Sienna Miller ist da, Juliette Lewis, Selma Blair und Diane Kruger sind es auch. Links neben der Fotowand bildet sich am Donnerstagvormittag schon eine Promi-Traube, weil die Fotografen gar nicht hinterherkommen, die vielen berühmten Frauen abzulichten, die bei Chloé anlanden. Prominente gehören zwar beim Prêt-à-porter dazu wie der Champagner bei der Party am Abend. Bei Chloé aber war der Andrang bislang begrenzt. Jetzt zeigt sich, was und vor allem wer diese Marke mit Tempo, Fleiß und sogar Spaß nach vorne bringt.
Vor gerade mal einem halben Jahr zeigte Chemena Kamali ihre erste Kollektion als Chefdesignerin von Chloé. Damals war sie höchstens Insidern bekannt, darunter einigen Deutschen. Die 42 Jahre alte Modemacherin ist in Dortmund aufgewachsen, hat in Trier studiert und mal in Nördlingen für Strenesse gearbeitet – bevor sie nach Paris ging und unter anderem als Studioleiterin für Saint Laurent tätig war.
Dann kam das Debüt als Chefdesignerin bei Chloé im Februar. Im Mai war sie beim Met Ball in New York, dem Oscar-Abend der Modebranche. Aber sie trat nicht wie üblich mit einem einzigen Promi an ihrer Seite auf, sondern hatte eine ganze Schar Frauen mitgebracht: Greta Gerwig, Sienna Miller, Emma Mackey, Zoe Saldana. Kurz darauf war Chemena Kamali im Schloss Bellevue bei einem Staatsbesuch von Emmanuel Macron zur deutsch-französischen Freundschaft dabei. Zum Parteitag der Demokraten im August stattete sie Kamala Harris gleich zweimal aus.
She brought the floral prints out of the archives
Eventful months for a designer who has worked with star designers for a long time. Now she is in this role herself and at the same time brings Chloé’s past into the present. The many floral prints in the collection come from the archives. Karl Lagerfeld, then at Chloé, had them developed for his 1977 collection by a silk producer in Matera. So Kamali and her team traveled to Puglia and brought the prints from Matera onto this runway.
The historical aspect makes the pieces special, the cuts – especially the mullet dresses, as short at the front as skimpy miniskirts, and at the back they skim the floor – make them modern. Kamali throws jackets on top that appear looser than the many broad-shouldered blazers elsewhere on the catwalk. This also reflects her self-confidence as a designer.
While many fashion designers in Milan last week exalted the dolce vita and talked about the Italian summer, but mostly didn’t have the courage to consistently introduce loose, light summer dresses into their collections, this Chloé collection is wonderfully light-hearted. “Summer feeling can manifest itself in different ways,” says Kamali backstage after the show. “Some want to go and experience something. Others want to take a break. For me it was about bringing the feeling of getting closer to yourself again into the collection.”
This is how you create a mood. At the Gauchere label it comes without a catwalk show. The designer Marie-Christine Statz, another German who has long been rooted in Paris, welcomes guests in her studio. Their color blocking and dresses made from shaved ribbon yarn also stand out on the hanger.
Conversely, Valérie Messika, who designs jewelry under her own name, uses the big stage: a catwalk show for her diamond jewelry. The hustle and bustle in the evening at Messika tops the rush in the morning at Chloé: Eva Herzigová on the catwalk, Heidi Klum and Tom Kaulitz in row one. One block further: Cardi B, Natalia Vodianova and in between – also unusual – the designer herself, Valérie Messika. This means that she is actually in good company in these first days of ready-to-wear.
Because Dries Van Music is no longer backstage with the models at the Dries Van Music show, but is sitting in the front row. In March he announced his resignation from the company, which he founded in 1986 and sold in 2018. What a strange moment: Dries Van Noten without him for the first time. The result of the design team from Antwerp shows that he left his house in good condition. They present a fireworks display of fabrics and prints, the hallmark of the Belgian brand. Shiny satin with masculine stripes, watercolor florals on textured fabrics, interspersed with marketable monochrome satin blousons and snake print bags. At the end, the whole team takes to the catwalk. That can also be a start.
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