“Natasha has made a great contribution to Chloé. Her leadership skills and unique vision have written a powerful and meaningful chapter in our history. "- says the CEO of the French brand Chloe Ricardo Bellini.

The chapter may have been significant, but it's time to write a new one. Therefore, in December 2020, it was publicly announced the change of the creative director of Chloé, whose post Natasha Ramsey-Levy had held for four years. A few months earlier, this post was read to the young innovator Simon Porte Jacquemus, but on December 8 it became known that Gabriela Hirst would head the French House.



Many fashion magazines agreed that this was a good choice. Firstly, Gabriela Hirst has experience in managing the Candela brand (unlike Ramsay-Levy, who, before her appointment to Chloé, was the right-hand man of Nicolas Ghesquière, first at Balenciaga and then at Louis Vuitton), and in 2014 she opened the Gabriela Hearst brand of the same name. ... Secondly, Hirst is compared to Phoebe Philo: her collections are elegant and commercially successful.

Thirdly, when the world (especially the fashion world) became obsessed with conscious consumption (by the way, this is the right decision for your budget and for your wardrobe; though now it looks more like a cult rather than a practical approach to life), Gabriela Hirst came out “ to the forefront ”with the concept of sustainability of all their collections:“ I want things to stay with you for a long time ”

But fashion houses do not live by rational consumption alone. It is always a business, and business lives and flourishes thanks to the successful implementation of the product. I did not see harsh criticism of the creations of Ramsey-Levy, however, whispering "on the sidelines" unequivocally hinted that she was not doing very well: she did not produce a single bag, pair of shoes or an iconic dress, which, as they say, now, "virus" (from English - go viral).

The philosophy of the House is so close to Hirst that her first collection, demonstrated on March 3 (by the way, the date was chosen symbolically: on this day Gaby Agyon would have turned 100) next to the iconic Brasserie Lipp in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, met all the expectations of the afflicted ... The new collection has a tribute to the aesthetics of Gaby herself, as well as Phoebe Philo, Claire Waite-Keller and, of course, her predecessor, Natasha Ramsay-Levy. Gabriela admitted that she had studied the history of the House so well that she did not have to look through the Chloé archives to create collections.

In order not to go deep into comparing Gabriela's work already done for the French fashion house with other designers, the leitmotif of this article will be a comparison of the last two collections of Gabriela Hearst and Chloé - cruise and fall-winter 21/22.

Does Hirst really support the DNA of the House, or is he trying to mirror what he already does in the brand of the same name? Let's see.

First, Gaby Agyon called her brand “luxury ready-to-wear”, contrasting it with the rigid frames of haute couture. From the earliest days, everything that came out of Chloé has become a symbol of elegance and modern wardrobe with a relaxed silhouette, made of high quality materials and sophisticated details. Gabriela Hirst, managing the Candela brand, called it democratic, and the soul demanded a “high calm”. Then the eponymous brand appeared, in which Gabriela was fully realized: “Gabriela Hearst reflects much better what I believe in today and what I want to do”. But it seems that this is still not enough.



Gabriela called the first collection autumn-winter 21/22 at the House of Chloé “Aphrodite”, correlating with the collection of her brand “Athena” released in mid-February: the playfulness, airiness and fleur of Chloe meets the pragmatism and androgyny of Gabriela Hearst. It is not difficult to trace the dynamics of the images of the two brands.



Let me remind you that Aphrodite and Athena are not just ancient Greek goddesses, they were, first of all, sisters.Hence, there are many similarities in silhouettes and colors in these fall collections. In addition, Gabriela invited the Swiss-American plus-size model Paloma Elsesser to both brands, dressing the girl in dresses similar in style. In Gabriela Hearst, Paloma completed the show, and in Chloé she came out eighteenth (almost in the middle).



Gabriela Hirst is a native of Uruguay, which undoubtedly influenced the design of clothes not only in her own brand, but also in Chloé: the colorful ethnicity of Latin American outfits will become a trend in autumn.





Everything is clear with the first collection: perhaps here it is worth paying attention to the fact that:

a) there was little time left for the collection,
b) even in spite of my experience, it is quite exciting to be “at the helm” of a famous fashion house.

Some publications even call the autumn collection of Chloé “uncertain”, and in my opinion, it is 65-70% made in the image and likeness of Gabriela Hearst, because even Hirst herself says: “It's not that I don't respect history and everything that it was done before me, but first of all I want to show what Chloé means to me ”.

With a high degree of probability, Gabriela's signature handwriting in Chloé will be ethnic motives from Uruguay and other Latin American countries.



Despite the fact that the cruise collections in both brands already have visible differences (cut, palette, silhouette), I want to note that Chloé, long before Hirst's arrival, embarked on the path of sustainable development, but did not do it so confidently, and already, thanks to Gabriele, current collections (sweaters, dresses, shoes) are made from recycled plastic. Re-cycling is on the agenda and I am confident that after the cruise collection, a new creative director will be able to take Chloé to the next level without losing its DNA and turning it into Gabriela Hearst 2.0.