She’s got the wardrobe of Gods, the quick wit of a stand-up comic and she’s the new face – and hair - of L’Oreal Professionel INOA colour to boot. Alexa opens up about motorbikes, future haircuts and the creative process.

Is it odd being interviewed, since you’re usually the interviewer? It’s a chicken and egg: which came first?
‘I was the interviewer first and then I started getting interviewed - because I was an interviewer, which is really weird. I think that helps make me not as hard to interview as some people because I know what you need to get, because I write interviews as well sometimes I’m like, ‘Oi, clammy! Can you give me some more please?’

TV interviewing is different because you have to inject a lot of your own personality into it. People aren’t necessarily very good at being on camera - they get nervous so you have to make sure you’re awake to help prompt them and guide them or, like earlier in my career, be a bitch. 

I remember my first few episodes of Popworld, I was so terrified, I was really sarc-y, because I didn’t want it the nerves to show so I’d be like, ‘Oh, cool album’, because if you act like you’re too cool for everything, then nothing can affect you.’

Do you think that dichotomy of being tough yet sensitive is more prevalent in the creative worlds as you’re open to so much criticism?
‘Well, in terms of longevity nothing gets you further than just being nice, that’s the Paul Smith thing. I interviewed him the other week and he said getting along with people regardless of how talented you are is the number one thing in business. I‘ve worked with amazing photographers who have been a bit arsehole-y and I think ‘oh, I don’t want to work with you again whereas if someone’s nice, it’s enjoyable to be around them and you’ll want to do more and more.

I think it’s weird as well with people who become famous young, because now I’m thinking ‘Thank god, I wasn’t putting anything on when I was younger, because I wouldn’t have been able to keep it up.’ I think that’s why people have nervous breakdowns - if they’re suppressing an image or they aren’t able to express themselves. I mean, imagine how weird it would be if I went all bad-girl now!?’ 

Has your experience in modelling improved or affected your personal confidence over the years?
‘I can’t really remember a time I wasn’t on camera, which is really sad, but I turn 30 in September and I was scouted when I turned 15, so half of my life has been knowing how things look and should look, which is strange. That’s why I’m a nightmare on a shoot now because I walk in and I’m like ‘nope, that’s not going to work.’

You’re an innately creative person - has that life in front of and behind the camera impacted on your creative processes?

‘It’s been amazing to work with some great people, to watch and observe and learn from them. I think the more you observe, the more you realise if you’ve got a thing - a good eye or not. The more legendary the people I’ve worked with, like Karl Lagerfeld, the more low key they are, which is not what I would have expected, because for years I did magazines with photographers who were all really huffy. When someone is like truly talented they’re just like, ‘Yeah, we’ll do this’. When I did a photo shoot with Karl, he took two shots and was like ‘We’re done’. I don’t know, there’s just like a still, calm confidence to those people.’

Creative people tend to be slightly less structured in their lives - are you like that, or naturally quite organised? 
‘Noooo, very bad at planning things. I think people either have that brain that’s logical and you know, finds organisation very easy or you’ve got one that’s quite like…. like the other day, I spoke to Guy Aroch, so he’s been trying to get me on the phone for ages because we work together quite a lot and we’ve come up with this idea to do a story together. And he’s like ‘Girl, I need you on the phone.’ 

So after literally three weeks of us trying to work out how to do a phone conversation - not one of us thinking ‘Just phone the other person,’ we got on the phone and talked for literally 45 minutes about loads of creative ideas but didn’t really come up with anything. 

I was like, ‘You should tell someone your end that’s good, that can talk to someone on my end that understands and then we can do this thing, because at the moment we are just saying ‘Yeah motorbikes, desert, thing with a pool.’ Like that’s all cool but what’s it going to be?’ 

You had me at motorbikes. Let’s talk about your hair – it’s all lovely and new. It looks great. Who did it? 
‘Jose [Quijano, at Neville Hair & Beauty] did it. We dyed it on Saturday with the INOA Ultrablond collection and then we did a shoot yesterday. It’s just been sunkissed. Before I always had roots, which I think is good if you are a brunette because it makes it look more natural but I had never actually dyed the top before, but I like it.’

What kind of age were you when you were really aware of your hair or started wanting to do stuff to it?
‘It took ages. I remember my friend, Kate Stroud used to have these flares right denim flares and they looked so cool on her and they looked crap on me and I couldn’t work out why. I couldn’t work it out but it’s all about proportions and about what you’ve got, isn’t it? 

It’s like, I can’t wear Doc Martins because my ankles are so scrawny that they look like clod hoppers and it’s the same with hair, it wasn’t until I was modelling and started to look at other peoples hair that I thought, ‘Why won’t that hairstyle suit me?’ It’s because my hair’s fine. Then, it wasn’t until I was 22 and allowed to do whatever I wanted, that I had my own hair identity.’

What sort of hair styles were you and your friends into at the time?
‘The girls I hung around with weren’t, I don’t know - we weren’t dorky - but I don’t think but there was a lot of hair lust going on. I guess Coffee Shimmer was a thing and silver eye shadow, but we were more into clothes or I was. And then beyond that, I was just sort of absorbed into the horse riding world. 

I just didn’t really think about how I looked that much. And then I went to the Clothes Show and they were like, ‘Do you want to be a model?’ And my teacher announced it in assembly - I used to play rugby sevens - and she said, ‘I guess we had better be careful with Alexa Chung now because she’s been scouted by a modelling agency,’ and everyone turned around and looked at me. I’d been wearing three pairs of tights to school for 3 years because everyone had been taking the p*** out of how scrawny my legs are - nothing changes - and I was just really embarrassed.’

But now, your hair is quite an iconic part of your image are you hyper-aware of other girls and how much they like to emulate it?
‘But I’ve always thought my hair’s shit. It’s weird because I’m jealous of everyone else’s hair constantly. My best friend Tennessee is always like, ‘You never stop complaining about your hair, that’s the one thing that drives me mental about you’. It’s like, if you’ve ever had a cold sore, all you can think about is how lucky other people are that don’t have one, like they don’t even know they’re born.’

You’ve often said your hair is fine but the way that you style it, really disguises that?
‘It does, it’s weird. George Northwood cuts it and he’s just really clever. When I started doing Popworld, I went in and I was like ‘I just got this TV show and I was thinking maybe I could have my own hair now’, so I feel more like myself and he was like, ‘yeah let’s do it’ so he cut it off and I was like, ‘yeah’. 

Now, we do future cuts, so the way he’s cut it this time is so that it grows out and it will just sweep to the side and won’t be like a block. People get annoyed with fringes growing out, but he does it so it graduates in. I don’t like people cutting my hair other than George, so I have to wait until he’s around to cut it, so when I’m in America it grows out.’

You’ve had a lot of good bobs, is that a style you’ll always go back to? How do you feel about long hair versus bobs?
‘I feel more myself when I’ve got a bob but boys don’t like that. I’ve had two long-term boyfriends and it is definitely a thing. Well, obviously if they are in love with you, they don’t care either way but as a lady of the dating circuit, I think they prefer long hair. And if you’re in a relationship and you change your hair, they love that because it’s like sh**ging a new woman. 

This is a cliché but it’s true: I think whatever makes you feel the most confident and the most yourself is the most attractive, if you’re doing something for the wrong reasons then you just don’t pull it off.’

Alexa Chung is the face of the new L’Oreal Professionel INOA colour which is available in salons nationwide 

Click the gallery for Alexa’s all-time favourite hair icons.