Introduction
Chemena Kamali is a German designer and the creative director of Chloé. Trained at Trier University of Applied Sciences and on the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion course, she first entered Chloé as an intern in 2003 under Phoebe Philo and remained in the studio in junior design work. She later returned under Clare Waight Keller in a senior design capacity; public sources place that period around 2012/2013 to 2015/2016, but its exact titles and dates remain unresolved.
From July 2016, Kamali served as women’s ready-to-wear design director at Saint Laurent under Anthony Vaccarello for approximately six years. A brief subsequent connection to Frame is documented without a settled employment status. Richemont announced her return to Chloé as creative director on 9 October 2023; Pre-Fall 2024 was her first designed collection and Fall 2024, titled Intuition, her runway debut.
Her current programme draws on several Chloé histories at once: Aghion’s light construction, Lagerfeld’s late-1970s flou and early-1980s shoulders, McCartney’s tailoring and humour, and the accessories and denim culture of the Philo period. The work extends across clothing, bags, shoes, jewellery, image, casting and the Chloé Arts programme without implying a publicly undocumented corporate remit over every category.
Design ethos
Kamali builds wardrobes through movement, layering and accumulated reference. Blouses, capes, lace, denim and soft dresses establish fluidity, while boots, leather, belts and a firmer shoulder line prevent the clothes from settling into a single romantic register. Her archive method is comparative: one collection may move among founder-era construction, Lagerfeld’s picture-making and late-1990s tailoring without collapsing them into generic nostalgia.
The body remains central to the effect. Draping, pleating, knotting and light internal construction allow fabric to shift around the wearer, while accessories supply weight and repetition. Later collections have expanded this system through folk craft, community, swimwear and assertive tailoring, treating Chloé’s history as a working studio resource rather than a sequence of costumes.
Disclaimer
Career history
2024
Chloé launched Chloé Arts on 25 June 2024 under Chemena Kamali’s creative direction, beginning with eight works by Mie Olise Kjærgaard. A second edition at Paris Photo in 2025 supports treatment as a continuing programme rather than a one-off campaign.
2024
Chemena Kamali presented her first Chloé collection, resetting the house around a softer, bohemian-feminine reading of its heritage.
2023
Richemont announced that Chemena Kamali joined Chloé as creative director on 9 October 2023. Her current programme draws across the founder era, both Lagerfeld periods, late-1990s tailoring and early-2000s accessories without reducing the house to a single revival.
2023
Chloé appointed Chemena Kamali as creative director. Joined from Saint Laurent. Replaced Gabriela Hearst.
2016
Chemena Kamali joined Saint Laurent’s women’s ready-to-wear organisation in 2016 and worked within Vaccarello’s studio through approximately 2022. The role belongs to the internal design structure beneath the house-wide creative direction.
2012
Kamali returned to Chloé in a senior design capacity under Clare Waight Keller around 2012 or 2013 and remained for a little over three years. Sources describe design-director responsibility around ready-to-wear and pre-collections, but the exact title sequence and dates remain disputed.
2003
Chemena Kamali joined Chloé as an intern in 2003 during Phoebe Philo’s tenure and remained in junior studio work beyond the placement. Her exact title progression and departure date have not been recovered, so the record does not assign a closed employment range.
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