Chloé calling: Clare Waight Keller speaks

‘For me, the Chloé girl is a lot about her attitude and her spirit coming through the clothes,’ she told WWD. ‘It’s very much looking to the future with the brand and trying to bring my point of view.… There’s always that personal side I’m trying to capture.’

Although Waight Keller said the collection, showing on Monday 3 October, would have ‘slightly less of a vintage, heritage, archival’ feel than past seasons, she promised to retain the feminine features that have become Chloé’s trademark. The collection would also be ‘natural, very effortless and quite joyful’.

Knitwear expert Waight Keller comes to Chloé from Pringle of Scotland, the latest in a train of highly accomplished British women designers to helm the house. Her immediate predecessor was Hannah MacGibbon, who followed Phoebe Philo and Stella McCartney into the role. Chloé’s latest leader said she appreciates the woman-centric nature of the brand.

‘I love the fact that [Chloé] was started by a woman, and I love the fact that it speaks to women,’ she said. ‘It’s not a conceptual brand. It’s much more sensitive. It’s intuitive to women.’