T Magazine: 11 Women on Phoebe Philo’s Céline Era
Last December, LVMH announced that Phoebe Philo would be stepping down from her role as creative director of Céline after nearly a decade at the helm; the pre-fall 2018 collection she showed in Paris was her last for the house. (A fall/winter 2018 collection designed by the in-house atelier will be presented to press and buyers in March.) Arriving in 2008, Philo took a previously staid brand and remade it in her own image, infusing it with sensuality, modernity and more than just a hint of eccentricity.
Philo lead a quiet revolution. Her subtly subversive wardrobe staples — tuxedo jackets, luxuriant knits, wide-legged trousers, all cut just so — became a de facto uniform not only for fashion and art world insiders, but also for writers, filmmakers, architects. The pieces came with high price tags, but it only took an encounter with a single garment to appreciate Philo’s ability to empower her wearer. More than the silhouette or color of any particular design, it was her personal attention that turned customers into acolytes: she was sensitively attuned to the ways in which women live their lives.
In January, Hedi Slimane, was announced as Philo’s successor — becoming Céline’s first-ever artistic, creative and image director, with plans to introduce men’s wear, couture and fragrance into the mix. Slimane is poised to inject Céline with his own electric, youthful energy and his debut offering for the brand, which he will show in September, is already the most eagerly anticipated show of the spring/summer 19 season. The tectonic plates of fashion are shifting again — but the mark Philo has left is undeniable. Here, some of her most loyal fans and collaborators reflect on Philo’s Céline legacy.
Sofia Coppola, filmmaker
Phoebe filled this void for non-flashy people. I’ll miss the classics that were never boring — pieces that you can wear forever, like a navy shearling coat and sweaters that feel chic without any effort. I love that you can have a few simple things that you feel like yourself in and not have to think too much about it. I think she’s smart and cool and seems to make what she wants to wear and what interests her. It’s not based on some weird idea of what a woman should be.
Lucy Chadwick, director of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise
I do not work in fashion, but have for a decade followed Phoebe without even meaning to. I jokingly would tell my husband that I got married in order to wear Céline, and whilst clearly joking, the sentiment underlines my affection not for a brand, but for the power of her work. I am not one for pomp and circumstance, so her unmistakable hand felt like the only one I was comfortable holding through nuptials.
Bar perhaps Coco Chanel, I can’t think of another designer whose every piece was instantaneously “a classic,” and in a time of eternally rotating fads, disposability and waste, nothing felt more necessary than her steadfast dedication to the everlasting. In a world of choice, and unnecessary excess, I enjoyed nothing more than giving over my choices to her — her wisdom and confidence. I was a control freak giving over control. Her pieces, her spirit and her decade of iconic design work, of course, go nowhere. I, for one, shall forever feel her knowing wink and her confident nudge every time I wear a Philo creation. That is everlasting.
Stella Tennant, model
I knew Phoebe from her Chloé days, so I was thrilled to be asked to be in the Céline campaigns — it felt like a very natural process. I respected her so much when she stepped out of designing to raise her kids; I think that real luxury is having the freedom to be with your family at that time.
There’s something a female designer does differently from a male designer. She’s making clothes for herself, I imagine. That’s why she’s been so successful; she knows how women want to dress. The pieces I have in my wardrobe are not the real showpieces. One of my favorites is a pair of black trousers which are matte wool on the front and shiny black satin at the back. They feel like friends; I feel correct in them. I also love her sense of humor — like a pair of gold platforms that are four inches high or the pajamas that she did, which were so elegant, but also so lazy. What a great designer can do is make something you didn’t know you needed.
Gaia Repossi, creative director of Repossi
My favorite item is a blazer I got in a Prince-de-Galles wool. I feel myself in it. As if I belong to a sort of new gender. The equal woman? Something close to that. Her work is anchored in a real woman — there is no fluff or glamour — she’s as raw as it gets. All there is left is an attitude of just being yourself. Very simple, yet so strong. It is this new definition of femininity through this spontaneous purity that is far away in time.
Binx Walton, model
Her work is honest. Simply truthful. It has life and breathes color onto the people it graces. Keeping a sense of art along with simplicity and complexity all at the same time. It’s a breath of fresh air. I can’t speak for every woman, but I myself am fond of who I see in the mirror when I wear Céline. Always accentuating the power, intellect and of course womanhood in me.
