Alexa Chung

[elle.w]

i'm sorry. they're horrible. satin-y pink with the swallow print might've been borderline okay but coupled with that massive crystal THING? geez.

 

[Versace-Goddess]

are they more pictures of her outfit at the rehearsals for the NME awards with the Miu Miu shoes?

 

[DiamondSea]

Mulberry dinner in Hong Kong

nextmedia.com

 

[keica]

Read it on paper today and I have idea she've been here ... (or still here?)
She said in the interview that she would take the peak tram and check in some vintage stores here

 

[tashatoo]

I think it may be the opposite actually.
Those shoes would have been my dream shoes when I was 5. (they would have matched my tutus wonderfully)
I could not wear them seriously as an adult.

thing is, alexa's always described her style as a mix between little girl and old lady (with some punky older brother thrown into the mix). maybe she's just indulging her little girl side, as we all like to now and then

 

[VivaciousCohen]

I love her "messy 'dO" and look at Mulberry.

Aaaaand those Miu Miu's gaaaah!

 

[PetitPuppy]

And gaaah, I love that the Miu Miu's are so controversial!

 

[XxpinktinksxX]

gorgeous

 

[MussedPorcelain]

This is a bit late, I know.

I LOVE the denim on denim! I kept going back to it, the pale color of the top is great with very dark blue jeans... Alexa's could even stand to be two shades darker.

A few days ago, I was shopping at Madewell and I saw a similar top. It's "look 13":
http://www.madewell1937.com/2010/madewell_looks.html
I couldn't find a proper picture on the internet and considered taking a picture of it myself, but it's too early in the morning for that... If you have a madewell around, go try it on, you'll definitely buy it. I like to wear it with either dark skinny jeans or black skinny cords and a dark brown leather jacket. It can be southwestern without being tacky.

Also, the Mulberry dress is fantastic. I don't like the shirt underneath, though. The neck line falls strangely with the straps of the dress and makes the outfit look cheaper than it should. I haven't decided what I think about the socks/heels combo yet.

 

[DiamondSea]

^ The denim shirt is from Acne's menswear line.

acnestudios.com

Why everyone adores Alexa Chung

From high fashion to high street, the model and presenter explains how she gets dressed

In some parts of south London, Chung (pronounced “Choong” by the yoof) is slang for an attractive girl. If you want to see the “Choongs” in action, then stand outside Topshop on Oxford Circus. They canter past in flat lace-ups, all long legs, short shorts and boyfriend jackets. Ask them whose style they most admire, and they blink their kohl-lined eyes, play with their mussy hair and say, “Alexa Chung.” It’s a stupid question really. Who else could it be?

Chung has done it. At 26, she’s not just a television presenter who happens to date an Arctic Monkey. She polled top of Vogue’s best-dressed list for 2009, Mulberry created a hit bag for her, and she has just designed a one-off fashion range for the American denim giant Madewell. She’s also the girl who has inspired a generation of teens and twentysomethings to ditch the crispy hair extensions and fake tan and dress like tomboys instead. “I’ve always thought it was easier to dress as a man, because there are a few staples to carry you through and it is more classic. I admire that and try to emulate it,” she says of her influential boy-girl take on fashion.

With her long, skinny legs tucked underneath her, the girl of the moment sits patiently on a sofa while a make-up artist applies individual lashes to her big blue eyes. Her hair looks distinctly unbrushed. “This is my shirt. Do you like it?” she asks with pride about her 1970s-style, black polka-dot velvet blouse, tucked into a tiny pair of high-waisted denim hot pants. Both items are from her vintage-inspired Madewell line, which launched at New York fashion week.

She has been living in the trendy enclave of Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, with fellow Brits Agyness Deyn and Daisy Lowe as neighbours, for the past seven months (they call themselves Team Evil and are best of friends). She loves New York, but a Carrie Bradshaw-style makeover was never on the cards. “I don’t want to turn into one of those women with a power-dressing fur, heels and a glossy blow-dry. I’d feel as if I was playing a character,” Chung says. Instead, she has stuck to her signature look. “I’m quite formulaic. I’ve usually got a bit of leg on show, with a boxy layer on top, and if you see me in a Breton stripe, it’s because I didn’t know what to wear that day. Best dressed in Vogue seems really weird, because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for ages,” she says, doing a nice line in self-deprecation.

