Since launching her eponymous label, Chung has experimented with an array of characters and personalities: She took her woman from airport lounges to music gigs and channeled some of her literary heroines such as Virginia Wolf, but she now has a more focused idea of the direction she wants to take. Her latest muse is Joan, named after Joan of Arc.
“At the beginning of this journey, we were just making things for fun, and figuring it out as it went along. Now it seems to me that a woman is emerging, and Joan of Arc felt like a good symbolic person to start with, because it’s about reframing how we perceive feminine strength,” Chung mused during a preview. “We started with a call to arms, but ended with something very soft and pretty and the idea that there is as much power in leaning into your vulnerabilities. Her in the nightgown is better than her with the sword.”
Chung translated all of this into metallic suits, fishnet blouses, and snake-printed corseted tops — a modern take on armor. They were juxtaposed with more romantic ruffled skirts and charming high-necked floral blouses, broderie anglaise dresses and loose knits with heart intarsias on the sleeves.
AlexaChung Pre-Fall 2019
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There were silk satin shirts with illustrations of dogs, diamanté-embellished slipdresses and snake-printed separates. “I’ve basically found my woman, she is modern and funny,” Chung said.
Sprinkled throughout the range were brand signatures such as high-waisted denim, trenches done in an updated gabardine fabric and overalls galore. Mixed with the codes from this collection, they proved Chung is fine-tuning her language and owning her vision.