Gaby Aghion

Gaby Aghion (1921–2014) was an Egyptian-born French designer and entrepreneur who founded Chloé in Paris in 1952. Born Gabrielle Hanoka in Alexandria, she moved to Paris with her husband, Raymond Aghion, in 1945. Jacques Lenoir joined her as a business partner soon after the house was established. Together they developed Chloé as an alternative to both haute couture and low-quality copies: original clothes made in fine fabrics, produced in standard sizes and sold under the house’s own label. The first Chloé presentation took place at Café de Flore in 1956.

Aghion designed the early collections and then built a collaborative studio around younger designers. Gérard Pipart joined in 1958, while Karl Lagerfeld entered the design team in the mid-1960s and became closely identified with the house during the 1970s. Aghion and Lenoir remained in charge until Chloé was sold in 1985. She was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 2013 and died in Paris the following year.

Aghion wanted to make elegant clothes suited to daily life outside the formal couture salon. She favoured light construction, fine but practical fabrics, simple hems, soft drape and freedom of movement; early dresses drew on the ease of sporting clothes she remembered from Alexandria. Her phrase “prêt-à-porter de luxe” described original fashion made with close attention to quality and available through boutiques without the rituals of made-to-measure couture.

Her contribution was also organisational. Aghion built Chloé around a collaborative studio, recruiting young designers and giving them latitude within a house sensibility centred on lightness, femininity and informal elegance. This flexible structure allowed the label to change across successive creative voices, including Gérard Pipart and Karl Lagerfeld, while retaining the practical ease and quality that shaped its early identity.