Penny Martin, editor in chief of The Gentlewoman magazine
Such is the influence of what Phoebe Philo achieved with Céline that it’s now quite difficult to remember what was out there for the kind of woman we at The Gentlewoman were aiming to appeal to, when we started out in 2009. That period was the zenith of weekly women’s magazines and their association with the product-obsessed girl, the rise of reality TV celebrity, of social media — a real focus on the surface of things and people. Which was actually quite useful for us; anything different was going to really stand out. The best items I have from Céline have perished from intense use. Seeing them for the first time, you couldn’t believe that someone had thought of what was in your mind’s eye — a garment that compensated for every single peccadillo and insecurity. Something secretly friendly underneath but quite sharp and pulled-together on the exterior. More than anything, her taste levels are off the scale — in clothing, in pictures, in interiors, in packaging. In that respect, Céline was an impeccably filtered one-stop shop for time-impoverished women and that I will miss.
Marianne Mueller, co-founder of architectural firm Casper Mueller Kneer (who designed several Céline flagship stores and the brand’s show sets between 2013 and 2015)
Phoebe Philo has a rare sensitivity which makes working with her incredibly inspiring. She is acutely aware of materials, shapes and details, their references and implications. I loved the fall/winter 2013 collection for which we designed the set. The fabrics were very tactile and soft but the collection had a tougher realism to it. Like architecture, fashion is still dominated by men. It feels very different to be dressed by a woman. In a world where women are juggling many different roles and expectations, Phoebe Philo reminds of us who we are — rather than who we are supposed to be.
Hikari Yokoyama, brand communications consultant, co-founder of Paddle8
Her clothes must be inhabited, like a house or a shell or a transporting vehicle — and they can take you anywhere. Often, getting dressed as a woman means thinking about how other people will perceive you. Are you sexy enough? Cool enough? Sophisticated enough? Professional enough? Céline clothes give the necessary wrapping and decoration required of fashion but there is no split between object/subject, and the object/subject relationship can even evolve within a single wearing. I love, too, that she let her work speak for itself. The lack of a perpetual hype machine made it less intimidating to participate and more inclusive.
Durga Chew-Bose, editor and author of “Too Much and Not the Mood”
Phoebe tailored to our natural inclination to stoop. In a chair lost in thought, hunched over a book or scrolling through our phone in the back of a cab. She understood how instinctive it feels to angle away and be just a little aloof and uncommitted. Not removing one’s coat the moment we walk in has little to do with not feeling at home — quite the opposite. Lounging alone, catching your breath and pausing, still wearing one’s coat, flopped on the couch, legs bent at 90 degrees, bag cross-bodied and buckling you in, is the best part of the day.
Her work represented a cool understanding of what women don’t want by designing clothes that were no-brainers. Heels that glove the foot. Pajamas you wear out. Roomy shirts. The offish appeal of black and navy. Security blankets. Her clothes are like that luxurious feeling we derive from borrowing a friend’s pen and enjoying its unexpected weight. The smoothness of its lines.
Marie-Agnès Gillot, principal dancer, Paris Opera Ballet
I think it was Phoebe’s idea for me to model in the spring 2015 campaign. That season, the campaign featured different artists and the Céline team contacted my agent. Then I met Juergen Teller and I knew I wanted to work with him within five minutes. The experience was more like a dialogue between three artists. Fashion to me is like a daytime costume. Even off the Opera stage, clothes to me emphasize a character. It’s why I love collaborating with fashion designers, especially when they have a strong identity like Phoebe. She has an extreme sense of class and elegance and I will miss being surprised by each of her collections — by the perfection of her clothes that look very simple, but reveal a great hidden complexity.
Sarah Morris, artist
She fused American sportswear, in the tradition of Halston and Calvin Klein, with the French. But don’t get me wrong — her vision is unique and an identity that morphs into the contemporary woman. Part tomboy, part vixen. My work is both urban and plays on the industrial, yet is deeply subjective, intellectual and emotional. An industrial poetry if you like. I see that in her women; they contain that contradiction.
It’s clear she learned from looking and observing a lot. I have spent decades wearing Stan Smiths or high heels with wool sweaters with black pants topped with men’s coats or parkas. She took that modularity and had a way of putting things together to make it one identity, under one label. It was like seeing yourself in mirror. One recognized oneself.
After the designer’s departure from the house, her friends, collaborators and fans reflect on her time there.
Phoebe Philo, photographed by Karim Sadli for the cover of T’s 2014 Spring Women’s issue.
