It’s 2007. Indie sleaze is rife, and knee socks are all the rage. Every man in the UK has decided to get an electric guitar and start a terrible band. Of course, I wasn’t there. I was 4. But I imagine that’s how it went. During this time, the most important person in the world was ‘it girl’ Alexa Chung. The model turned journalist/television presenter has captivated the British fashion scene ever since her emergence in the early 2000s.

“It’s 2007. Indie sleaze is rife, and knee socks are all the rage. Every man in the UK has decided to get an electric guitar and start a terrible band”

Chung was, and is, inextricably tied to the British music scene (and self-admittedly musicians). The UK’s fashion and music worlds collide on the canvas that is Chung. With a certain nostalgia about it, her style is individual, carefree, and reminiscent of a time where people cared less about what they looked like and more about if they could get home in time for Big Brother. However, being the muse of Arctic Monkeys’ early discography is not all we should recall of Chung’s involvement with the music world. She has expressed that her early days of journalism and presenting work were rooted in her knowledge and interest in music. It may be precisely this distance from fashion that in turn made her style so enticing.

In her book It Chung expresses that “musicians make for interesting style icons because they are so unafraid of experimenting with clothes”. There is no formula to fashion, hence why prescribed style and short-lived trends signal the growing absence of creativity and individualism. Rockstars of the 1960s and 70s are an ever-flowing source of inspiration, which Chung draws on subtly yet effectively. Bold colours, varied textures, and distinctive silhouettes are all characteristic of this period in fashion, and can be easily integrated into a modern wardrobe as exemplified in the style of Chung. In the 60s and 70s, fashion trends were tailored to the individual, making them less codified and restrictive than they are today. For example, the members of the Beatles exhibited stylistic trends of the time in a stripped-back, bohemian way, contrasting David Bowie’s more heightened eccentricity in his enigmatic and flamboyant style.

A figure I see echoed in Chung’s style is the unparalleled Mick Jagger. Known for making a t-shirt and jeans the coolest items of clothing in the world, the Rolling Stones’ frontman is a fashion trailblazer without even really trying. The famous green and white ‘Palace Laundry’ baseball shirt photoshoot shows Jagger exhibiting the classic 70s bell bottom jeans with a pair of black leather shoes. The fact his casual top and bottom combo looks better than outfits I’ve spent hours curating is a demeaning line of thought I’d not like to delve into. I’ll put it down to the fact he’s a rockstar and I’m not.

Jagger’s outfit reminds me of one Chung debuted on Fuse News, in which she utilises the bell-bottom silhouette in a pair of dark blue denim dungarees. There is a general unspoken consensus that bell-bottoms can quickly veer on the side of being too ABBA and that we should be afraid of them, but Chung is here to tell us it’s okay. It’s hard to make dungarees look sophisticated, especially with a flared trouser. To combat this, Chung amps up the other elements of her look – a long-sleeved, white blouse serves as a frame for the dungarees, paired with black heeled platform shoes. Understated, yet effective. She made dungarees cool – touché Alexa.

“There is a general unspoken consensus that bell-bottoms can quickly veer on the side of being too ABBA”

Jagger and Chung’s hair also look oddly alike in these examples, cut with a cool curtain-banged, choppy, and effortless look (do not try this at home in middle-of-the-night boredom. I have done it for you. I looked terrible).

A staple of the Chung wardrobe is a well-cut suit. My favourite of hers is a navy blue pinstriped suit consisting of an oversized blazer paired with matching mid-rise, wide leg trousers. It reminds me of a photo of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from the 60s, leaning against a wall, paying no attention to the photographer – demonstrating the power of the causal suit. The pair accessorise their black suits with leather shoes, simple shirts and sunglasses – of course (I think the sunglasses-everywhere thing is in the musician contract). Chung too pairs back the seriousness of the suit by framing it over a white, floral-patterned, knitted cardigan, and punctuates the monochrome look with a black and silver belt. Her hair is loose, down, and appears untouched, adding to the allure of casual-chic.

Drawing inspiration from music icons such as Mick Jagger, Alexa Chung’s fashion taste is elevated to another degree, and she exemplifies a feminised, ultra-modern, and streamlined version of past fashion trends within the music world brought into today. So blast your Blur, grab your bell-bottoms and probably put away your guitar. We can’t all be Mick Jagger (apart from Alexa Chung), and that’s okay.

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