fashion
Alexa Chung From Brit-girl to It-girl!
She’s all over the fashion pages of your favourite magazines… And her lovely face has hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram! Alexa Chung is by turns a model, a stylist, a muse and a TV presenter and she has just launched her second collection for the Californian brand AG. For many people she is a trendsetter and British Vogue considers this It-girl one of the best-dressed women in the world! But who is Alexa Chung? Here we try to get a handle on her … By Yvo Deprelle Photo © for AG
She might never have even made it out of the starting blocks… She cert ainly has a prett y face and good looks, but the talent spotters and the bookers could easily have found much greater beauties. The young Alexa, born in November 1983 in Hampshire, began her career at the age of 16, little imagining her future status as an It girl! Despite being a bit short at just 1.73 metres (5ft 7in), you have to admit she won the lottery in the gene pool! Her mother, who comes from pure English stock, has passed on her lovely porcelain complex ion and beautiful blue eyes which her father’s Chinese origins have elegantly restrained. As a child, stuck in the English countryside, she wanted to be a fashion journalist and left for London, the Fashion capital with a capital F. A wave of Mary Poppins’ magic wand made her dreams come true when she was spotted by the legendar y Elite modelling agency. She modelled for brands including Urban Outfitters and various catalogues while continuing to study art at Chelsea College in London.
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Alexa : Presenter… (Or Alexa on television)
Alexa : The muse (or Alexa does some modelling)
In 2006 - at the age of just 23 - she started in television as a presenter on Popworld, a Sunday morning show where she interviewed top celebrities from Gwen Stefani to Christian Lacroix. A lthough the pro gramme ended after a year, she had caught the television bug and more importantly she had caught the attention of the public as well as the profession. A bit later she moved to BBC3 in a show combining music and film, little by little she was carving herself a niche in the world of fashion journalism. Fashion TV, MTV, ... she did the rounds of television programmes and interviews with stars with her own off beat, dynamic style. Eventually she got her own shows, such as It’s On with Alexa Chung. And her network began to visibly expand! She counts top models Agyness Deyn and Cara and Poppy Delevingne as her friends as well as Kelly Osbourne and the Geldof sisters… Hey, Alexa, will you invite me to your next party?
The lovely Alexa had not broken completely with modelling even as she prepared to appear in a documentary for British Vogue. Now on the books at Next Model Management, you could see her on the catwalk for Vivienne Westwood in summer 2009. She continues to appear on the cover of many prestigious magazines such as Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Numéro… But now she prefers to sit on the front row of the shows and run the gauntlet of the paparazzi with a few lucky girlfriends! One of the keys to her success is her girl-next-door image, the pretty next-door neighbour, the good friend who you warm to immediately. Someone who people can relate to, especially when she admits to having had an eating disorder. Many brands have quickly understood this appeal and made her their muse. From New Look to Pepe Jeans via Mulberry or Maje ... We can no longer turn on the computer w ithout seeing a photo of the now famous it-girl! This year, Longchamp made her