Chloé prairie girls. Knee deep in will-o’-the-wisp mist, locks flying, checked skirts swirling, Chemena Kamali’s girl-spirits for fall were one part Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon, another Kate Bush, and a little bit Karl Lagerfeld. Also a touch Ralph Lauren, to be honest, circa 1978.
Kamali’s first thoughts weren’t about romantic ’70s retro, though that has been Chloé’s prime territory for at least as far back as when Phoebe Philo began hinting at renegade hippies at the house in the aughts. Instead, the seventh woman creative director at the house (this deserves a giant Woo!) had more fundamental roots on her mind. Tracing the origins of Dutch folk costume set her off: photos of little girls wearing elaborate lace bonnets and bodices printed with flowers.
“For me, ‘folk’ means everything that is shared within a community, whether it’s beliefs or values, or precious hand made clothes that are passed down mother to daughter,” said Kamali. Lateral thinking took her to other girl-culture moments, sticking images of a very young Brooke Shields, Kate Moss in the early ’90s and Kate Bush in the ’70 on her inspiration board, as well as a Karl for Chloé moment from his swashbuckling Rococo collection.
In the Chloé studio, all that had Kamali working on tiered mousseline skirts and voluminous dresses printed with faded checks, micro-floral quilted skirts, and hand-knitted Tyrolean sweaters. Chloé blouses, ever a house category, turned Victorian. Tailored jackets came with detachable shoulder yokes (shaped after a traditional Dutch costume component). Clogs returned, along with Western boots and thigh-high Musketeer ones—part Karl, part Kate Bush.
What does it mean to revive all this in these troubled times? Prairie influences might be interpreted as trending towards tradwife in today’s context. But Kamali insisted her intentions were purely on the side of the alternative idealism of the first hippies, the peace-loving, establishment-opposing generation that stood for preserving nature and believing in spiritual values. There’s a lot of that which might resonate with young girls today.
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