Chloé: The Scent of Freedom and Femininity

“I created Chloé because, although I thought couture was beautiful, I also felt it was a little old-fashioned and artificial. I believed that beautiful, high-quality things should be seen on women walking in the street.”

— Gaby Aghion, founder of Chloé

Contents

Essential Information

Founded: 1952
Founder: Gaby Aghion (born Gabriella Hanoka)
Fragrance licensee: Coty Inc.
Current owner: Richemont Group
Official website: https://www.chloe.com

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

A Longing for Paris, Nurtured in Alexandria

Gaby Aghion, born Gabriella Hanoka, was born on March 3, 1921, in Alexandria, Egypt. Her father, Mr. Hanoka, was a Greek Jewish tobacco-factory owner, and her mother was of Italian Jewish background. The youngest of seven children, she grew up in affluent circumstances. Alexandria was then a thriving cosmopolitan city under the British protectorate, where upper-class households spoke French and European culture exerted a strong influence.

From childhood, Gaby was familiar with Parisian fashion magazines. Her mother had seamstresses make clothes from their illustrations, an environment that would later inform Chloé’s philosophy of bringing beauty within reach.

Around 1940, Gaby married her childhood friend Raymond Aghion, the son of a prominent Egyptian cotton merchant. She had first visited Paris in 1939, accompanying her husband as he pursued medical studies, but the outbreak of the Second World War forced them to return home.

Moving to Paris and Living Through a “Tornado”

In 1945, as conditions worsened for Egypt’s Jewish population, the 24-year-old Gaby moved to Paris with her husband for the second time. “I had never seen such elegance in my life. To me, fashion was France itself,” she later recalled.

Frequenting the cafés of the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, and socializing with left-wing intellectuals and artists such as Louis Aragon, Pablo Picasso and Paul Éluard, Gaby felt a distinct unease about the state of fashion in postwar Paris. “There were so many things that did not exist in France then. Everything had to be invented. That was what captivated me.”

In a Paris dominated by haute couture, or high-end made-to-measure clothing, only a small wealthy elite could enjoy fine fashion. Ordinary people had little choice but to order patterns and sew at home. Recognizing that gap, Gaby found it increasingly impossible to resist the impulse to “make clothes that would allow women to look beautiful as they walked through the city.”

A Brand That Began with Six Dresses

In 1952, Gaby made her decision: “I cannot go on simply making lunch appointments. I have to work.” Her husband, family and even her friends were sceptical, wondering whether she would last two weeks.

In the maid’s room of her Paris apartment, Gaby sewed six cotton dresses and took them around her favourite boutiques, offering them for sale with her own label rather than the shops’ labels. “They were inspired by the kind of clothes I wore at sports clubs in Egypt,” she explained. Light and free, yet high in quality, they stood in contrast to the taut formality of haute couture. This was the beginning of the concept later known as “luxury prêt-à-porter,” or luxury ready-to-wear, a term she coined herself.

The six dresses sold out almost immediately.

The Origins of the Name “Chloé”

Gaby did not use her own name for the brand, for several reasons. “Gabriella” was already too closely associated with the image of Chanel. Under the social conventions of the time, it could be considered shameful for a married woman from a good family to work. Nor did she want to damage her family’s name if the venture failed. Instead, she borrowed a friend’s name.

“I liked the roundness of the letters,” Gaby said of her decision to use the name of her friend Chloé Huysmans. Chloé means “young green shoot” in Greek, carrying associations of freshness, youth and natural beauty. That woman embodied the image of the “Chloé woman” Gaby envisioned: free, lively and at ease with herself.

Working Hand in Hand with Jacques Lenoir, and a Golden Age

The following year, 1953, Gaby welcomed Jacques Lenoir as her business partner. With Lenoir handling management and practical operations while Gaby concentrated on creation, the brand grew rapidly.

According to the brand’s official timeline, its first fashion show took place at Café de Flore in 1957. Models threaded their way between guests’ tables while the audience enjoyed the collection over coffee. The New York Times described one of Chloé’s café shows in these words: “The Chloé show was held at the literary café La Closerie des Lilas. The press sat around tables drinking café au lait… while the models wove their way between the tables.”

