Alexa Chung fashion backer is also Bella Freud investor

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 23, 2017

The backer behind the new Alexa Chung fashion business has been revealed as Peter Dubens, the co-founder and managing partner of Oakley Capital Private Equity.

Fifty-year-old Dubens is notoriously publicity-shy, a status that may be hard to maintain once one of the world’s most photographed fashion celebrities launches her collection.

Chung had said last summer that she would be launching her own line but also said she had been told not to give any details of who was backing the launch.

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While Oakley itself has no fashion investments, Dubens made his first fortune from the fashion sector after he linked with M&S heir Jonathan Sieff to sell heat-reactive colour-changing T-shirts, selling the business a few years later for £8m. He has also previously invested in Bella Freud’s company.

He told the New York Times this week that he is “a bit unorthodox” but is “passionate about backing young and new entrepreneurs” rather than “luxury or glamorous brands.”

However, he also told the newspaper that this would be his last fashion investment. “I don’t personally make investments in smaller companies any more,” he said. “Alexa is my last one.”

The Alexa Chung line launches in May and will be available in high-end stores such as MatchesFashion and Bergdorf Goodman at luxury level prices.