Alexa Chung Talks Shopping At The Bicester Village British Designers Collective Launch
Grazia Daily went on a very fashionable trip today to the glamorous industry insider launch of the British Fashion Council Fashion Collective shop at Bicester Village. Here you can peruse at your leisure such brilliant designer wares as Holly Fulton dresses and handbags, Jonathan Saunders jersey and knitwear, Preen womenswear, Markus Lupfer and Bella Freud's posh knitted jumpers and even more...all at complete bargain knockdown prices. Whoohoo!
And as if that wasn't exciting enough, Alexa Chung was there to cut the ribbon and make a speech to christen the shop, saying she was 'very excited to be here, with so much amazing British talent. I'm happy to be here, and happy to be going shopping here!' And so are we, Alexa. We managed to catch up with the presenter/fashion muse/hipster to find out about her latest goings on...
Grazia Daily: Which is better for shopping, New York or London, as you’re now an expert on both?
Alexa Chung: Err, they are quite similar actually, they both have good vintage shops, for sure. I think if anything, it’s depleting faster in London, so in New York you still have the chance to pick up some great gems. Whatever you need you can get it in either. For example vintage you can get in Brick Lane or Williamsburg, and then for high end you have Dover St Market in London or Barney’s Co Op in New York.
Grazia Daily: You had such a great success with Madewell and then now you’re working with Superga. Are you going to do any more designing any time soon?
Alexa Chung: Well, for a start I didn’t actually design any shoes for Superga, I just art directed one shoot and then someone slightly miss-reported that so it seemed like I was designing the shoes myself, you know hand stitching them and so on. But I never did.
Grazia Daily: What about some womenswear though?
Alexa Chung: Yeah, maybe.
Grazia Daily: Can you tell us any more than ‘maybe’? [we lock eyes with her quizically]
Alexa Chung: [Very firmly] Maybe.
Grazia Daily: What do you do with all the magazine covers you've been on? Have you made them into a collage?
Alexa Chung: What, like a face collage, that I use instead of a mirror?
Grazia Daily: Really?
Alexa Chung: Yes, I collect them all together, stick them on the wall and use them as a mirror.
Grazia Daily: Do you really though, you must be proud of them? Haven’t you kept them?
Alexa Chung: I don’t, but my mum does have them somewhere. No, not in a book! Just sort of scattered around. In a pile I suppose.
Grazia Daily: You should keep them all, so when you’re 70, you can look at them all again.
Alexa Chung: Well, when I’m 70, it’ll be a different story. When I’m 70, I’ll get them all off my mum, or off my publicist, and then I’ll want to look back at them all and frame them. It’s more like now, I wouldn’t do that, like have a shoot I did two months ago hanging on the wall, I don’t think that would impress anyone.
Grazia Daily: What was the best thing about performing at Stella McCartney's London Fashion Week party?
Alexa Chung: That magician had the most amazing hair. The most hair on his head and not a single hair on his body.
Grazia Daily: That’s a pretty good showbiz name-drop story...
Alexa Chung: Well, that’s true but the trouble is, it’s not a story I could tell to any of my friends because either they were there, or they’re not interested in things like that. And it’s not a sort of family dinner table chat either. So, once again, I’ve just got to file these memories away for the future.
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