Chloé recalls Karl Lagerfeld in latest show

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 28, 2019

The house of Chloé paid homage to Karl Lagerfeld in the brand’s latest show on Thursday, a tribute to the recently departed couturier who was the house’s designer back in both the '70s and '90s.

 
A small pack of photos left on each seat featured six photos from the 1970s – editorials and ad campaigns – capturing the insouciant spirit of those times. Like the legendary Guy Bourdin campaign of 1977 image of four maidens in white lace dresses anxiously beside a group of tables, chairs and a human figure all shrouded in white sheets. The back of each card carried quotations by Karl.
 
“Discretion is the key. My dresses are for women who go beyond the obvious. It’s why I strung them together with belts of strings and espadrilles. They’re made to transform everyday life into a fairytale, to create an atmosphere at every moment,” read the accompanying quote from Lagerfeld, plucked from Vogue Paris.

Discretion, however, was hardly the key word on today’s curving catwalk inside the Maison de la Radio. One witnessed modern femininity, sophisticated and self-assured style -- albeit not terribly unexpected fashion from a house which is meant to represent French nonchalance.
 
As self-confident as a Parisienne night-clubber smoking a Gauloise, fittingly as every invitation for this Chloé show contained a box of matches. Inside of which, oddly, is an image of a rocky seascape. On the outside the Chloé Girl poster image – a silhouette of a young woman holding her hands in the air to make a figure eight.

 
Practically every look was an mélange: from culottes meeting cocktails in windowpane check to a khaki shirtdress, overdone with an upturned kilt that was then left undone. What worked best were the simpler ideas, such as toile de Jouy shirt-dresses and stark leather boyfriend double-breasted coats. 
 
Everything was covered in bracelets, brooches, rings, bicep circles, buckles, earrings, pendants and necklaces – all competing furiously.
 
Ramsay is certainly a talented designer, but devoid of any self-editing button. Too much is never quite enough for her Chloé gals. Discretion is forbidden.