Karl Lagerfeld had impeccable instincts for the new, and when designing Chloé in the early ’70s, it was a wild, stylish bunch from New York that inspired and nurtured his creative output.
Fashion illustrator extraordinaire Antonio Lopez was its ringleader, invited to Paris by Lagerfeld and installed in an apartment on Rue Bonaparte, where the models Pat Cleveland, Donna Jordan, Jane Forth, Corey Tippin and Renate Zatsch would congregate, along with other key collaborators who included Juan Ramos and Paul Caranicas.
“This American gang influenced Karl enormously,” Zatsch told WWD. “They brought a totally new spirit to Paris, and Karl picked it up right away.…They had totally different ideas in the way they dressed.”
Indeed.
“Pat Cleveland would dance on tables with no underwear,” Lagerfeld told WWD during a swing through Dallas in 2013. “She’s a marvelous, sweet and refreshing girl.”
The late German designer logged two eventful, defining stints at Chloé, in full creative control from 1966 to 1983, and again from 1992 to 1997.
During the early ’70s, the house experienced a meteoric rise, and Lagerfeld helped crystalize its soft, romantic spirit, with his American entourage encouraging youthful, glamorous and cheeky pop touches.
Photos of Karl Lagerfeld with Donna Jordan and Jane Forth in Chloé, circa 1970.
Courtesy of The Antonio Archives
“It was a big fashion adventure for us crazy kids out of art school,” Cleveland recalled in an interview. “And Karl just loved us because we were American, and we were like the hot item.…We all had our own style”
To be sure, they brought a gust of free-spirited energy to the staid, serious Paris scene — perfect for Chloé, whose founder Gaby Aghion built the house on luxury ready-to-wear as an unstuffy alternative to couture.
“We were so cute and innocent and in love with Paris and Karl was in love with us because we were just so loud and busy, dancing, being rowdy and kicking up our heels. It was just something different than the regular couture world,” she recalled.
Cleveland and her crew dressed 24/7 in Chloé, whooping it up at La Coupole and clubs like Sept. “Just dressing up for fun,” she marveled. “It wasn’t a job. It was our lifestyle.”
According to Cleveland, Lagerfeld’s deep culture and boundless imagination made Chloé shows akin to “beautiful art events with all the patterns and the silks and the beautiful movement. The shows were always around a wonderful theme, and the themes and the shows got bigger, of course, as time went on.”
Lagerfeld first joined Chloé as a freelancer in 1963, and two years into the job he introduced hand-painted prints and fabrics, often collaborating with Nicole Lefort, whose Paris atelier would paint on velvet and silk jersey.
For Chloé’s spring 1971 collection, he created a mold-breaking cape and dress in silk crepe hand-painted by Lefort and inspired by French artist Sonia Delaunay.
A 1971 sketch and collage by Karl Lagerfeld for a hand-painted Chloé outfit.
Courtesy of Chloé Archive Paris
