According to the app, the “Alexa Chung uniform” consists of curtain bangs, sherpa-lined aviator jackets, smudged red lipstick, straight-leg denim, and perhaps a cigarette or two. We all know someone who embodies the style without even trying. Maybe she’s someone who’s a cool creative living in a SoHo loft. Or perhaps she runs an art studio/feminist podcast. She probably reads cool books and goes out late and has a closet full of vintage any collector would drool over. And naturally, you want to be her best friend.
Chung’s style resurgence with today’s Gen Z crowd has more than a few heads spinning, including my own. Even though I’m more than down for the cause, bringing back 10-year-old silhouettes and styles wasn’t at the top of my to-do list when it came to my spring wardrobe. Peter Pan collars and Mary Janes were barely out of the trend cycle when they dipped back up again last fall.
Perhaps Gen Z is nostalgic for an era where personal style reigned supreme, the world wasn’t on fire, and a carton of eggs didn’t cost $12. It’s more comfortable to revisit your style hero’s old aesthetic than think about the state of the world in all its doom. Just as zany dressing and ironic handbags surge among the Gen Z fashion crowd, so are pieces that remind us of when the times were good and the days were long. Who can say no to that?
