Last evening Alexa Chung did as Alexa does, meaning she created a vintage-chic line, showed at a Danish church in London (I don’t think the heavens mind much) and then partied with all of her so-cool-it-burns friends.
In the past, when I caught wind of this collection and subsequently began imagining the thrift shopper’s dream look à la Alexa, I wrote up a list of predictions for the line in anticipation. She delivered on the loafers, the dungarees, some well-tailored ruffles, the perfect white shirt, and that statement top. Still no sign of a purely navy “jumper”, but I suppose we’ll have to date a rockstar for that.
I adore this collection and not because I’m a bandwagon Alexa fan, not because I think her book looks excellent in instagram posts, and certainly not because she and I love the same Beatle (George Harrison), but because she is the epitome of authenticity to me.
After spending some time among those in the fashion industry, seeing bloggers pose for street style, all of us eyeing each other back-and-forth, she’s a style icon that I can count on.
There are a lot of style gurus out there in head-to-toe Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, you name it. That’s not the discouraging thing for me, instead it’s composing of these ensembles. I am not convinced by the style of those in a pre-assembled outfit by some large house; they’re just wearing it really well. They have the body, the money, the whatever. Alexa’s clothing doesn’t feel that way. It feels found and tailored by her own eye. I’m not looking for a ghostwriter when I look at what she’s wearing.
That’s why this show, this line, and this vein of fashion heartens me. It’s wearable and it has Chung’s “It”, the name of her book and of the je ne sais quoi of something really, really quite good.
I may be partial to a vintage look, to the gender-flipping menswear, and to the unmistakable hand of the person behind the label, but this is a good sign not just for lovers of Chung, but for the fashion world.
The way of the fashion icon is perhaps not lost in a world of sameness (said the bitter cynic) and far be it from me in this industry of self-expression to poo-poo someone’s look, but Chung’s insistent It is a stake in heart of trend-mongering and of monkey see monkey do.
Are there imitators, ironically, of this vibe? Certainly. The business of self-expression is not unhindered by paradoxes, much less complexity. Is your head to toe, from runway stylists to your body, any less lovely on you? Is your trendy ensemble any less stylish? No. Is Alexa Chung a god among humans because of her style? No.
She talks the talk and I’m glad to hear the words match their meaning.
Bisous,
To see the collection and buy pieces if you’re so inclined, visit here.