Chloé

PARIS, March 1, 2008
By Sarah Mower
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.