Alexander Wang is known for a number of things: his wonderfully languid knits, the easy street attitude that underscores his collections and, perhaps most famously, his ongoing inspiration, a muse he identifies as the “off-duty model.” “I’ve always admired that natural, rolled-out-of-bed look,” says the designer, who interned at Derek Lam and Marc Jacobs before launching his collection in 2004. “What’s beautiful and interesting to me is a scuffed shoe, a girl with her hair a little messed up.” And the mannequin who sits at the top of his pantheon of nonchalant style? Kate Moss. Wang even has an oversize image of the Brit—with light-pink tresses—hanging in his office. Still, he played it cool when he met his idol for the first time during this shoot. “She was just so down-to-earth,” he says. “I had to keep it calm.”
—Venessa Lau
On chair, from left: Alexander Wang’s leather skirt, cotton denim shorts, cotton and polyester tank top, silk blouse, wool vest, wool, nylon and elastane dress, and cotton and polyester tank top; Danielle Scutt’s nylon and Lycra spandex bathing suit; Rosamosario’s polyester and lycra bikini bottoms; Alexander Wang’s cotton and polyester tank top.
