Chloé’s contemporary Stéphane Audran chic
Audran – the star of multiple films of Luis Bunuel and Claude Chabrol – represented a certain image of French haute bourgeoisie rigor mixed with considerable seductive power. Which is pretty much what we got for fall 2018 at Chloé, in an excellent collection of contemporary French chic by designer Natacha Ramsay-Levi in her second show for the house.
The key idea – repeated at least 30 times – was a play on the shirt-dress. Cut with inserts of lace; slit at multiple angles; finished with ruffles; made in flimsy silk; or offered in more authoritative wool – all of the ideas looked very strong, and properly seductive. One could easily imagine the mysterious wide-eyed beauty Audran – a huge fan of Chloé who today lives, age 85, in Versailles – wearing them all. Ramsay-Levi also cut them with deep gorges; flared them below the waist; inserted horizontal bands; and produced them with art deco prints. Everything seemed to undulate optimistically.
The cast swept around an octagonal shaped runway before a massive abstract wall hanging
For chilly afternoons, she showed elongated jodhpurs – like the pair she wore when she took her bow – sometimes trimmed with goat-hair. Indeed, from the pony skin coats to the shaggy posh hippie jerkins, this was a pro-fur statement. Marching pretty much all in laced leather and lizard boots with metal heels, some even covered with miniature chain mail curtains. Every gal finished with long golden chains, amulets, wristbands and chunky rings. Moreover, happily this was pretty much a logo-free zone, with just socks bearing the name Chloé.
Presented before the giant glass windows of the Maison de la Radio, with the Eiffel Tower on the horizon, the cast swept around an octagonal shaped runway before a massive abstract wall hanging.
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