Alexa Chung riffs on airport style for her first London Fashion Week show as a designer
“I wanted people to take my brand seriously,” said Alexa Chung backstage after her debut catwalk show at London Fashion Week this morning, “and to understand that I have aspirations for longevity… it’s not another collaboration that will disappear”.
Breaking with the public perception of what Alexa Chung is has been a challenge, but one that Chung is keen to meet head on. But that doesn’t mean necessarily breaking with the perception of what Alexa Chung wears. Her ability to identify product that will sell - for M&S, Superga, AG Jeans - is a strength in building her own brand.
If those collaborations - and the smaller presentations Chung has held in lieu of catwalk shows so far - were dress rehearsals,then here was the opening night. Chung hasn’t tried to erase what came before - like the black PVC coat, an iteration of which could be seen in that M&S collaboration and in this latest collection - but she’s fine tuned her offering. Yes, you could imagine Chung herself wearing these clothes - but Chung’s ability to influence trends was what gave her fashion credibility in the first place.
Fittingly, the show centered around transitions - the kind seen at the airport, allowing Chung to layer and clash her style references. Against a wood panelled maze of airport corridors there were slim fitting jumpsuits, pyjamas for outdoor wear (in case there was any doubt that Chung’s women were turning left once on the plane), stretch-knit sundresses worn with jelly shoes and brown suede coats. One look might be worn by a woman “from Dublin, but going on a Roman university excavation trip.”
A trip to Margate trawling vintage shops for inspiration is borne out by looks that dipped between decades- a 1930s mustard silk evening dress one moment, a 1990s black silk slip dress the next, and multiple references to the 1970s, like a safari suit inspired by a found reference of Bianca Jagger “in her PJs. And I’m always stalking any of those rock stars from the 70s.”
Considering it was her first catwalk, Chung didn’t make it easy on herself. “All of it was quite a challenge - not necessarily the collection but the moving parts of putting on an actual fashion show. We wanted to do something that wasn’t a conventional runway, so we came up with the maze - great idea, but also quite challenging for the models to navigate,” so, she laughs - “we put arrows on the floor.”
This addition to the London Fashion Week schedule is a natural one, especially as there is a Britishness that underlies all of Chung’s designs. The appearance of so many coats in a spring summer collection- many with hoods - might seem incongruous to some, but not to anyone familiar with British summertime. The ‘destination’ scarf print looks, at first glance, to be printed with little Eiffel towers, a nod to previous ALEXACHUNG presentations held in Paris - but actually, it nods to Brighton Pier and Bognor Regis, she laughed backstage. It seems Alexa is glad to be home
