Alexa Chung is the 21st century it-girl; no millennial fashion icon has had an influence so widespread and so enduring. Alexa began her career in the mid-00s as a commercial model and then a television presenter for London’s Channel 4. By 2008, she had gone international, becoming a global style icon for her singular look and infectious personality. Alexa’s style defined the turn-of-the-2010s, what would become today’s “indie sleaze” aesthetic (and, on a more micro level, what would be called the era’s “twee” and “grand-millennial” looks). She had girls from London to New York (to the midwest), from Blogger to Tumblr wearing Breton stripes, leather shorts, horse brooches and the highest platform clogs you’ve ever seen. As a Style Editor and arbiter for British Vogue, she even penned her own fashion manifesto, the aptly titled It. Like her idol Jane Birkin, she also gave her name to the era’s most sought-after it-bag, the Mulberry Alexa.
Alexa’s personal style is an unmistakable, un-pin-downable mish-mash that, one could tell, had been lovingly cultivated and curated over the years; a disparate clash of style signifiers and references, much like one would find on the pages of a Tumblr blog. In pinafore dresses and peter pan collars, she was equally the boyish truant and the sexy school marm; in skinny suits and flounced dresses, the 70s androgyne and the 50s gamine. There were the piles of whimsical accessories, and the nods to 60s icons like Jane and Françoise Hardy. The mark of a true style icon, Alexa’s looks haven’t changed much over the years. Over a decade on, she’s still rocking the tiered skirts and glitzy minis that made her an it-girl. As she noted in a recent Financial Times piece on the indie sleaze phenomenon, “my blazer, minidresses and ballet flats [are] a uniform I have never strayed far from.” Here, we look back at some of Alexa’s most iconic outfits from the turn-of-the-2010s.
At the Elle Style Awards, 2008
Before becoming the fashion icon we know today, Alexa Chung made a name for herself in the mid-aughts UK as a television presenter for Channel 4’s music and fashion programming. Her appearance at the 2008 Elle Style Awards, however, was the it-girl’s introduction to the international fashion set. And her outfit, a bratty Luella prom dress with platform loafers, served as the perfect anti-debutante look.
At a party in London, 2008
The A-line babydoll dress was a staple of late 00s style. Here, Alexa makes the look her own with a menagerie of quirky necklaces. These kinds of whimsical accessories became a hallmark of her style and included life-preserver pendants, horse brooches and 60s rock band pins.
At Glastonbury, 2008
Just as Kate Moss did in Y2K, Alexa Chung ruled Glastonbury in the late 00s. In June 2008, she stepped out on Pilton’s muddy lawns in a look that would come to define the era’s festival fashion and beyond. This Breton-striped, high-waisted look would have the zeitgeist in its grip into the mid 2010s. Alexa’s power, indeed.
At a party, circa June 2009
This is it: the outfit that altered the brain chemistry of millions of millennials. Every element of the look is totally immaculate — and totally Alexa: the long-sleeved minidress, the dainty lace collar, the clashing stay-ups, the Chanel 11.12… we could go on. Last year, the it-girl detailed the iconic look in an Instagram post: “I bought this bag at the airport to celebrate my MTV show [It’s On with Alexa Chung] which would launch in NYC in a month. This brown velvet dress I probably got from Beyond Retro on Brick Lane. It was floor length so I hacked it off and hemmed it up with gaffer tape on the inside,” she wrote. “Still wearing this tbh.”
At Chanel, AW10
Alexa was the trendsetter of the late 00s. But sometimes the it-girl was a little too ahead of her time. Back in 2010, this look in particular caused a massive stir in the blogsophere, with even the most devout of Alexa stans reviling the her choice of leg-wear. (“Bike shorts… at Paris Fashion Week?!”) A lot has changed in the world of fashion, since (read: the zeitgeist’s recent reappraisal of Princess Diana’s gym kit). But let’s not forget, Alexa was there first.
At the Met Gala, 2010
A coveted Met Gala invite is certainly a feather in any it-girl’s fashionable cap. In 2010, Alexa attended her first Met Gala wearing this sweet take on the androgynous ‘le smoking’ designed by Phillip Lim.
At a YSL party, 2010
What’s so appealing about Alexa’s style is the clash: of colours, of textures, and, particularly, of signifiers. Here, she pairs leather lederhosen with a grandad cardigan, a banged-up school satchel, a pair of sexy peep-toes and what appears to be a raggy gym shirt. All these elements shouldn’t work so well together, but they do, they really do.
At the NME Awards, 2011
This is peak indie sleaze. In 2011, Alexa arrived to the NME Awards wearing a frock from Christopher Kane’s era-defining galaxy print collection. Simply iconic.