In 1952, designer Gaby Aghion founded Chloé, a French fashion house with a difference. This was a monumental time in French fashion: Coco Chanel continued her revolutionary approach to women’s style, and Cristian Dior piloted his incredibly influential ‘New Look’ only five years earlier.
Aghion’s house, Chloé has left a legacy in many ways more influential than any of its contemporaries. Unlike Chanel, Dior – or even Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy, which were founded around the same time – Chloé clothing would be prêt-à-porter or ready-to-wear off the rack, a huge departure from the made-to-measure, haute couture, which characterised French fashion at the time. Aghion’s innovation changed designer clothes forever, and her house went on to become one of the fixtures of the French fashion scene.
Another French (style) Revolution
Gabby Aghion had lived a colourful life before founding Chloé at the age of 31. Born to a cigarette manufacturer in Alexandria, Egypt, she fell in love with her childhood sweetheart Raymond Aghion and moved with him to Paris in 1945, where he opened up an art gallery and she explored politics, gravitating towards the Communist faction prominent in Paris at the time. Agion was convinced that there was a gap in the market between luxury made-to-measure designer clothing and much cheaper off the rack fashion. She placed herself in the middle, calling Chloé ‘luxury prêt-à-porter’. Her first show, at Paris’ Café de Flore (then frequented by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir) was a sensation, changing fashion forever with its designs. Contemporary Yves Saint Laurent (whose eponymous house is now known simply as Saint Laurent) immediately rushed out a prêt-à-porter collection and other houses followed.
Chloé became a big player in the world of international luxury fashion in the 1960s, particularly after designer Karl Lagerfeld, took the helm in 1966. Lagerfeld’s collections brought a sense of playfulness to the label, which it retains to this day. In fact, his 1973 collection for the house gained notoriety for the way it combined high fashion and 'high camp'. His most memorable design was dubbed the ‘surprise skirt’, an ankle-length pleated skirt, designed in such a way as to disguise the fact it was actually a pair of pants. The design continues to be popular – Fendi, the house Lagerfeld currently heads, makes palazzo pants, which achieve a similar effect.
Plus ça change… plus ça change
Chloé’s reputation for tireless innovation only continued to grow post-Lagerfeld. In 1997, up-and-coming British designer, Stella McCartney was appointed creative director. The decision was controversial – McCartney was considered untested and Lagerfeld even publicly expressed his disapproval. It did not take long, however, for McCartney to disprove the naysayers. Though she did not launch big-name designs like other creative heads, she brought to Chloé the fun, feminine and romantic characteristics that it retains to this day. So successful was McCartney’s tenure that she was offered the opportunity to head her own house, Stella McCartney, after just four years.
In 2001, Phoebe Philo stepped into McCartney’s shoes as creative director. Joining the house as a young fashion graduate, Philo was keen to build on McCartney’s legacy by adding her own, youthful joie de vivre to the house. To this end, she launched lines of bags, shoes and other accessories under the diffusion label she founded, See by Chloé. Aimed at bringing luxury fashion to a younger crowd, See by Chloé built on the house’s reputation for fun informality with playful takes on its iconic designs.
It’s in the bag
In 2011, Clare Waight Keller – formerly creative director at Pringle – was appointed creative director. Keller’s passion was for Americana; though not so much the Tommy Hilfiger or Calvin Klein style, but the imagined America of the ‘Ole West', as playfully referenced in some early Versace collections. Her collections featured tassels, embossed leather and bright embroidery, all in reference to fun-time Americana.
Keller oversaw a renewed effort to place accessories at the heart of her collections, designing a number of iconic styles. Most recently she offered up Chloé Drew bags and it's very safe to say that the bags category reached a high-point under Keller’s leadership. The house is unique in that it places no identifiable branding on its bag designs and Chloé bags have become iconic, not for their ostentatious branding, but for their immediately recognisable silhouettes and unmistakable craftsmanship.
Chloé will go down in history as the house that invented prêt-à-porter, the business model that dictates the most design output in the modern fashion industry. However, behind this impressive legacy is a collection of designers who have consistently experimented with style, producing some of fashion’s most iconic designs.