24HOURS ALEX A CHUNG
The British It girl shares her New York day. Styled by Joanna Hillman. Photographed by Mark Abrahams.
I don’t sleep well, and because I travel so much, when I wake up I often don’t know where I am. The other morning I woke up in Paris and I was like, “What? Why am I here? Should I be at an airport?” When my alarm goes off, I look at it and wonder what it’s going on for. It’s like a detective series – I have to unravel the mystery of the beeping phone. 9.13AM I survey the floor and find an item and build an outfit around it. Something will catch my eye – a floral shirt or a pair of boots – and I’ll be like, “Okay, how do I make that into a look?” I try to keep things pretty minimal. I don’t even carry an umbrella. It’s very English. If it’s raining, I’ll just put up with it. I’m not very good at looking after myself and being a grown-up. I roam free like a terrified lone wolf. If I’m going to a shoot, they do my make-up there, but on my days off I don’t wear any, so I just shower and wash my hair. I’ve got, like, three strands, so it takes about one minute to wash. I hate people who take ages to get ready and are late. I measure disrespect in minutes. 9.30AM The problem lately is that the paparazzi are waiting outside my house in New York, probably for my outfits more than my exciting dating life. I’m no Justin Bieber. I go to Aroma to get coffee, and the paparazzi walk me to ballet class. I drink one or two cappuccinos a day. I think that’s bad, but I have worse habits. I just gave up smoking because I was deathly ill and couldn’t fit the smoke in my lungs. Whisky is my main indulgence. 10AM In England, there’s no exercise element, whereas in America I start my day – when I have one off – by doing Ballet Beautiful with my friend Harley VieraNewton. In LA, it’s all design for my collection with AG. I’m always travelling for work, and 70 percent of the time I’m jet-lagged. This month I’ve been in London, Paris, New York, LA, and back to New York. The past year has been a real learning curve. If my diary doesn’t have set things in it, it seems that people on other teams will take
advantage of that