Achieving style-icon status has its benefits (she cites “Front row at Chanel, and having a bag named after you”), but she has always been uncomfortable with the It-girl tag, telling Style in 2008, “I think it is a depressing title.” Fast-forward two years and she has mellowed. “I don’t know what It girl means. It’s quite 1990s, like TP-T. Then it transferred from society girls to girls with famous parents, so I don’t really know how I fit into it,” says Chung, who went to a state school in Hampshire and was due to study English at King’s College London, before becoming a model.

“I think she’s the kind of It girl that Jane Birkin [who inspired the Hermès bag] used to be,” says Emma Hill, the Mulberry designer. “She is the most amazing, beautiful creature, but she is attainable. She is not on a pedestal.” Her dress-alikes outside Topshop agree. “Teens can relate to her, and she wears stuff that we can find easily,” says Holly, 17.

Chung still sees herself as more of a hard-working journalist than a 100% celebrity. “If you spend a week with me, you’ll see that all I do is work really hard. So it’s depressing that people think I just waltzed into this life,” she says. “If I am at a party, it’s because I’ve gone straight after work, and I’ll be there for 10 minutes to see my mates.” She knows what it takes to be a television interviewer, but, with her MTV America gig cancelled, she wants to do more writing (she is a contributing editor at British Vogue). She is sincere in her desire to do it well and has been studying Tom Wolfe for hints on how to make it in print.

When she lists her favourite labels, Gap, Uniqlo and Topshop are up there, alongside Phillip Lim (“I call him my husband, although he doesn’t know that”), Acne, Isabel Marant and Chanel. Her appeal lies in the fact that she’s just like a lot of girls. I do sexy, but I don’t do sl*tty,” says Chung, who never went down the lads’ mags route when building her career. “Sexiness comes from the person. Sluttiness is defined by clothes and it usually means something revealing.” It’s not that Chung won’t show off her body, it’s how she shows it off that makes the difference. She can wear something as provocative as a pair of teensy leather hot pants with acres of bare leg, but because she has layered a man’s denim shirt on top, the look suddenly becomes charming and boyish, with a disarming dash of sex appeal. It’s typical Chung. She calls it her version of the groupie look. We have another name for it: Choong.

timesonline.co.uk

 

[MussedPorcelain]

^ The denim shirt is from Acne's menswear line.

I didn't know it was was their menswear line, that makes me like it even more.

Thanks for the article!

 

[Karin]

Yay, love that she's wearing Acne!

 

[ciaobohemia]

I don't understand all the fuss about the mui mui shoes?!?!?!
I adore them and if she wants to wear them...... why not?!?!

 

[miceghost]

funny because she sucks at writing, haha. sorry to be blunt, but i've always thought her writing pieces were terrible.

 

[jomarlushka]

^^^^funny how in the article they say that she

inspired a generation of teens and twentysomethings to ditch the crispy hair extensions and fake tan and dress like tomboys instead.

and she doesn't

want to turn into one of those women with a power-dressing fur, heels and a glossy blow-dry.

but then

while a make-up artist applies individual lashes to her big blue eyes

yeah right, cause the normal tomboy girl has a make-up artist applying individual lashes to the eyes and Miu Miu stuff

 

[eli marie]

I know, that article was nauseating...

 

[lottie342]

jomarlushka, I totally agree, I thought it sounded hypocritcal when I was reading it. I liked all the photos they used with the article though.

 

[Beachhouselove]

^^^^funny how in the article they say that she



and she doesn't


but then


yeah right, cause the normal tomboy girl has a make-up artist applying individual lashes to the eyes and Miu Miu stuff

haha this made me laugh, very true. I really like the last picture of alexa, at that mulberry dinner. I'm curious to see new outfits. To be honest, I haven't found her latest ones very interesting or inspiring...

 

[elle.w]

i thought the article was very revealing about the shifts in her personal style and attitudes, especially about (1) how she 'does sexy, but not sl*tty' and (2) how she feels about being called an 'it-girl'. it was only a few years back that she commented that she liked to dress like a little boy and how she doesn't do "sexy" because it makes her feel awkward [forgot which article, sorry!], and also how being an "it-girl" was really depressing because it meant you didn't DO anything for a living and had rich parents [nylon, 2008 i believe] so it's very interesting to see how her attitude has 'mellowed' about those.

i don't mind her writing, though i've always found it sort of 'affected'. wonder if she'd ever go back to study at king's college.

 

[gossiping]

has this been posted? (from 20:25)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9If6Q0fAXNc

i know it's nothing like her but i thought it was really funny