Gabriela Hearst

Gabriela Hearst is a Uruguayan-born designer who founded her namesake New York label in 2015 and served as creative director of Chloé from 7 December 2020 until 28 September 2023. Raised on her family’s ranch in Uruguay, she developed a practice around tailoring, natural fibres, craft networks and the environmental accounting of luxury production.

At Chloé, Hearst joined collection design to institutional programmes. Her tenure included partnerships with social enterprises, the house’s October 2021 B Corp certification, lower-impact material targets, Chloé Vertical’s digital IDs and resale system, and the Atelier Jolie capsule. She continued to lead Gabriela Hearst throughout the appointment and left after presenting Chloé Spring/Summer 2024.

Hearst works through dense material value: wool, cashmere, linen, leather alternatives, deadstock and hand processes are selected for durability, traceability and tactile presence. Clean tailoring and functional construction keep the clothes legible, while craft partnerships make the production network part of the design record.

Her sustainability claims are strongest when attached to measurable systems rather than general virtue. At Chloé, certification, social-enterprise production, product-level traceability and resale sat alongside runway authorship, testing how environmental governance could be built into a luxury house without becoming a substitute for silhouette or craft.