March 31, 2022

Lana Condor | Speed Dial This One To The Moon, Please

by Eloisa de Farias

**NORMA KAMALI** dress, **GIVENCHY** ring, **ANANYA** earrings, and **SEYMOURE** gloves.

“Let’s keep in touch.” A phrase we hear a lot. Whether via a text, a phone call, or an old-fashioned letter, the desire to feel linked with one another, despite the miles in between, is ever- lasting. 24-year-old Vietnam-born actor, Lana Condor, found herself feeling shaken and fearful during the height of the Asian hate outbreak we saw months back across the US. Condor had recently moved to Seattle, leaving her friends in Los Angeles behind. She isolated out of fear of being targeted, which led to a deep yearning for comfort from a loved one.

**DSQUARED2** dress, **AGENT PROVOCATEUR** corset, **SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO** bracelet, and **ROBERTO COIN** ring.

Condor’s close friend, Jenny Han, the author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before book trilogy-turned-movies (in which Condor starred as protagonist, Lara Jean) reached out to Condor and asked her to be a part of a grieving group of Asian women who needed support during the difficult time. “Honestly, it was the most healing thing,” she shares. “I was so grateful that she even reached out and thought of me in a time of need, and was like, ‘How can I make her feel supported? And how can we all be in this together?’” Condor says this with gratitude bursting at every word.

Condor is best known for her role as hopeless romantic, Lara Jean Covey, in the aforementioned Netflix original adaption, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Following the first film of the young adult trilogy, Condor reappeared in the second installment, P.S. I Still Love You, and the third and final, Always and Forever, Lara Jean. The roles set Condor’s acting career into motion—a launchpad to future roles.

**KLEI STUDIO** jacket, **AGENT PROVOCATEUR** corset, **CALZENDONIA** stockings, and **BRUNO MAGLI** shoes.

**SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO** dress and sunglasses, **CALZEDONIA** stockings, **BRUNO MAGLI** shoes and bag, **VAN CLEEF & ARPELS** necklace and ring, and **SEYMOURE** gloves.

Graduating from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was bittersweet, Condor shares, but in every role Condor has played thereafter, she takes a piece of the spirited and easy to love Lara Jean with her. Examples as such include the limited live action comedy series, Boo, Bitch, as well as Hulu’s action comedy, Take Out, where she starred in and served as executive producer for both. Condor speaks to the challenges of executive producing enthusiastically, “I love entertaining people, and I love working together as a team, to create something out of nothing. I think that’s how it all plays together. I’m constantly looking to work with like-minded people, but also people who challenge me.”

**GIVENCHY** jacket and skirt, **AGENT PROVOCATEUR** corset, **BRUNO MAGLI** shoes, **VAN CLEEF & ARPELS** necklace.

More recently, Condor can be seen alongside Cole Sprouse in HBO Max’s upcoming sci-fi romantic comedy, Moonshot. The movie follows two college students (Condor and Sprouse) aboard a space shuttle to Mars. In Moonshot, unsurprisingly, Sophie (Condor) is reliant on technology. Her boyfriend, who lives on Mars, can only communicate with her through video calls, so eventually, Sophie overcomes her fears and decides to travel through space to be with him. On the other hand, Walt (Sprouse), is itching to make his way to Mars, despite not having the funds or means to get there, and the two develop a unique bond despite their divergent life paths. From sassy AI’s, to dazzling space landscapes whooshing past spaceship windows, Condor charms in her role.

**SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO** dress and sunglasses, **BRUNO MAGLI** bag, **VAN CLEEF & ARPELS** necklace and ring, and **SEYMOURE** gloves.

**CALZENDONIA** stockings and **BRUNO MAGLI** shoes.

Moonshot shows us a world far from ours, where the possibility of living on a vermillion planet is real and robot baristas exist. Although a distant reality, the world in Moonshot does not forget the importance and emotional gravity—no pun intended—of human connection. When Walt befriends Sophie out of the blue, he proves that the urgency we all have to connect with one another is everlasting, no matter what rock you’re standing on. Moonshot was Condor’s first feature film since To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and the pandemic. “It literally felt like just hanging out with your friends,” she shares of its creation. “And while I was shooting in Atlanta, a lot of our mutual friends were also out there shooting. So on the weekends, we got to see them as well. So it was kind of nice, it didn’t feel like we were alone in a city.”

This high-tech world we gawk at in Moonshot shares similarities with the reality we’ve created during the pandemic—a steady diet of Zoom calls and mindless scrolling on TikTok. Condor likes to honestly label herself as the most non-tech savvy person she knows. Still, she knows a thing or two about how technology is changing communication for, well, forever. “I was talking to our Google Home,” she says with a furrowed brow, “and I was like, ‘I’m gonna unplug you’ and she frickin’ answered and said, ‘That’s okay. I understand, we all need to unplug sometimes.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I’m so uncomfortable right now’. I’m excited for technological advancements, but I’m also terrified.”

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With a following of 10.9 million on Instagram, Condor has immense influence. We turn to her for exceptional book recommendations and religiously follow her food highlights and adventures. Condor’s social platforms are a visual representation of her bubbly and spirited personality, but she is also not afraid to address the not-so-fun topics of contemporary life. Condor shared with me a quote she remembered someone told her: people follow you because they believe in you, therefore, you have to show people what you believe in.

She lives by this. Condor generates awareness for a variety of causes and movements, including establishing a scholarship to send underprivileged girls and women to school in Vietnam through The Asia Foundation. “Our generation is very lucky to live in a world where people want to talk openly about mental health and identity,” she offers. “I’ve shared things on social media that so many people have commented back on, DM’d me, or called me about, and had been like, ‘This is something that I’m feeling or I’m experiencing as well.’ It was really cool to know that I’m not alone.”

**ALEXANDER VAUTHIER** dress, **POMELLATO** necklace, **ROBERTO COIN** ring, and **ALAÏA** sunglasses.

When asked when she feels the most invincible, Condor does not stutter. “When the people I love are okay.” She says this with a nod of contemplation, and then her face of reflection breaks into a smile. She tells me about how she and her fiancé, actor Anthony De La Torre, randomly order Uber Eats or Postmates food to their friends and family as a surprise. Condor throws her hands in the air, “A surprise pizza! I mean who doesn’t love that?”

Condor comes across as the friend who brings joy and kindness when you most need it—the first person you might call in a time of need. There might be countless ways to connect these days, but above all, it’s remembering that we’re needed by one another that remains most important.