Alexa Chung’s new tome is a compendium of snapshots, drawings and meditations on subjects ranging from the movie Heathes to her grandfather’s style.
When pondering Alexa Chung's new book – called It, the personal style tome has a baby-pink cover – one can't help but raise an eyebrow at its one-word title. Is the British-born fashion muse and TV presenter staking her claim as leader of the you-know-what girls?
"I didn't know what else to call it, to be honest," Chung says in a recent interview from her home base in New York just before the volume's Canadian launch next week. "I kept referring to it as 'it,' as in, 'I'm working on it,' or, 'I have to get home to write more of it,' and it just became its pet name. And there's obviously a link to the whole It-girl thing – that whole ridiculous situation."
The "ridiculous situation," as the former model calls it, is a well-worn trope in pop culture, dating to the 1920s, when film sensation Clara Bow, known for a halo of dark curls and bow-shaped lips, earned the title of the original It girl. Since then, ingénues from Edie Sedgwick to Sienna Miller have been christened with the term, one that Chung finds both troubling and flattering.
"It can immediately do away with how hard-working so many It girls really are," says Chung, whose current résumé reads like a bucket list for aspiring hipster babes: She co-hosts the music program Fuse News and is a contributing editor at British Vogue and a front-row fixture and fashion inspiration to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld. "It sort of implies that you might have been handed this stuff, or that you might not necessarily have a job. I think it's flattering, but I don't think it's something I can take too seriously."
On the classic-It-girl spectrum, the 29-year-old is perhaps closest to Kate Moss, right down to her admission that she's addicted to dating rock stars. A massive network of besotted female fans track her comings and goings, and most notably, clock her every outfit. (A quick Google of "Alexa Chung fashion" reveals 11 million results.)
If Chung isn't inclined to overthink her status, there are plenty of detractors to do it for her. She has faced criticism, particularly in the British press, about topics ranging from her weight (her waifish figure is a constant source of grumbling) to the new book itself, already a bestseller in Britain (in a scathing review, the Guardian called it "a dopey collage").
"Collage" is mostly accurate. Advance pages released by the pub– lisher feature moody snapshots of Chung and her friends, witty childlike drawings and measured personal essays on topics ranging from the movie Heathers to her grandpa's style. But a certain coolness, intelligence and charm are in evidence, as in the meandering but witty anecdote about childhood piano lessons and how they've helped her in adulthood.
Critics such as the Guardian's Barbara Ellen don't much ruffle Chung. She says the book is not for them.
"It's a book with my name on it, so the only people [who'll be buying it] are people who already like me. I wouldn't suggest getting it if you don't know who I am, because it isn't going to make any sense at all."
If that sounds like insiderism, this tendency in Chung tends to be tempered by good-natured self-deprecation. When asked, for example, what she'd don if she could wear only one outfit for the rest of her life, she answers with a fit of laughter, followed by, "A onesie! A Chanel gown with rubber boots!" – a reply as youthful, and perhaps as skilfully playfully, as the book itself.
It, by Alexa Chung (192 pp, $31.50, Penguin Canada), will be released in Canada on Oct. 29 and will be available at Indigo (www.indigo.ca) and other major book retailers.