If you aren’t yearning for escapism right now, you aren’t reading the news. Every breaking headline is more awful than the last, which is why fashion seems to collectively be obsessed with one topic for Spring/Summer 2019: travel. The runways this season have been infested with freewheelin’ haute hippies, boho babes, and jetsetting socialites – a theme reflective of the anxiety behind stasis. If the world outside your door is calling your name, maybe it’s time to pack a bag, change your perspective, and broaden your horizons.
Bohemian style has always been at the core of the Chloé brand. After all, the Chloé girl is nothing if not carefree. Designer Natacha Ramsay-Levi has proven to be adept at distilling this part of the brand’s DNA while imprinting her own, attitudinal form of cool on it. This time around, her Chloé girl was traveling to Coachella, or some equivalent music festival, and her nomad-inspired wardrobe spoke to her global point of view. To be fair, boho-girls-at-Coachella is some of fashion’s most well-mapped territory, so it is to Ramsay-Levi’s credit that she could curate a collection that still felt modern, effortless even.
It takes a balancing act to put forward such a well-defined collection while also appealing to women of different demographic backgrounds.
Here’s a challenge: take loud, vibrant scarf and bandana prints in clashing combinations and make them look ultra-chic. Because that’s exactly what Ramsay-Levi did to start her presentation. Cut in relaxed shapes and teamed with sculptural earrings and rope belts, even the loudest prints felt expensive – even when paired with logo tees. In fact, all of the clothes were cut beautifully and flowed nicely on the catwalk, including long plissé knit dresses, which tend to be stiffer. Mesh dresses, tunics, and creamy blousons were easy choices for the festival-goer to pack, but more sophisticated stuff like split-front trousers and longline cardigans felt right for the business-casual crowd too.
It takes a balancing act to put forward such a well-defined collection while also appealing to women of different demographic backgrounds. A small percentage of us will buy this collection and wear it to Coachella, but a much larger portion will buy it for everyday wardrobes (especially those gorgeous plissé dresses shown at the end). Commercial appeal and cool modernism are a rare combination and one that Ramsay-Levi has been brilliant at producing for Chloé since day one.
