クロエで定義される執着心によるコレクション

Bar word of a secret stash of vintage blouses numbering some 600 (and counting), Chemena Kamali is not a designer you would necessarily characterise as obsessional: her clothes have a lightness, a freedom and ease that transcends the usual use of that descriptor. She does head Chloé, after all, and that label is best summarised by all those aforementioned words. But obsession was the big idea that defined her Spring/Summer 2027 collection – the return, again and again, to things you love. 

Hey, if Chloé were a woman, she’d be a big old dewy-eyed romantic, so that also made sense. Four days before Kamali’s latest show, her studio walls were pinned with the creative detritus that defines the genesis of a fashion collection – namely, images of women, in clothes, that then shape the garments on the rack. The interesting thing with Kamali is that some of those images, by her own admission, come back to her season after season. Those were the obsessions. At Chloé, they padlock also into our idea of what that house should be – a photograph of Kate Moss rolling about a field in lingerie, old Chloé campaigns of fresh faces in filmy dresses, some of Kamali’s own big girl’s blouses. The French term for that kind of thing is idée fixe, which doesn’t really need a translation. But the fascinating thing about Kamali’s is that her references seem anything but fixed. It’s the factor that has made her tenure at Chloé a high spot in the house’s often see-sawing history of creative directorships: she understands, innately, what Chloé should be, and indeed needs to be. But she still pushes her luck. 

Accordingly, next to the ruffles and ribbons and delicacy of Chloé’s breezy dresses, and swatches and samples of broderie anglaise sourced from Edwardian originals and rescaled to punch through sweet puckered camisole tops and truly beautiful dresses for day and night, there were also photos of phalanxes of models captured in the late-1970s, wearing bright coats with swaggeringly wide shoulders. Those were from Chloé’s Karl Lagerfeld salad days, yet they contradict a much-parroted modern perception of the label as something constantly light-hearted and fluid. Yet, to anyone with fashion nous, they’re fundamentals. Kamali has plenty: I first met her in January 2024, just before her Chloé debut. Those Lagerfeld images were pinned up then, and have remained ever since – a kind of lode star for the confidence she wants her Chloé to express. It also suggests a confounding of expectation, a challenge. And the fact that even a Chloé woman wants a great coat.

So, what were Kamali’s obsessions this time? To literally illustrate she created a fanzine placed on every seat, filled with shots of the current collection, her own past greatest hits, and some of those snippets of Chloé that shaped her vision. “I wanted to explore Chloé archetypes, never stereotypes,” she said, meaning lingerie was there, and that broderie anglaise – which ended up applied to sweet cotton eyelet dresses, but also narrow trousers and even leather, as well as bubbled in organza. Slick vinyl coats and capes cut in those Lagerfeldian silhouettes were the push this time, some in solid black or ketchup and mustard rainmac brights, others in smoked transparencies, sou’wester hats pulled peekaboo over one eye like Veronica Lake. Sharp tailoring nodded to Lagerfeld too, but also Stella McCartney’s tenure, itself a Seventies throwback. They felt like they were engineered for a new Chloé woman – indeed, they were the looks you imagine Kamali herself wearing, and looking incredible.

What this wasn’t was a show of heavy intellect or concept – that’s definitely not Chloé’s bag. Kamali said she just wanted to feel it. “My approach to Chloé has always been intuitive,” she said. “I just wanted something deeply personal.” And filled with love.

Bar word of a secret stash of vintage blouses numbering some 600 (and counting), Chemena Kamali is not a designer you would necessarily characterise as obsessional: her clothes have a lightness, a freedom and ease that transcends the usual use of that descriptor. She does head Chloé, after all, and that label is best summarised by all those aforementioned words. But obsession was the big idea that defined her Spring/Summer 2027 collection – the return, again and again, to things you love. 

Hey, if Chloé were a woman, she’d be a big old dewy-eyed romantic, so that also made sense. Four days before Kamali’s latest show, her studio walls were pinned with the creative detritus that defines the genesis of a fashion collection – namely, images of women, in clothes, that then shape the garments on the rack. The interesting thing with Kamali is that some of those images, by her own admission, come back to her season after season. Those were the obsessions. At Chloé, they padlock also into our idea of what that house should be – a photograph of Kate Moss rolling about a field in lingerie, old Chloé campaigns of fresh faces in filmy dresses, some of Kamali’s own big girl’s blouses. The French term for that kind of thing is idée fixe, which doesn’t really need a translation. But the fascinating thing about Kamali’s is that her references seem anything but fixed. It’s the factor that has made her tenure at Chloé a high spot in the house’s often see-sawing history of creative directorships: she understands, innately, what Chloé should be, and indeed needs to be. But she still pushes her luck. 

Accordingly, next to the ruffles and ribbons and delicacy of Chloé’s breezy dresses, and swatches and samples of broderie anglaise sourced from Edwardian originals and rescaled to punch through sweet puckered camisole tops and truly beautiful dresses for day and night, there were also photos of phalanxes of models captured in the late-1970s, wearing bright coats with swaggeringly wide shoulders. Those were from Chloé’s Karl Lagerfeld salad days, yet they contradict a much-parroted modern perception of the label as something constantly light-hearted and fluid. Yet, to anyone with fashion nous, they’re fundamentals. Kamali has plenty: I first met her in January 2024, just before her Chloé debut. Those Lagerfeld images were pinned up then, and have remained ever since – a kind of lode star for the confidence she wants her Chloé to express. It also suggests a confounding of expectation, a challenge. And the fact that even a Chloé woman wants a great coat.

So, what were Kamali’s obsessions this time? To literally illustrate she created a fanzine placed on every seat, filled with shots of the current collection, her own past greatest hits, and some of those snippets of Chloé that shaped her vision. “I wanted to explore Chloé archetypes, never stereotypes,” she said, meaning lingerie was there, and that broderie anglaise – which ended up applied to sweet cotton eyelet dresses, but also narrow trousers and even leather, as well as bubbled in organza. Slick vinyl coats and capes cut in those Lagerfeldian silhouettes were the push this time, some in solid black or ketchup and mustard rainmac brights, others in smoked transparencies, sou’wester hats pulled peekaboo over one eye like Veronica Lake. Sharp tailoring nodded to Lagerfeld too, but also Stella McCartney’s tenure, itself a Seventies throwback. They felt like they were engineered for a new Chloé woman – indeed, they were the looks you imagine Kamali herself wearing, and looking incredible.

What this wasn’t was a show of heavy intellect or concept – that’s definitely not Chloé’s bag. Kamali said she just wanted to feel it. “My approach to Chloé has always been intuitive,” she said. “I just wanted something deeply personal.” And filled with love.