When Philippe Aghion accepted the 2025 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, his daughter Mikhaela honoured both the moment and her family’s heritage in a deeply personal way: by wearing Chloé, the house founded by her grandmother, Gaby Aghion
As her father, Philippe Aghion, rose to receive the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, Mikhaela Aghion couldn't help but feel overcome. “He was so elegant on stage. We’re entranced by what he has achieved,” she says down the phone moments after the ceremony, her voice cracking a little with emotion. “I know the word surreal sounds like a cliche, but it is the only word that can begin to encapsulate what we are all feeling.”
Yet, for the Parisian, the joy was tinged with sadness. She lamented the absence of her grandmother and Philippe's mother, Gaby Aghion, who founded the fashion house Chloé in the 1950s. “My grandmother was always incredibly proud of my father,” she explains of Gaby. “She would always talk of my father to other people and say, ‘My son could be a Nobel Prize winner.’ I wish so much that she could have been here today.”
Though Gaby sadly passed in 2014 at the age of 93, Aghion, with the help of Chloé's current creative director Chemena Kamali, found a meaningful way to include her grandmother in the momentous Nobel occasion. “It was obvious to me that I wanted my grandmother, somehow, to be present with us in that moment, and there was no other way to make that happen other than to be wearing Chloé.”
Mikhaela Aghion with her father, Nobel Laureate Philippe Aghion, who won the prize for his work in the field of Economic Sciences.
Whilst Aghion knew she could have worn an archival piece, something designed by her grandmother, she chose to honour the brand as it stands today. “How beautiful to have a creative director who, I feel, cherishes what Chloé truly is,” she explains. “Wearing that new, truly authentic wave of Chloé felt to me like the most beautiful way to pay homage to both my grandmother and to my father’s model in economics.”
To be wearing Chloé is like wearing my family.
Mikhaela Aghion
The gown she wore was from the brand’s SS26 collection: a rich teal, asymmetrical, ruffled silk crepe gown finished with gold embellishments. “I am so thankful to Chemena and Emily [Harris, creative director of See by Chloé] who have made all of this happen,” she adds. “To be wearing Chloé is like wearing my family, and like bringing them along to celebrate today.”
“My grandmother always pushed young talents, and now, so does my father. I see so much of Gaby in him,” she confesses. “Gaby used to be asked by journalists what she boiled her success down to, and she always said one word – it's not very elegant – but it was 'gumption'. It’s something she has passed on to my father.” Mikhaela, who works as an independent consultant, recalls Aghion telling her father: “‘You can’t let people tell you what goes together or not. It doesn’t matter, because that's probably what makes something quite interesting. I’m sure that must have influenced my dad, because I see him think outside the box. I see him doing it every single day.”