Chemena Kamali did a great job with her runway debut for Chloé, capturing the brand's sunny nonchalance, effortless femininity and youthful enthusiasm, while injecting some of the playfulness that Karl Lagerfeld exerted during his two defining tenures. the brand.
During a preview at the brand's showroom, Kamali snapped a fall 1978 runway image from her mood board and practically hugged it, so enamored is she with the roomy coat cinched with a quirky belt bearing the name by Chloé handwritten in gold metal.
She's in love with that whole late '70s period, and she also revisits a frothy lace blouse that appeared in a 1977 Chloé campaign, pairing her runway version with artfully faded jeans or cool black pants layered over shoes.
“It's a period that I find extremely relevant because a lot of the codes and values were established at that time,” he said. “It was very much about joy and freedom.”
Yet her show, presented in a stark, brightly lit, cream-carpeted space, spanned a wide swath of Chloé's history. Among the audience were previous ambassadors such as actress Clémence Poésy; Martine Sitbon, who designed for the brand from 1988 to 1992, and Philippe Aghion, the economist son of Chloé's feisty, funny and unabashedly feminine founder Gaby Aghion, who stood at the end of the show.
On the runway, nods to some of Chloé's other designers could be seen: Kamali's camel ensembles reminiscent of the Hannah MacGibbon era; the blue chiffon dresses and octagonal bags that harken back to the days of Phoebe Philo, and the extravagant knee-length leather pants with fringes that suggest the more daring days of Natacha-Ramsay Levi.
Kamali, like Gabriela Hearst before her, had always fallen madly in love with Chloé.
Born in Dortmund, Germany, and in love with fashion, Lagerfeld was Kamali's idol and Chloé her number one goal when it came time for a post-graduate internship. He took a train to Paris, showed up at the headquarters and pleaded with the receptionist until he finally called someone from the studio. His perseverance paid off and his portfolio opened a door that was opened several times. He started with Philo, then returned to Chloé with Clare Waight Keller, and now the third time's the charm.
Kamali enjoyed her previous periods, when all the women in the studio put on the clothes themselves. “Intuition is very important in the way we dress as women and I think it is closely related to the Chloé spirit,” she explained. “It should feel honest, sincere and grounded in reality.”
Sitbon approved of their effort, saying Kamali captured the house's “fresh but pretty” essence, its light spirit and its mix of “fragility and strength.”
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