Lace Time : Hannah MacGibbon's pretty little geometric lace dress, worn with flat sandals and a chain-strap bag.

Hannah MacGibbon, the new creative director of Chloé, is playing with such Seventies and Eighties elements as guipure lace, linen and polkadots, which she says should be worn with a "relaxed and easy spirit." Here, her pretty little geometric lace dress, worn with flat sandals and a chain-strap bag.

New Day At Chloé

PARIS — "It's a fresh start," declares Hannah MacGibbon, the new creative director at Chloé, as she unveils her first effort for the Paris house — a tongue-in-cheek take on couture clichés for pre-spring. "I wanted to do something simple to clean the palate," adds MacGibbon, a striking blonde dressed in an army green tunic and shorts, her waist encircled with a gladiator-style Azzedine Alaïa belt, her feet lashed into flat sandals. "There's more pureness in the lines."

MacGibbon, who succeeded Paulo Melim Andersson at the design helm last spring, hardly needs to get acclimated to the brand: She worked under Phoebe Philo for five years and helped set Chloé's winning hip-yet-girlish template. Most recently, she consulted for Chloé as creative director of its signature perfume, launched with its licensing partner Coty Prestige, and worked on other projects for the brand, part of Compagnie Financière Richemont.

"My heart has always remained at Chloé," she told WWD in an exclusive interview in her spare, sun-drenched office, a fur jacket perched over her swivel chair for when the air-conditioning gets too intense. She gave few specifics about what she might do for her runway debut in October, saying she would likely "perfect, exaggerate and play with" the essence of the pre-collection. Still, she's adamant about her preferences, declaring a penchant for "authentic" fabrics like cotton and linen and a desire to introduce more tailoring for women — worn in an offhand way that has long been a Chloé hallmark. And while she's clearly out to reclaim the house's reputation for easy-to-wear pieces, she says she's not beholden to the Philo era, when Chloé catapulted to fashion's big leagues. "What we did in the past was such a moment in fashion," she says. "I think fashion has also changed so much since that period."

For cruise, MacGibbon plays with what she called "Seventies and Eighties clichés," parlaying guipure lace, polkadots and stiff linen into new takes on ensemble dressing. "It's important that it's worn with a relaxed and easy spirit," she says showing off her "buttercup scallop dress" and suggesting flat suede sandals as a counterbalance. Key looks include a cocoon coat in a stylized animal print, scallop-edged jackets and skirts and a variety of shirts and blouses with full sleeves. Meanwhile, handbags consist of glossy, retro-look clutches and square-frame bags with chain handles.Miles Socha - wwd.com