Chloe confirms Clare Waight Keller's departure, but what was her impact on your wardrobe?

Chloe has confirmed the departure of its British creative director, Clare Waight Keller.During her time at the French fashion house, Waight Keller has embraced the legacy of carefree yet empowered femininity left by Chloe"s founder Gaby Aghion and given it a modern relevance.If you"ve been lately been tempted to trial sophisticated takes on the tracksuit or breezy bohemian blouses and dresses, then it"s Waight Keller you have to thank.

???Clare has been a remarkable partner at Chloe?? over the past six years,???Chlo?? president Geoffroy De La Bourdonnaye toldThe Business of Fashion.???She helped rejuvenate the legacy of Gaby Aghion, the first ever Chloe?? girl, by infusing a cool and easy breeze into the Chloe?? wardrobe, effortlessly mixing graceful and feminine ???flou??? with a free-wheeling and boyish take ontailoring.Clare has a unique talent in directing a large studio of strong creatives.I would like to personally thank Clare for her loyalty and dedication to Chloe??.???

Waight Keller"s departure has been the subject ofindustry rumours for weeks after she moved her family back toLondon last year.She will show her final collection for the house at Paris Fashion Week on March 2nd.

???After six extraordinary years at Chloe??I would like to thank Geoffroy and all my colleagues for their enormous efforts over the past years,???Waight Keller said to BoF.???Working for thismaisonhas been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.Chloe?? is a brand with values close to my heart and I have truly enjoyed working with some of the best talents in the industry.I feel privileged to have worked for amaisonwith such a heritage and I am very proud of all that has been achieved.???

"Fluidity and femininity, but boyish" was how Waight Keller- who previously worked at Pringle, Gucci and Calvin Klein-summed up her vision for Chloe when she showed her first collectionback in October 2011, following in the footsteps of other cool young British women like Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo and Hannah MacGibbon who had reinvigorated the Chloe attitude.The look has remained remarkably consistent and wearable throughout her tenure, with those famous floudresses, "70s influences and slouchytailoring evident in each collection.

That"s not to say that Waight Keller hasn"t sparked trends; pea coats, patchwork, sporty tops, capes, leather trousers (in a collection inspired by motorcycle adventurer and journalist Anne-France Dautheville), blouses and Nana knits are just a handful of the looks which she has propelled back into our wardrobes- and those of a highly influential street style set whohave become known as "Chloe Girls".The label"s Drew and Faye bags became bestsellers, thanks in no small part to the fact they were seen hooked on the arms of It girls including Veronika Heilbrunner, Camille Charriere and Pernille Teisbaek.

Last year, Waight Kellerbrought the Chloe girl look back to Blighty with a summer of festival style.She designeda bespoke gown which Adele wore for her Glastonbury performance and then her festival-influenced collectiontook to the Port Eliot festival in Cornwall.???There???s always been that bohemia about Chlo?? which is so linked tofestival culture,the idea of being a free spirit.You can be who you want to be for that weekend and do things that you wouldn???t normally do?????? she reflected.

At the Chloe show in September, Waight Keller proved once again her sixth sense for what women want, reintroducing strappy heels to the fashion consciousness after a few season of flat shoe predominance."The heel hasn"t felt right for a while," she said, confirming what so many women have always thought..."but it does feel right now."

Chloe was founded by Gaby Aghion in 1956, offering a soft,relaxed and woman-friendly alternative to the prevailing tailored and ultra-ladylikelook of the day; she is said to have coined the term "pret-a-porter" or ready-to-wear, a phrase infused with her philosophy of effortless style.Karl Lagerfeld also designed forChloe from 1967 to 1978 and from 1992 until 1997.Aghion died in 2014.

A successor to Clare Waight-Keller has not yet been announced, but Natacha Ramsay-Levi- currently working with Nicolas Ghesquiere at Louis Vuitton, is said to be a top candidate.