Chloé Spring Summer 2021 Paris Fashion Week
The perennial Chloé optimism looks ever forward, embracing the possibilities of women and the power unlocked by their vital communion. Reflecting on intimacies and affirmations with oneself and the world around us, the Summer 2021 collection, designed by then-Creative Director Natacha Ramsay-Levi, appears as a series of signposts: silhouettes in constant movement on the streets of Paris that converge on the steps of the Palais de Tokyo. The digital and physical gesture explores the concepts of walking and watching as contemplative exercises, inviting interpretation by both the wearer and her spectators. As female bodies united in this haven of artistic excellence, each strikes a new chord in the show’s harmonious soundscape.
Mirroring our global context through the female gaze, the graphic silkscreen works of American artist Corita Kent ebb and flow throughout the collection as moments of urgent visual poetry writ large in colour. They epitomise the season’s innately ‘collaged’ spirit, where an accumulation of Chloé symbols becomes a rebellious act of femininity performed. Amongst multi-layered planes of colour , washed neons, bleached neutrals and warm mineral tones , Corita’s artworks are printed, knitted and woven into garments and accessories, epitomising the mixed-media approach to silhouettes and surfaces throughout.
As order in chaos, decoration is tempered by graceful geometries. In effortless statements of Chloé flou, pleated crèpe ‘arsenic’ dresses and camisoles are set with fine lines of valenciennes lacework, embroidered butterfly collars adorn supple rib knits, and cotton tunics are stenciled with posies or appliqué Art Nouveau blooms. Caught by tooled and topstitched trench belts, sack skirts and tablier dresses in silk and summer wools juxtapose ruffled shoulders, crochet inserts and contrast broderie anglaise. Boyish separates ground the season’s airy silhouettes, from long blazers and camp shirts to full trousers and pleat shorts in stonewash gabardine , each piece a new expression of timeless Chloé attitudes remixed and revisited for today.
Interwoven with gestures and characters of seasons past, the Chloé Spring Summer 2021 accessories collection, a touchstone for the house’s ongoing commitment to artisanal hardware, remains a bold step forward, introducing the sculptural gilded motif of the new Chloé Kiss that scales up and down as hardware on hobo and moulded clutch bags, belts and jewellery pieces. The new Hailey bolster-shaped handbag in smooth calfskin features a brushed gold stirrup frame and supple drawstring sides, whilst the classic Daria and a new sunglasses pouch are stamped with Corita Kent’s silkscreen word art. Femininities amulet jewels return engraved and inlaid, ergonomic cuffs are sheathed in leather and enamel, as the Chloé Kiss becomes drop earrings and a shapely infinity pendant. On foot, laced and keyhole sandal boots create a contoured line in layered leather, canvas and suede.
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Under current Creative Director Chemena Kamali, appointed in 2024, the spirit of bohemian femininity and artisan-crafted Chloé bags that defined this 2021 collection continues to resonate as a foundational reference for the house's evolving identity.
Natacha Ramsay-Levi and the Legacy of Chloé Creative Direction
Natacha Ramsay-Levi served as Creative Director of Chloé from 2017 to 2021, bringing a rigorous intellectual framework to a house long celebrated for its free-spirited femininity. Trained under Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, she approached the Spring Summer 2021 collection with a layered cultural literacy, weaving activist visual language into the fabric of the Chloé wardrobe with precision and purpose. Her tenure is now understood as a pivotal chapter: one that deepened the house’s engagement with contemporary art and expanded its dialogue with global feminism without sacrificing the ease and sensuality that remain central to the Chloé identity.
The decision to anchor the SS21 collection in the graphic and spiritual work of Corita Kent was emblematic of Ramsay-Levi’s broader curatorial instinct. Kent, a former Catholic nun turned progressive artist and social activist, produced silkscreen works in the 1960s and 1970s that married commercial vernacular with radical humanism. Placing her imagery on pleated crepe dresses, woven accessories, and the now-iconic Chloé bag silhouettes was a deliberate act of cross-generational solidarity, positioning Chloé as a house willing to ask meaningful questions about women’s roles in public life. This intellectual generosity defined Ramsay-Levi’s final bow and left a clear creative throughline for those who followed.
The Chloé Bag in Context: Accessories as Artistic Statements
The Spring Summer 2021 accessories lineup reinforced what devoted followers of the house have long understood: the Chloé bag is never merely functional. It is a carrier of attitude, craftsmanship, and cultural intent. The introduction of the Hailey bolster, with its brushed gold stirrup frame and drawstring silhouette in smooth calfskin, signaled a move toward sculptural restraint, a shape that references both equestrian heritage and the organic geometries of modernist design. Alongside the Hailey, the reissued Daria, one of the most enduring Chloé bag designs in the house’s archive, was stamped with Corita Kent’s silkscreen word art, creating a direct conversation between a beloved heritage piece and a living artistic legacy.
The new Chloé Kiss hardware motif, a gilded sculptural element that appears across hobo bags, moulded clutch bags, belts, and jewellery, functioned as a unifying signature across the collection. Its ability to scale from a delicate drop earring to a statement bag clasp demonstrated the house’s commitment to cohesive design thinking. For collectors and style-conscious consumers alike, these pieces represent the kind of considered investment dressing that transcends seasonal trend cycles. A Chloé bag from this collection speaks to a moment of genuine artistic collaboration, making it as meaningful in a gallery context as it is on the streets of Paris, New York, or Tokyo.
From Palais de Tokyo to the Global Wardrobe: The Chloé Woman in 2021 and Beyond
Staging the Spring Summer 2021 presentation on the steps of the Palais de Tokyo was a choice laden with meaning. As one of Europe’s most significant contemporary art institutions, the Palais de Tokyo provided a backdrop that framed the Chloé woman not as a passive subject of fashion but as an active participant in cultural life. The decision to blend digital and physical formats, presenting moving silhouettes on Paris streets converging on a landmark of artistic excellence, acknowledged the realities of a world still navigating the restrictions of the global pandemic while refusing to diminish the communal power of shared creative experience.
The women who inhabit the Chloé universe have always been defined by a sense of purposeful movement. The SS21 collection, with its layered colour planes, washed neons, and warm mineral tones, dressed a woman who is neither static nor defined by a single cultural geography. She belongs equally to the boulevards of Paris and the avenues of New York. Under Chemena Kamali, appointed Creative Director in 2024, this vision has been refined further, with the bohemian warmth and artisan-crafted Chloé bag sensibility of the Ramsay-Levi era serving as a grounding reference point. The continuity between these creative visions affirms that Chloé’s greatest strength lies in its capacity to evolve without ever abandoning the vital, optimistic femininity at its core.
