Chloe brings back boho chic at Paris Fashion Week
New creative director Chemena Kamali’s first runway show was full of boho touches and Seventies inspirations.
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Your support makes all the difference.Boho is back, according to Chloe’s Paris Fashion Week show.
It was one of the most highly anticipated catwalk shows on the schedule, marking creative director Chemena Kamali’s debut collection.
Kamali, 42, presented a strong vision for the brand, looking back at Chloe collections from the 1970s and giving her own spin to boho fashion.
For her debut runway show, she told Vogue: “I wanted a fresh start in terms of lightness, movement, flou, strong proportion play, great outerwear pieces – timeless and iconic wardrobe pieces which are recognisably Chloe.”
She specifically looked to Karl Lagerfeld’s Chloe collections from the Seventies, which she described as having an “effortless femininity” – which would be an apt way to sum up her first offering, too.
The show opened with a model wearing a cropped black leather poncho over a flowing white mini dress with trailing sleeves.
This type of boho-inspired, festival fashion ran throughout the collection – flared patchwork jeans were worn with ruffled lace tops; dresses were see-through and frothy with caped coats; and fringed leather jackets gave things a bit of an edge.
Blouses were a major part of the collection, which is perhaps unsurprising – Kamali is obsessed with blouses, and told Vogue she owns around 600-700 vintage styles.
The colour scheme was muted – all shades of beige were worn with peach tones, powder blues and more, while the styling was effortless and simple. Models – including some big names in the fashion world, like Doutzen Kroes and Vittoria Ceretti – had their hair in loose waves, with minimal make-up.
Even the accessories seemed to hark back to the Seventies. Statement sunglasses were worn with plenty of chunky gold jewellery and bags were loaded with matching gold hardware.
While the collection took its inspirations from the past, Kamali brought it well and truly up to date. There were plenty of modern touches – including a classy way to do logomania, with some models wearing gold belts spelling out ‘Chloe’ in cursive letters.
Kamali also seemed to give her own spin on styles currently dominating the runways, like the trends for super-short shorts and thigh-high boots.
She took over the role from Uruguayan designer Gabriela Hearst in October of last year, who brought a more crafty and colourful aesthetic to the Chloe brand.
German-born Kamali has a long history with the brand – she started as an intern, and worked with previous head designers like Phoebe Philo and Clare Waight Keller, while also having a stint under Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent under her belt.
She took an emotional bow at the end of the show in a look that mirrored the runway – flared jeans, a beige blouse and loose hair.
Earlier this month, Chloe released a portrait series to tease the upcoming collection, starring model Jerry Hall, who was one of Lagerfeld’s muses when he was creative director of Chloe.
Hall was front row in a classic beige belted trench coat to watch the latest collection come down the runway, and was joined by her model daughter Georgia May Jagger, who wore a black leather jacket with a furry trim.
And considering the collection was essentially an ode to boho fashion, who better to be on the front row than actor Sienna Miller – who championed the style in the Noughties.
She wore a modern interpretation of boho: a white, lace-trimmed slip dress with a leather bomber jacket and Seventies-inspired platform shoes.
The Seventies vibe didn’t stop there – also on the front row was Big Little Lies star Kathryn Newton, who wore a floaty black lace top and flared trousers.
While Marisa Abela, who stars as Amy Winehouse in the upcoming biopic called Back To Black, wore wide-leg jeans with a black belted leather utility vest on top.