Alexa Chung is selling her wardrobe. Here's how to get your hands on it

Telegraph

01-05-2025

In the 20 years since she first found fame as a presenter on the cult C4 show Popworld, Alexa Chung has sparked almost as many trends as her icon, Jane Birkin. If you've ever dug your old Barbour out of the wardrobe, or worn a Peter Pan collar, a Mary Jane shoe, a cropped jean or a Breton top, it's likely because Chung inspired you. She might look like a model (and recently rekindled that career by walking in Miu Miu's spring/summer show), but her secret sauce is her ability to wear clothes in an accessible way - a relatable, slightly off-kilter way that's quintessentially British.
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Anyone who's coveted or copied her style will be delighted by her latest partnership, which isn't with Mulberry (its bestselling Alexa was named after her), Barbour (she's a frequent collaborator) or Madewell (for whom she recently designed a denim capsule collection), but with Vinted, the online marketplace for second-hand items that boasts 105 million global users, 16 million of whom are in the UK. Which means a lot of fingers will be poised on May 4th, when items from her personal wardrobe land on the site, including a bubblegum pink Gucci handbag, black Saint Laurent pumps and an embroidered Miu Miu bralette.
'It was actually harder than I thought it was going to be,' Chung says of the process of choosing what to let go, speaking via Zoom from the sage green bedroom in her newly renovated East London home. 'I have a lot of clothes, but I wouldn't say that the quality of those clothes is necessarily as high as people might think, given that anything I wear to events is borrowed. But I'm also really sentimental. Whether it's an ancient Kate Moss for Topshop dress or a vintage t shirt, I find it hard to let go of the memories.'
She says that some items were decidedly off-limits. 'I wouldn't part with anything that a designer had given me personally. I have a Chanel leather jacket that Karl Lagerfeld gave me, as well as some Chanel Couture silver boots, which I've had since my twenties. I used to really kick about in them, as all young people do, not really understanding their value.'
Although she thinks Lagerfeld would have approved of this gung-ho approach. As a guest at Chanel's Cruise show in Cap d'Antibes in 2011, she remembers mucking about with her front row cohorts on the beach. 'We all jumped into the sea in his clothes,' she recalls. 'I looked up and saw him on a balcony, thinking we'd get into trouble, but he was really happy.'
Now 41, she's not a fan of any prescriptive notions that women can't wear X as soon as they turn Y, although she has become more aware of the virtue of having a fail-safe uniform for those occasions where you need to look put-together. 'I've gone from 'I dunno – wear whatever you think' to realising, as I've matured, that it's not that easy.'
Her own style formula? 'A tailored trouser is always good. Anything that's been around for over 50 years is going to look okay, because it's fit for purpose. A classic jean. I'm not talking about leaning into trends and going low rise, high rise or flare – just a straight-legged jean, as they were first intended. If you're ever not sure about how to look put together, reach for the classics: a trench coat, a button down shirt, a crew neck jumper. Uniqlo do amazing lambswool ones, although I'd go to the men's department, because the fit is more straightforward. It's okay to borrow from the boys.'
Not that she borrows her own boyfriend's clothes. 'Absolutely not,' she says emphatically, as I try to recall what her rumoured fiance, the actor Tom Sturridge (who clearly favours stylish women; his ex is Sienna Miller), tends to wear. 'Maybe some jumpers,' she softens. 'There's a crossover, but we've got quite different style, I'd say.'
Does he ever get involved in hers, and offer his opinions? 'No,' she smiles. 'I feel like the Kanye school of dudes dressing their gals is a really weird thing.'
Another factor that encouraged her to donate to Vinted was the realisation that her style was changing. 'I haven't sat down and analysed where I want to go next with it – it's more intuitive. You put things on and don't feel like yourself in that particular shape. I still love a mini skirt, but I reach for them less and less, not necessarily because I don't like the quality or shape of my legs - more that suddenly, I don't feel as powerful in that look. They also seem quite frivolous and flirty at a time when that's not really on the menu.'
Her style may have changed, but it will always be eclectic. After we finish speaking, she's off to a baby shower, and is dressed for the occasion in a black lace Dôen top, chosen because 'it looks a bit Chloé', worn with black trousers that she describes as 'a man slack'. 'I feel like everyone's going to be dressed in pink, all flowy and pretty,' she smiles. 'I thought it would be quite funny to walk in as winter's witch.'
And while the item she too often buys on repeat is a navy jumper ('I've never met one I didn't want to own!'), quiet luxury is not for her. 'It seems a bit depressing on some level. It's a bit drab, and I don't know that we should all try and emulate the style of the 1 per cent. They're not necessarily the most creative, interesting or culturally nutritious people, so I don't know if I aspire to look like someone that's bland.'
All proceeds from her Vinted sales will be donated to Endometriosis UK. She chose the charity after encountering it during her own experience with endometriosis, a condition that affects one in ten women in the UK. 'A number of years ago, I had a laparoscopy to help cure it,' she explains. 'They don't really know how to cure endometriosis, but they do like cutting it out of people quite a lot, just on the off chance that it might work. I do come up against this wall, where no matter how helpful or amazing the doctors I've seen have been, you reach a point in the cul de sac of information where you realise there's a definitive end to the amount of treatment they can give you. I find it super frustrating. It's part of the canon of women's health issues that are desperately under-researched.'
While she hopes to raise funds, she also hopes to raise awareness 'so that people can identify their pain. I've always found it immensely helpful to know that you're not making something up, because when it is something to do with menstruation or your uterus, it's embedded in our patriarchal society that complaints from women about their own bodies aren't necessarily heard in full. It's comforting to hear that other people are going through something, or even have a name for the thing that you suspect you're feeling.'
Alexa's items will be available to purchase from 4 May 2025 at 6pm for Vinted members in the UK. A second drop of further unique items from brands including Dior and Loewe will follow in June 2025.