Mulberry launches collab with Alexa Chung

Mulberry has been launching a number of collaborations to celebrate its 50th anniversary and the latest one that debuted on Monday both looks back at its heritage as well as looking forward.

It has linked up with Alexa Chung, the woman who inspired one of its best known bags. Launching globally on July 12 Mulberry x Alexa Chung is the latest chapter in Mulberry Editions, its series of limited-edition capsules in which “leading creatives have been invited to put their own spin on the house’s design DNA”.

While the Alexa bag was inspired by her, this is actually Chung’s design debut for the label and she said she “thought it was a great, quite rare opportunity. I never expected to be invited to actually design my own Mulberry bag”.

There are two styles – a roomy shoulder bag, the Big Guy, and a compact clutch, the Little Guy. The company said they each have a “go-everywhere, wear-as-you-wish spirit. The effortless, sleek style of ‘70s style icons, like Charlotte Rampling and Lauren Hutton, inform the pared-back aesthetic”. They also draw on Chung’s personal style based on “masculine formality offset with a vintage romance and a deep appreciation for British design”.

Mulberry said Chung took inspiration from the Alexa bag as well, the piece that was launched in 2010 and that was one of the label’s biggest success stories, being relaunched last year.

The two new bags feature chain straps and a boxy, “streamlined” shape. They come in earthy shades of black, dark chocolate and tan, as well as “peppy, optimistic tones”, such as apple green and denim blue. Materials include glossy crocodile-effect patent leather, velvet and suede.

In the same colour palette, the company is also launching an edit of complementary Alexa bags.

And all the bags are made using materials sourced from environmentally-rated tanneries in the label’s carbon-neutral Somerset factories.

Chung said she welcomes the extension “of a relationship that’s been unfolding over decades. We do all like an origin story and something authentic, and I suppose it doesn’t get more authentic than this. In my mind it’s been quite a romantic journey”.

And CEO Thierry Andretta added that “Alexa has been an important part of Mulberry’s history. Since [she] first caught our eye with her unexpected, confident approach to style, she has also shown herself to be an equally exciting and talented designer who shares our appreciation for bold British design. This creative partnership is a natural evolution of our relationship”.

Mulberry launches collab with Alexa Chung

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