Relaxed Fit

There is a luxuriously laid-back air to every aspect of Alexander Lewis and his work—from the woman he designs for (“Even when she’s in the city, she dresses as though there’s a beach around the corner”) to the nonchalant manner in which the 27-year-old Brazilian-American launched his namesake line. “I’ve known for years what I wanted my first collection to look like,” Lewis says from his London studio. “I’ve just taken a slow-brew approach.” His peripatetic career has ranged from working at Los Angeles’s Decades boutique to a personal-shopper gig at Harrods to an apprenticeship at the Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons—where handled clients like Christopher Kane and Kim Jones. It has served him well: His resort collection is filled with simple-yet-sophisticated clothes such as off-the-shoulder dresses, woven T-shirts inspired by outdoor furniture, circle skirts hand-crocheted by Brazilian artisans, and menswear-style linen tops. “I look at my mother and sister,” he says of his two main influences. “They casually mix designer pieces with things from their lovers’ closets and jewelry bought on holiday from a local vendor. It’s very sexy—in an easy way.”

Photographed by Pani Paul; Hair and Makeup by Nancy Summer for Aveda and Dermalogica; Model: Valerie van der Graaf at Select Model Management.