“A £5 pint will entice the girl”: Alex Consani is looking forward to LFW (and Wetherspoons)

She’s fronted Chanel, McQueen, Versace, Burberry (the list goes on…), but it was a last-minute H&M outfit that really set Alex Consani’s career in motion. “I was 18 when I first came to New York, and my agents forced me into one of the stores before a go-see,” the 21-year-old says, dialling in through a taxi’s Bluetooth. “It was a very important casting, actually, and they were just like ‘You need this, you need that!’” But the generic tank-top-and-skinny-jeans uniform was never going to cut it for someone who, under the TikTok alias Captain Crook, claimed to smell like “Gorilla farts” and “Nair”. “No, I wore (hot take!) a black, long-sleeve bodysuit with popped collars, a micro miniskirt and a black heel.” Another look might have sent her on a different path. “Oh, that one made me,” she says. “For sure.”

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It feels sort of full circle, then, that the reason we’re talking at all is H&M’s autumn/winter 2025 campaign, in which Consani appears alongside fellow models-of-the-moment Vittoria Ceretti, Mona Tougaard, Angelina Kendall and Sara Choi. “It was so much fun,” she says. “Hanging out, listening to music, having a f***ing heyday with all the burgers catering sent to set. And it felt powerful, too, to be with a group of strong women, each with their own stories, coming together to make something. Like, Spice Girls assemble!” The reference is almost too apt: the collection, as H&M’s head of design Ann-Sofie Johansson says, draws on “’90s Britain, and the rebellious, free-spirited vibe that came from the amazing creatives, music, movies and magazines from that era.” For Consani, that means one thing: Spice World. “That film shaped me. Did you see their moving van thing? That is, like, bedroom goals,” she adds. “It’s where you’re going to shoot me for the British Vogue cover I’m still waiting on.”

Photographed over three days in London, the images serve as a prologue to the brand’s debut on the London Fashion Week schedule: a catwalk-turned-club night at 180 The Strand, presenting three collections – H&M Studio, H&M Atelier and H&M’s main womenswear line – with everyone from Jacob K and Katie Grand, to Matiere Noire and Soulwax enlisted to help sculpt the event. It is, in other words, going to be big, bankrolled by the same deep coffers that not long ago brought Charli xcx to Stratford and Doechii, Robyn and Jamie XX to downtown Los Angeles. If those spectacles drew in what felt like half their respective cities, this one promises to be just as accommodating to the public, with daytime panels, workshops and fashion show tickets available to everyone via social media sign-ups. “Let’s get into it,” Consani adds. “The clothes are really good, and you know I love my London girls.”

“So, when I made the account, I was listening to a lot of Megan Thee Stallion, who has this song called ‘Captain Hook’. I was also still living in the Bay Area, and I was known, at the time, to be a bit of a crook when it came to, like, make-up and stuff. I combined the two and Captain Crook was born.”

“They should’ve been scared, honestly.”

“I mean, little old H&M has always been giving for me. I didn’t have an H&M in my town, but I remember when I first came to New York, I had this really important casting. I think it was my first – or one of my first – times at H&M, and it was crazy. They had so many amazing pieces. My agents were like, ‘You need this, you need that’, and I still have those pieces today. I actually still wear them. It was such a fun experience, going to one of my first big castings and showing up in gorgeous H&M.”

“Ending the night at a Wetherspoons, probably.”

“Baby, the first time I went to London, I was in that b****. Like I said, I have a lot of friends here, and it’s just a classic. That’s how it started. Then, when I started working more, and people began recognising me, I found out you could use the QR code to get people to buy you drinks. So I was just going around, and everyone was like, ‘Hey, how are you? Wanna drink?’. Everyone in the US is so stingy, and so it became a little challenge with my friends to see who could get the most drinks. And you know what? I’m not a nepo baby, so when you don’t have money, but still want a good time, a five-dollar pint will entice the girl. I’m not saying I’m now the face of Wetherspoons, but it’s a fun spot.”

“You have to be a British person to really know the difference between them, because they all have different names, so it kinda gets you. I like the ones that sound fancy so I can, like, live in a fantasy.”

“Oh, no, baby – a pint of water! I’m always gonna have a little chicken nugget and chips, though. Yes, chicken and chips, babes, classic, with some vinegar and salt. You know they never put enough salt.”

“Girl, no. I’ll meet up with one of my sisters, and we’ll just walk around and explore. I recently went to this place with Levi Asher, one of my friends and agent, called Roses of Elagabalus in Dalston. There’s always interesting people there. Otherwise, there’s this roller rink, Flippers, which I went to for opening night, and have weirdly been to a couple of times since. Oh, and maybe a karaoke booth. Y’all British girls love some karaoke, so I always end up singing and doing bowling or some sh**.”

“‘Ultraviolet Love’ by Sophie. It’s basically two words, but, sis, I’ll sing those words.”

“No, girl. Ugh, I mean, I’ve found my group, and there are definitely some girls out there, but it’s a totally different scene compared to the community I’m used to in the US. I know the dolls in London are really, really fabulous, though, so I’m still on the hunt.”

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“I don’t know, girl. 304?”

“Oh, well, it used to be Brockley, but all the girls from the south are moving north. Times are changing, and I now feel like more of a Dalston girl. I find myself in Hackney a lot, to be honest. I spent some time in the west recently, and it was, like, terrible. Like, ‘Oh my God…’.”

“Girl, it’s all the same sh**. It just doesn’t have the same grit that gives London its character. I mean, I love a posh west London girl but I don’t resonate with it. Even though I do love to wear a button-up.”

“No.”

“My friend’s flat. Otherwise, it’s Clissold Park, babes, which is very fab. There’s also this one place that I get matcha at, and I hate to gatekeep, but there’s never any seats for me. That sh** is like… ugh, anyway, it’s called Moko Made, and babe, it’s so good, and so close to my hotel. They have the best Japanese pastries and matcha in London. I also try to make it a point to go to the Museum of Home. They got sh*** there. Oh, and Latino Hits in Dalston. Baby, you can’t beat a £5 two for one.”

“A club card?”

“No, that’s f***ed up. Tell me about it.”

“So she got an invite-only Tesco card? Damn, girl. I see how it is. F*** Tescos. We riding with, what’s that other one you have over there, Marks & Spencer? Tell them I got that card.”

“Beginner, girl. I don’t like it. I’ve had many a Nando’s sandwich, and I can’t handle it. I like it spice-less!”

“The Victoria line, or hot take: the Overground. But it can be a lot sometimes.”

“No one can buy me a drink on a Limebike, either, babe, but a girl can dream.”

“I mean, Charli xcx, of course. Also: Shygirl, Sarah Jane Morris, Kai-Isaiah Jamal, Mina Galan and Levi Asher. There’s a lot of cool f***ing people in the UK.”

There’s a conformity in the US, people feel like they need to fit in. And sure, the trackie stereotype is real, but in the UK, I see way more different aesthetics, way more expression. There’s also a bigger age gap. Like, in New York, it’s mostly younger people, whereas in the UK, it’s young and then just… old. No shade: they’re fitted in a way we don’t really see anymore. So, you know what? Kudos.”

“I’m going to stop by H&M and get my closet together, of course! But, honestly, the most important thing is getting my mental health in order. You’ve got to surround yourself with people you love, and make sure to take time to do things for yourself. I’m blessed to have an amazing group of girls, who I have a connection with outside of work, too. I’m pretty ready for this season.”