Natacha Ramsay-Levi is the first Frenchwoman installed at Chloé since Martine Sitbon was appointed in 1988. After Gaby Aghion founded the house in 1952, there has been a long line of successors—among them Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, and Clare Waight Keller, who just left for Givenchy after six years. The house has proven to be a superb launching pad for the designers who’ve walked through its doors. Ramsay-Levi is well-known within French fashion circles; she worked at Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton for Nicolas Ghesquière, who was in her cheering section today, but this is her first creative director post, her first moment in the spotlight.
She did a bang-up job. Despite the long, drizzly queue to get in and the tricky sight lines once we were seated—the headquarters was much too small for a crowd so curious about Ramsay-Levi—this was a super-confident debut, bubbling over with variety and distinctive pieces that will be instantly identifiable as Chloé when they start parading around next year. Not to mention with relatable accessories like cannage leather boots, python booties, and multi-strap anti-It bags to sweeten the mix.
Ramsay-Levi’s approach was to look at the entire history of the house and lift a little bit from all of her predecessors. From Lagerfeld came the idea for the painted dresses, only hers are crisp cotton, not silk, and painted with auspicious symbols like eyes and hands. McCartney and Philo both liked horses, and Ramsay-Levi’s chevaux were embroidered on trim velvet tailoring. She said she took a sense of lightness from Waight Keller, indicating the floaty micro-floral print dresses. Even Hannah MacGibbon got a nod via a pair of slouchy camel pants.
More than anything, though, this looked like Ramsay-Levi herself and the strong, sturdily heeled figure she’s long cut on Paris’s fashion scene. In particular, the tailored leather outerwear and skinny cropped jeans stitched with identifying Os are a firm about-face from the dreamy bohemianism of recent Chloé collections. But it’s a shift that feels sharply attuned to our times. Elsewhere, there were trophy items aplenty that young women will eagerly save up for: silk jersey “going out” tops with embroidered bibs, a prairie dress in the faintest blue linen with rings piercing the bodice, and those horsey velvets.
