Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Chloé The First House of Prêt-à-Porter: A Short History


"Prior to Chloé's launch, luxury fashion houses had only ever produced Haute Couture (i.e. made-to-measure) clothing. This was fine for the few who could afford it, but it left everyone else in frequently poorly-made copies, supplied by the local seamstress.

Chloé's creator, Gaby Aghion, rejecting the stiff formality of 1950s fashion (and sensing a gap in the market), decided to create a line of off the rack, high quality, soft, body conscious clothes from fine fabrics, which she called 'luxury prêt-à-porter' and thus, the Prêt-à-Porter (Ready-To-Wear) market we know today, was born.

The couturiers quickly followed suit (the first being Givenchy, with their 1956 Ready-to-Wear collection; 'Givenchy University') and today, designer ready-to-wear heavily outweighs couture."

In the 60's and 70's followers of the label included Brigitte Bardot, Jackie Kennedy, and Grace Kelly.

In 1997 Stella McCarntney Headed the label bringing a fresh romantic sensiblity to the label and

Pheobe Phillo joined the design house in 2001 also added her own distictive sensual touch to the brand. This draws a whole new generation of young fans to the label like Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman and Chloe Sevigny.

2002 Marked the begining of the Chloés' addition of leather goods to the brand. The "paddington" bag becomes an instant classic.