Power-Sensuality. Chloé SS24

September 30, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

For her finale collection for Chloé, Gabriela Hearst at last showed her sexier side of the Parisian maison. Maybe if she indulged a bit more in these smooth leathers and shorter lengths, she would thrive at the brand? The spring-sumer 2024 collection didn’t reinvent Parisian chic, but it had some much-needed sensuality that lacked throughout Hearst’s tenure. But it seemed the New York-based designer wasn’t in a sorrowful mood, as the show’s ambience was lively and bright, set outside against the Seine on a warm, sunny Parisian afternoon. Hearst leaves behind a legacy of championing socially responsible designs, and her last collection continues that theme. Per the press release, consciousness is the fourth and final ingredient to achieving climate success, which continues the ideas on clean energy, regeneration and female leadership that the designer set forth in her prior collections. For Hearst, this is best symbolized by the flower and that motif was evident from the opening look, a ruffled one shoulder dress that looked like layers of petals. Other dresses reinforced the idea, with gauzy rosette swirls adorning the hips or jutting shoulders that featured undersides stuffed with blooms. For her final look, Hearst opted for a black and white leather dress, a rather serious note given that the runway shortly segued into an all out dance party, featuring a samba band. As the models danced, it seemed that while this chapter at Chloé may have ended, Hearst was leaving it with plenty of joy.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Modern-Day Witch. Gabriela Hearst SS24

September 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

For spring-summer 2024, Gabriela Hearst was talking about the Druids and quoted a wicca handbook. But the designer’s clothes really don’t need that much background and explanation. The collection’s highlight dress, made from black cashmere linen gauze, had the long draped sleeves of a high priestess robe. Witchy lengths and layers reappeared all over the offering, but there was a contemporary feel to them. The designer cut a couple of very elegant pantsuits, of course in responsibly sourced or deadstock materials. As usual, she’s also passionate about craft. There was an extraordinary white poncho and dress in this collection whose elaborate patterns were hand-crocheted and hand-macraméd by Bolivian artisans after a painting by the Haitian artist Levoy Exil, whose work draws inspiration from voodoo. The poncho took over 1,500 hours to complete. Beaded mesh dresses, while simpler, require their own time-consuming steps; to make the yarn, the glass beads are first strung on silk, which is then spun with cashmere. Heart will show her last collection for Chloé later this month; that match just didn’t click, even with the designer’s best intentions. At least now she will have more space for perfecting her vision at her New York-based label.