If there is one decade most closely associated with the house of Chloé, it would be the 1970s, for its distinct sense of girlishness. This girlishness was present in the brand’s Fall/Winter collection, the fifth designed by Uruguayan-born Chemena Kamali. It was intriguing to see femininity disrupted by sculptural elements, a clear nod to the 1980s (the natural successor, after all), and edgier leather outerwear such as short and long jackets and coats. 

That girlishness, which Chloé’s chief executive officer, Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye, has described as the foundation of the French house’s “woman-centric, soft approach,” is based on making women want to feel pretty, young, feminine, and sexy. These house 'codes' have undergone different applications across the different designers who have worked at Chloé, starting with the founder, Gaby Aghion, in 1952 all the way to Phoebe Philo’s tenure between 2001 and 2006. 

While Philo injected the house with a formidable roster of sleeker, jet-setting icons such as Bianca Jagger and Talitha Pol Getty with her floaty blouses, slip dresses, and shrunken boy jackets, Kamali’s vision feels more aligned with Cool Britannia. For this collection, she spoke of “old aristocracy,” evoking the image of a vodka soda swilling (hold the lime) London girly-about-town who suddenly finds herself on the estate, or in some other pastoral setting, with no cell signal. 

The opening look was a damask soft pink cropped biker with a long chiffon skirt and chunky belt slung low on the waist. The gentler fare was continued with a frilly negligee with a fur stole with tails dangling in a shade of baby powder; following was another version in misty rose. There were lace-trimmed camisoles and a shrunken Victorian-style jacket that added to a hand-me-down of boot-fair find quality lent to the range. They also revealed a time before treasure hunts were made on eBay and Depop.  

Interrupting the British “aristo-dishevelment” of Chloé circa the 2000s, as Jonathan Van Meter coined it, was a rock-chick vibe. Burgundy leather stovepipes were paired with a camisole and a fur-trimmed rose-pink coat. Gone were the trousers with the asses hanging out and biker-babe tank tops of Stella McCartney’s era, which predated both Kamali and Philo (McCartney once described her style as looking like she’d “shagged in a bush”). More leather options included a fur-collared cropped biker jacket in Tuscan brown, layered over an ankle-length slip with a lace collar and aviator sunglasses—who could forget the iconic Fall/Winter 1999 opening look? Other accessories included the updated ‘Paddington’ style, which was heaped over many of the looks; there were fur tails too, and a jumble of chains and charms dangling from waists, necks, and collars. What could be seen as over-accessorising to some felt more like Jane Birkin’s habit of tying found ribbons and bracelets to the handles of her Birkin handbag as if they were sacred totems. 

More leather and fur options channeled the 1980’s era of Chloé, which was helmed by Karl Lagerfeld until 1988 before he joined again in 1992. A chestnut-coloured collarless fur jacket with buckles was worn by Boho babe and System beauty editor Tish Weinstock, though it also could've been worn by the likes of English actress Charlotte Rampling or Princess Diana zipping along hedgerow-lined lanes in her Jaguar XJ-SC. One long overcoat in soot had a puffed sleeve, while another was a cropped cocoa with bootcut slate leather trousers. 

We were also plunged into a sort of 70’s haze of lingerie slips, in varying shades—brilliant rose, celadon, and a blush worn with an astrakhan fur-lined coat by Noughties icon Alexa Chung. The closing of the presentation comprised of frilled lace dresses that ranged from Victorian to the slip dresses that felt more related to those worn in the 1930s. There were also frilled tops worn off the shoulder, camisoles, and low-slung peasant skirts that bared the midriff. 

Kamali, through the adoption of the Brit-style “awaken(ed) the girl in every woman,” as de la Bourdonnaye explained after being questioned on what drives the spirit of Chloé. With Kamali’s addition of leather, fur, a broader shoulder, and an 1980's silhouette, she has made Chloé ever so slightly a grrrrl.