Everything seems ready, or almost. Five days before presenting her first collection for Chloé, Gabriela Hearst, who we meet in the Parisian offices of the brand, looks relaxed. She greets us with a few words of French then shifts to English tinged with a strong Hispanic accent. “I studied French at school but I’m not very good at languages, she apologizes. Come on, I’ll show you something. “
The 44-year-old Uruguayan designer slips through the racks laden with striped ponchos and fuzzy dresses, then grabs a handsome caramel leather bag from the floor. “This is the first designer bag I bought for myself fifteen years ago in New York. It was a Chloe, model Edith. I never stopped wearing it. ” This poses the two fundamental elements of Gabriela Hearst’s personality: her obsession for sustainable fashion and her intimate attachment to this brand which recruited her in December 2020 to replace Natacha Ramsay-Levi.
In the showroom where the parade pieces and their different variations are gathered, shelves hold a few dozen other Edith bags lined up. Decorated with fringes, stitching or leather inserts, these are vintage pieces bought on eBay – the line was discontinued in 2007 – and retyped by Gabriela Hearst with scraps of fabrics from old collections. “One way of making people understand that new is not necessarily synonymous with better. It’s good to give the environment a break by stopping production all the time ”, underlines the designer.
“I have confidence in my ability to offer nice products that sell. But the question is how we make them.
My priority was to change the choice of raw materials. “
Since joining Chloé three months ago, synthetic fibers such as polyester or viscose have been abandoned; denim is now recycled. Over 50% of silk comes from organic farming and over 80% of cashmere yarns for knitting are recycled. “I have confidence in my ability to offer beautiful products that sell. But the question is how we make them. My priority was to change the choice of raw materials: on this autumn-winter collection, the offer has become four times more eco-responsible than last year. Before I arrived, there were hardly any recycled parts, but all the research work had been done, that’s why we were able to go so quickly ”, explains Gabriela Hearst.
She grabs a mesh sweater that looks very simple, until she shows its back, invaded by a crochet butterfly. While we are absorbed in the admirable detail of the knitting, his words pull us from our reverie: “We are witnessing a mass extinction of insects when they are essential to the functioning of our planet. I want to draw attention to them, and the importance of using fibers grown without pesticides. “
A childhood on a ranch, Uruguay
While many brands apply an “eco-friendly” varnish to their communication because it is fashionable, Gabriela Hearst seems deeply rooted in the environmental cause. She grew up on a ranch in Uruguay, where her family has lived for 170 years, among horses, sheep and cattle. She says she learned to use the available resources and never waste anything. In 2003, after studying theater in New York, she co-founded a ready-to-wear brand which met with great commercial success despite the economic crisis.
In 2015, she launched the brand that bears her name (and that she still runs), whose ambition is to offer beautiful clothes made to last, produced with respect for the environment. Its structural ecological commitment does not mean that it renounces aesthetics: Gabriela Hearst is also illustrated by her sure taste, her sense of detail, her ability to offer desirable clothes with a timeless style. His style is sometimes compared to that of Hermès. Since the launch of her brand, this mother of three has collected awards (Woolmark Prize, CFDA, Pratt Institute, The Fashion Award) and attracted envy: a year before Richemont hired her at Chloé, LVMH took a stake in its brand.
For this first collection, her South American heritage mingles with that of Chloé: on one side, multicolored striped or fringed dresses, clever ponchos with a puffer collar to keep your throat from being cold … On the other fitted trench coats and jackets in sand tones, vaporous woolen gauze dresses, a light seventies fragrance. Among the prettiest pieces, there is this reversible ivory coat, all-terrain wool on one side, chic satin on the other. “That’s my New York mentality, I offer two products for the price of one! “, she jokes.
Gabriela Hearst avoids logos, prefers to sign her work with ideas drawn from the history of the house. With English embroidery for example, which it reproduces on thicker mesh or whose shape it imitates in perforated leather collars. Scalloped details are also recurring, appearing as topstitching on blouses or as leather petals on a coat, forming a series of aligned seashells.
The seashell is also a symbol of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, whom Gabriela Hearst associates with Chloe. “It’s a brand that should make women happy, bring them pleasure and freedom”, says the designer, thus joining the lineage of Gaby Aghion. In 1952, the founder of Chloé wanted to create a brand that would oppose the rigor of haute couture, a light, beautiful and comfortable ready-to-wear. Gaby Aghion is not the only one to inspire Gabriela Hearst, who sees herself as the link in a chain. Designating various objects in the showroom, it details: “This bag is taken from a creation of Phoebe [Philo, directrice artistique entre 2001 et 2008], that Hannah belt [McGibbon, 2008-2011], this Natacha print [Ramsay-Levi, 2017-2020]… “
The print in question (of the little horses) is found on a funny colorful backpack where other pieces of fabric coexist, in a “fashion hiking” atmosphere that does not look so much like the rest of his work. “It’s a collaboration with the Dutch Sheltersuit foundation, which provides refugees and homeless people with coats that can be turned into blankets to protect them from the cold”, explains the designer. The sale of these backpacks made from old stocks of Chloé fabrics finances the production of blanket coats (also in scrap Chloé materials) distributed free of charge. “The Covid crisis has put a lot of people on the streets. I am proud to participate in a project which corresponds to the reality in which we live and which does not renounce beauty. “
The pandemic forced her to present her first collection by video, which did not make it easy for her. But she consoles herself by telling herself that the close-ups of the models parading at night in front of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church allow at least to highlight the materials and the details. “And then I’m not going to complain. I wanted this job, I rushed to get it ”, she admits smiling. In 2017, she had even noted it in her “dream book”.
