The label has achieved such cult status that it has even spawned its own social stereotype, the “Chloé girl”. You’ve seen her around: she’s a girl about town, slightly bohemian and ice-cool in her dress sense. Sienna Miller, Sofia Coppola, Kylie Minogue: Chloé girls, one and all. And it’s not just celebrities who are in the Chloé club. The label has become one of the most copied collections on the high street, testament to the fact that millions of women want to be Chloé girls, whether or not they can afford the original designs.
The frenzy that the label inspires in its fans is famous. An Arab gentleman went into Harvey Nichols recently and asked to buy the contents of the entire Chloé boutique as a present for his wife. The store also sells more Chloé jeans than any other label — 127 pairs in three days at the beginning of last season. The haute couture website net-a-porter.com reports that in the hottest week of the summer, the Chloé alpaca and wool rollneck poncho (£1,056) sold out within 12 hours. It currently has waiting lists for the fringed suede boots (£540) and the oversized green cardigan (£262). You will notice that Chloé clothes are not cheap — indeed, they are more expensive than most other designer brands — but this does not appear to be holding the label back.
The woman at the centre of this fashion storm is the designer Phoebe Philo. The 30-year-old took over the reins at the venerable French house in 2001, after her boss, Stella McCartney, left to set up her own label. So, what’s the secret of her success? “What I like is what the Chloé customer seems to like. It’s just a natural thing,” says Philo. And who is the Chloé girl? “I’m really bad at answering that question. I’m like, I don ’t know,” she fumbles, before offering, rather lamely: “She likes to dress up.”
The truth is that the Chloé concept reflects Philo’s own personality. The clothes are not intended to shock or garner headlines. Similarly, Philo herself is almost pathologically low-key. “I didn’t take the job to be famous. I’m not mad about that part,” she says.
Born in 1973 in Paris, Philo grew up in London. Her father was in property and her mother was an art director (she worked on David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album). “My parents are relaxed,” she says. “I wasn’t brought up in a strict way.” In her teens,
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Philo was intrigued by fashion, and, at 19, she enrolled at Central St Martins College of Art and Design. There, she met McCartney, and the two became close friends. When McCartney was offered the Chloé job, she asked Philo to assist her. So, at the age of 22, Philo moved back to Paris.
Philo was McCartney’s right hand there for four years. McCartney is credited with putting the label back on the fashion map with her ultrasexy, provocative designs and celeb-packed front rows, but when Philo took over, there was doubt in the fashion community as to whether she could live up to the starry image McCartney had created for the house. Comparisons between the two designers, and rumours of a rift in the once firm friendship, were rife.
Philo, however, has made Chloé her own — although, to this day, she is cagey when the subject of McCartney comes up. “I don’t like talking about it, because I feel that people ask about it for the wrong reasons,” she says. “Anything that I would say could only touch the surface. The relationship I had with Stella was very deep, so to talk about it in a magazine is not something I want to do. I have a lot of respect for Stella. I do see her, and I’m always happy to see her, but the rest is private.”
Philo’s strong independent streak has helped her to focus on the job in hand. As a student at Central St Martins, she chose to live alone, and she likes to holiday by herself. Her husband, Max Wigram, knows about that independent streak, too: right up until their recent wedding, the pair’s relationship had been an on/off affair. She met Wigram, an art curator, in London five years ago, and now divides her time between there and Paris. His circle has the required degree of cool: Harland Miller, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst are all friends. Now six months pregnant, Philo is feeling settled. “I can’t wait to have this family unit sorted. It’s such a lovely thing coming my way,” she smiles.
As her body has changed, so has her style. “Dressing up just doesn’t seem like a good idea now. High heels are definitely out. I’ve been living in my pyjamas,” she confesses. Her mind is on more important things, such as how to combine motherhood with designing four collections a year for Chloé. “It will either be really great to work and have a family, or it will not be so great,” she says, then adds: “When I get a bit dramatic about it, I have to remind myself that I’m not the first person ever to have a baby.”
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Each season, Philo adds to her design vocabulary. She is already known for her pretty blouses and camisoles, sexy jeans and subtle dresses, and this autumn sees the arrival of covetable baggy trousers, supersize cardigans and more must-have bags and shoes.
Philo is not trying to rewrite the history of fashion with her designs. They are special pieces, but they are meant to slip effortlessly into the wardrobe. Her nonconfrontational style, both personally and professionally, is the key to the label’s success. “Chloé works because it’s authentic,” she says.
Just like her.