Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Alexa Chung Talks Kanye West and Festival Dressing at Longchamp Dinner

Alexa Chung Talks Kanye West and Festival Dressing at Longchamp Dinner:

Alexa Chung showing off a new clutch at the Longchamp dinner Tuesday night. Photo: Longchamp Alexa Chung showing off a new clutch at the Longchamp dinner Tuesday night. Photo: Longchamp
On Tuesday night, Alexa Chung gathered friends, industry members and press for an intimate dinner in the Meatpacking District to celebrate her latest campaign for Longchamp. The British spokesmodel and author hosted at one end of a long, impeccably dressed table; drummer and fellow Brit Tennessee Thomas held court at the second. "Like a wedding," Chung joked to guests, which included Longchamp CEO Jean Cassegrain and Creative Director Sophie Delafontaine, plus Atlanta de Cadenet, Mia Moretti and Derek Blasberg.

A few images of Chung's fall 2015 ads for the French luxury house — her fourth with the brand — strategically trickled out on social media Tuesday. Instead of lounging on the beaches of St. Tropez, Chung posed on the bright, arty streets of Wynwood in Miami for photographer Max Vadukul.

"It was so fun, but we shot [the campaign] a few months ago," Chung told me during cocktail hour. "It was boiling hot and we were doing the full collection, which was like a mohair roll neck and leather pants and leather jacket. I think Sophie [Delafontaine] chose it to really test my dedication to Longchamp," she teased.

"We've used the same team of people for four seasons now, so I love them all and everyone’s really funny and in between we’re all dancing and being stupid," she added. "But it was quite hard work — if modeling can be hard work."

Chung mentioned she was planning to catch a red-eye flight later that evening to get to the Glastonbury music festival, just in time for Kanye West's divisive Saturday night set. "[The petition to ban Kanye from Glastonbury] didn’t work, did it?" she said. "I’m a big fan. I think he’s fantastic. The world needs characters like that, you know. Love him or hate him, he’s definitely pushing boundaries. I respect that he’s so outspoken and he also blurs the lines in between so many careers and perceptions, definitely. Everyone wants you to be in a box, but he’s like, 'No, I’m not fucking getting in the box, sorry.'"

The conversation moved to the commodification of festival style. "It’s slightly embarrassing," she said. "Because, first and foremost, you just have to be comfortable and weather-appropriate. So I think it’s a bit naff, some of the iterations on that theme, and how it has become its own style. But, then again, it's a moment where you can really have fun with whatever you’re wearing, so I see the attraction. Coachella, for me, it's become a bit homogenized — and I enjoy going there, I've been going there for 10 years — but the last time I went there, all I wanted to do was wear a suit as soon as I left. I mean, I was wearing what everyone else was wearing but, like, fucking hell, if I see one more flower crown."

So we know one thing Chung won't be wearing at Glasto. The Brit has kept quite busy the past two years: releasing a 21-piece denim collection with AG Jeans and enjoying the success of her first book, It, to name a couple highlights. So what's next for to check off on her list of life goals?

"I’m going to do more TV things," she said. "I really love interviewing people and writing and doing stuff like that, so that’s what I’m doing this summer and then after that, I don’t know."

Perhaps a reboot of MTV's canceled-too-soon "It's on With Alexa Chung"?

"I can’t talk about it," Chung said with a smile. "It’s like two TV things I’m doing." So stay tuned (pun intended).

Alexa Chung the Longchamp dinner. Photo: courtesy Longchamp Alexa Chung the Longchamp dinner. Photo: courtesy Longchamp
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 4:21 PM

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