Cinematic reality and the idea of one woman giving voice to different aspects of her personality. Those parallel thoughts ran through Natacha Ramsay-Levi’s mind as she worked on her second collection for Chloé. During a preview, she referenced French actress Stéphane Audran, whom, she said, often wore Karl Lagerfeld’s Chloé, and, to her second point, Cindy Sherman. Ramsay-Levi said that, unlike last season’s “table of contents of different women,” here, she focused on “going deep into the identity of one woman, the fact that we like to dress up and we like to change and we like to sometimes show one side of our personality and sometimes another side.”
The notion of one woman channeling multiple aspects of her character via clothes didn’t necessarily translate. But no matter; this collection was focused and interesting, if at times overwrought. At least as indicated in her debut, Ramsay-Levi is no fashion romantic. It’s her challenge to lure the Chloé customer with something as compelling as the tony, bohemian chic of the Clare Waight Keller era. Still, she’s not reckless. In don’t-throw-out-baby-with-bath-water mode, here, Ramsay-Levi embraced the brand’s long-running reputation for airy volumes. Instead, she delivered a specific take, unfussy but not at all simple,
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