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A dash of Jane Birkin, the colour palette of 1970s wallpaper and a generous helping of that inimitable je ne sais quoi—if you could boil down Alexa Chung’s style to a single, unimpeachable formula, it might look a little something like that. It-girl is certainly a term we use liberally nowadays. The dawn of the Instagram age hastened the pace of popularity, “It” spreading as quickly as it died. But Alexa Chung is, perhaps, the prototypical It-girl. She blogged before blogging was even a thing. In 2008, she was a Vivienne Westwood muse. 2009 saw her anointed guest editor at British Vogue. 2010, and Mulberry had named a designer bag after her.
Oh, and just in case you hadn’t caught on, Chung titled her debut book in 2013 It—her baby pink, inky cursive, hardcover claim to It-girl fame.
To this day, the realm of “It” remains Chung’s territory. In a landscape ruled by fickle trends, her style has stayed surprisingly constant. Not, of course, that she’s predictable. On the contrary, Chung’s always had an uncanny knack for mixing and matching unexpected pieces and pulling it off with aplomb, pattern-clashing and colour-pairing with playful irreverence. But examine her look book, and you’ll discover the key staples making up the foundation of her wardrobe. Those patterned midi dresses, that are half-English garden party, half-1930s soirée. The block-heeled Mary Janes. Her bevy of retro suits, worn with sunglasses, scarves and Mick Jagger swagger.
And so, because we’re Alexa Chung devotees to the end, that’s exactly what we’ve done. Here, we present our foolproof guide to stealing her style. Below, the only 21 items you need.
