ANOTHER fashion house hosting a designer debut this season is Chloé, joining Jil Sander, Givenchy where Chloé’s former creative director Clare Waight Keller is premiering, and Lanvin. Natacha Ramsay-Levi, the former right-hand woman of Nicolas Ghesquière at both Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, took on a gig of her own as the creative director of the brand founded by Gaby Aghion, by a woman for women.
Ramsay-Levi’s background was apparent in the SS18 collection as edgy boots, cropped jeans with white-thread stitching and structured looks reminiscent of Ghesquière’s style and silhouette at Vuitton were mixed in with soft feminine designs as Victorian tops transformed into long flowy dresses as well as bohemian aesthetic, both being the brand’s signatures, as ivory frilled folklore dresses and tops with symbolic watercolour-like paintings of eyes and florals were the most stand-out pieces.
Egyptian influences were employed as models wore gold tubogas bracelets around their arms paired with white dresses and even the above-mentioned dresses with painted eyes, which also appeared on handbags, could be seen as a reference to the eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power. This was to pay homage to the house’s founder who was very much inspired by the country and its colour palette of gold, white, red and terracotta which the new creative director used in her debut collection.
Python print, light silk shirts, tiny florals printed on chiffon dresses and velvet suits with a horse print recalled the 1970s but it did the original Chloé girl as well. And it was nice to see her.
The question is – is it good that Ramsay-Levi is taking the brand in a slightly different direction or is it that she just hasn’t let go of what she was used to in her previous job which has no place at Chloé? Only time will tell.
by Sara Hesikova
Images courtesy of KCD
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