“The way I approach every collection is super instinctive: what am I feeling; what do I want to talk about; what do I want to show that we haven’t shown yet; where can I go that we haven’t been yet,” said Chemena Kamali with level-headed realness as we browsed her Chloé resort collection. So, where did all these questions lead her?
For starters, to more tailoring than we have seen in some time. Knowing that the house remains so inextricably linked to its flou, Kamali dived back to the late ’90s when sartorial techniques became a focus for Stella McCartney, who went so far as to enlist the late Savile Row legend, Edward Sexton, as a consultant. Thirty years later, a selection of proper suiting has returned to the Chloé repertoire, adding a stronger silhouette to the mix. To be sure, the pieces are decidedly feminine, from double- and single-breasted jackets constructed lightly and with a slight hourglass shape, to trousers that elongate the legs and sit higher on the waist. There were waistcoat iterations that encourage a well-composed, three-piece ensemble; yet a great blazer in classic windowpane check streaked with purple appeared with a flowing ballet skirt to signal that not every look need be fully coordinated. “The layering is so important, and the proportion play is so important,” noted the designer, who said she considers the styling right from the earliest stage of the creation process.
Surrounded by mannequins in lingerie-for-everyday pieces, it was interesting to learn how all the trims are uniquely developed for Chloé and will often vary from one season to the next so that they become “collectible items,” or else how an azure blue slip dress was garment-dyed so that the materials soaked up the color in their own way. Kamali clearly takes pride in some of these granular fabrication details, much like her clear vision for the lookbook, photographed by Brianna Capozzi, who put a contemporary spin on Deborah Turbeville’s distinctive, atmospheric scenes. “There was amazing female energy,” Kamali mused of the shoot featuring Jessica Miller and Alexa Chung joined by six younger models, each playing to different degrees of provocative, whether wearing a duster trench coat with a detachable lapel or tank with lacy décolleté.
For a non-runway collection, there was ample newness across footwear (ballerina flats dotted with lingerie buttons, satin bedroom mules, pumps with chains and charms and more) and jewelry (from sculptural cut-out shapes to replica club rings)—the noteworthy aspect being that brands like Chloé can build loyalty here before the steeper investment in ready-to-wear. It was refreshing to see a lineup that spanned easy henleys to substantial vegetable-tanned leather jackets, and how the Britishisms throughout were part of an intention to deliver clothes that were at once familiar and fresh. “We’re using fractions of the past and we edit, edit, edit,” she said. “There’s so much power in the past and what a memory can trigger—and this, for me, is what gives meaning.”
