Chloé Spring 1999 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Editor’s Note: When we talk about Y2K in fashion we talk about a look, but it’s 1999 that is the turning point. As Nicole Phelps turns her attention to this special year, we are adding five archival shows to the archive.

Stella McCartney’s third collection for Chloé, for spring 1999, had a sizzling sexiness, but more transgressive than Gisele’s lace tunic or Aurelie’s teeny bikini, was the way that the designer played with ideas of good taste. She took a “low” technique, the kind of spray-painted palm tree and sunset scenes typical of tacky tourist merchandise, and reframed them within the heritage of a French luxury house.