We heard Alexa Chung approach the Fashion Awards red carpet before we saw her. With a swish of metal that was something akin to the tinkle of windchimes, the British Vogue contributor, modeling a dress covered entirely in metal discs, arrived in style: with London designer of the moment Marco Capaldo acting as her knight in shining 16Arlington.
Alright fine, we’re getting carried away by the romance of it all, but there’s something quite captivating about shielding oneself entirely in shiny hardware in the name of a good photo. “I’m ready for battle,” says Chung of the 3,980 heavy hand-placed paillettes, which took Capaldo’s team two weeks to position with the aim of constructing a statuesque Joan of Arc silhouette.
“I love the way the dress renders the familiar in a very unfamiliar way,” notes Capaldo, who built the brand he co-founded with his late partner, Kikka Cavenati, on redefining partywear codes. If sequins have been the company’s bread and butter, Chung’s look drives 16Arlington forward. Inspired by the spring/summer 2024 silhouettes, which are more structured than Capaldo’s smash hit Solaria dresses, the new collection invites a closer look at the craftsmanship behind all that glittering yet gritty opulence.
“The dialogue and lighting in David Lynch’s Lost Highway were a real jumping off point,” explains Capaldo, adding that Chung, who had incredible energy in the studio, was “happy to embody the character”. “The success of a red-carpet moment ultimately comes down to the wearer and how they want to present themselves in the world,” he shares of nerding out with his Fashion Awards date. “What I love about Alexa is that the fashion never wears her. Wherever she plays on the spectrum of experimentation, the end result is always very Alexa.” For her part, Chung says she feels like a “hotter, more powerful version of [herself]” wearing 16Arlington.
Alexa’s Fashion Awards 2023 moment was actually a two-part story. Capaldo presented her with a second look that let one of the industry’s best-dressed retire her Joan of Arc alter-ego and engage It-girl mode again. She signed off the designer’s sketch of a slinky mini version of her disc-studded eveningwear as quickly as the first. “We styled the dress with a blazer from our menswear collection thrown over the top, which solidifies that eveningwear is a part of the brand world, but it isn’t 16Arlington’s entirety,” asserts Marco. All that rustling on the red carpet was a smart branding exercise for a man who just scored his first Vogue cover dressing two more of this country’s most beloved style plates: Kate and Lila Moss. Lots to celebrate, indeed. “What happens at the Royal Albert Hall, stays at the Royal Albert Hall,” grins Chung.
