Who is Gen Z's Alexa Chung?

Happy Monday.

Today’s newsletter is inspired by a TikTok I saw last week about Alexa Chung and “it girls.” As someone who has always been interested in the it girl and who covers influencers for a living, I felt compelled to talk about this.

For additional reading: One of my favorite magazine packages of all time is New York’s 2023 Yesteryear issue about it girls. New York City is full of them — Chung included — and seeing all of the women featured in the issue is an illuminating exercise on what “it” is. I recommend perusing through the issue if you also love an it girl.

One question has been lurking in the back of my brain for the past week or so: Who is Gen Z’s Alexa Chung?

This is what fashion journalist Mosha Lundstrom of Newsfash posed to her audience on TikTok earlier this month. One person immediately came to mind for me, as it did for several others in the comment section, but there was no consensus. 

@newsfash

Who Is Gen Z’s Alexa Chung? #NEWSFASH #alexachung #genz #itgirl

To find out who this generation’s Alexa Chung is, one must decipher what exactly people are looking for. People have long attempted to describe the ethereal “it” that makes an “it girl” — but “it” is hard to pin down, much like the girl herself. 

Lundstrom described Chung as a “British style icon since the 2010s” whose role was of a “charming, sartorial beacon of distinctly British style, which she parlayed into clever brand collabs.” I will simplify it further by saying Chung is cool, stylish, multi-hyphenate, and aspirational. 

As an elder Gen Z, Alexa Chung is my Alexa Chung. Anyone who grew up on Tumblr would probably say the same because The Arctic Monkeys’ AM was such a pivotal album for teens in the 2010s. AM, of course, is widely believed to be inspired by frontman Alex Turner’s relationship to Chung — and how cool is it to have one of the most iconic rock albums of the decade be about you? The love letter from Turner to Chung went triple platinum on Tumblr back in the day, and it is admittedly my phone background presently. 

For younger Gen Z, I think the closest equivalent would be Emma Chamberlain (although the other Zoomers like Quen Blackwell and Alex Consani in Charli XCX’s “360” music video certainly fit the bill too). 

Chamberlain pioneered a style of vlogging that is ubiquitous today. She leveraged her YouTube success into various ventures, including launching brand collabs, hosting the red carpet for Vogue at the Met Gala, and creating her own business Chamberlain Coffee. She has her own songs about her, written by ex-boyfriend and rising pop star Role Model.  She has become a style icon to many in Gen Z — and there is even an Instagram account with 136,000 followers dedicated to identifying her wardrobe pieces. 

Chamberlain’s name came up a lot in the it girl debate, but some people believed she isn’t like Alexa Chung because she doesn’t have her own sense of style. As Chamberlain has matured, she has definitely developed a stronger signature look, but the woman is only 24. There is so much personal development left to do, which is perhaps part of the reason why there is no clear Gen Z Alexa Chung. We need more time to cook! 

But another issue with crowning a new Chung is that the it girl landscape is so different in the internet age. It girls are the blueprint for influencers, which are a dime a dozen nowadays. The proliferation of this profession has lowered it girl stock a bit, which is not to say people don’t find influencers to be cool. But if everyone is an it girl, then no one is the it girl. 

To Lundstrom’s point of there not being a Gen Z equivalent, Alexa Chung literally wrote the book on “it,” but I don’t know if there is a singular person we would allow to do the same in this day and age.

It’s not that Gen Z doesn’t love “it.” In fact, I think everyone wants to be “it” so much that they’ve taken the power and mystique out of it in many ways. With the trend cycle moving so fast, people always want to follow, watch, and consume the next cool influencer, which drastically cuts the impact of any potential it girl to arise in this generation. 

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. People like to bemoan that Gen Z has no collective cultural identity, style, or manner. Commenters under Lundstrom’s video insisted that this is because all Gen Z does is follow trends, but I don’t think that’s true. I think Gen Z is aware that they are not a monolith, and their refusal to put one, single person on the it girl pedestal reflects the diversity of this generation.

In New York magazine’s it girl opus, author Matthew Schneier writes: “‘It’ fame offers a girl-shaped reflection of the spirit, fears, and aspirations of the day — one reason “It” girls so often find themselves the objects of media fascination. … They also reflect the prejudices of their moment, which is why most ‘It’ girls were, and remain, thin, white, and, at least publicly, straight.”

Social media has democratized the it girl. There is one for every community, every style, every person — so you don’t really have to follow an it girl that doesn’t reflect you. This might mean we don’t have an Alexa Chung, but it does mean that there’s more than one way to be “it” these days.

Some other Gen Z/Zillennial cusper it girls, for your consideration:

• Tavi Gevinson (I actually think she’s the closest in spirit to Chung)

• Indiyah Polack (If we’re talking new gen British style icon)

• Anok Yai 

• Bella Hadid 

• Victoria Paris

• Addison Rae

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. I put all those “Fame is a Gun” jokes into a playlist — but also, stream Addison <3

In this week’s playlist:

• Fame is a Gun by Addison Rae

• Sympathy is a knife by Charli XCX

• God is a woman by Ariana Grande

• Denial is a River by Doechii

• Bunny Is A Rider by Caroline Polachek

• The Body Is a Blade by Japanese Breakfast

• Happiness is a butterfly by Lana Del Rey

• Love Is A Losing Game by Amy Winehouse

Other things I want to share with you.

• Doja Cat has sparked some discourse for tweeting and deleting about an interaction she had with a fan, during which she acted sweet and happy while actually feeling uncomfortable. I think this is a common experience for celebrities, although they don’t always share their true feelings after. I don’t blame her for acting the way she did, and while it may be embarrassing for the fan, he is clearly capitalizing on this moment.

• Justin Bieber’s interaction with paparazzi has turn into a meme. All jokes aside, I hope someone is checking in on him, especially after his recent Instagram posts!

• Celine Song is real as hell. I’m seeing Materialists tonight!