By Harper’s Bazaar Singapore Team - published
The story behind Clare Waight Keller's fall Chloe collection almost seems like a modern fairy tale: a female writer jumping on her motorcycle and riding across Afghanistan and Africa, chronicling the people and cultures as she goes along. But in the early 1970s, French journalist Anne-France Dautheville did just that safely and respectfully. And as if willing for that kind of freedom and adventure-seeking to return, Keller sent out a lineup of girls who mixed motorcycle leathers with house signature femininity.
Button and bead-encrusted tunics picked up on the beautiful caftans Dautheville would have seen as she rode across Afghanistan and Africa, while leather cropped pants and dungarees and shearling and fleece toppers (sometimes shown way oversized) would have kept her warm at night.
Within the biker-Bedouin vibe, Waight Keller still injected the flou and flourish that are house tropes. Chiffon blouses were paired with leather chaps and patterned pullovers topped tiers of bohemian ruffles.
The tough-soft balance is a tried-and-true tension, and Chloe always offers some of the best. Here, Waight Keller did it through colour, too—sand and camel played off pale pinks and creams, cool grays against red or feminine brights and pastels played against neutrals.
Waight Keller has carved out a niche for herself within the Paris and global fashion landscape. No one does luxe bohemian like she does. And she cannily proved, with a collection like this, that flourishes and flounces aren't the only trick in her bag.
From: Harper's BAZAAR US