Alexa Chung has always embraced the idea of a fashion risk, and her tricky-to-pull-off styling feats include wearing rough-and-tumble combat boots with the prettiest of Gucci red carpet dresses. The British It girl showed her fashion chops again yesterday in New York, upgrading her look from the ground up with a pair of ruby-red Mary Jane block heels from Carel Paris. Chung has long been a fan of ’60s-inspired shoes, but this slick patent-leather take on the Mary Jane was more unexpected than the gamine styles she has favored in the past.
It was a fitting way to spike the more classic aspects of her look, including a Blazé Milano tweed jacket and skinny jeans, a combination that read traditionally English prep and wouldn’t be out of place in, say, Kate Middleton’s wardrobe. They were also the kind of shoes you could imagine her taking out into night with one of her many modish minidresses.