Phoebe Philo, Backed by LVMH, Will Return to Fashion in 2022
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Phoebe Philo by David Sims. 2010 launch issue of The Gentlewoman
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Designer Phoebe Philo is returning to fashion with her own namesake house and the backing of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton as a minority investor. Details have not been announced, but it’s well known that Philo prefers to work from her home base in London.
In the words of Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times, “Listen? Do you hear that? It is the intake of breath after thousands of women’s fashion prayers are finally answered.. . . Phoebe Philo, the patron saint of dressing for the female gaze . . . is returning to business . . . on her own terms.”
Philo’s David Sims images — covering the debut issue in 2010 of The Gentlewoman’ — are testimony to her status as one of the most talented, revered — and commercially bankable — designers of her generation. Presumably, the vintage copy of the magazine, sold online for £250.00, just doubled in value and probably more.
Philo, long championed by Delphine Arnaut, said in 2009 about her vision for Celine “it felt better for me to work on an idea of a wardrobe than too much trend. I worked hard to create things that stand the test of time.”
Reality is that Hedi Slimane has a distinctively different vision of Celine than Philo, and — like an Obama - Trump-Biden cage match — the fashion needs of the devoted Celine customer have not been met by the label under Slimane’s creative vision “toward a retro-tinged, bourgeois French chic” in the words of WWD.
What women wanted from Celine during Philo’s tenure at Celine were quietly powerful clothes: baggy trousers, luxuriously thick sweaters, streamlined 60’s modern skirts and sneakers. It was Phoebe Philo who put adidas Stan Smiths in circulation. Writing for T Magazine in 2014, Whitney Vargas said: ““[Philo’s] specialness lies in synthesizing how women want to dress with how they actually live their lives. . . And how we want to see ourselves: sophisticated, knowledgeable, not victimized by fashion. Increasingly, comfort is the ultimate commodification of luxury.”
Reports in 2020 that Phoebe Philo was preparing for a return to fashion suggested that Philo’s new collection would have a sustainability focus. Frankly, such a decision is the only one that makes sense.
Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, called Philo “one of the most talented designers of our time.”
“We have known her and appreciated her for a long time. Phoebe contributed to the success of the group through her magnificent creations over several years,” he said. “With this in mind, I am very happy to partner with Phoebe on her entrepreneurial adventure and wish her great success.”
