Writer-presenter-model-designer-influencer Alexa Chung is a multi-hyphenate who might be in need of some more hyphens: During her presentation appointment today, she hinted at a burgeoning interest in both furniture design and professional gift wrapping. Key to all of her projects is personality. Spending half an hour clumsily forehanding her witty (and nonstop) conversation in a riff that veered from a gendered psychoanalysis of January Jones in Mad Men to vintage research in Dumbo via her house-hunting travails was like catching a where-are-they-now episode of Popworld, the music show on which she found fame here in the U.K. around a decade ago.
Chung’s block-capitalized brand is an expression of that personality, and this season, its vibe was tinged by melancholy, something presented via a Joan of Arc metaphor but linked, Chung hinted, to an unfortunate and painful affair of the heart. Pain makes for great material, and duly this was a strong collection: There were armor references in the chain-mail mesh top, Lurex-strafed metallic suiting in a tone Chung horribly termed “gilver,” and a faux python crop top presented as a breastplate. A collarless nappa car coat in cream and a drill trench with a superfluous but satisfyingly droopy front flap were outerwear to mooch moodily in. Tarot card tees drawn by a work experience girl—Chung’s sister’s stepmother’s daughter, I think it was—showed a mournful chisel-cheeked Alexa-like image looking beset by fate above the word strength. There were plenty of fine floaty dresses with ruffle-kerzinged skirts and dog-jacquard silk pajamas to waft around the house in while listening to Joni Mitchell and rereading More Die of Heartbreak.
Chung’s professional ebullience has been fully restored—she’s over you, babe—but this glimpse into that period of transition produced an interesting and hitherto unplumbed emotional depth and texture to her clothing.
