The return of boho has been recently floated in fashion. The vintage-inspired hippy-adjacent style – so popular in the early noughties – had a boost on Thursday morning at Paris fashion week with the Chloé show.
The first show from Chloé’s new creative director, Chemena Kamali, went big on boho, with floaty blouses, frills and neutral colours dominating. Sealing the deal? Sienna Miller – the queen of boho – sitting front row.
Chloé has a long history of insouciant feminine design that is catnip to boho fans. Kamali looked at the 70s work of Karl Lagerfeld in this collection, with over-the-knee boots, fringing, lots of chiffon frills and tan leather. Phoebe Philo’s and Stella McCartney’s designs in the noughties could be seen too – in high-waisted denim, and Portobello market-worthy blouses.
Backstage after the show, following greetings from her young son as well as from Jerry Hall and her daughter Georgia May Jagger, Kamali spoke about how the Chloé boho look was far from frivolous – it spelled freedom for women.
“Gaby Aghion [who founded Chloé in the 50s] injected lightness, she wanted women to be able to move and go to work,” she said. “And then in the late 70s, you had [another] moment of liberation in the evolution of femininity.”
Kamali began her career at Chloé and is a student of the brand. (The banana keyring attached to the show invitation was an ‘if you know you know’ reference to a Philo collection from 2004.) She says a characteristic that is “very Chloé” is nostalgia: “Looking at something that makes you feel something, but then taking the power of today and how we feel as women today.” This is arguably the essence of boho: a look that rummages in the styles of the past and comes up with the right kind of retro for right now.
The designer was appointed by Chloé in October, after Gabriela Hearst – the previous creative director – showed her last collection. The decision was hailed as a positive move for diversity by the industry. It had previously been noted that recent open positions at the top of global brands had gone to white men.
Kering – the conglomerate that owns labels including Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen – has been called out as a culprit. After Seán McGirr was appointed as creative director of McQueen in October, replacing Sarah Burton, an image of the conglomerate’s six white male creative directors began circulating on social media.
It would have been particularly notable if Chloé had appointed a man. The label was set up by Aghion in 1952 to champion simplicity and wearability. It has remained connected to an aesthetic that is feminine, but also cognisant of women’s real lives – with strong women-designing-for-women heritage. Lagerfeld is a rare exception gender-wise. Philo, McCartney, Clare Waight Keller and Martine Sitbon have all designed for the label.
Kamali is a worthy addition to this roll call. Originally from Düsseldorf, she was part of the design team at Saint Laurent and worked under Philo at Chloé in the early noughties, often seen as a golden era for the brand.
Kamali will be wanting to create another golden era – by connecting with consumers. “Chloé is about emotion, it’s about feelings and female energy,” she said backstage. “I always said I would love to bring back the feelings that I had when I fell in love with Chloé more than 20 years ago.”
