PFW Thursday : Chloé and Mugler

On a day of biblical deluge in Paris, designers two houses with radically different aesthetics – romantic Chloé and fierce Mugler – grappled, both successfully, with how to respect a brand’s codes while still updating them.

Always good to see a designer respecting a brand’s DNA, in this case at Chloé where its Indian designer Chemena Kamali showed posh hippie romanticism with oodles of Parisian panache.

Inviting her guests to the outskirts of Paris to see Chloé spring/summer 2025, the second collection for the house by Kamali.

Presented inside the Tennis Court of Paris, an indoor arena normally flooded with light, but today darkened by black skies and heavy rain. In stark contrast to the collection, where half the floral fabrics looked bleached out by the sun.

A hyper feminine collection that starring multiple lace guipures seen in harem pants with expansive blouses; leotards and swimsuits trimmed with lace; ruffled capri pants and frilly bra tops.

Though Chemena’s favorite item were medieval-like bloomers in light lace, guipure or chunky silk. Often juxtaposed by big bold biker jackets or parkas, finished by funnel neck and big pockets. In a season of power shoulders, Chloé had some of the broadest.

Another key element of the wardrobe, the uber high waist Radical Chic flared jeans. Throughout, the materials were opulent – silk charmeuses and Habotai silks – but used subtly. Print of roses and peonies were reworked from an original hand painted 1977 design in the house’s archives.

“Chloé is an eternal state of mind guided by instinct and optimism. What matters to me is the intuition that guides this very personal, intimate and sensual way of dressing. It’s about feeling,” argued Kamali in her program notes.

One would certainly need a fit figure to wear much of this wardrobe, especially as one third of the passages suggested lingerie. Though for the less than tall, Kamali provided some great Maxime platform wedges, finished in script. She also surely knows how to harness Chloé accessories studio, showing great gold belts with the brand name in metal letters; seashell encrusted bags; and raffia totes. All looking very hip.

However, there was very definitely way too many frou frou, billowing floral semi-sheer dresses, cut flamenco style, to render the mood too twee. Like the saccharine soundtrack, beginning and ending with Cocteau Twins screechy Lorelei.

That said, this felt like a hit show, where the designer won the loudest applause so far in this Paris season.

Chloé is the single largest marque in the fashion division of luxury conglomerate Richemont that also includes Alaïa and Dunhill. After several years of stasis, Richemont’s fashion labels have suddenly began gaining traction. Alaïa staged a hit collection in New York two weeks ago, the first runway show inside the Guggenheim Museum, while Dunhill designer Simon Holloway has injected fresh life into that London house.

And, today, the Chloé of Chemenda Kamali suddenly seemed relevant again.

The house of Mugler celebrated its 50th anniversary in an intimate show inside the upper foyer of Le Trianon, a dingy ballroom in Pigalle.

Staged in the shadow of the Moulin Rouge, the collection felt like a homage to many of Thierry Mugler’s greatest hits, though it was none the worse for that.

Since being appointed creative director of the house, American designer Casey Cadwallader has breathed new life into a brand that had badly drifted after Mugler’s retirement.

Now, aided by the recent remarkably successful Mugler retrospective in the Louvre’s Decorative Arts Museum, it is a brand with momentum.

Guests arrived at this show in torrential rain, led by Cardi B and a huge posse of her security. The star dressed in a brilliant, cinched waist, power shoulder black crepe suit with padded hips and cut-out lapels. The better to see Cardi’s substantial cleavage.

Like the cast, she sported a page boy hair extension with a V-shaped fringe, taking her front row seat in a blaze of paparazzi flashes.

The first three looks were all V-shaped vixen power suits, recalling Mugler’s authoritarian moment, where he shot his superwomen supermodels on top of Soviet Gothic Stalin-era skyscrapers in Moscow. Though once again, with enough of a twist in the lapels and shape to make it all fresh.

Moving onto the technology meets nature moment of the house in the mid-nineties, when Mugler began creating couture. Casey whipping up leaf-shaped corsetry, or brilliant deconstructed, asymmetrical bodices.

A collab with Baccarat led to with a trio of droplet dresses, showers of beading on striking cocktails. Though the heart of the matter was Casey’s strict, precise and fierce Mugler suiting – a look that still manages to look revolutionary and subversive. Empowering and yet seductive.

In a word, a Mugler half-century properly celebrated by a designer who seems very in synch with the founder’s codes.