An English woman’s take on New York was Alexa Chung’s concept for Resort in the loosest sense. Though the presenter turned designer recently moved back to London, her ties to the Big Apple run deep: She spent her early 20s feeling out the parameters of her style identity in the city. “I nearly lost myself to Avenue A,” she says, chuckling. The new collection is aptly titled Ludlow and has a downtown-dwelling ballerina as its central muse. Judging by all the 1980s-inflected frocks in the lineup, she’s a girl who likes to party. The off-the-shoulder chartreuse dress and ruffled silver Lurex number were highlights in that department, and wouldn’t be out of place on the dance floor at Studio 54.
Chung has never been shy about name-checking her girl crushes and their influence on her designs. There’s a black mock-neck top with a keyhole cut-out in the back that she’s unofficially named The Sade, several admiring nods to Jerry Hall (see the lipstick red pieces), and a sweater that conjures Nastassja Kinski’s dreamiest moment in Paris, Texas. As far as man crushes go, Mick Jagger gets a shout-out via a novelty sweater replete with crotchets and quavers.
Ultimately, Chung is her own best spirit guide. With several seasons under her belt, she’s beginning to hone in on the pieces that will be fundamental to building her business. So far, the retro tracksuits have been a no-brainer, and she’s nailed spiffy tailoring with her double-breasted blazer, perhaps the most quintessentially English item of them all. And though Chung rose to fame as a seasoned partygoer, she’s often at her best in the simplest clothes. It’s perhaps why she’s been so fastidious about perfecting the cut of her popular denim jumpsuit. “I noticed that the sleeves were too long and the fit of the body was too short after seeing it on girls in the street,” she explains. Her new and improved version has a markedly more flattering line.
Chung is learning as she goes in more ways than one. After launching with a see-now-buy-now model, the brand is moving to a traditional schedule. Which means, come September, you can expect to see her name on the official London Fashion Week calendar. It’s an exciting development for the label, given that the British scene is having quite a moment, with new designers such as Matty Bovan and Richard Quinn shaking things up. In that sense, Chung’s celebrity star power is primed to be a buzzy new element in the mix.
