ISBN: HB: 9780300271188

Yale University Press

August 2023

256 pp.

30,5x25,4 cm

211 colour, 71 black&white illus.

HB:
50.00 GBP
QTY:

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Mood of the Moment

Gaby Aghion and Chloe

An exploration of fashion designer Gaby Aghion's life, career, and legacy at the French fashion house Chloe.

As imagined by the company's founder, Gaby Aghion (1921-2014), the sophisticated, romantic, and glamorous designs of Chloe have captured the energy and aspirations of generations of women since Aghion designed her first collection in 1952. This sumptuously illustrated book centers Chloe and Aghion within the cultural arena and crystallizes a major transition in the postwar Parisian fashion industry, from haute couture to prêt-a-porter. Aghion defined Chloe as a brand of luxury ready-to-wear clothing combining high-end materials and savoir faire with light shapes for active women. Aghion, an Egyptian Jew in Paris, brought a fresh, outsider perspective to French fashion.

Seventy years of archival clothing from Chloe designers are reproduced here, many for the first time, along with sketches, advertisements, and photographs. Essays shed light on Aghion's life, the company's approach to fashion, and the ways in which it fostered young talents. The book celebrates Aghion's daring entrepreneurship and her legacy through the acclaimed designers who embodied and reinterpreted her original inspiration. Paulo Melim Andersson, Gabriela Hearst, Clare Waight Keller, Karl Lagerfeld, Hanna MacGibbon, Stella McCartney, Peter O'Brien, Phoebe Philo, Natacha Ramsay-Levi, and Martine Sitbon offer recollections of their experiences working at the fashion house.

About the author

Choghakate Kazarian is an independent curator based in New York and Paris.