Founded on the belief of liberating women through ready-to-wear fashion, French house Chloé is sticking strongly to their roots as they unveil their Spring 2026 collection, Female Vertigo. Chloé’s latest release seeks to explore the nature of femininity in early 1980s cinema and photography, finding their seed of inspiration in the aesthetics and philosophies of the film noir genre. Examining the contrasting archetypes of women, and subsequently femininity, through both the male and female gaze had a hand in influencing Female Vertigo’s silhouettes and color arrangements.
Female Vertigo taps into the highly stylized era of film noir thrillers, drawing from the angular compositions, obsessive mood and Hitchcock-inspired sense of color that was often expressed by way of the male lens through filmmakers like Brian de Palma. Matching the genre’s flair for dramatics, the collection chooses fabrics that, while light, and in some cases rather airy, capture attention with their voluminous structures, commanding the curiosity of all eyes in the room. Even in motion, the pieces within Female Vertigo hold fast to their shapes.
On the other hand, or in this case, camera, is the alternative influence of photographer Sybille Mallmann and filmmaker Bette Gordon, who dispel the previous reflection of femininity through a raw depiction of womanhood rooted in truthfulness, rather than illusion. Mailmann’s snapshot of young women in Munich and West Berlin chronicled the artist’s daily lives candidly, finding beauty in what would otherwise be considered the mundane. Referred to as the “Feminist Vertigo,” Gordon’s 1932 film Variety works to further this honesty-based narrative by highlighting a woman as her protagonist, as well as the subject of her own desire.
Existing within the limbo of opulent production and unprocessed veracity, Female Vertigo not only balances, but embraces, the polarity of both perspectives to produce a sensual yet structured display of femininity.
The campaign features actress Lily McInerny, models Prinnie Stott, Stella Hanan, Jacqui Hooper, Heija Li, Marylore Heck, River Klein, Carolina Tigner and Ekaterina Riabenko. Photographed in entirety by Johnny Dufort, the elements of movement, action and the lack thereof, all in opposing angles makes for a compelling representation of the same story in different ways.
Arriving in both online and in Chloé boutiques, the Female Vertigo collection will make its grand arrival in November of 2025.