No one who knows Gabriela Hearst doubted she could do the job at Chloé—she’s a force of nature. But just how quickly she would raise the bar around sustainability and responsible design at the Paris house is remarkable.
“The reality we’re living is that we have only nine years to figure out how to do business before we’re in a critical situation with no chances to reverse back,” she says candidly on today’s episode of Good Morning Vogue. “I never dreamed that we were going to be facing the catastrophe that we’re envisioning today. And now I understand the mission more clearly. If I don’t put myself to good use on this, I feel I fail. The trying out period is over.”
That’s why Hearst’s debut, held on the 100th anniversary of the house founder Gaby Aghion’s birth, features more lower-impact materials than its Chloé predecessors, why 20% of it is manufactured by World Fair Trade Organization fair trade-guaranteed members, and why she’s partnered with Sheltersuit, a non-profit organization, that provides shelter for the homeless in the form of outerwear made entirely from upcycled materials in the Netherlands by former refugees.
“When I think of Chloé I think of joy,” Hearst says. “I think of freedom… I think of the strength of being feminine. I think of the founder Gaby Aghion coming from Egypt to Paris, adapting to a new world… The vision that she had for modern living—she had only four bags, she lived in a 600 square foot apartment. Things didn’t own her. She had what she needed, what gave her joy, and that measure of living is where we need to refine our balance.”
To discover more about this Hearst and her fashion visionary commitment to the challenges confronting fashion, tune in here.