WOMAN TO WOMAN

Chemena Kamali's debut for Chloé was notable most of all for the way it connected with so many. Chloe Schama meets the designer whose name is on everyone's lips.

Paris, like many cities in the summer, is on edge. There are snarls of traffic clogging the streets; entire thoroughfares are closed. Inside the Chloé headquarters on Avenue Percier, however, a calmer mood pervades. Chemena Kamali opens the door to her office, revealing a long, curved couch, pink peonies in a vase, and a silver tray laid with tea. On the wall is an orderly grid of images: bathing suits designed by Karl Lagerfeld during his time at the fashion house, Mick Jagger, brastrap tan lines, a cigarette balanced between pouting lips. Kamali, 42, tall and slim, dressed in high-waist, wideleg Chloé jeans and a latte-colored blouse, welcomes me in.

With her deep-set eyes and Botticelli waves, Kamali is full of chatter about the weather, the mugs we're sipping from, the store walk-through she will do later today. She grins regularly, a warm, Cheshire Cat-like smile that spreads across her entire face.

Kamali's appointment as Chloé's creative director in October of 2023she took over from Gabriela Hearst― did not surprise those who knew her and the brand. This will be Kamali's third time working at the house, having started in her early 20s as an intern when Phoebe Philo was at the helm. Though the ranks of creative directors in fashion may look very male at the moment, it wasn't a shock that Chloé the label of clothing by and for women hired a woman for the job. And while Kamali assures me that she is not the kind of leader who enjoys being front and center, she also recognizes that the outlook and ethos of the house dovetails nicely with her own style, which juxtaposes traditional femininity with carefree cool.