The House’s New Creative Director Finally Shares a Full Look at Pre-Fall 2024 Ahead of Its Release Next Month
On the announcement of its May 31st release in store’s and online, Chemena Kamali’s first collection for Chloé is finally getting a full debut treatment. The Pre-Fall 2024 collection was revealed to a small slice of the fashion press at the house’s Parisian headquarters ahead of her Fall 2024 runway debut; we also got a teaser of it through her first Chloé campaign. Now, Kamali’s first collection – which she conceives as a kind of “prologue” – is available to witness in all its boho-chic glory.
The imagery was captured by photographer Drew Vickers at the brand’s Rue de la Baume HQ, where the balcony overlooking iconic Haussmannian architecture and complete with wrought-iron railing lends the perfect frame to Kamali’s new direction, which balances references to Karl Lagerfeld’s work for the house in the 70s with utilitarian detailing and feminine whimsicality.
Since it was founded, Chloé has had a female point of view, one that is immediate, essential, real, and spirited. It does not transform you, but lets you be yourself and embrace life. My aim is to speak to women and answer their desire for clothes that are sincere and personal, silhouettes that play with fluidity and structure, full of movement and with a sense of ‘un-doneness.'”
– Chemena Kamali, Chloé Creative Director
Along with the release of the lookbook, the creative director shared a kind of manifesto, an extended digital show notes that expressed her intentionality behind this foundational collection – not only in terms of the archival fabrics she dug into, but also a desire “to make Chloé women feel like themselves and touch them with Chloé’s spirit and vitality.”
As well as tapping into a recent phenomenon of designers feeling a need to explain themselves more and more, this goal brings up the question of whether a brand goes to its customers or brings its customers to them, whether designers create trends or respond to them. Kamali’s Chloé debut sparked conversations around the return of boho, but outside of Chloé, we haven’t recently seen much of the aesthetic that dominated the 70s and its 2000s revival (and no, western wear isn’t boho!).
Instead of seeing Chemena Kamali’s direction for Chloé as a contrived attempt to revive a particular trend or category, then, we should recognize this first chapter as paying homage to the idea of free femininity that underlies the boho spirit. There is still a sad lack of woman creative directors at the head of major fashion houses, but Kamali is already making the most of her role by leaning into a contemporary womanhood that is layered, flexible, and light.
We’re looking forward to seeing her continue to write this new chapter.
