We've been Chung-ed
My friend R might think Alexa Chung is the devil incarnate but he's the only one. Everyone else has fallen hopelessly under her spell. R detests her only because he has a man-crush on Alex Turner who, for those readers not interested in music, is the cocky, genius frontman of Arctic Monkeys who also has a sideline as Alexa's boyf. "How could he go out with a posh girl?" R will wail, as magazine after magazine runs interviews with Chung in which she tries desperately not to talk about Turner while giving away yet more mystique-shattering details of their life together.
But posh girls will inherit the earth, if they haven't already, so it is wasteful to entertain the notion that a working-class singer who writes about Sheffield's seamy side won't trade up to a Hampshire It girl at the earliest opportunity. But that's beside the point: for while the credible boyband boyfriend doesn't hurt, this isn't why Alexa Chung is everyone's darling. No: she is everyone's darling because of her Look.
Godless creatures that we are, we all need a leader: someone to inspire us when we're out shopping for those proverbial hot new summer looks. "What would Alexa wear?" we ask ourselves, remembering how darling she looked in those loafers/that biker jacket/that stripy tee. Not to denigrate Kate Moss, the grande dame of fashion deities whose reign was long and great, but she has mellowed to become less of a chameleon than a thirtysomething woman who knows her own style and sticks to it. Nothing wrong with that, but while Moss has calcified into a rock chick (daytime uniform: black jacket and skinny jeans) Alexa is still young and malleable enough not to give a hoot for current trends. Knee socks, lace-up brogues, Buddy Holly specs and a dress like your mum's old curtains are just a few of the things she has recently worn, each with the artless insouciance that only the profoundly beautiful can ever manage.
Did I mention that Chung is profoundly beautiful? Sharing a carriage with her on the Eurostar, it was all I could do not to gawp, genuflect and trip over a suitcase on my way to the loo. The most stylish woman in London? Like, whatever. What really makes Chung tick is the time bomb of her underexploited sexiness. Unlike every other It girl (with the possible exception of Agyness Deyn), Chung doesn't do sexy, because she claims it doesn't suit her. Instead, tomboy geek chic is her thing. Truly, there are worse goddesses to worship.