By 1957, Chloé was already appearing regularly in Vogue Paris. Before long, celebrities including Brigitte Bardot, Maria Callas, Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly were wearing its clothes.

Discovering the Talent of Karl Lagerfeld

“I have no talent. But I have a talent for recognizing talent in others.” — Gaby Aghion

In the 1960s, Gaby actively recruited young designers. Among them was Karl Lagerfeld, then still at the start of his career. Lagerfeld became involved with Chloé in 1964, began working as a designer from 1966, and became its exclusive designer in 1974.

Lagerfeld’s years at Chloé deserve to be called a golden age. His flowing dresses in chiffon and fine silk embodied the feminine, liberated spirit of the 1970s, making the Chloé name known around the world. “With each collection, I tried to crystallize the mood of the moment,” he later said. His words would be echoed in the title of the 2023 retrospective at New York’s Jewish Museum, Mood of the Moment.

For approximately twenty years, until his move to Chanel in 1983, Lagerfeld led Chloé’s design; he also returned for a second period from 1992 to 1997. Gaby herself sold her shares to Dunhill Holdings, now the Richemont Group, in 1985 and stepped away from management. Chloé continued to evolve in the hands of designers including Stella McCartney (1997–2001) and Phoebe Philo (2001–2006), and Chemena Kamali was appointed its new creative director in 2023.

What Matters to the Brand

A Philosophy of Fragrance: The Traditions of Grasse and Respect for Nature

Perfumer Michel Almairac, who has worked on Chloé fragrances for many years, describes his approach this way: “My philosophy of perfume making is deeply rooted in the traditions of Grasse. I prefer to refer to the beauty of nature rather than to abstract things. Creating a beautiful jasmine is intuitive and self-evident.” The partnership with Robertet, a natural-materials producer based in Grasse, the flower capital of southern France, embodies that philosophy. Its fragrance creation has valued plant-derived materials while also combining them with synthetic ingredients.

When Chloé was planning its 2008 perfume, the Coty team asked Robertet for “a signature fragrance for modern women, different from what their mothers and grandmothers wore, but worthy of the classics.” The result was the 2008 Chloé Eau de Parfum, centred on rose and balancing the freshness of freesia and peony, the sweetness of lychee and the dry depth of cedarwood.

His son Romain Almairac assessed his father’s work as follows: “The original Chloé Eau de Parfum was made with very simple, few ingredients. No one expected such success.”

Bottle and Packaging: A Ribbon That Ties Together the “Chloé Codes”

The emblems of Chloé fragrance since 2008 are the fluted glass bottle and the grosgrain ribbon tied by hand around its neck. The vertical grooves evoke neoclassical columns and embody the brand’s quietly elegant stance. The ribbon’s stitching pays homage to decorative codes long used in Chloé fashion, and the bottle is conceived not simply as a container, but as an extension of the fashion house’s world.

For L’Eau de Parfum Intense, released in 2024, the ribbon changed to a deep garnet red and the bottle was designed to be refillable. Refillability was introduced across all sizes of this fragrance, offering a glimpse of the brand’s awareness of sustainability.

The Fragrance Lineup

The Original Chloé (1975): A Tuberose Soliflore

Chloé’s first fragrance was launched in April 1975. Lagerfeld developed it as a licensed fragrance venture with Parfums Lagerfeld, then a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. Its perfumer was Betty Busse.

A lavish formula for its time, it used approximately 178–180 natural materials and oils. The substantial white-floral fragrance centred on tuberose, layered with jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley, iris and narcissus. Designer Joe Messina created the bottle, whose frosted stopper imitated the stem of a calla lily, and it won a Fragrance Foundation award in the packaging category.

The fragrance also has an important place in the history of the industry. Lagerfeld is described as “the first fashion designer to release a perfume without having his own brand,” paving the way for the business model of many subsequent house fragrances.

Narcisse and Innocence (1990s)

Narcisse was released in 1992 and Innocence in 1996. Neither achieved the commercial success of the original, and a gap in Chloé’s fragrance releases followed.

