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Alexa Chung is known as fashion’s cool Brit, so when I heard the news that she was starting her own clothing line, I immediately thought two things: One, how does she not have her own collection already? After all, at just 33 years old, the former model has interviewed countless major designers as a TV host and created splashy, sold-out collabs with brands like Madewell and AG Jeans. My second thought: I’m so down with that!
Which is unusual for me. As an entertainment editor, I work with musicians, celebrities, and influencers, and I’m skeptical when it comes to all the shoes-by or smells-by or shades-by lines from famous people who I’ve seen firsthand don’t know or care a ton about making fashion. But to me, Alexa Chung has always been authentic; you get the sense she actually went to the concert of the band whose tee she’s wearing. And she makes her high-low style look refined; it’s probably the high collars or lace details she mixes in with her vintage jeans.
Those feminine details are usually not my thing, however, so when Glamour’s fashion news director asked if I’d let Chung style me in her new clothing line, AlexaChung, which launches this month at stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Opening Ceremony, and Neiman Marcus, I was hesitant. And, truth: I was somewhat mortified to stand next to this 5'9" goddess; I’m barely 5'3". Then I saw the clothes. A white maxidress (previous page) would be perfect for a work event into a night out with my friends at a dive bar. I could live in her big striped sweater; it’s the thing for when I just want to wear jeans with ballet flats (every day, in other words). I was impressed. So my first question for Chung was, “What took you so long?”
“I had an inkling [launching my line] wasn’t something to do lightly,” Chung says. But after interviewing heavyweights like Clare Waight Keller (now of Givenchy) and Joseph Altuzarra for The Future of Fashion, her British Vogue documentary series, she got more optimistic. The designers worked hard to get where they are, but “it was encouraging to find out most peo
ple are making it up as they go along.”
When you get her talking about specific AlexaChung styles, she speaks a language I get: music. “It’s the greatest-hits album,” Chung says of her first collection, which ranges from $100 for a basic tee to $1,600 for a sequined gown. There’s a red and pink striped blazer inspired by Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones, a Johnny Rotten–esque sweater, and go-to miniskirts and overalls. What’s the favorite track? Chung doesn’t hesitate: “A plastic lilac dress that I made with Rihanna’s good-girl-gone-bad scenario in mind.”
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And that’s the genius of Chung’s clothes: She believes they should help you become who you want to be. It’s the essence of how she approaches style. I try her white maxidress with the high collar and ask whether I can really wear it to work. “It depends what you’re trying to say about yourself,” she says. “Are you the cool girl? Pair it with sneakers. Or are you a senior person in charge?” She tosses me some white kicks: Cool girl it is (for person-in-charge, she’d recommend a suit). I tell her I never thought about styling myself in those terms—about who I’m trying to be. I always just looked at my heroes, like
Debbie Harry, whose ’70s Canadian tuxedo look has become a uniform for me. There’s a lesson in that too. “Patti Smith, Florence Welch—musicians aren’t thinking of clothes in terms of being judged by fashionistas,” Chung says. “They’re just being themselves.”
This story is from the July 2017 issue of Glamour magazine.
