It’s Fashion Week in New York City, and the see-and-be-seen café La Mercerie is lit. Every table is packed with beautiful people. Out front, on the corner of Howard and Mercer, a statuesque model and her young daughter, both wearing long, floral dresses, are being photographed for a Ralph Lauren campaign. As the model’s child starts crying about being cold, Alexandra Richards comes breezing through the front door, effortlessly cool in the Apparis teddy bear coat-of-the-moment, a Naked Cashmere sweater, and her hair in two messy braids.
“Hi,” she says, extending her hand with a firm shake. “Do you mind if we go somewhere else? Are you up for a stroll? I’m so sorry — I didn’t realize this would be such a scene!”
And so we stroll, first to a hotel bar that’s not quite yet open (it being that no-man’s-land time of 4:30 p.m.), and finally, to a corner diner that’s got a bunch of open booths and a nice wine list.
One might not expect Alexandra Richards to be so “anti-scene” — considering that, as the daughter of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and supermodel Patti Hansen, she has certainly been part of some of the scene-y-ist scenes one can imagine. Last week alone, she DJ’d two big events: a party at the Diego bar in the Public hotel, hosted by modeling mogul Scott Lipps and nightlife impresario Nur Khan, and the amfAR gala, which officially kicked off Fashion Week and was attended by everyone from Heidi Klum and Winnie Harlow to Kim and Kourtney Kardashian. (Richards’ go-to party vibe? ’70s and ’80s rock, plus a ton of reggae.)
“I’ve always been, like, the shyest person,” the 32-year-old model and artist says, taking a sip of red wine. “My mom was still modeling well into her 30s and 40s, so when my sister [Theodora, who is one year older] and I were little, we’d just jump in shoots. It always felt normal to be running around in the background, playing dress-up and having fun. It was so glamorous. But I was never in the spotlight. My mom always wanted me to be in the school plays. My sister always got the leading role, and I was always in the background as a tree or a snowflake.”
Although both of their parents were international superstars, the Richards girls were raised in quiet Connecticut, where Keith and Patti still live, and where Alexandra and her director-cinematographer fiancé Jacques Naude, who hails from South Africa, go on the weekends to get away from fast-paced NYC.
“I loved growing up there,” she says. “A lot of people think I was raised in LA, but I’m like, ‘Noooo. I’m a Northeastern kinda chick.’ We had this little house in the woods, and we were so disconnected from the hustle and bustle. Although I didn’t know what that meant until we were obviously a lot older. Now I’m running home every weekend to my parents, like, ‘We’ll cook for you!’ It’s cozy. I’m a family girl.”
When she was 14, Alexandra’s first modeling job was a family affair: a Tommy Hilfiger shoot with Theodora. At 16, she started doing runway work and traveling the world. “I’d cry every night, because I hated flying without my mom,” she says. “I was crying in every city. Sixteen probably sounds old, but you’re still a baby. I was very young for my grade. I graduated [from Weston High School in Connecticut] and moved out at 17.”
At 21, she put modeling on the back burner and learned how to DJ from a friend, EB Sollis. “He DJ’d this [Manhattan] hotel lobby bar in the 30s that was very sexy, all red, and had a really cool rock ’n’ roll vibe.” One night, he was running late, so he asked Alexandra to fill in for him. “I was like, ‘F – – k yeah, I’ll do it,’” she says. “We got the place bumping.” Soon, their duo, Ebeneezer Wolf Child (her nickname is Wolfie), was born. Alexandra began landing gigs around the world — from then-hot NYC clubs like Bungalow 8 and Marquee to festivals like Coachella and Iceland’s Secret Solstice.
She also started DJing fashion shows (Jil Sander in the Bryant Park tents was her first) and friends’ charity events. That led to her own active charity work, including with the nonprofits Sphere, which aims to enrich the lives of adults with disabilities, and Project 0, which works to protect oceans around the world.
“Our campaign is to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, because right now, only 4 percent is protected,” she says.
Alexandra, who studied art for two years after high school, personally designed a hoodie (featuring her sketch of a mangrove) that will be sold this spring to benefit the initiative.
“Charities are my passion — they really mean something at the end of the day to me.”
I wanted to savor that engagement bubble, but that little girl in me is so excited, like, ‘I’m engaged!’
She’s also fiercely passionate about — and protective of — her family, as evidenced by her Instagram account, @officialalexandrarichards, which has nearly 46,000 followers and shows snippets of her personal life but never quite reaches TMI levels.
“The other day, someone asked me, ‘Why does your sister post more than you?’ And I was like, ‘Um, well that’s just her personality, and I like being mysterious.’” Theodora, 33, is indeed a more frequent chronicler of her day-to-day life. “I’m like: Where’s my sister?” Alexandra says with a laugh, pretending to stalk Theodora on Insta. “Alright, she’s now in Midtown. And she’s supposed to meet me downtown …”
She takes another sip of wine and gets more serious: “There’s so much on social media that’s negative and false, and a lot of stuff that looks fake to me, and I don’t want to be that. I don’t want to share something that looks cheesy. I want to be real. I’ve seen other family friends get completely overly exposed, and it’s sad, the aftermath that comes with it.
“My parents did a good job of knowing that business and personal life are two completely different things. I live a very quiet life. It’s a scary world, too, so it’s also fear that makes me not want to overly post. But if it’s something very meaningful, I’ll put it out there.”
In January, after getting engaged to Jacques, Alexandra did decide to share the news with her fans. “I couldn’t be more blessed or happier to bring in this new year with my sister and my future husband-to-be,” she wrote.
“In the beginning, I wanted to savor that engagement bubble,” she says. “But since I’m back home and bumping into friends, that little girl in me is so excited, like, ‘I’m engaged!’” Mom and Dad approve: “She said yes!” Patti posted. “Mom and dad love Jacques and we could not be happier for our Alexandra.”
The bride-to-be is still coy when it comes to the wedding details. “I can’t say when or where [it will be], but I’m definitely planning it. Pretty much everyone I know is getting married in 2020, because it looks good, but ours will most likely be this year.”
Alexandra will work on another arm of her career later this year: music supervising for TV, film and commercials. “My fiancé let me score his last short documentary, ‘Ziggy,’ which comes out in a few weeks. This is the next step into something I’m truly good at.”
As she beams about her new endeavor with her betrothed, Alexandra playfully twists the ring on her left hand, a stunning gold band. “You gotta work towards something, right? What’s life without passion?”
Fashion Editor: Serena French; Stylist: Johannah Masters; Model: Alexandra Richards at New York Models; Set Design: Chelsea Maruskin for Art Department ; Hair: Moiz Alladina for R+Co; Makeup: Sandrine VanSlee for Art Department
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