Can Chloé and McQueen Get Their Groove Back?

This week, designer debuts at Chloé and Alexander McQueen will be among the most closely watched shows at Paris Fashion Week.

At Chloé, hopes are high for Chemena Kamali, a charismatic behind-the-scenes figure who was the brand’s design director during its boho-chic boom days under Clare Waight Keller before working with Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent to deliver a spate of knockout collections that scored dozens of major magazine covers and helped the brand revive its ready-to-wear business. But Chloé is a tricky house. It’s a relatively small label with limited marketing budgets that has long struggled to keep pace with rivals and sell enough of the leather goods that once anchored its business, according to sources.

Meanwhile, at Alexander McQueen, Seán McGirr, who worked at Dries Van Noten and Uniqlo before serving as head of ready-to-wear at JW Anderson, has his work cut out for him, too. In taking the reins from longtime creative director Sarah Burton, who steered the label after the death of founder Lee McQueen in 2010, McGirr has big shoes to fill. And while owner Kering does not break out sales for McQueen, sources say the business lost ground in the run up to Burton’s exit last September as sales to aspirational clients slowed and it cut back on wholesale and its bestselling bubble sneakers.

Both Kamali and McGirr have issued teaser campaigns in recent weeks that seemed to signal returns to the glory days of their labels. Kamali’s Chloé campaign featured a slightly retro update to its logo and a renewed focus on core values like free-spirited femininity and links to Paris. Those ideas got lost under predecessors Gabriela Hearst and Natacha Ramsay-Levi. Recalling the romance of Karl Lagerfeld’s 70s-era Chloé could help get the brand back in gear.

Meanwhile McGirr’s McQueen teaser for McQueen, with its references to “The Wicker Man” (and a refashioned logo of its own), harkened back to the more macabre, confrontational, hard-edged mood of founder Lee, a direction that could help re-engage fashion-forward clients whose enthusiasm for Kering stablemate Balenciaga has cooled.

Elsewhere this week, concerns are expected to mount over how a slowing luxury market and the unravelling of e-commerce giant Farfetch will impact emerging brands. On Thursday, Y/Project cancelled its show amid “uncertain times.” To be sure, the hip denim label is facing unique challenges, with its ownership and management in flux, and a designer who splits his time between the brand and Italian denim giant Diesel. But Y/Project is surely not the only label struggling this season.

What Else to Watch for This Week

Sunday

Milan Fashion Week: Giorgio Armani

Monday

Paris Fashion Week: Vaquera

Tuesday

Paris Fashion Week: Christian Dior, Saint Laurent

Puma, Macy’s, Revolve, Urban Outfitters report earnings

Wednesday

Paris Fashion Week: Courrèges, The Row, Undercover, Dries Van Noten

Warby Parker, Moncler, TJX report earnings

Thursday

Paris Fashion Week: Rick Owens, Off-White, Chloé, Givenchy, Paco Rabanne, Schiaparelli

Bath & Body Works, Olaplex, RealReal report earnings

Friday

Paris Fashion Week: Loewe, Giambattista Valli, Yohji Yamamoto, Victoria Beckham

Matter+Shape design salon opens in Paris

Saturday

Paris Fashion Week: Junya Watanabe, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Hermès, Comme des Garçons, Ann Demeulemeester, Alexander McQueen

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