Which means that the only thing for certain is that the rumor mill, which has put the name Phoebe Philo in the running for pretty much every creative director job that has come up since the start of 2018, including Burberry, Chanel, Ferragamo and Loro Piana, will finally be silenced. Philo is back, it is presumably because she has something entirely new to say, for a new world. Philo as ready-to-wear director at Celine, is currently doing a similar-but-different version of that brand in his role as creative director of Bottega Veneta. Besides, Daniel Lee, who worked closely with Ms. Philo’s return to fashion will look anything like her past.Īfter all, her Chloé, which was synonymous with a certain cool girl attitude, sending a generation of young women into baby doll dresses and clodhopper wooden wedges, looked nothing like her Celine, which she imbued with a kind of radical maturity, elevating the nude leotard and the oversize navy cashmere sweater to desirability and kick-starting the trend for luxury Birkenstocks. Perhaps she will be the designer who is really able to take a stand against the dominant culture of disposability and the ravenous maw of the content monster created by TikTok and Instagram.Ĭertainly it would be a mistake to assume that Ms. Perhaps she will bypass the seasonal show wheel entirely for a new version of slow fashion, one that is altogether more sustainable. Philo’s history of chafing against the demands of the fashion system during both her 10 years at Celine and her five-year stint at Chloé, where she became the first designer at a major fashion brand to take a maternity leave.

Philo’s home and where her Celine studio was located, despite the brand’s headquarters being in Paris.Īnd it’s not a big leap to guess that it may be created on the designer’s own schedule, given the emphasis on self-determination and given Ms. (Will it be only women’s wear? Women’s wear and men’s wear? Unisex?) In the meantime, however, a few clues were buried in the announcement.įor example, the line will be of “exceptional quality,” which is generally fashion-speak for the high luxury end of the pricing and materials spectrum. More information about what, exactly, Phoebe Philo-the-brand will be is promised in January. “I am very much looking forward to being back in touch with my audience and people everywhere.” She said little more. “Being in my studio and making once again has been both exciting and incredibly fulfilling,” Ms. Philo to retain control and “to govern and experiment” as she sees fit, according to the news release. Philo’s former employer, the luxury behemoth will have only a minority stake, allowing Ms. Though it will be partially backed by LVMH, Ms. Philo, 48, is finally putting her name where her aesthetic is, and introducing (yes) Phoebe Philo, an independent clothing and accessories line. Three and a half years after leaving her last post as artistic director of Celine, Ms. Phoebe Philo, the patron saint of dressing for the female gaze, the designer whose work convinced Joan Didion to pose for an ad and turned her customers into groupies, is returning to business. Listen? Do you hear that? It is the intake of breath after thousands of women’s fashion prayers are finally answered.

Phlo studio