Chemena Kamali’s deep, almost forensic study of Chloé’s vast archives has yielded plenty of fashion inspiration for the designer, but also some fun facts.
When she decided to make tailoring a key focus for her pre-spring collection, she discovered that the late Savile Row tailor Edward Sexton, who famously made suits for Mick Jagger and The Beatles, worked as a tailoring consultant in Chloé’s atelier in the ’90s when Stella McCartney was creative director.
Kamali did tailoring her way, though, recoloring menswear checks to match her powdery pastel palette; giving a slight hourglass shape to double-breasted coats; elongating jackets, and giving pants a slight ’70s flare.
As a foil, she doubled down on lingerie-inspired dresses and tops, and gave airy, pleated skirts balletic airs.
Lo and behold, it all felt very Chloé.
“We have a huge fan base of women coming to buy our perfectly cut pants and tailored jackets and suits,” she said during a walk-through of the collection, installed in Chloé’s Paris headquarters. “But I love the contrast between the precision of the tailoring and the sensuality, the romanticism of lingerie.”
It added up to a free-spirited and resolutely feminine collection, and one with a subliminal British accent — perhaps reinforced by her look book models, who included Alexa Chung and Ella Valensi, daughter of American musician Nick Valensi of The Strokes fame.
“There’s this British way of mixing heritage pieces; these vintage-loving girls that dress in a more playful, spontaneous way,” she mused.
Kamali had some ideas of her own on how to knock out the stuffing out of a three-piece suit: Doffing the jacket and wearing a romantic blouse with tiered ruffles on the arm, or wearing a chunky, bib-like necklace in lieu of a shirt.
She also had some tough and tender moments with the Chloé name, spelling it out on a set of golden rings with low-key brass knuckle vibes, or as buttons on a cozy, multicolor cashmere cardigan.
