CHLOE
Summer2026
Fashion Week 2026 / CHLOE
CHLOE
'ENTRE DEUX'
SUMMER 2026
I wanted to explore what the idea of couture could mean in the Chloé context. A paradox for a
house founded on the principles of democratic freedom and ease; something that is not part of its
core DNA. I wanted to push the boundaries of what defines Chloé, expanding its language, taking
it into new and unexplored territory and looking at why and how Gaby Aghion founded Chloé.
“I started Chloé because I loved the idea of couture but found the concept a little out of date – a
little artificial. A thing of beauty and quality should be seen on women in the streets.” Gaby Aghion
I liked the idea of going back to what Gaby Aghion rejected without betraying the original DNA
of the house. How could we create a considered but effortless silhouette; retain structure but
remainunconstrained; achieve form without rigidity?
At the Café Flore and Brasserie Lipp, the first Chloé collections in the late 1950s were inspired by
the silhouette of couture but did not rely on lining, padding or boning. Instead, they were without
formality or elitism. They had a lightness without losing the element of craft, creating the perception
of an “entre deux” collection – something between couture and ready-to-wear.
So, I came back to something very personal for me – the instinctive gesture of draping to
form, volume and movement. Achieving an airiness through pleating, knotting and wrapping.
Spontaneous but precisely studied.
For me this became about merging the grandeur of couture inspired techniques with the most
ordinary of cotton poplins. Stripping back all but the essential simple, “poor” fabrics and giving
them shape through draping. Redrawing floral archive prints from the 1950s and 1960s. Reworking
outerwear archetypes in light swathed cottons.
The decision to show in one of the conference rooms at UNESCO was intentional and symbolic.
It is a postmodern setting built in the era of Chloé’s earliest years. A place that stands for open
dialogue and exchange, freedom and openness. A place that honours creativity in all its forms.
Love,
Chemena
Creative Director: Chemena Kamali
Styling: Elodie David Touboul
Hair: Paul Hanlon
Make-Up: Yadim
Casting: Piergiorgio Del Moro
Music: Konstantin Wehrum & Deck d’Arcy
Production: La Mode en Images
CHLOÉ
Chloé was founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion, an Egyptian-born Parisian who liberated women
from the formal fashion of the era by pioneering luxury ready-to-wear. A true visionary, Gaby
Aghion believed that women should dare to be themselves. Today, the Maison is a leading luxury
French fashion house, which continues to embrace the founder’s vision of free-spirited femininity
and effortlessness under the creative direction of Chemena Kamali.
CHEMENA KAMALI
Born in Germany in 1981, Chemena Kamali undertook a Master of Arts in Fashion at Central Saint
Martins University of the Arts in London under Professor Louise Wilson. The German designer has
over two decades of experience including a long tenure with Chloé. She began her career at
the Maison as part of Phoebe Philo’s team and later returned as Design Director to Clare Waight
Keller in 2012. Most recently, from 2016, she was Women’s Ready to Wear Design Director for
Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent. Since October 2023, Kamali is the Creative Director of Chloé.
Samples can be requested at KCD WORLDWIDE
Fashion Week 2026 / CHLOE
CHLOE
'FEMALE VERTIGO'
SPRING 2026
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHNNY DUFORT
The Chloé Spring 2026 collection explores two very different representations of femininity in Cinema and Photography in the early 1980s. Drawing inspiration from the visual language of female roles of the “Film noir” genre, the collection reflects on how the male and female gaze present female archetypes in very different ways. Evoking memories of how 1980s movies were styled, the sense of glamour, opulence and assertive silhouette. The obsessional aspect of these films, Hitchcock inspired, allusive, strong sense of color, controversial, unusual camera angles and compositions. Representing women in two very different ways.
Through one lens, women were portrayed by men in idealized, stylized narratives as in Brian da Palma’s thrillers. In film, fashion, and media, these portraits leaned into glamour and fantasy, projecting desire and perceived perfection through a view shaped by the societal stereotypes.
In contrast, the work of photographer Sybille Mallmann and Filmmaker Bette Gordon present an alternative perspective. Mallmann’s portraits of young female artists in West Berlin and Munich during this era highlight the beauty of the ordinary and the real, capturing daily life of women with honesty and depth. This approach offers a raw and truthful depiction of womanhood, one rooted in self-expression rather than fantasy. Bette Gordon’s film “Variety” (1983), referred to as the “Feminist Vertigo”, further reflects this shift, placing a woman at the center of her own desire. Gordon’s protagonist becomes the subject, not the object, of the gaze.
Female roles are completely differently portrayed between the Hollywood blockbusters and the New York Independent movies of that time. This contrast between stylization and realness, this dramatic tension between fantasy and reality is at the heart of this collection because the Chloé woman embraces both.
The Chloé wardrobe introduces graphic and more angular lines, vivid colors and exuberant prints using lightweight fabrics without losing shape and form. This season, the Chloé woman adopts a sleek proportion play while staying true to her intuitive and personal way of dressing. She embraces the balance of structure and ease, of sensuality and strength and embodies this captivating duality.
The Chloé Spring 2026 collection is photographed by Johnny Dufort and features actress Lily McInerny alongside models Prinnie Stott, Stella Hanan, Jacqui Hooper, Heija Li, Marylore Heck, River Klein, Carolina Tilgner and Ekaterina Riabenko. The collection will be available in Chloé boutiques and on Chloe.com from November 2025.
CHLOÉ
Chloé was founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion, an Egyptian-born Parisian who liberated women from the formal fashion of the era by pioneering luxury ready-to-wear. A true visionary, Gaby Aghion believed that women should dare to be themselves. Today, the Maison is a leading luxury French fashion house, which continues to embrace the founder’s vision of free-spirited femininity and effortlessness under the creative direction of Chemena Kamali.
CHEMENA KAMALI
Born in Germany in 1981, Chemena Kamali undertook a Master of Arts in Fashion at Central Saint Martins University of the Arts in London under Professor Louise Wilson. The German designer has over two decades of experience including a long tenure with Chloé. She began her career at the Maison as part of Phoebe Philo’s team and later returned as Design Director to Clare Waight Keller in 2012. Most recently, from 2016, she was Women’s Ready to Wear Design Director for Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent. Since October 2023, Kamali is the Creative Director of Chloé.
Samples can be requested at KCD LONDON
