When not designing accessories from offcuts, Chloe has been known to adapt clothing, and she was recently asked to style a ‘baroque look’ photoshoot for the singer/songwriter Michaela Betts, which would be to launch her new album Dark Nature.
Chloe Haywood is a talented and award winning clothing designer. She mastered the art of millinery and showed A/W12 & S/S13 collections at Milan Fashion Week and London Fashion Week in 2012. One of her first collaborations was with a sustainable brand Thrashion. These days Chloe can be found designing and producing sustainable fashion and accessories using offcuts.
Chloe recently made upcycled fashion patches for the Manchester Art Gallery. The first edition sold out and she has produced a second set for them.
Occasionally Chloe is also asked to adapt clothing. It was this skill that led to Chloe being asked recently to style a photoshoot for Michaela Betts. The photographs will be used for the launch of Michaela’s new album Dark Nature. The live album is set for release on 31/10/23.
Here’s one of the tracks:
Michaela’s music style is described as ‘dark disney / baroque-pop’. The genre has “emerged from years of writing and session singing”. Michaela was born in Antwerp and raised in ‘a rambling house in Yorkshire’. She is the daughter of travelling musicians and the grand-daughter of writer Bengt Nerman, whose father met Lenin in 1917.
Chloe says ‘the feel of the shoot was to create the essence of an 18th century oil painting – baroque if you like.
One particular item she wanted was a sheer shrug. So Chloe used some silk organza offcuts donated by the Royal Opera House to create that look, but she also styled Mich with a tulle neckerchief (finished with a vintage leather floral spray she already had in her collection). You can see in the image the pen marks where the costume department had drawn the outlines of where they were planning to cut! Mich loved this crazy look, so we kept it in the shoot.”
Michaela shared on Facebook “Chloe was stylist & seamstress on my DARK NATURE shoot, helping to source wardrobe, sewing on frills and distressing roses (among other things). She even used off cuts … to bouf-up my bolero”.
The photos taken by Ben Wulf Photography are dramatic and atmospheric. Ben specialises in actor headshots and he captures the character of everyone he photographs. He says in his bio “Most importantly I love taking pictures. Capturing a good portrait of someone and whatever it is that makes them “them” is a really fascinating pursuit.” Certainly, the style has captured the baroque-pop feel that Michaela’s music evokes.
If you would like to find out more about Chloe and her work, her products or any potential collaborations, reach out to her on her website www.chloehaywoodlondon.com
Headshots credit: Ben Wulf Photography
Other photos credit: Chloe Haywood London
