Clare Waight Keller, the Creative Director at Chloé, has been working her magic on wearable fashion (as opposed to only-looks-good-on-the-catwalk fashion) since her appointment in 2011. It used to be that the Chloé show, which always follows the Céline show, where Phoebe Philo presides, felt a little flat by comparison to her fellow British designer’s offerings. Chloé's wearability never quite cut the mustard next to Céline's big must-have statements. But this is no longer the case, as Waight Keller proved today. Indeed, could it be that the tables have turned?

Where today’s Céline collection looked as if it belonged on the backs of the peacocks outside the shows, preening in front of a gazillion street-style photographers in all the latest must-haves,Chloé looked refreshingly convincing for women in real-life.

Right now, Waight Keller is somehow managing to satisfy both key demands of the industry: the fantasy that stylists and photographers need to create amazing pictures, and the clothes you will want to shop and wear.

She said backstage that she wanted to project the idea of a ‘gentlewoman – gentle on the inside but with a clean, sharp exterior’. Cue super-long, narrow coats (‘guards coats’ she called them) and gentleman’s tailoring ‘but with a real undone quality’. There was a whiff of the 1970s too, with long, folky dresses (Kelly Rowland wore a navy one and it looked fabulous on her) and lots of shearlings (reversible, of course) and patchwork ponchos – but done in a way that didn’t make you think of joss sticks. The gentleman-ness also came through in the trousers. ‘I’m really loving long pants again,’ said Waight Keller, ‘with a drop waist, masculine in cut and worn with a loose waistcoat. I just wanted that kind of elegance and a proportion that’s real, fresh and strong.’ 

Not surprisingly, that's just what we want too.

Images: Imaxtree