the Fashion Spot - Alexa Chung for Madewell

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Alexa Chung for Madewell

Quote:

The Perfect Fit: Alexa Chung to Design Collection for Madewell

For many, this will be like hearing the girl everyone wants to date just announce that she’s met her match and that she’s now off the market. Alexa Chung (left), the Brit import who turned up here to work for MTV (despite her show going off the air, she’s still under contract; stay tuned) and Madewell, that purveyor of hip, youthful, and inexpensive Americana, are to join forces. Say it isn’t so! Yes, it is—and we are thrilled.

We can’t imagine that Madewell was the first brand to approach her, asking her to collaborate, consult, or just generally come over and pass on some of that gamine-redux style that she makes look so effortless. Yet Madewell were the perfect suitors because, Chung says, they were so laidback and undesperate. “I’d always been a bit cautious of collaborations—that they’d just be a money thing,” she says. “When I moved to New York, Madewell asked to meet me. I went in, and I liked the company. Everything about our meeting was very organic and casual; not full-on. They were open to suggestions.”

Chung had known about Madewell from her friend Jim, an American ex-roommate from her London days, who also just happened to be working for the brand. He called her up one day to tell her that her image was all over Madewell’s inspiration boards. She returned the compliment, buying its smock dresses and preppie blazers: “the kinds of things,” she says, “I love to wear.”

The first pieces from the collection will be available this September, and will be sold under the label Alexa Chung for Madewell. “Pretty original, huh?” she says, laughing. “I’d wanted to call it Better than a Poke in the Eye [a Britishism for “better than nothing”], but I think we’ll save that for the buttons on the jeans.” So, denim, then? “Yeah, because it is a big thing for them. We’re doing dungaree dresses.” The design directive she gave to herself was: “Things my girlfriends would wear, and say, ‘That’s sick!’ ” Expect high-waisted pants and jeans, velvet dresses with Peter Pan collars, and a coat based on a vintage children’s one she found that originally came from Harrods. There will be nothing that nods to the eighties or nineties, because she’s not into either decade. “I want to bring back forties tea dresses, sixties mod dresses. . . . I want to bring cute back.” If she means cute of the non-saccharine, supercool variety, she already has.

—Mark Holgate

style.com

i'm happy she's landed somewhere....

I can't wait to see pictures :buzz:

there is a madewell store in my city and it does not carry the more "exclusive" items. i doubt it will carry this.

Ohmy Goodness So Exciting!

It's a start for chung I suppose.

sold online? hopefully otherwise we dont have it in the uk do we :(

Does anybody have a subscription to WWD? They interviewed Alexa about the collection but I can't access the original article. Here are some extracts I've found on other websites (graziadaily.co.uk, handbag.com, marieclaire.co.uk):

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The Alexa Chung for Madewell collection will launch in Madewell stores and online at madewell1937.com in August 2010.

Alexa will also star in the ad's campaign.

Madewell - part of the hugely popular J.Crew group - has signed Alexa to create a fall collection, and bring a ‘sexy tomboy, Sixties girls' band' aesthetic to the brand. Or as Alexa puts it: ‘things you wouldn't mind getting dirty in, and things that I actually wear.'

The 20-piece range, called Alexa Chung for Madewell, will feature polka dot tea dresses, high-waisted skinny jeans, denim dungaree dresses, oversized T-shirts with photos and illustrations by Chung, and slouchy wool jackets with touches of lace and velvet.

Prices are expected to range from around $14 for illustrated T-shirts to anywhere upwards of $500 for a jacket.

The line will also include lookbooks of the 26-year-old's drawings, photos and doodles, which will be given away, according to the star.

Chung told WWD, "I was being offered so many collaborations for a long time, but I held off. I thought it would be quite a sell-out thing to do. But Madewell had a more organic approach. They seemed really interested in my ideas and it's a brand that I really admire. Hopefully, the authenticity of this collaboration will be obvious. I love how their vibe is a mix of vintage and new - it completely clicked with me."

Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chairman and chief executive officer of J. Crew Group. “There is no grand scheme to this, and we still don’t want to hire a celebrity spokesperson,” he explained “It’s just that Alexa is totally cool. It’s not the way she looks or dresses. It’s the way she is.” The story goes that when Drexler consulted his staff about who the brand’s ideal customer was, they all named Chung, partly because they’d served her in the store.

wow, im excited. i love the idea of graphic tees with her doodles on them. and for only $14. nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiamondSea (Post 6596446)

Coming in next comment. Let me find it!

Alexa Chung to Collaborate With Madewell

Madewell has signed Alexa Chung to create a fall collection, in the brand’s first celebrity collaboration.

