Kate Moss. Cara Delevingne. Jennifer Lawrence. Lupita Nyong’o. What do all these women have in common? An ‘It Girl’ status, catapulting them to the top of their social tiers and prompted the king of cool Pharrell to sing “You the it girl, hey hey, my inspiration” in a song appropriately titled, “It Girl”.
While It Girls are a plenty, what about It Boys? If there ever was one more fitting of the title right now, it would definitely be none other than Alexander Wang, who coincidentally dresses many It Girls and counts them as close friends. (Wang is said to have created the 'model off duty' look ‘ all his model friends’ dash around in his collections looking super stylish, which helped coin the term). More than just models’ love Wang, too: Love magazine editor and mega-stylist Katie Grand has been quoted, gushing that “Alex is lovely and charming and handsome and exceptionally talented!”
So what exactly makes and It Boy? For starters, his Alexander Wang and T by Alexander Wang collections are often one of the most highly anticipated and buzzed about shows season after season during New York Fashion Week. This season, his namesake collecting oozed the downtown-cool streetstyle that’s become his signature, drawing inspiration from running shoes (Wang is a known sneaker head). Nike Flyknit’s were interpreted into slick body con dresses, and models’ otherworldly glow was created in part by a sporty slick of sheen on the skin.
But an It Collection season after season is far from all Wang is achieving with gusto. Debuting his first collection for Parisian star fashion house Balenciaga last fall season, the young designer majorly impressed fashion veterans, garnering applause and bravo (which repeated this season; see: precious yet sporty slim, embroidered pieces).
Embodying Balenciaga in an innovative way, Wang treats us to a new perfume from the fashion house, B. (pronounced b-dot), out this month. Although a departure from fashion, B. captures the essence of Balenciaga, starting right from the juice’s own house: the frosted, cracked glass bottle was inspired by the marble tiling in Balenciaga’s original atelier at 10 Avenue Geroge V in Paris. “ There is a permanent, monolithic feeling to things that are created out of marble.” Wang explained. The sophisticated, sensual and feminine scent, which features classic notes like Lily of the Valley and Cashmere Wood, boats an unexpected greenness with green edamame accord.
But back to fashion: seriously upping his designer cred, Wang joins the ranks with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Isabel Marant and Versace, to name a few, and created a collection in collaboration with fast fashion giant H&M. Vogue expressed their love, proclaiming, “it’s exactly the sporty-minded fantasy we were hoping for”, and advised the click-savvy shoppers to get their ‘add to carts’ must haves ready. With Wang-epitomized pieces, like leather joggers, strappy neoprene dresses, sporty sweatshirts, mesh-slashed leggings and cropped bra tops, it’ll be a difficult task to pick favourites. After all, every piece in the collection is sure to make It Girls out of all of us.
