Zoom Date: Alexa Chung on Group Workouts and Wearing Red Lipstick During Quarantine

Welcome to Zoom Date, our new feature series where we get up close and personal via Zoom screen with our favorite celebs. They’ll be giving us an honest peek into what their “new normal” looks like—from new rituals they’ve adopted since quarantine, to work projects in the age of isolation, to the beauty and health products they’ve been using to self-soothe.

From her work as a fashion reporter in the mid-aughts to the launch of her eponymous label in 2017—not to mention her recent stint co-hosting Next in Fashion alongside Queer Eye star Tan France—Alexa Chung has made a career out of being on the cutting edge of how women present themselves. Fast-forward to a global state of self-quarantine in which most of us are having a hard time getting out of bed, let alone putting on clothes, one question lingers: what could there possibly be to say about fashion right now? For Chung, getting dressed in lockdown is a matter of self-care, not obligation. Whether instituting family dress-up nights or just getting ready for yet another day around the house, the model and designer sees clothing as key to managing her mood in self-isolation. It’s that same attitude—the idea of getting ready in the morning as a pursuit that’s both self-indulgent and practical—that underscores her new role as global ambassador for London-based luxury beauty brand Code8. The goal for both Code8 and Chung: to offer an elegant, uncomplicated approach to beauty. I recently caught up with Chung over Zoom to talk about taking pride in your appearance, taking style inspo from Meryl Streep in Deerhunter, and taking the time to floss in isolation.

How’s your mental health been throughout all this?

Pretty good. I mean, I’m so lucky, because I’m with someone I really love, and my siblings also live within walking distance, so we’re able to wave at each other. And I think I probably was less healthy before this started, always rushing around, always suffering from jet lag and having so much on my plate. I think a mistake I made at the beginning which I tried to stop doing was reading the news too much. Like, before I went to bed, as soon as I woke up, I’d Google COVID-19 and read all the stories, and I’d get into this thing of worrying about how the economy’s going to be fucked, I don’t know what’s going to happen to my business, will anyone ever employ anyone ever again—like, that sends me into the spiral. As soon as I could relinquish that and understand it was out of my control, then I sort of felt better. I’ve been trying to focus on good things, slow things, like appreciating wildlife and just being grateful for the things that I have.

We’ve talked about your new routine and some of the habits you’ve picked up as a way of coping. Are there some things that you’re finding you want to keep doing after quarantine ends?

Yeah, for sure. Having breakfast is a big one for me, because usually I prioritize sleep over everything else, so waking up too late and then running to the office and then just waiting til lunch to have the first thing I have that day is why I get irritable in the morning, because I wind up kind of living on coffee and cigarettes. So replacing that with actually bothering to boil an egg or having yogurt or whatever it is, that’s been really nice. Cooking is a huge one because I never cooked before really at all. I lived in New York for seven years—I did not turn my oven on once. And my family can all cook, and my brother’s particularly good, but it turns out I’m not that bad, so that’s nice. I’ve also noticed that people have been a lot kinder, at least in my local community. I hope once this situation evaporates that what’s left is we’ve learned to connect in a more meaningful and slower way. I hope I can continue to carry that through and not worry as much about keeping up with everything. It’s actually really nice to miss parties. I want to stay in more.

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