Mulberry’s Alexa Bag
In 2010, long before the Alexa Chung fashion brand, luxury fashion brand Mulberry launched the hugely popular ‘Alexa’ bag, a tribute to Alexa Chung, the self-established model and TV presenter. Known for her androgynous style, this was a nod towards influencer marketing before Instagram hit the scene. Despite its launch during the Great Recession, the bag increased Mulberry sales by 57%, equating to millions of pounds.
Alexa had no part in designing the bag. But the product showed that her personal brand had commercial value. Consequently, she was asked to design lines for other ‘less-luxury’ brands such as Marks & Spencer and Barbour.
ALEXACHUNG Launched
In 2017, Alexa took a leap of faith. Following in Kylie Jenner’s footsteps and using her success as an influencer, she launched her own fashion label, ALEXACHUNG. At that time, the model stressed that she had been irked by the public perceiving her as famous for doing nothing. Chung also thought that being a Creative Director in the world of luxury fashion would be a piece of cake. In an interview with Fashion United she revealed:
“Shit got real pretty quickly. I had this fantasy that I would just flit around the planet, going back and forth from New York to London. But it became apparent within 14 days or so that I actually needed to be in London if pretty quickly.”
After the launch, there was tons of media coverage from Vogue and other fashion pack mags. In 2019 Alexa won Harper Bazaar’s breakthrough designer award. Surely winning an award is indicative of success in some form.
Brand Losses
As a fashion influencer, Alexa has an amazing 3.7 million Instagram followers. Sadly, these fans have done little to lift her business endeavours. ALEXACHUNG has lost £7.4 million to date including £3.9 million in 2019.
Maybe the influencer model used for the ‘Alexa’ bag just isn’t as relevant anymore. The world of influencers evolved dramatically, now saturated with Instagram posts and every collaboration under the sun.
A Brighter Future?
ALEXACHUNG is a fledgling brand and is not required to disclose turnover figures in its company accounts. Vicente Castellano, the experienced fashion non-executive representing the biggest investor, Peter Dubens, resigned in March 2019. The brand’s Managing Director, Edwin Bodson, left in October 2019 after holding his position for more than 3 years.
Luckily, luxury fashion brand ALEXACHUNG still has some investor support and Chung’s Netflix show, Next in Fashion, might turn things around for her namesake label. One thing is for sure, it’s going to take more than a pretty face.
Content by Emma Rees
