The opening of Chloé's sixty year anniversary exhibition Chloé.Attitudes, curated by Judith Clark, at the Palais de Tokyo is nearly upon us. A few months ago, I had already kickedstarted my interest in learning more about Gaby Aghion's beginnings, the start of ready to wear as we know it and all the creative collaborators that have worked with what is an intriguingly fluid French house. Now I've been lucky enough to be a part of the accompanying project that goes hand in hand with the exhibition. Chloé Alphabet, a microsite which launched today, stems from the fact that Aghion uniquely catalogued her collections with letters of the alphabet, as she found numbers to be too impersonal. And so it started - A,B,C,D etc. It's with this method of cataloguing in mind that Chloé have revisited the alphabet, spelling out a story for every letter and in particular giving specially commissioned films to the letters C, H, L, O and E. C for Counter Couture, H for Horses, O for Roundness, L for Light and E for Embroidery if you must know.
I believe 26 international bloggers have each been given a letter, five of which have got hold of C, H, L, O and E. I haven't quite weaved around the blogosphere to see who's got what but I've been charged with the letter O, representing roundness.
No, roundness isn't referring to my rotund pork-filled belly hidden by a soft peach shirt or oversized wool coats, which Chloé excel at making. Roundness for the house symbolises wholeness, the female form and a recurring aesthetic for the house as "round, juicy shapes" feature in their archive of prints and embroideries as well as in the soft and round shapes of the Paddington and Marcie. I'm doubly excited to get the letter O for roundness because the wonderful Julie Verhoeven was chosen to make the film, interpreting this letter and element who has abstracted and collaged together imagery that speak of "Roundness" to her as well as concealing a mysterious femme behind holographic and psychedelic filters. The video has the sort of spirit that captures that ever-appealing whimsical femininity that has made Chloé the house it is today. The next part of the story goes to E and Misha of Tokyo Fashion Diaries will be regaling you all about the embroideries of this house. Suffice to say, I'll be going picture-mad when the exhibition opens.
