Culture has become enamoured with the early 2000s, which is why it makes sense that fashion has (re)found the Chloé Paddington handbag, a brainchild of Phoebe Philo first introduced 21 years ago
Right now, culture has become enamoured with the early 2000s, silhouettes and treatments feeling weirdly current, its celebrities oddly fascinating again. Which is why it makes sense that fashion has (re)found the Chloé Paddington handbag, a brainchild of Phoebe Philo first introduced 21 years ago, chunked-up with a giant brass padlock the size of a child’s fist. It’s actually not a ‘fashion’ revival per se – second-hand ones have been doing swift business with consumers barely young enough to recall their mothers toting them with low-rise jeans way back when. Albeit not as swift as when the bag was first launched: some 8,000 were sold before the first Paddington even hit stores in the winter of 2005. Chloé’s current creative director Chemena Kamali remembers that well – she first joined Chloé as part of Philo’s team, returning under Clare Waight Keller and then finally – third time’s a charm – to head the maison herself in 2023. Her nous has been to drill down into people’s misty, water-coloured memories of Chloé – whether a 1970s Karl Lagerfeld shoulder, a 1990s Stella McCartney lace trim, or Philo’s padlocked Paddington of the noughties – and lightly rework them for now. It’s looking at the heart of Chloé, to give its contemporary reincarnation – and, let’s be honest, revitalisation – some soul.
The Chloé Paddington bag is available to buy here.
