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Cool Hand Chloe
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
Paris, Oct 10, 2001/ FWD/ --- You practically needed your own private security guard to
shoehorn your way backstage after the Chloe show, as the great and garrulous lined up to shower
Phoebe Philo with compliments.
In her debut collection since replacing her former boss Stella McCartney as the house’s designer,
Philo got it just about right with a sunnily cool and poetically upbeat collection that establishes
her as an important talent in her own right.
Inevitably, Philo’s show was being compared to McCartney’s Monday presentation as the audience
exited the Chloe show. Where McCartney’s collection was almost exclusively for night, Philo’s
was largely for day; where Stella staged her show in a mock nightclub, Phoebe sent hers out on
a faux cracked marble catwalk, reminiscent of a Mediterranean dockside or an Old World street.
Philo’s opening outfit - a curvy, white jacket with scallop edges worn with hugely flared
pants and a scarf tied around the elbow - got the collection off to a great start. The look
was simple, yet also fresh, chic and suitably in keeping with the current romantic fashion moment.
Phoebe racked up the frequent flyer miles with numerous trips to Bombay in preparation for this
show, and the fruits of her Indian voyages were apparent in some wonderfully embroidered panels
inserted into trousers, palazzo pants, and curvy jackets – but never too much or too many as to
make a garment overly ostentatious.
Philo found inspiration for the collection in the high-end bohemian styles of Brigitte Bardot in
St Tropez and Paul Getty Jr.’s jet-set wife Talita, but the designer avoided any literal revocation
of these women’s looks.
What stood out most was the great detailing, like sleeves buttoned up to the shoulders, or
culottes with clever tassels and pockets. Philo also proved herself to be a fine colorist.
Bridget Hall looked sensational in one knit with three blocks of color - mauve, canary yellow
and moss green - and even better in her next passage, attired in ecru silk culottes and a light
blue leather bomber jacket.
However, the show was a tad too long. A little editing would surely have spared us the formulaic
set of brown floral housedresses that were unworthy of this fine show.
Backstage, Dennis Hopper posed with Phoebe as a posse of paparazzi fought to get the shot.
Executives from Richemont preened about, breathing in the sweet smell of success.
Suddenly the ranks of photographers broke and Vanessa Mae appeared, resplendent in a pink
corduroy dress. "Today I’m wearing Paul Smith, but from now it will be Chloe," laughed the sexy
Asian violinist.
When one wag told Phoebe, who drove an old Jaguar around Paris for several years, that she
deserved a new one, Philo replied. "Another Jag? No. I want an Aston Martin!"
Not a bad idea, now that you mention it.
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