ALEXA: ‘ SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE UNLIKEABLE’
A isl EXA CHUNG, IT SEEMS, going through a quiet evolution. When we visit her airy Dalston office, we meet a 34-year-old creative director preparing to unveil the spring/summer ’19 collection of her fashion line the following week – her sixth collection, but the first to be shown officially on the London Fashion Week schedule. She seems a little tired, a little more authoritative, and ever so slightly less jokey than usual. ‘Is this dry? I can talk about more amusing things if you like,’ she says apologetically. The truth is, it’s not dry at all. Rather, it’s a glimpse of the frantically busy woman behind the Peter Pan collars, winged eyeliner and ironic Instagram captions. Joining the London Fashion Week schedule is a significant step for ALEXACHU ALEXACHUNG the brand, and she’s taking it seriously. ‘I’m immensely proud that we got to a point where we’re a fully functioning business that the British Fashion Council would consider giving a time slot on their schedule,’ she says. ‘ ‘We’ve We’ve been having a dialogue for a while about how to do it, and whether we could justify doing it and do the BF BFC proud.’ If this sounds a little earnest, don’t worry: the collection is steeped in Chung-ish irreverence. ‘Arrivals and Departures’, as it’s it’s called, is based on air travel and the odd, ad hoc way we dress while passing through changing climates and air-conditioned spaces. ‘It’s that needsmust thing, where either your case weighs too much so they’ve forced you to take things out, or you’re on a chilly plane but you’re also half in your stuff that you just wore to Ibiza,’ she says. ‘What was really appealing to me was the idea that you could be in a sundress and trainers and then you’ve got a winter coat over it – or the way that Britishness leaks through, so you might be in a safari suit but also have weird jelly shoes on.’
In practice, what does this vision mean? A chic, stone-coloured cape; the perfect brown corduroy pinafore (‘There is
something quite schoolmarmish about it, but it’s sexy secretary too – it depends how perverted your mind is’); jewelled jelly shoes from a collaboration with Juju; faux-hawaiian prints stamped with ‘Margate’ and ‘Blackpool’; silk scarves (available online now), and slogan tees that read, ‘Glad you’re not here’. It’s recognisably Alexa in its party-girl aesthetic and its blend of high-low elements – ‘strange juxtapositions’, as she puts it – that most of us wouldn’t think to put together. You could wear the jelly shoes with socks and jeans, she suggests, for a look she describes as ‘ironic British holiday-maker turned glam’.
There has been a learning curve since Alexa started the line last spring. Her icons have matured. ‘With the first collections, I was leaning into my comfort zone and being like, “Ooh, rock’n’roll – let’s look at Jane Birkin in her early twenties,”’ she says. ‘Now, rather than putting up these images of them as young wispy girls, I want to know what Jane Birkin and Lauren Hutton wearn.areio’wminteinregsted in Miranda July or Tracee Ellis Ross or Kirsten Dunst. I’m like, “What are you all wearing now you are grown-ups?”’
It’s a pertinent question for a fashion icon whose style has remained influential for over a decade (today she’s wearing a denim miniskirt with low heels and an oversized mohair jumper from her own line). What does it feel like to still be emulated after all these years? ‘It’s nice to hear that I’ve made it past 25 and people still sometimes think I look all right,’ she says. ‘And also I look to other people’s style too, you know. I think it’s comforting to have someone a few years ahead of you still trying to get away with hot pants. I see pictures of Chloë Sevigny and I think, ‘Right, OK, so we can still do this.”’
Age has brought continued success, but it’s her fashion label, in which finally Alexa is leading her own project, that has given her a new boldness. ‘It’s about doing things with conviction and not being afraid to give negative feedback,’ she says. ‘I’ve always been in industries where you have to be incredibly likeable to do the job, because being charming is part of the job description if you’re presenting TV or interviewing people. Whereas, with this, there are moments where you have to be the least liked person in the room in order to make clothes that are the most liked item on the rail.’ AMEX Platinum are proudly backing ALEXACHUNG’S first LFW Show