Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1532915
the concept of prêt-à-porter, to describe the nature of her clothes, which were meant to work and move in. In Aghion's day, the advent of ready-to-wear heralded the birth of a new woman whose needs were no longer being met by couture: She wasn't a debutante; she was an individual, a creator, a worker, someone out in the world who wanted to bejewel the everyday with glamour. Kamali's customer is a descendant of this trailblazer. Her patrons are a class of women coming into their own wealth, raised on equal parts Sex and the City, Girls, and Euphoria. They are cosmopolitan by instinct, and weaponize their imaginations to manifest big, bountiful lives. They aren't beholden to trends, but rather are collectors of heirlooms. When they invest in a garment, it is because it festoons their personal mythology, thickens the plot. This is perhaps why the breakaway pieces from Kamali's first year feel fitting for a main character: nautilus-shaped bags; long, dangling amulets plunging into low necklines; see-through bloomers; lingerie-inspired separates in a sun-faded sherbet rainbow. Nothing feels borrowed from the boys. Instead, it feels like a vacation from them—a place where one can get reacquainted with one's own energy without the suffocation of the male gaze. In the show notes for The Freedom Collection, Kamali wrote: "I wanted to capture that longing for summer and the way summer makes you feel… capturing that fantasy moment of the summer months when you reconnect with yourself. The leaving and coming back. When you pause, escape, explore, discover, and recharge." Kamali is not simply offering her patrons clothes, but also a state of mind to occupy as they face down the challenges that lie ahead. For her part, Kamali is making clothes at Chloé that refuse to let women forget how far we've come—and the imaginative work there still is to do. Kamali has tapped into the spirit of Chloé's founder, Gaby Aghion, imbuing her collections with a sense of liberty. Looks from the Spring/Summer 25 collection, available now at Bal Harbour Shops