Chiffon for winter. It s undeniably a trend out there, but, in spite of climate change, still a bit of an odd one. Paulo Melim Andersson is one of its proponents, and in his case you can kind of see the logic—he s chasing what makes Chloé hot. When Karl Lagerfeld held the design reins here in the seventies, the label was famous for print-y chiffon blouses and dresses, and in its latter heyday, Phoebe Philo brought a lot of organza, eyelet, and embroidery to the party. Ergo, Chloé for Fall was a cross between the two.
What Melim Andersson turned out was essentially a show of blurry, microflower prints, and haberdashery appliqués and embroideries on organza aimed at a young girl (provided she has funds in the no-worries class: Chloé prices are well up there in the luxury league). The designer layered them up with flower-print tights, broderie anglaise leggings, and the odd piece of outerwear to keep out the drafts—a black coat with short sleeves and a bodice embellished with tufty fur, a seventies coyote jacket with embroidery, and a boxy Prince of Wales "boyfriend" coat.
There s no denying that Melim Andersson can do pretty things—say, an off-white trapeze sprinkled with silver stars worn over a floral blouse, or a wispy long-sleeved dress with a fluttery side trail—but still, it wasn t just the fabric that felt a bit thin in this show. In the Phoebe era, Chloé was, among other things, a go-to label for It trousers, a category Melim Andersson skipped over with a couple of pinstripe jog-pant hybrids. That s one element he could work at reconstituting in future collections. As things stood, it was left to the footwear to give a reminder of the zingy assemblage of items that are essential to the quirky Chloé knack: sexy-cool pointy stilettos with an ankle cuff, and booties with 3-D leaves climbing up the side.
