Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Remember the Chloe show where some thought that the handbags were uninspired due to the departing design chief?

Paris - Chloe has appointed Paulo Melim Andersson, a Swede who has spent the past seven years with Marni in Milan, as its new Chief Designer on Wednesday.

Melim Andersson, 34, is in effect the eventual successor to Phoebe Philo, the highly successful English designer who quit Chloe last year, in a move away from the stresses and strains of designing for a major international label.

However, Melim Andersson's immediate predecessor is Yvan Mispelaere, a Frenchman who has overseen the past two Chloe runway collections and took the bow for the house at the Paris' labels most recent show on Saturday in the Tuileries Gardens.

Post show, Chloe's international publicist KCD specifically refused any camera crews attempting to interview Mispelaere, whose departure had been focus of rumors for several weeks.

"We are thrilled to have Paulo join us and look forward to him becoming part of the Chloe design legacy," Chloe Chairman and CEO Ralph Toledano said in a press release.

Toledano has a reputation for unearthing hidden talents: while president of Guy Laroche he appointed the obscure Alber Elbaz from the office of Geoffrey Beene, igniting the career of one of the world's great contemporary designers.

Melim Andersson, a graduate of both the famed Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London, will make his debut with the Chloe fall 2007 collection during the next Paris women's ready-to-wear season in March.

The Swede joins an illustrious list of talents who have been the designers at Chloe that includes Karl Lagerfeld, Martine Sitbon and Stella McCartney.

Mispelaere is due to begin a new career in Florence, Italy, joining the Gucci design team headed up by that house's creative director Frida Giannini.

Source: news.yahoo.com

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