It was only a matter of time before Chloé’s boho-inclined creative director, Chemena Kamali, whose autumn/winter 2024 debut was packed with oscillating ruffles, fringing and lace, brought back one of the house’s most iconic bags: the Paddington. Having honed in on other past hits, including the bracelet bag and sky-high wooden wedges, Kamali left her stalwarts waiting an entire year before reissuing the beloved bag for autumn/winter 2025, where it was nonchalantly carried on models’ arms on the runway at Paris Fashion Week.
Kamali has been fully immersed in the Chloé-verse since she arrived as an intern for Phoebe Philo – the brains behind the Paddington, which was originally released for spring/summer 2005 – some two decades ago, and she’s long admired the hero silhouettes of her predecessors. “What was quite unique about the success of Chloé’s bags was that they had no logos – they were never precious objects. Always soft, in vegetal leather, with an untreated grain patina. They age super-well,” she previously told Vogue’s Mark Holgate.
Thus, her Paddington arrived in the same curvaceous shape as Philo’s, bedecked with a similar leather-wrapped padlock and golden key with buckles at either end, rendered in burgundy, blue-grey and khaki green. Elevating its free-spirited appeal, Kamali attached faux-fur tail key rings to hers – which fans of the original, including Courtney Love, Kate Moss and Jennifer Lopez, would surely love.
“They are extremely important to me – because again, it’s not about categories. For me the bags, accessories, leather coats, the blouses – everything really sits together,” she explained to Holgate. “When I work on my looks, I integrate the bags immediately: The intention, function, attitude, proportion.” The “function” is especially key: “It’s important that with our bags you’re not afraid to put them on the floor when you’re sitting in a café.”
As Sarah Mower reported in a 2009 Vogue article, “every one of the 8,000 made in spring 2005 was spoken for before it reached the store”. Kamali’s will no doubt be equally popular, so ahead of its drop later this year, it would be a smart move to invest in a vintage original, stat.
Shop vintage Paddington bags
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
