It’s the early Noughties and Sienna Miller is stomping the streets of London’s Notting Hill in slouchy boots and a frilly dress – it could be circa 1960 vintage or something from Phoebe Philo’s Chloé. A hundred or so miles to the west, Kate Moss is backstage at Glastonbury in tiny shorts, a waistcoat and a studded vintage belt, a cool and loose style soon described as “new bohemian”. Stateside, Jessica Alba walks the red carpet in a white dress over jeans.
Boho chic, as this phenomenon came to be known, is a lot of things. It’s an undone, laid-back kind of cool and, while some would argue that it’s never exactly gone away (female-helmed labels from Isabel Marant and Ulla Johnson to Zimmermann have been riffing on this vibe for years), two decades after Sienna and Kate, and all the rest, it’s back in full force, led by Chloé designer Chemena Kamali . Kamali’s debut for the house, at the autumn/winter collections in Paris in February, seemed to articulate this nascent yearning for easier, lighter, free-spirited clothes.
She spent her formative years at Chloé – as an intern under Philo and then as a designer for Clare Waight Keller – and her ’70s flouncy hems, shirred necklines, snake necklaces and wooden platforms (worn by Miller, Liya Kebede, Kiernan Shipka, Georgia May Jagger, Pat Cleveland and more in the front row) hearkened back to the Chloé that helped define the look of the 2000s. “I felt so soothed watching that show – I wanted ever.