Chloé Resort 2024

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When Gabriela Hearst spoke at Princeton University's plasma physics laboratory last March about fusion energy, the unlikely springboard for a few Chloé collections last year, she was relieved that the most popular question from audience members was one she could easily answer: What materials should I wear if I care for the environment?

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"I always say the most friendly material – and this is not because I won the Woolmark Prize, or because I’m a merino sheep producer – is wool," she said. "Wool is one of the most resilient materials that we can use. And at the same time, it's lower impact in the way it is sourced, in the shearing of the sheep. And sheep can live in arid landscapes."

Wool formed the backbone of Hearst's handsome resort collection at Chloé, used for minimalist coats reminiscent of blouses and buttoned at the neck with a nugget of gold; for knit dresses with floral lace intarsia at the waist and trumpet sleeves; for cool blazers piped in gold chains, and for a meaty tweed trench.

She exalted other sumptuous fabrics, crafting jeans jackets and jeans out of suede; a "Cookie Monster" coat from channels of dyed shearling, and handsome bib-neck shirts in a deadstock cotton poplin as sturdy as it is luscious.

"With all the noise that there is [in fashion], I wanted this collection to be quite focused and quiet. No gimmicks really – straight to what the product is," she said over Zoom.

Consider it classic investment dressing, realized with haute craftsmanship married to strident eco credentials. Lower-impact materials were employed for 66 percent of the ready-to-wear offer, according to house tallies.

Hearst flipped through notebooks and flashed her original sketches, while a member of her press team plucked the actual garments from the rails in Chloé's Paris showroom.

Hearst often describes designers at heritage brands as links in a chain, each adapting the founder's legacy and DNA. Indeed, the lobby of Chloé headquarters displays black-and-white portraits of her alongside ones of Phoebe Philo, Hannah MacGibbon, Stella McCartney, Clare Waight Keller and her other predecessors.

Hearst plucked a bow detail from one of Philo's hit chiffon dresses and blew it up as a floppy decoration on spaghetti-strap tops, a one-shoulder leather gown, and a lambskin handbag model Lacey.

She also paid homage to Karl Lagerfeld's long and brilliant tenure, referencing an iconic shirtdress with a silver arrow motif from the fall 1983 collection and building a "festive" capsule around it. She reprised versions of the Lagerfeld-designed guitar dress she donned for last month's Met Gala as well. "Definitely fun to wear," she said, flashing a big smile.

Launch Gallery: Chloé Resort 2024

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