Chloé Eau de Parfum (2008): A Signature Is Born

Coty acquired the Chloé fragrance licence in 2005, and the long-awaited Chloé Eau de Parfum arrived in 2008. It would become the house’s current signature scent.

Its perfumers were Michel Almairac and Amandine Clerc-Marie. Peony, lychee and freesia open the fragrance, followed by a heart of rose, magnolia and lily of the valley, and a base of amber and cedarwood. The concept of a “clean, elegant rose” stood out in the market at the time of its release, and it became the brand’s biggest bestseller, a position it has maintained to the present.

Although almost an entirely different personality from the 1975 original, it carries forward the brand’s DNA: completing a woman’s overall image through fragrance.

Love Story (2014)

Launched in Europe in September 2014, Love Story was composed by Anne Flipo. Its concept was inspired by the love locks attached to the Pont des Arts in Paris, and a padlock motif was incorporated into the bottle design. A fresh floral composed of neroli, orange blossom, Madagascan jasmine and cedarwood, it gave a contemporary expression to Chloé’s world as it stood in 2014.

Nomade (2018): A Chypre Adventure

Released in 2018 and composed by Givaudan perfumer Quentin Bisch, Nomade was an ambitious step beyond Chloé’s previous soft-floral direction. It adopts a chypre structure based on oakmoss, patchouli and sandalwood, with mirabelle plum at the top and freesia and rose in the heart.

The innovative formula by a Givaudan perfumer takes adventure, openness and travel as its themes. Coty marketing executive Simona Cattaneo said of the concept: “With Nomade, we wanted to respond to a very strong desire for openness, encounters, surprises and the unknown.” The bottle was inspired by the silhouette of Chloé’s signature Drew bag.

The Atelier des Fleurs Collection (2019 Onwards)

This sophisticated monofloral collection began in 2019. Each fragrance focuses on a single flower or material, seeking to reveal its “unknown facets.” Its fresh idea is that wearers can combine fragrances to create their own bouquet, “as though selecting a single flower from a perfumer’s palette.”

Tuberosa 1974, added in 2020, has particular significance as a tribute to the original Chloé of 1975. The “1974” in its name refers to the year the brand officially gives for the creation of that first perfume. Some sources list its launch year as 1975, so it is useful to distinguish creation from release.

Personal memories also provide a starting point for Atelier des Fleurs. For Cedrus, Quentin Bisch recalled his father surprising his mother with a bouquet made only of branches and leaves when he was a child. Cedar, sandalwood and vetiver form the structure, with cardamom adding transparency reminiscent of a crushed green branch. For Cedrus Intense in 2025, he collaborated with Louise Turner to deepen this woody composition.

Chloé L’Eau de Parfum Intense (2024)

Released in 2024, this ambitious reinterpretation of the 2008 signature is a father-and-son collaboration between Michel Almairac and his son Romain. Centred on rose, with raspberry, ambroxan, cashmeran and cedar, it captures the different faces of the flower throughout the day in a single perfume, under the concept of “rose in the morning, at midday and at night.” A 150 mL refill is available, bringing refillability to every size of this fragrance.

By the Way…

The name Chloé comes from the Greek and means “young green shoot” or “the sprouting of fresh young leaves.” Its etymology has a striking affinity with the fresh, natural femininity the brand has consistently embodied.

Café de Flore, where Gaby Aghion presented her first collection, was also the place where Romain Almairac, son of Michel Almairac, perfumer of the 2008 Chloé Eau de Parfum, was interviewed by a fashion magazine. By coincidence, Chloé’s story continues to be told from the same corner of the city, the Left Bank of Paris, from its beginnings to the present.

Gaby said of her own style: “I have always dressed simply. I don’t like to glitter in society.” The story of a woman who began with six cotton dresses and built a brand bringing free-spirited beauty to women around the world seems to mirror the very beauty, stripped of excess, that Chloé’s perfumes embody.

In 2023–2024, New York’s Jewish Museum held the retrospective Mood of the Moment: Gaby Aghion and the House of Chloé, displaying approximately 150 garments alongside previously unseen archival material. Her achievements were finally brought fully into the light, after a period as a largely untold pioneer in fashion history.

References