I heard late last week that Gabriela Hearst was on her way out at Chloé, the Richemont-backed Parisian fashion house, where she showed her first collection in March 2021. I reached out to Hearst and a Chloé rep on Monday morning for comment but didn’t hear back; a couple of hours later, WWD leaked the news. Funny how the world works.

The timing is intriguing—and not because, just this morning, Hearst announced that Chloé would be the first brand to “collaborate” with Angelina Jolie on her new, confusing fashion venture, Atelier Jolie. This past February, Hearst and C.E.O. Riccardo Bellini were written up in WWD touting their success, with sales up 60 percent over two years. The big commercial hit, I know from buyers, is the knitted “Nama” sneaker; the WWD article noted that the “Woody,” a structured canvas shopping tote with straps made of grosgrain ticker tape, is also performing well. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true, given the success of a similar style from Marc Jacobs. But it was also true that Hearst’s runway collections failed to inspire industry insiders—they were often too similar to what she was producing for her own brand. That lack of heat certainly affects consumer perception. Of course, things can be very different behind the scenes, and Hearst has her own fledgling brand to look after, which received a small investment from LVMH Ventures in 2019.