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"I was never good at that Disney/Nickelodeon kind of acting. It&amp;#39;s not really my cup of tea,&amp;quot; Morgan Saylor explains with an apologetic shrug. But the eighteen-year-old actress&amp;#39;s decision to bypass those happy-go-lucky parts for a &amp;quot;juicy&amp;quot; role on Showtime&amp;#39;s high-octane hit Homeland (and the fact that she feels more herself in a ripped rock tee than a frilly cocktail dress) is exactly what makes her the perfect Teen Vogue guest to this year&amp;#39;s punk-themed Met Gala.\n\n Literally fresh off the heels of her senior prom (she wore ASOS), the Georgia native popped up to New York City for a style t\u00EAte-\u00E0-t\u00EAte with yours truly and Met Gala co-chair and Moda Operandi cofounder Lauren Santo Domingo. &amp;quot;True fashion lovers have always been attracted to the unusual and avant-garde,&amp;quot; Lauren says as she and Morgan play dress-up with a slew of studded, edgy accessories. &amp;quot;I love a girl like Morgan who is willing to take a risk. What&amp;#39;s the point of being young if not to be a little outrageous?&amp;quot; (Fittingly, as Morgan peruses Moda Operandi&amp;#39;s exclusive punk collection, she models a New York Vintage Mohawk with nonchalant confidence.)\n\n Since the meteoric rise of Homeland&amp;#39;s popularity, the starlet, who spends most of her time in the South, has honed her style chops. &amp;quot;What we do, filming in Charlotte, is so small compared to how huge the show has become,&amp;quot; says Morgan, who prefers thrift stores to malls. &amp;quot;You can Google old photos of me and tell I didn&amp;#39;t understand what I was doing. At the first premiere of the show, I wore Vans. Now I&amp;#39;ve developed my own style and know what is appropriate from experience.&amp;quot;\n\n Although her burgeoning career has won her coveted insider invites, Morgan chooses to lead as normal a life as possible in lieu of the flashy Hollywood scene. &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;m really glad I did all four years at a totally normal public high school,&amp;quot; she explains.\n\n The actress&amp;#39;s desire to find a balance between TV stardom and teen life is especially evident the night of the ball. Decked out in a dress by cool London designer Holly Fulton, she reveals, &amp;quot;It all still feels so surreal. Obviously this is part of my life, but it&amp;#39;s not the crowd I hang out with every day.&amp;quot; So it&amp;#39;s no surprise she opted out of the after-parties: &amp;quot;I walked away and sat on a bench with my boyfriend for a long time and told him all about it. And then got into a taxi and went home! Sharing these things with my friends is important so it&amp;#39;s not just me, off living a fairy tale.&amp;quot;\n\n Because even fairy tales have their pitfalls: &amp;quot;I get so bummed when I have to return the clothes I&amp;#39;m lent,&amp;quot; Morgan admits. &amp;quot;It&amp;#39;s easy to feel so special, but like Cinderella, you lose your shoes.&amp;quot; With or without the fancy footwear, this girl&amp;#39;s got her feet planted firmly on the ground."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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