“I’m thinking of it as chapter two for myself. I’ve tried a lot of different things; I thought, let’s simplify—be honest and true.” Spring 2020 is Natacha Ramsay-Levi’s fifth runway collection for Chloé. When a designer takes on her first creative director role, input comes from all sides; there can be a lot of different voices to deal with. Going forward, the plan for Ramsay-Levi is to listen only to her own. That has meant thinking hard about what Chloé is about and what the designer herself believes in.
What she’s come up with is a more refined message, shedding the bold prints and much of the boho accessorizing of past seasons and resisting any urge to fuss over a silhouette. The new collection has a foundational order to it. Ramsay-Levi’s Chloé stands for a silk lavaliere shirt, for a suit that’s strong but not unfeminine, for a shirtdress with interesting volume, and for a knit that feels particularly French. In keeping with this point of view about practicality, the bags for the season are roomier and slouchier; in the case of the Daria style, the leather is even a touch weathered and broken in.
Where earlier Ramsay-Levi might have avoided familiar Chloé-isms, like the particular shade of creamy peach associated with the brand since Karl Lagerfeld’s days, here she embraced them; the show ended with a pair of long, graceful pleated dresses in the color. The romance so closely associated with the label was in full blossom too, on a handful of micro-floral-print frocks. In one instance, she cut the dress’s sweetness by styling it unbuttoned over a silk bra and trousers. These were the most winning pieces in the collection, delicate like vintage treasures.
Ramsay-Levi couldn’t resist a few message tees and the fashion gesture of layering silk boxers under shorts. But all in all, her aesthetic turn to the classic and mature dovetails smartly with the increasing sense that customers are interested in shopping more responsibly and looking for lasting investments that aren’t datable to a specific season. A timely evolution.
