“It’s an updated version of a really disgusting cream floral dungaree dress my mum used to make me wear,” says Alexa Chung, laughing. She’s talking about a vintage-style blouse under a blue and white striped denim dungaree pinafore, one of the looks from her Madewell debut, shown tonight at the Bowery Hotel. Chung’s best girlfriend, DJ Tennessee Thomas, pumped out classic 60s pop like the Shangri-Las, while some of her friends—Poppy Delevigne, Pixie Geldof—modeled. (though Pixie had to leave before the 8pm end time to catch a flight). Beyond what she wore as a kid, Chung cited Mallory Towers, Enid Blyton’s cult British boarding school series of books, as an influence. “The collection’s all quite English schoolgirl really,” she shrugs, although railroad prints and denim in many guises (jeans, dresses and super short shorts) belie a distinctly American spin. Seems like Chung needn’t worry about her very British style not travelling over here.
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