Alexa Chung Has Designed A Collection For Mulberry – And You Can Shop It Now

The ‘style icon’ label is thrown around liberally. But the litmus test for whether someone really deserves the title is perhaps whether or not they’ve had a bag named after them. For some icons, the bag was specially designed in tribute to them (the Hermès Birkin, for example); others were renamed after their most famous fans (the Lady Dior for Princess Diana, for instance, or Gucci’s Constance, which was rebranded the Jackie after Jackie Kennedy).

It was an honour bestowed on Alexa Chung in 2010, when Mulberry was inspired to create the Alexa after Chung was spotted carrying the brand’s Elkington. That satchel style was instantly anointed an ‘It’ bag – it defined the look of an era and became a bona fide phenomenon, generating huge waiting lists. ‘It was really weird and amazing because everything sort of happened at once and I didn’t really catch up with the momentum until years later,’ says Chung now. ‘[It] represents a point in my life that I’m extraordinarily proud of and feel lucky to have experienced. It’s nostalgic and sentimental, sweet and joyful.’

Still, there’s been something of the ‘Ross and Rachel’ quality about Mulberry and Alexa; despite their shared history, they have never officially got together (Chung was not involved with the designer process of the original Alexa) – until now.

As part of Mulberry’s 50th anniversary celebrations, Chung – now a successful designer with her own brand – has created a new capsule collection for Mulberry. It’s a touching moment for her. ‘Mulberry was the first handbag I bought myself with the first paycheck I made as a model, so they’ve always been a hugely significant brand to me,’ she says, adding, ‘I never expected to be invited to actually design my own Mulberry bag, which is really a dream come true.’

The throw-on-and-go ease of the Big Guy and Little Guy chimes with Chung’s own instinctive, idiosyncratic way of dressing. So, how will she be approaching the predictably unpredictable British summer? ‘I actually think we’re lucky that we get to layer in British weather because it makes for a more interesting outfit,’ she says. ‘I like the new bodycon trend, so a swimsuit under jeans with a crochet cardigan would be my dream, or a micro-mini and men’s white shirt. Biz up top, party on the bottom’.

Post-pandemic, she’s also ready to embrace a sexier style. ‘I just want to look hot now in a way I really didn’t care about before. I just hope I haven’t left it too late! Alternatively, I want to look like a ’90s business-attire catalogue person dressed head to toe.’

For Chung, for a bag to be deserving of classic status, ‘First and foremost it needs to be practical and adaptable.’ (Functionality is essential for her personally, as she admits that buried at the bottom of her own bags, ‘I’ll always find things I think I’ve lost, like lipsticks or a debit card I’ve since cancelled.’) Trend-driven styles are a no-go. She deliberately made the Mulberry collection ‘look a bit vintage so that they don’t seem too “of the moment” and hopefully that way they’ll last longer’.

Of course, there’s always room for classics to be revisited too. And so, for the capsule she didn’t just take inspiration from the original Alexa – and its Elkington forerunner – but also introduced rebooted Alexas in the same colour palette as the Big and Little Guys. ‘The first Alexa was named after me but getting to interpret it in my own way – to really make it Alexa’s Alexa – is even better,’ she says. ‘We do all like an origin story and something authentic, and I suppose it doesn’t get more authentic than this. It’s been quite a romantic journey’.