Alicia Vikander's Daring New Act

In life—and in fashion—Alicia Vikander refuses to play it safe.

- Andrew Bevan

I want to be her, Mummy!” shouts an elated little girl standing in a cluster of kids who have gathered spontaneously in Savannah’s Forsyth Park. With heads craned toward the sky, they are gobsmacked, rooted in place as if they’ve spotted a bona fide superhero. And in a way they have. On this crisp but sunny Saturday morning of her BAZAAR cover shoot, Alicia Vikander is literally floating on air, pirouetting with balletic grace in a Louis Vuitton gown 50 feet above the mossy green. The Swedish actress seems preternaturally at ease and visibly in control, often calling the shots—politely—to the stunt coordinators and photography crew from midair.

Remaining nonplussed in the face of extreme bodily risk is all in a day’s work for Vikander, who has made a career out of shape-shifting seamlessly into radically strong female characters in thoughtful indie films and commercial blockbusters alike. On-screen and in person, the 30-year-old star exudes a cool, timeless charm that calls to mind a young Ingrid Bergman. She is as unassuming as she is captivating—a badass with delicate poise and a hushed, confident cadence.

Back on terra firma, Vikander, dressed in Goldsign jeans, a black Isabel Marant blouse, and Jimmy Choo flats with her hair tied in a messy knot, is sitting in a cocktail bar across the street from Forsyth Park. “In this industry, you must be willing to throw yourself out there, which I enjoy,” she says. She has just ordered a vodka martini, and kindly instructed the bartender to dump the vermouth after just a swish around the glass. “I’m good at hiding all those nerves inside. Something I’ve heard all my life is, ‘Oh, you seem so tough.’ I think one of the main things I do well is to not show that I’m shitting my pants.”