About two years ago, after reading a mag article on Alexa Chung, I posted a status update on Facebook, noting that I did not "get" the fuss about her or why she was so revered in fashion circles. Several male and female friends commented that they felt samesies. Like what is the BFD with her? I wondered why Alexa Chung is such an "It" girl. I wrote her off as overrated and I couldn't figure out why she was so celebrated, since she seemed somewhat ordinary to me.
It was semi-baffling, since she seemed liked someone I should like. After all, we both have bangs, we both do cat eyes, like, all the time, and we both have squarish face shapes, so I should have probably been looking to her for beauty advice. But I was too stubborn. I wasn't sippin' on that Haterade by any means, but I was sorta "anti" when it came to her and with no solid reason to feel that way other than I didn't get it.
Then things inexplicably...changed.
Her eyeliner pen for Eyeko crossed my desk. I loved the texture of the tip and the formula, so I thought, What the hell? and I watched one of her tutorials on how she does her cat eye and I was stunned at how gorgeous she looked.
Her bone structure is amazing (and well-lit), but the video still filled me with the confidence that I, too, could look that effortlessly amazing. Thanks, Alexa!
It wasn't just her eyeliner application skills that blew me away or that she offered me a new technique for something I do every day or the fact that she was so naturally pretty. She's a Brit, so she had this cheeky cuteness to her personality that never came across or translated in fashion spreads or photos. This is where my Alexa Chung epiphany began.
Her explanations about her beauty views and her tips were so easy to relate to and it just clicked. I was expecting her to be extraordinary, due to all her hype, so that's why I totally skimmed over and failed to process her easy relatability. That was her charm, and I missed it.
I started following her on Instagram and religiously looking at her eyeliner snaps. I grabbed a used version of her book, and came to see her as way more down-to-earth than you'd ever expect.
And I started to really like and "get" her...not through the filter of a fashion spread or editorial, but through things she posted on her IG and YouTube channel.
When I first got bangs, I couldn't decide whether or not to keep them. I was on the fence, even though I got tons of compliments. Then I found an Alexa pic in Lucky. I promptly cut it out and hung it up on my fridge as fringe inspo!
So my confused ambivalence toward Alexa Chung and her "It" girl status slowly but surely morphed into respect and looking at her as a total source of inspiration. I only wish I had figured it and her out sooner!
Images: Getty (3)
