Clare Waight Keller Bids Adieu at Chloé

Clare Waight Keller presented her final collection for Chloé in Paris after six years at the French house. It wasn’t exactly a retrospective although there were plenty of nods to Chloé’s overall bohemian ’70s aesthetic complete with earthy-toned tie neck dresses, leather and plaid pea coats with fur collars, and Mary Janes that completed each look. And of course, there was plenty of the brand’s signature feminine flou. But sheer baby-doll dresses worn over lingerie slips had a certain ’90s Courtney Love appeal. And those oversized striped grandpa sweaters? Kurt Cobain through and through. Then there were ’80s style track suits, which looked best when not so overtly ’80s, like the brown leather trimmed version.

But the news here was the tailoring in low-slung tomboy trousers—a rebellion against the onslaught of the high-waisted jeans and pants in every fashion-conscious girls’ closet. They looked particularly cool when offset by sheer flirty feminine tops. Like Phoebe Philo and Stella McCartney before her, Keller herself has always had the look of a soft feminine tomboy, fitting in perfectly with the brand DNA built by the Brits before her at the French house. But wouldn’t it be fun if next she landed somewhere outside her comfort zone?