Alexa Chung For Harper's Bazaar UK October 2011

Alexa Chung channels the Swinging Sixties in a retro shoot for the October 2011 Harper’s Bazaar UK issue.

The DJ, muse, designer and presenter was photographed in and around David Hockney’s Notting Hill flat by Ellen Von Unwerth.

Her rebooted sixties photoshoot included retro-inspired designs from Chloe, Burberry, Prada and Stella McCartney.

In her interview Chung confesses to being in love with all things Sixties and has even dedicated a wall in her Columbia Road flat as a shire to her multiple sixties muses (such as Astrid Kirchherr, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Birkin, Jean Shrimpton) covered with cut-and-paste effigies, including paparazzi shots of those halcyon days.

The Harper’s Bazaar October British issue is on sale now. Here are some extracts from Alexa’s interview:

On why the Sixties suit her body type: “My ex-boyfriend [photographer David Titlow] showed me Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up in my late teens. I remember seeing Jane Birkin. And I couldn’t believe it. She even made just wearing a pair of tights look sexy. . . I think the Sixties vibe suits my body type, which is skinny legs and a boyish frame.”

On loving the Sixties vibe: “It’s the groupie vibe that I’m attracted to. They had these amazing love affairs, and both the men and the women were made amazing by them. The girls in the Sixties were never overshadowed by the men they dated. You can talk about Jane Shrimpton without having to mention Bailey or Terence Stamp first.”

On the Christopher Kane silver transparent dress she wore to Met gala: “It was very Birkin. My pants were showing, and I wanted to kill myself before I left the hotel, but Christopher said it was sexy.”

On her own sixties-inspired A/W 11 collection with Madewell, J Crew: “I’ve invented this tartan mac, it’s like something the Shrimp would have worn. It’s got a round collar and a tie on it, so you can wear it like a cape without your hands in your sleeves.”

On falling out of love with the Sixties … briefly: “I fell out of love with the Sixties for a while. I think because I was so identified with it. It’s like Sienna Miller when she did boho, then suddenly stopped because she was like, ‘Fuck. What else can I do, because I’ve done it?’ Everyone copied my sodding coat for a while too. It was my Harrods kid’s vintage one. Every girl suddenly had one and I was like, ‘Arrgh!’ I got really bored of smock dresses and loafers for a while. But I feel like I’m ready to fall in lve all over again.”