Urban Innocence. The Chloe Spring-Summer 2017 collection celebrates the effortless simplicity of French style intrinsic to the Chloé girl.

The seafaring life — much romanticized but driven by pragmatism. Clare Waight Keller referenced that fusion at Chloé.

Nautical references abounded, cords, naval flag motifs, sailor collars and pants. Waight Keller’s primary intention wasn’t to celebrate sailor style per se, but to capture “the effortless simplicity of French style” via “a play of boyish attitude and romantic details.”

The designer has made that combination, a carefree attitude rendered with distinctive style, a hallmark of Waight Keller’s Chloé. She starts from a baseline of pretty sportif, each season taking it slightly off-course from the previous outing. This time out, the leap was more pronounced than usual, as she veered from the Seventies references she loves to those of the less user-friendly Eighties. But she steered well clear of the decade’s most costumey side, invoking subtle citations only, as in high-polish sportswear in ample volume: a blousoned, big-sleeved navy top over white shorts; a wide crop-top-full-skirt combo in flaglike graphics with drawstring details. Only a few years ago, such looks would not have been key to a collection titled “Urban Innocence.” In so naming it, Waight Keller made a savvy statement about the increasingly casual landscape through which high-end fashion must navigate to stay relevant. That said, she also worked in more traditional aspects of urbane dressing in good-looking pantsuits, office ready but with a hint of street.