“The frustrated desires of the bourgeoisie” was how Natacha Ramsay-Levi described the mood of her sophomore collection for Chloé. The just-below-the-surface simmer of insouciant sex appeal is what Paris fashion week sells. (For the more in-your-face version, take a look at Milan.)
It is a mark of her talent that Ramsay-Levi has made nailing the Chloe house style in just two seasons look easy. After a debut show that paid direct homage to the chic looks of founder Gaby Aghion, this second season continued to play to all the label’s strengths, but was more focussed on one trend: the 70s.
All the tropes of cool-girl French dressing were here. Fluid silk blouses worn deshabille, plunging to show bare skin. Ankle boots with a kick of edgy hardware. High-waisted trousers with a sensual, jodhpur-esque curve at the hips. Loose trenchcoats and sensual sweater dresses with cosy ribbed high-necks offset by shark bite peepholes at the ribcage. Party dresses more boudoir than red carpet, with lingerie lace and undone ribbon ties. “For me, the Chloé girl is very French but for a lot of people she is very English – because all the designers were,” Ramsay-Levi recently told Vogue, referring to the trio of British women who preceded her: Clare Waight Keller, Phoebe Philo and Stella McCartney.
The cool girl was never more laid-back than in the 1970s. Wide wing collars, flared trousers and earthy tones of tobacco, cream and cognac rooted this collection clearly in that decade. It was another retro reference in a fashion week which finds Paris in nostalgic mode. Dior harked back to the 1960s on Tuesday, and Dries Van Noten to the 1930s on Wednesday.
