Paris this season has been particularly tribal, with clan identities breaking out in very different directions: midcentury revivalism chez Dries, Rochas, and Giles, a healthy dose of Belgian Gothic chain-rattling at Demeulemeester and Ackermann, the neo-minimalists at Céline and Givenchy, whole zoos’ worth of fur creeping around at Chapurin, Chanel, Gaultier, etc. And then there’s Chloé’s beige-bourgeois Breck-girl army of 1970’s archetypes. Hanna MacGibbon deserves credit for plunging Chloé into a purifying acid bath of WASP minimalism and hacking away at all of the trivial, girly logo-mania of the golden age. The collection was anything but diverse and save for a few flashes of strikingly bad taste – I’m sorry but Southwestern style fringed leather pants should only be worn with turquoise jewellery, Virginia Slims, bourbon breath and a Texas accent – made for the kind of clean, aspirational purchases working women make in times of austerity. MacGibbon also brought us a beige fantasia last spring so it seems the formula’s working for someone. To be fair, this collection was richer in colour and texture – leather piping on woolens and large-gauge seventies knits, and even a passage of black leather which must have caused the designer many a sleepless before being rubber-stamped. And the 1970’s yearbook photo hair and makeup were spot-on.
www.chloe.com/
Chloé, 9 Mar, Espace Ephémère Tuileries
> what you’re saying