March 3, 2017 |
I was going to badly appropriate the Spice Girls’ Goodbye here, being as this was Clare Waight Keller’s final collection for the house of Chloé, but, having Googled, realised that the lyrics are actually probably a little intense for the situation in hand. Which is not to suggest that our feelings about CWK leaving are in any way less intense than those we felt when Geri left the Spice Girls, but this, the house’s AW17 collection, Clare’s last, didn’t seem like an occasion for sadness. This was optimistic – CWK’s Chloé girl always has been one to see the brighter side of life. As the release said, “for her final Chloé collection, Clare Waight Keller delves into an edgy world of psychedelic optimism, the Chloé girl escapes down a rabbit hole of decades.” Which meant a rattle through the ages, those ages being mostly the Sixties and Seventies, decades long mined by the house. Hemlines were short, grazing the upper thigh – mostly in the form of mini dresses – some with big, voluminous sleeves, others shift-style and worn with 70s secretary-style blouses beneath, tied at the neck with a pussybow. There was this sort of elongated Peter Pan collar throughout (a “butterfly collar” according to the notes) and trousers were cut relaxed and baggy (echoed in the luxe-y sweatpants), so too the big, comfy knitwear. And all filtered through a kaleidoscope of colour – minty green, violet, ochre. A nice swansong. We wish the best of luck to Clare with whatever comes next.
Photograph by Jason Lloyd-Evans
