Meet Alexandra, founder of LEX. – Newcastle’s answer to Mayfair after dark

If you were to open Alexandra Friend’s Pinterest board, you might struggle to work out what, exactly, you were looking at.

There are inspiration pictures from Lost Village and Houghton Festival, clippings of Vogue and Cosmopolitan fashion editorials, shots of Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe, and the violet-hued aesthetics of TV show Euphoria.

It is eclectic, slightly chaotic and, she admits, full of “excessive amounts of sparkle.”

Alexandra’s own makeup and fashion style reflect her influences. She looks like Alexa Demie (think of the 35-year-old’s recent outing at Paris Fashion Week in her Chanel skirt set), and embodies her attraction to contrasts – “something incredibly glamorous next to something gritty and dark.”

And now somewhere in that collision of references on her Pinterest board is LEX. – the new Newcastle nightlife event Alexandra is bringing to the city.

The idea is inspired partly by Mayfair, and partly by underground raves: Think heavy bass music, leopard prints, and body glitter mixed with four-in-the-morning sweat (by the time you reach Bigg Market Chippy, say bye bye to the body glitter).

Each event is imagined as its own “issue,” with its own visual language, soundtrack, and dress code.

LEX.’s first issue, Diamonds After Dark, is open to interpretation. There might be a full black-tie moment, so if you’ve been to the Newcastle Racecourse, grab your outfit out of the wardrobe. Equally, it could be a sharply cut black dress, a statement shirt, or jewellery that does the work. And please – no sliders or chinos. Looking at you, ruggers.

“I just want people to have thought about their look and feel like the best version of themselves in it,” Alexandra said.

“You can spend two hours getting ready, put on the dress, heels, and diamonds, and then completely lose yourself on the dancefloor.”

That sense of freedom runs through the thinking behind LEX., particularly its approach to femininity.

Alexandra is wary of the way social media has turned identity into a series of purchasable aesthetics, like the “clean girl,” the “it girl,” and “old money.”

“We’re constantly encouraged to choose an aesthetic, buy into a lifestyle, and build a recognisable version of ourselves around it,” she said. “It’s profitable because the more neatly you can package an identity, the more easily you can sell things to it.

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“I want LEX. to reject that idea that women have to be so easily categorised. Why can’t you be glamorous and gritty, polished and chaotic, feminine and completely feral?”

It is an interesting proposition for a nightlife space, where women are often acutely aware of how they occupy a room. Alexandra wants LEX. to remove some of that self-consciousness: “I want a woman walking into LEX. to feel like she can completely own the space, and know that she’s never “doing too much.””

There was no single moment that prompted the idea. Rather, Alexandra had become “increasingly aware through being around the UK’s nightlife scene who was actually being given the opportunities or calling the shots,” which is why she wants women behind the decks, involved in the creative direction, and helping to shape the nights themselves.

What about the soundtrack, though? Alexandra’s personal taste refuses a fixed category – she loves Nessa Barrett, Sam Fender, Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny, Tate McRae, and the High School Musical soundtrack.

UKG, house and bass are currently dominating her listening, with drum & bass, techno, and rave sounds forming the musical DNA of LEX.

“I have such a bipolar music taste,” she admitted.

To immerse yourself LEX.’s world, Alexandra suggests to “flick through a pile of Vogue magazines, watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, go down a Lost Village or Houghton rabbit hole, listen to Glory Box by Portishead, and then put on some heavy garage or bass and get ready to go out.”

It makes sense that the references do not necessarily match, but LEX. is less interested in a single aesthetic than in what happens when different worlds collide.

The Toon already has its own deeply established nightlife culture. Alexandra is not trying to “recreate” Mayfair or import another city’s scene wholesale. Instead, she wants to take elements from those worlds and build something that belongs here.

The ambition, unsurprisingly, stretches beyond one Newcastle event. Alexandra wants to take LEX. into other cities and eventually into the festival world. If she had an unlimited budget, she imagines huge lighting installations, immersive sets, live performers, and unexpected guest appearances – turning the night into something closer to an experience than a conventional club event.

“Ultimately, I’d love LEX. to become the kind of night people talk about afterwards – somewhere you go knowing you’re going to have an amazing time, but never quite knowing what to expect.”

LEX.’s first event is on Monday 12th October. Tickets on sale now.

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