Madewell, which is part of the J. Crew Group, and Chung both exude downtown casual cool, with Chung bringing a “sexy tomboy, Sixties girls’ band” and Victorian aesthetic to the brand, or as she also put it, “things you wouldn’t mind getting dirty in and things that I actually wear.… I love how their vibe is a mix of vintage and new — it completely clicked with me.”

“There is no grand scheme to this, and we still don’t want to hire a celebrity spokesperson,” explained Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chairman and chief executive officer of J. Crew Group. “It’s just that Alexa is totally cool. It’s not the way she looks or dresses. It’s the way she is.”

The collection, to be called Alexa Chung for Madewell, will include polkadot tea dresses, dungaree dresses, high-waisted skinny jeans, oversize wool jackets with velvet and lace accents, and T-shirts with Chung’s photographs and illustrations, about 20 styles in all, much of it meant to mix with Madewell’s other products.

“This will complement Madewell and it’s quite in keeping with my style,” said Chung. There will also be little packages containing Chung’s drawings, writings, photos and doodles, “like a look book,” she said. “We’ll be giving them away.” Prices haven’t been set, but will be consistent with Madewell’s, which start at $14 for illustrated T-shirts, and peak at $500 for motorcycle jackets, with the core of the jeans presentation under $100.

Chung is partial to shopping at Topshop, Gap, Opening Ceremony, Chanel, Charles Anastase, Louella and Christopher Kane, and dates Alex Turner, the lead singer and guitarist from the Arctic Monkeys, an English alternative rock band.

“I was being offered so many collaborations for a long time, but I held off. I thought it would be quite a ‘sellout’ thing to do,” Chung told WWD. “But Madewell had a more organic approach. They seemed really interested in my ideas and it’s a brand that I really admire. Hopefully, the authenticity of this collaboration will be obvious.”

Chung isn’t a fashion designer, but she’s studied graphic design and art. Little did she know that Madewell had noticed her style. Drexler one day got on his loudspeaker to solicit the staff’s input on defining Madewell’s target customer. Chung’s name came up from personnel at Madewell stores where she shopped and that led to Madewell executives dining with her to consider a linkup.

“Alexa’s style is inspiring and inventive, yet unbelievably approachable and down-to-earth,” added Madewell design director Kin Ying Lee. “She has such a clear point of view.” The retailer will launch Alexa Chung for Madewell in its stores and online at madewell1937.com in late August. Madewell launches e-commerce this spring. Chung will also be the face of the collection for the fall campaign. It is to be determined if the company will do a second Alexa Chung collection.

There are 17 Madewell stores, but it’s possible a few more are added this year.

Just got the following info in a press release from J Crew...a lot of the same info as already posted but it does answer the question of whether this will be available online...

Alexa Chung for Madewell
Celebrated TV personality, model and style muse to design exclusive collection for Madewell
January 20, 2010 — Alexa Chung is many things: TV personality, model, DJ, writer, photographer, downtown-cool style icon, best-dressed-list mainstay . . . and now she can add fashion designer to the list. She’s is partnering with Madewell, the heritage denim label that’s part of J.Crew Group, to create an exclusive collection—her first-ever collaboration with any label—due to debut fall 2010. Chung will translate her widely admired aesthetic and irreverently sexy tomboy look to this limited-edition Alexa Chung for Madewell collection, which will include covetable jeans and a tightly-edited group of key pieces to wear with them. The collection will be sold through madewell1937.com - which will also be launching ecommerce this spring - and in Madewell stores nationwide. Chung will also be the creative muse and face of the collection for a planned fall ad campaign.

“I’m very excited for my first collaboration and thrilled that it’s with Madewell,” says British-bred Chung. “This partnership came together organically and is a great fit as the brand is so classic and really encompasses my style. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the team and I can’t wait for my friends to wear it!”

The evolution of the relationship between Madewell and Chung was a natural one: When the Madewell team, already inspired by Chung’s innate style, learned that Chung, in turn, was a Madewell fan (and a regular at Madewell’s Soho store), they knew their mutual admiration could be spun into a partnership fusing their creative sensibilities.

“Alexa’s style is inspiring and inventive, yet unbelievably approachable and down-to-earth,” says Madewell design director Kin Ying Lee. “The way she puts everything together is so spot-on—and so perfectly Madewell. What excited us the most about Alexa is that she has such a clear point of view, and she enthusiastically brings that to the collection.”

In the lead up to the collection’s launch, the latest developments about the collection will be tweeted by Chung at twitter.com/madewell1937, and additional updates will be posted on madewell1937.com.

And here's the image that came with it...

http://sn116w.snt116.mail.live.com/a...C02ED9F0%7C%7C

Not sure how to credit this...J Crew email?

thats great for her. can´t wait for this.

agh i can't wait.
does anyone know when it will be released?