Alexa Chung: "It’s the groupie vibe I’m attracted to"

If any girl today is synonymous with the effortless gamine, look which came to define the Sixties, it's Alexa Chung.

The model turned TV presenter and fashion designer has all the attributes required to pull off the look with aplomb: Bambi-esque limbs, doe eyes and ability to make girls swoon with envy at her wardrobe without looking like she's made any effort at all.

For the October issue of Harper's Bazaar, Alexa has gone back in time, modelling a range of new season designs in the Sixties style in and around David Hockney's Notting Hill flat, and talking about how her love affair with the decade began.

"My ex-boyfriend [photographer David Titlow] showed me Antonioni's 1966 film Blow-Up in my late teens. I remember seeing Jane Birkin. And I couldn't believe it. She even made just wearing a pair of tights look sexy. . . I think the Sixties vibe suits my body type, which is skinny legs and a boyish frame."

Chung, who recently split with Arctic Monkey's front man Alex Turner also revealed how she's seduced by the iconic romances the 'It' boys of the day had with the world's most beautiful, and stylish, women:

"It's the groupie vibe that I'm attracted to. They had these amazing love affairs, and both the men and the women were made amazing by them. The girls in the Sixties were never overshadowed by the men they dated. You can talk about Jane Shrimpton without having to mention Bailey or Terence Stamp first."

But Chung, who has two new fashion television shows in the pipeline and a new collection for US label Madewell in store now, confessed there is a downside to being a style icon:

"I fell out of love with the Sixties for a while. I think because I was so identified with it. It's like Sienna Miller when she did boho, then suddenly stopped because she was like, 'F**k. What else can I do, because I've done it?' Everyone copied my sodding coat for a while too. It was my Harrods kid's vintage one. Every girl suddenly had one and I was like, 'Arrgh!' I got really bored of smock dresses and loafers for a while. But I feel like I'm ready to fall in love all over again."

Full interview appears in the October issue of Harper's Bazaar UK, on sale Monday 5th September