Chloé's Fall-Winter 2023-2024 show

The Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection as a reaction to the Baroque era and the role of women

Inspired by the work and the life of the 17th century baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, Gabriela Hearst designed a fall-winter 2023 collection for Chloé filled with strong historical meanings. Because women’s bodies and choices were strongly regulated during the 17th century, Artemisia Gentileschi could be seen as one of the first feminist painters as she used her art and voice to advocate for women featuring women as key characters, often depicted in a higher position to men. The collection shows Renaissance-inspired silhouettes, innovative fabrications and unexpected materials that aim to reflect feminine power. A puffer cape coat with ruching along the seams made from recycled nylon, an off-the-shoulder dress cut above the knee with bishop sleeves from Nappa leather and lower-impact wool gauze—a Chloé pillar fabric— is used in a range of garments including capes and long dresses.

Historical context in the Chloé Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection continues with The story of Esther before Ahasuerus (c. 1629), a painting that depicts the heroic figure of Esther as a vision of truth and power—risking her life to successfully convince the formidable King Ahasuerus who had ordered the execution of all Jews in the Persian Empiro, to spare her people. An allegory in particular that runs through the collection. The Book of Esther is transposed as a graphic onto dresses and bags, tapestry and is also reinterpreted in black and brown contrast embroideries on a leather skirt and matching jacket. As a coincidence, the Chloé show occured a couple of days before Purim —the Jewish holiday that commemorates the events of the Book of Esther.

Committing to climate solutions through fashion 

Gabriela Hearst decided to structure the Chloé collections as chapters that are each dedicated to a pioneering climate solution three seasons ago. A new approach that turns the fashion shows into a vehicle for disseminating these ideas to a wider audience. The first chapter was the Fall-Winter 2022-2023 collection that looked at the planet’s proven intrinsic ability to rehabilitate itself when it is left to do so. The Spring-Summer 2023 collection explored the potential for abundant, scalable, clean energy to wean people off fossil fuels. For the third chapter of Gabriela Hearst’s exploration of climate success and her need to champion women as leaders, this Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection explores the imperative need for women’s stories and their contributions to society. Often overlooked or suppressed, Gabriala Hearst tries to bring women’s stories out of the shadows and give them a leading role in the race to find climate solutions. An almost Renaissance-like approach; where visionary artists, creatives and scientists come together to create a future where people and the planet thrive. 

The celebrities at the Chloé Fall-Winter 2023-2024 show