Alexa Chung escaped by a hairsbreadth: Chanel’s Little Black Jacket revisited

Alexa Chung recently spoke out about her shoot for Chanel’s Little Black Jacket Exhibition last year, and proves what a sport she is! Showcased at the Saatchi Gallery last summer, the exhibition displayed a vast and wonderful assortment of black and white photographs of Lagerfeld’s favourite muses wearing the iconic Chanel jacket.

We thought we had seen it all, but Alexa Chung reveals one of Karl Lagerfeld’s more outrageous ideas. On the Chanel shoot with Chung, Lagerfeld suggested that she wear a drawn-on beard. Lagerfeld drew inspiration from her tomboy style and took it one step too far. Not one to make a fuss and for the sake of art, Chung agreed to try this new image and recently joked that she looked like Oliver Twist. Thankfully the idea was dropped and instead replaced with a strong brow. Chung was extremely impressed with the outcome of the shoot and, needless to say, relieved she escaped the beard! 

Holly Westwood