Photo: Courtesy of Phoebe Philo
So far, Phoebe Philo has put out one collection in her name, which she offered during the past year in a series of “edits” and deliveries on her brand’s website. The former Celine designer has not held a runway show nor opened a store. However, she recently began selling clothes and accessories to a small number of stores, including Bergdorf Goodman and Corso Como in Milan. Philo did that in response to customers who wanted to be able to see and try things on — not unreasonably, given the cost and newness of her venture. She expects to add more retailers next year.
And today, without fanfare, Phoebe Philo Ltd. She will release images of her second collection, with the first styles available for sale in early 2025 and more to follow through May. Today’s images are only a preview, then. You will not be able to place orders.
For any entrepreneur, a start-up is a lesson in humility, perhaps especially when you once worked for LVMH, which has the means and know-how to open stores. Philo owns her business, with a minority investment from LVMH. In a time when journalists are speculating about who will be the next artistic director at Chanel or which designers are on the move (last Friday, Kim jones said he was leaving Fendi), Philo is actually sailing into the wind. She is one of the rare big names in recent memory to take the risk of having her own label. And she clearly doesn’t feel obliged to show multiple collections a year, as virtually all major brands do, or market herself. She’s given only one interview, to the New York Times, and that was months ago.
Photo: Courtesy of Phoebe Philo
Philo is contrary in another way: Not only did she propose a seasonless wardrobe for women — instead of changing styles and concepts every six months, willy-nilly — but she also has a vision of a woman. Again, that practice is not as common among designers as you might think. For Philo, she is someone who has to navigate modern spaces like offices and subways, who has to consider transitions from a work meeting to a restaurant dinner, and who wants to look cool and smart but also comfortable. If a style is glamorous, according to Philo’s thinking, it has to be effortless glamour — like the ivory satin tunic top with an asymmetric hem and a built-in bodysuit that she introduced last fall. You can wear it alone, as a minidress, or with trousers. When I first saw the top, I thought, Why don’t we get more dress-up looks like this — practical yet stylish — from high-fashion designers? The simple answer is they’re not interested in sportswear. Or they’ve forgotten it. But not Philo. So much of what is compelling about her vision comes from the sportswear tradition.
Her intuitions have paid off in influence. She has sparked the trend for popped collars, utility jackets converted into slouchy pantsuits, square-toed loafers with high tongues, black satin turtlenecks with extra-long sleeves, and big, fluffy coats. I can’t look at the styling of H&M’s images, not to mention its products, without seeing her influence.
Photo: Courtesy of Phoebe Philo
Philo and her London-based team brought much of the new collection to Paris in late September to show to fashion writers, and it was interesting to see how she had evolved certain styles, while others were departures.
The most striking additions were tops in sturdy cotton jerseys with a wide train that swept to the floor. In either black or white, they have an easy and versatile glamour; plus, you can throw them in the washing machine. One sleeveless “train” top has a padded back, for a slight couture effect. The material is cotton, though it almost looks like duchess satin. There’s also a one-shoulder tunic dress in dark wool — the shoulder made sharp with padding — with an asymmetric hem that was a nice extension of her earlier tunic look. Another long-sleeved wool dress, called the Slice for its deep vents, can be drawn in the front with a belt to show more skin.
But all these styles raise the same question: How dressed up do you need to be to look and feel, well, dressed? For some time, a lot of runway fashion has looked overtly feminine and bizarrely dressy, no doubt because of the influence of the red carpet and social media. At the other extreme are luxury brands like The Row that offer earnest simplicity. Yet, in some cases, there can be a dearth of real design.
With Philo, though, you get the same ease and functionality but you also get a distinctive fashion look and high-quality materials. I’d argue that’s the power of sportswear.
I think that’s the difference that Philo has made with her brand and its considered details and fabrics: You get both a distinctive fashion look and a high degree of functionality.
Photo: Courtesy of Phoebe Philo
Her popular BMX trousers, formerly in wool, will now come out in a sturdy cotton. She’s reworked her pin-striped shirts and added a new style in crisp white cotton with a squared-off collar that extends partially down the front, evocative of a man’s undone white tie. Tailoring has a bit more drape in it. Bomber jackets, in leather or silk-viscose, get a sharp shoulder. Having made the texture of her shaggy, embroidered coats a defining part of her image, Philo is not yet ready to move away from the style. Indeed, she’s come up with an extraordinary version in black fluff with a built-in denim jacket.
For sure, though, the collection makes a subtle shift toward glamour, in design as well as styling. There’s a shaved shearling jacket in a vanilla hue that has a whiff of the 1940s, and will likely be copied, and a marvelous long, crinkly skirt with a deep, knitted waistband, so you can pull it up and wear it as a summer dress. Philo has included one or two glam necklaces, one made of long streamers of sterling silver and another with a hunk of mother-of-pearl dangling from a plain collar.
If Philo’s nervy start-up is a lesson in humility, it’s also an excellent example of why patience matters in design, maybe more than ever. If you’re an intuitive kind of designer, and you also care about making clothes that are realistic, those ideas don’t come along every day. The new collection will be sold from early 2025 to May. And her company recently announced that, beginning next month, it will ship to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
