Why does Alexa Chung generate so many column inches? The answer remains shrouded in mystery suggests Matthew Steeples
Alexa Chung is likely a perfectly affable young lady but that the press are so obsessed with her is surprising given the ordinary public have utterly no idea who she is. Her press column acreage may be impressive but outside of London’s fashion and media circles, the mention of her name generates nothing but bafflement.
Described as someone who “sits front row at almost every major Fashion Week event”, Hampshire born Chung has already managed to take jobs as a model, music video “star”, television presenter, journalist, contributing editor at Vogue and muse despite being just 31 years old. She has appeared as a “guest star” on the teen hit Gossip Girl and was boldly and somewhat ambitiously declared to be “the Kate Moss of the new generation” by the New York Times in 2010.
A woman who is happily snapped at the opening of an envelope, Chung has been the face of the Australian fashion label Antipodium, the “first celebrity face” of Lacoste and was sawed in half in an illusionary stunt for Stella McCartney. Her attempt to break into television in the US with the bizarrely titled It’s On with Alexa Chung on MTV in 2009 was a flop. Several critics suggested that American audiences, as was also the case with Piers Morgan, “just didn’t get her” and in returning to England, she’s since become a staple in the Evening Standard’s party pages and as a figure of almost daily reference for the Mail Online.
Despite Anna Wintour having once referred to Chung as “a phenomenon”, this regular – also – in Tatler’s top 10 best-dressed list continues to remain an enigma outside of W1. It might be best if this member of “The Club” stayed that way.
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