Natacha Ramsay-Levi makes her Chloe debut, bringing a new edge to the famously-pretty Parisian house
When Natacha Ramsay-Levi was appointed creative director at Chloé earlier this year, she became the first French woman to helm the Parisian label renowned for its carefree femininity since 1992.
In the intervening years, Karl Lagerfeld and then a quartet of Brits - Stella McCartney among them and most recently Clare Waight-Keller, now installed at Givenchy - have made Chloé the ultimate destination for feel-good clothes with an innate, woman-friendly ease (which may sound like a no-brainer given this is womenswear, but is not a quality to be taken for granted). Chloé's founder, Gaby Aghion, instilled these principles from the beginning in 1952 when her 'pret a porter' concept and luxuriously soft designs offered a revolutionary way of dressing for Paris's intelligentsia.
It was Aghion's intellectual ideals that 37 year-old Ramsay-Levi chose to explore in her debut collection at Paris fashion week this morning. "I want to give women the opportunity to show their inner strength, not their power. That's the personality of the woman I am drawn to," she said in a statement ahead of the show.
Where the previous iteration of Chloé was often uncompromisingly bohemian- adverts would show models twirling through fields in breezy, diaphanous dresses- Ramsay-Levi blended this with the harder-edged aesthetic which is not only a signature of her mentor Nicolas Ghesquiere, the Louis Vuitton designer with whom she had worked for years before taking this job, but of the cool Parisienne look which has been fetishised in recent years. Arguably, she is its new poster woman.
Sequins have been used wth glittering abandon on the catwalks so far this month, but Ramsay-Levi reimagined them to create a modern Joan of Arc look; a series of finale dresses comprised panels of delicate chiffon and chainmail with pailette-scattered ruffles. High-necked Victorian blouses were given attitude paired with a studded mini skirt while languid tailoring, often in leather, toughened-up lace and ditsy floral prints.
There was high-brow wit, too, in sumptuous velvet suits stamped with the prancing horse motifs which have long symbolised Aghion's philosophy of feminine freedom and strength but made famous when McCartney emblazoned them on dresses in 2000. Safari suits and earthy tones nodded to Aghion's childhood in Egypt.
Ultimately, accessories will be where Ramsay-Levi's success is judged in the boardroom. Chloé has enjoyed a series of megawatt hits with its Faye and Drew bags in recent years. Today, it was the jewellery in abstract and talismanic forms and stompy, clompy studded and buckled boots which seemed sure to fly straight from shop floor into the wardrobes of Chloé fans the world over.
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