Designer Clare Waight Keller to Leave Chloé

​We’re barely a week into 2017 and the fashion world is already beginning its round of designer musical chairs.

Reuters broke the news yesterday that Clare Waight Keller is out at Chloé. According to the news source, the designer has not renewed her contract with the fashion house, citing the challenges of commuting between Paris and London, where she resides with her three children. The designer has been with Chloé since 2011.

Replacing Waight Keller is Natacha Ramsay Levi, who was design director at Louis Vuitton, and second-in-command under Nicolas Ghesquiére. With Keller at the helm, Chloé stayed true to its effortless, bohemian-chic DNA. Ramsay-Levi, whose vision has been more on the edgier side with Ghesquiére at Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga, could signal a new direction for the French label.

Both Waight Keller and Ramsay-Levi are both under contracts at Chloé and Louis Vuitton through the next collection, so Ramsay-Levi will debut her first full collection for the brand for Autumn/Winter 2018. 

This latest shake-up has once again brought up ongoing rumours that Ghesquiére himself might leave Louis Vuitton. The designer, whose contract will end in 2018, has told Canal Plus in France previously that he wants to create his own label soon.