Alexa Chung for Madewell: Sketched Shirts

Alexa Chung pictured wearing one of her collaboration t-shirts for Madewell featuing a vampire bat and the slogan hello- original drawing penned out by popular British model, DJ and television presented Chung herself. Some of the more "price accessible" pieces of Alexa Chung's collaboration include many more sketches perpetrated and illustarted and then printed on to shirts, both long and short sleeved as well as some small make-up pouches.

I've had my eye on a few of the shirts, and while they are on the cheaped end of the colletion's spectrum it would be well worth getting your hand's on anything affiliated with the style icon Alexa Chung. That- and the fact that while the shirts are basics, they can be layered and worn with versatility depending on the season. With a large coat, boots and jeans for winter or some ripped up vintage denim shorts for a scorcher of an Australian Summer.

There's a long sleeved shirt of the same illustration I hope to get at auction. The floral wreath over the head, veil as well as the lines of the eyelashes illustrate the perfect disgruntled bride-to-be. The coin and make-up pouched from the collection are made of a canvas like material and adorned in extracts from Alexa Chung's personal skecth book.

The sketches vary from animals (bats and bears_ to scrawlings of skulls and disgruntled looking women. When I was a young child I had a great love for drawing and creating things and had always secretly hoped that I would hone my skills to something of CHung's artistic and unique style. Alas, education and learning stood in my way of becoming a gypsy and drawing on the sidewalk in chalk for charity... maybe it is better that education had stood in my way.

The collaboration first launched on the 22nd of September 2011 and was her second collection for the American brand, Madewell. Her first collaboration with the US label was a runway success- which may be attributed to the ease it gave it's clients to access and imittae Alexa's signature style which as been described as "tombyo meets vintage-wearing-school-girl". It was the source of much fashion hype and many of the popular pieces sold out online- now only available on eBay and held for ransom at largely marked-up prices. These pieces include fury ankle boots, palm tree printed pyjamas and collared dresses. Luckily the sketch shirts haven't suffered too much of a mark-up but there may be some fierce competition in claiming ownership of the much coveted pieces.

The collection combines the best of Madewell's effortlessly cool pieces as well as Alexa Chung's vintage inspired wardrobe such as collared dresses as well as her sketches printed and immortlaised on cotton shirts.

Other pieces within the collection have been spotted on celebrities such as Elle Fanning in a sweet lace dress, Kate Bosworth and Alexa herself; all snapped up pieces the day before their official launch. The perks of being a celebrity are many and great.

Charlotte Olympia: Cat shoes

Alexa Chung - once again showing us the way with unique style and chic. There a great balance between being elegant and flawless and also quirky, part of her charm is balancing the two. People usually say you can't wear red and pink together and they don't go well but here is the proof right in front of us with the most stylish round rimmed lens sunglasses and red dress. The sleeves are really different on the dress, sort of medieval puffed but there's a strong sense of structure and the blocking and colour of it fits well. 

 I love the little Charlotte Olympia cat ballet flats, there are ways you could probably make your won flats by ripping apart some canvas shoes from Big W or Kmart which I may attempt myself over the holidays or just paint some white canvas shoes. The stitching doesn't look too difficult and what's great about these flats are that they are a fresh new take on something that has been done to death over and over again. Something different and indie, really glad I track Alexa Chung on Tumblr and managed to track down some comments about her clothes. Since this brand Charlotte Olympia doesn't come up too frequently on eBay I may just have to make my own DIY pair and the sell them for some several hundreds of dollars. The cat stitching also comes in wedges and heels but the ballet flats look far comfier and also a lot of the styling for the wedges when they come in red is using fish net stockings... not my cup of tea.

An Unhealthy Obsession: Alexa Chung

The images I have collected of successful British model and DJ Alexa Chung is overwhelming to say the least, but I luckily only have about another folder's worth or images to go through before I need to do some more Internet scouring or I want to post a femme fatale post about Florence Welch; singer of Florence and the Machine whom I also seem to be developing an unhealthy obsession with. I think part of the charm of Alexa Chung to me at least is her name: that suggestion of exoticism and East meets West. I myself am half Malaysian and Caucasian so I suppose its comforting to see someone as successful and beautiful as Alexa Chung with a similar mixing of heritage. I reject the idea that I am a half-half freak. She's just so beautiful and makes everything look effortless. I'm also a sucker for blue eyes and she does eye-liner perfectly; something I have yet to master. This post includes my favourite pictures of Chung dressed in black, white and grey. She's so classy and chic. I love that sort of understated class about a girl and the fact that her styling is so unique. I really want to get my hands on some of the Alexa Chung for Madewell pieces but I doubt I will have any luck. 

I really should get on to try to draw some of these lovely images, but I'm still tied up at the moment with exam preparation and the like but in just two months the most rigorous part of my life will be over and blog posts will spring from me like a leaky boat.

Femme Fatale: Alexa Chung

I think I may have discovered the perfect crush and embodiment of all that is cool, vintage and stylish - Alexa Chung. It's funny to have this sort of weird longing to meet someone but to also become more like someone since I never really had that teenage stage where I plaster the walls of my room with only images of one person. My wall at the moment is a hot-pot of vogue extracts, posters and other magazine clippings from Russh. 

But just because I'm not used to this sort of bizarre feeling of fascination it doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it. Her look and style is so simplistic but chic. There are moments where her eyes give of this fantastic mysteriousness as well as brooding inert darkness. She can pull of a model's pout but she looks so gorgeous and like she has a warmth of her own when she smiles. I love the quirky little cameo skeleton necklace she wears, but its really difficult to find high quality cameo jewellery that's quirky. The eccentric cameo pieces are usually plastic which is why I'm more incline to stick with vintage pieces.

The eyeliner Chung wears is enough to accentuate and bring attention to those beautiful eyes of hers without over doing it and leaving long comet tails too far across her face. Something I have yet to fully master. She looks so gorgeous and slight; but not in the tradition of being unhealthy and skinny. She looks radiant and gorgeous. This post mainly has Chung wearing muted tones of light pink, beige, cream, white and black. There's something to be said for her mastery of the minimalist effect and how it really makes the wearer stand out. Not being over shadowed by the clothes they wear.

I've been growing my hair out long so that it reaches my waist but seeing how lovely she looks with her tousled shoulder length hair almost makes her face look longer and more delicate. It makes me want to hack off my own hair and have the different tones throughout its length but I know that I would only look dishevelled and trashy whereas she is known for it and carries the style far better than I or any other mortal could try.

There's something to be said about a strong woman who is very talented without spreading herself thin. A style icon, TV presenter, contributing editor to British Vogue DJ, model and I am sure, a wonderful person and very lovely in her own right Alexa Chung is setting the bar high for standards of grooming and quirk. Something I hope to one day aspire towards within my own right.