek 1 & 2 as a double feature !

What is your favorite book or a book you always recommend (fiction or non, short stories, essays, whatever!)

My favorite book is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I always like to recommend the original 1818 text.

What’s one product you simply can’t live without?

Korean sunscreen. I have vampiric skin that cannot handle the sun and is either ghostly pale or burnt — despite covering myself religiously, I’ve already had a few large precancerous chunks of skin removed from my body, so I take sunscreen very seriously. The Korean formulas are unbeatable. I use Beauty of Joseon.

What beauty tool or product do you really really want but has remained, as of yet, out of reach?

I would love to go to South Korea and visit all of their crazy advanced spas and get the lasers and treatments.

What’s your favorite beauty tool?

An orgasm a day keeps your skin looking rosy, happy and lovely, if you catch my drift. (I recommend Lelo.)

What secrets have you unlocked?

You cannot, despite what it may seem, buy yourself a new face that looks genuinely good, you can only buy yourself a new face that looks “good” by the general standard. Working with what you already have will always look better. I think that these actresses who have overhauled their faces and are being written about as looking “amazing” (I don’t want to name names but there’s a few Oscar winners in there) actually look awful -- like uncanny valley versions of themselves. If the work is clockable it isn’t good. You should have people wondering if you’ve taken a new lover or just gotten back from vacation, not *what* procedures you’ve gotten.

Which Tarot Card that most describes where you are right now?

What is a wellness trend that you swear by?

I just found out that I am what the wellness industry calls an “intuitive eater” which, what the hell, sure.

What mental health tool is working for you?

Walking, Pilates, talking to friends, going to museums/ galleries and caring for my miniature dachshund Louis is my winning cocktail for sanity.

What’s your favorite piece of clothing?

I have so many incredible pieces of clothing in my closet that I cherish and adore. The one that I always have to have in my suitcase, no matter where I am going, is a cashmere cardigan from the 2009 Chanel Moscow-Paris collection. It’s ruffled and has a wide, dramatic silk ribbon bow and works with literally every outfit in every scenario imaginable. It’s goth, Parisian, Pierrot, romantic and feminine at the same time.

What’s something you’re dying to buy (or to have someone buy for you?)

Jewelry and paintings ! I am trying to buy and receive more fine jewelry and fine art than clothing, shoes and handbags. I want ASSETS, baby ! I am particularly obsessed with the house of Codognato in Venice. In the Venetian theme, I also always, always, always have Fortuny scheherazade lamps on my list for Santa. I’ve been lucky enough in my life to receive a lot of beautiful pieces of art as gifts, but not as much jewelry.... yet ;)

Who’s your favorite designer at the moment?

I am inspired and partial to my friends Paul Burgo and Kathryn Hewitson. Paul has a company called Factory New York which runs on a mostly custom/made to measure structure and Kathryn has a brand out of London called Pristine.

Checked bags or carry-on only?

Depends where I am going, for how long, and why, but by and large I am a check-er.

What’s your ideal suitcase?

I was pondering dropping an ungodly amount on a Rimowa but just a few days ago I saw one come off of the CDG carousel completely fucked up — the aluminum was cracked open and the poor guy who it belonged to’s stuff was everywhere. I am still very much in the market for a good carry on.

What’s your favorite hotel?

I lived in the Chateau Marmont when it was nearly empty during Covid, so they have a soft spot in my heart. I always stay at the Hotel Peter and Paul when I am in New Orleans (which is fairly often, it’s my favorite city in the US outside of Los Angeles) and before I got my place in Paris I would stay for extended periods of time at the Hotel Grand Amour. When I am in the south of France for work (which is also quite often) I stay at the Hotel Amour in Nice. I am a lover of hotels and loathe Airbnbs.

Where would you like to go next?

Japan !!!