PARIS – Chloe’s new creative director, Clare Waight Keller, has peeled off the thick ponchos and woollen coats that shrouded the Paris label over past seasons to reveal the kinds of light, girly, romantic looks for which the house is known.
Drop-waisted apron dresses in ivory and tan crepe de chine were layered over linen blouses Monday, while slouchy trousers and shorts were paired with boxy button-down shirts. And everything was covered in pleats – tiny bicolour accordion pleats that shook seductively as the models walked and wider ones that gave the A-line skirts a school-girlish charm.
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Under Waight Keller’s feather-light touch, Monday’s spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection marked a return to the house’s signature romantic roots – which under predecessor Hannah MacGibbon sometimes got smothered under thick woollen capes, leather paper bag-waisted pants and oversized shirts in thick chambray.
It was a strong debut from Waight Keller – a British designer formerly of knitwear label Pringle of Scotland – and a good sign for the label, which has struggled in recent years to duplicate the success it knew under two former designers, Stella McCartney and Phoebe Philo.
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