After joining Chloé in December 2021, Uruguayan designer Gabriela Hearst, who has a strong commitment to the environment, is determined to take the illustrious Parisian house into a new era that combines luxury with eco-responsibility.
For Spring/Summer 2023, Gabriela Hearst dedicated her collection to the promotion of fusion – her latest Hearst research project took her to Cadarache, France. There, the intergovernmental ITER project (which stands for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is building a tokamak reactor to imitate hydrogen fusion that delivers light and heat from the Sun, and produces clean energy on Earth. “To me, sustainability is an energy issue…and until we find a way to get ourselves out of fossil fuels and coals, which move this world around 85 percent of the time, we’re done”, Hearst said.
Within a blacked-out Pavilion Vendôme, her runway mimicked the circular shape of the tokamak, with a structure of hoops suspended from the ceiling and laser lights that evoked an industrial rave. This feeling reverberated through a collection that served as a figurative ode to fusion power. Taking on Chloé’s signature pieces, Hearst broke them down into sustainable materials and adorned them with techno-chemical details while the architecture of the tokamak inspired the collection’s rounded yet structured cuts.
©Chloé
