It all started with a trip to Charleston in East Sussex. “I took my parents there last year, and it was a dream—couldn’t have been more up my street,” says Alexa Chung from her design studio in North London. It’s the evening after the 2018 Brit Awards, and, after a “very late night,” the style polymath is nursing a tiny cup of espresso in a very large leopard-print coat. “I mean, the details of that place are just so beautiful: the painted cabinets, the ceramic light fixtures—I even bought a lamp,” she adds, her voice slightly hoarse.
The much-admired museum, which preserves the home of British artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant—pioneers of the Bloomsbury group—prompted Chung to immerse herself in the history of the Bloomsbury movement. “I found it so interesting because here were these incredible writers, artists, and philosophers all holed up in a house, refusing to go to war and having to farm in these romantic clothes,” she explains.
Her Spring 2018 see-now-buy-now collection (the fourth outing from her eponymous label) is a clever distillation of that free-spirited Bloomsbury sensibility and her own much-imitated aesthetic. There are silky pajama-style trousers with matching tops, high-neck dresses in duck egg–blue lace, and a milky-colored linen suit, which Chung remarks is “totally Duncan lounging in the sitting room.” She singles out a long white cotton smock dress with rickrack trims. “Everything is dreamy, comforting, and also weirdly reminds me of Florence Welch,” she laughs. “That whole poetic Pre-Raphaelite vibe.” Welch would undoubtedly look a picture in that piece or any number of the line’s standout looks: the belted paisley gown, the Prince of Wales check blazer with ditsy floral embroidery, or those kick-flare dungarees that sit snuggly on the waist.
There has been some debate over the price point of the brand, which, admittedly, sits at the higher end of the contemporary scale. But Chung doesn’t seem phased. In fact, this season she’s introduced a wider selection of inexpensive staples, such as printed sweaters and T-shirts, in addition to irreverent accessories. “The rings from last season constantly sold out, so we’re doing more little pieces like that, which I think our younger customer will like.” With that, she zips herself into a camel sailor jacket, swivels on her heel, and says: “You know what? I’m actually really enjoying this now.”
