When I
saw the crowds on the Avenue Montaigne for Vogue Fashion Celebration Night this
week, mostly young people in front of shops like Chanel and Gucci,
where the usually discreet atmosphere was replaced by music (with base!) and throbbing lights, I felt like even in
France they are beginning to understand that late night shopping can be the
answer for so many things. (Did I
really just say that? Shopping is
never the answer, kids. Except for
all those times that it really, really is.)
The
French take on the event seemed more rentrée-related than the American version
in New York, Fashion’s
Night Out, which was created by Anna Wintour to help the
city’s retailers combat the crisis. Does la rentrée make you wanna get busy
like Martha Stewart before a messy drawer of buttons? Why not go shopping?
Does la rentrée, with its summertime death knell, make you want to open
your veins? Why not go
shopping?
I headed
straight for Chloé because they were kind enough to put me on their list and
while the rentrée makes me extremely happy, being stuck outside in this foire would have somewhat killed the buzz.
While I
can easily spend hours just watching people, this party actually gave us something
to do: they set up a photo booth which gave me rentrée-appropriate flashbacks
to waiting to have a yearbook photo taken. Something terrifying and
performative about watching those in front of you be shot, the sickening yet
exhilarating feeling as your turn in the chair approaches. Actress Ludivine Sagnier had her photo
taken too, wearing a dress that my friend said resembled a table cloth in an
Italian restaurant. Before you
read that as a cut, I have to say that he followed this up with a
cheerful, “It makes you want to draw
all over her.” One lady’s 3,000
euro dress is just another man’s blank canvas!
The brand
launched their new perfume Love back in June, at a party at Apicius which left
me in a mushroom foam risotto haze from which I am just now emerging, so as a
karmic thank you, I’ll take this opportunity to mention a few Chloé things that I love…
Love the pants
The
commercial for the Love perfume, which features Raquel Zimmermann and was shot
by Roman Coppola, effectively transmits that the Chloé lady is a
femme qui travaille rather than a femme fatale. In the campaign she wears the traditional Chloé pant, which
was sort of the guest of honor at the party on Tuesday, and after a summer of
floppy, now-faded dresses, don’t you just long to be in those soigné pants?!
There was a cool video wall outside the Chloé store Tuesday night where they
were showing the pants video. (Is it too much lovin' to say I love the music in the pants video? I really love it.)
Love the
comment
My friend
is not a fashion person and these are the best kinds of people to take to
fashion parties. He approvingly noted that the Chloé pant is flowy and not bandage
tight at the ankle like “what all the girls in the metro are wearing.” (Very
pointu.) He compared one jacket hanging in the store to something
Queen Elizabeth II might wear (also unfortunately, very pointu). But most entertaining was the bizarre
link he saw between the much shot look 11 of this season and something that is
in a Saint Germain des Pres gallery window right now for the Africain art fair "Parcours
des Monde."
Love the
André
You can currently bid on a pair of classic Chloé jeans customized by artist
André. Proceeds go to AIDES. (I've always sort of had a thing for him.)
Images: First two photos by Stéphane Feugère, rest by me.
