Style Icon: Alexa Chang À La Mode

When we talk about a person who defines herself as a style icon, what is important to mention is the fact that she does not really indulge in clothes and trends, but wears them in a way that is authentic and unmistakably daring. The style icon plays with different manners and juggles them regardless of the fashion trends à la mode.

The British Alexa Chang delighted the fashion world with her bold, yet at times careless style with which she introduced the British school of clothing to the fashion world, based on combining the incompatible. Chang uses fashion as her training ground, thanks to which she gained world fame and rose from a TV host to the stratosphere, as a model, designer and style icon. The mini-dress with the Elvis Presley motif that she wore at the show of the young British designer Ashley Williams attracted attention because it brings a moment of unexpected, pop-art aesthetic manner into the styling. Chang took it up a notch wearing sky-high patent leather heels and an oversized Loewe bag.

The 16Arlington dress with pannier details was a red carpet sensation at the British Fashion Awards. The metal disc strappy creation melds a retro sixties aesthetic with an 18th century pannier motif, and this dress took over two weeks and 4,000 metal discs to make. Marco Capaldo, the creative director of the brand expressed his sympathy for Chang as a friend of the brand and a kind of muse, and for him the dress was a piece that examines conventional clothing in an unconventional way.

Dior, as a fashion house under the creative baton of Maria Grazia Chiuri, is re-examining the brand’s codes and modernizing them in a way that is suitable for the younger generation of fashion consumers. Therefore, it is not surprising that the brand has collaborated with Chang, as one of the brand’s welcome guests and friends. Her appearance in a classic coat and skirt is anything but monotonous, as she wore the aforementioned outfit unbuttoned with a bra underneath. The fashion icon consciously takes risks and thus shakes the rules. What was yesterday is not today, and what will be tomorrow depends on inspiration.

Chang looks sensational in outfits that have a sense of the surreal. The best example is the show’s Loewe silk dress, which is treated with a raincoat pattern, creating the optical illusion that the dress is actually a raincoat. When she appeared at the brand’s fashion show, she wore a tank top (which she said she was pretty sure was Uniqlo) paired with low-waisted pants, an oversized chocolate-colored coat, and sparkly loafers. The look was irresistibly associated with the seventies and had a retro nostalgia that Chang often used as a means of expressing a certain fashion idea. Her appearance is all the more intriguing because Chang’s beauty routine is based on the minimal use of makeup, with the exception of red lipstick, and her brown hair is usually slightly wavy.

It has the appearance of an Old Hollywood film icon and works as intriguingly in futuristic creations as it does in romantic or elegant ones. Louis Vuitton ‘s creative director Nicolas Ghesquieu is known for his futuristic approach to design, and Alexa Chang confidently wore a patchwork jacket with hypertrophied details, and completed the look with leather shorts and loafers. The British woman attracts as much attention with her off duty style as with her appearances on the red carpet. More casual combinations may have more value in the eyes of the public, as they show the skill of combining and the way a certain person wears fashion when the cameras are not on. Chang is in fact the best example of the London school of style in which he combines the sophisticated, like a Chanel blazer, with something as casual as Levi’s jeans and loafers. Along with Kate Moss and Sienna Miller, she is the best example of British style that mixes punk and glam, rock and elegant.

In the celebrity world, there are people who truly love fashion and perceive it as a platform to express their sense of style and authenticity. Fashion awareness is a significant factor that influences the shaping of a certain phenomenon in the media and therefore gives that person additional visibility. Alexa Chang is a shining example of a person who takes fashion to a whole new level, combining different references and time periods.