Today, any true fashion has spent their day doing one thing, and one thing only: refreshing and refreshing the link at PhoebePhilo.com. At 3:05 PM GMT, the floodgates opened to what was easily the most anticipated fashion moment of the year – even more so against the backdrop of the industry’s worsening drought of women creative directors – the launch of the former Céline creative director’s namesake label, marking Phoebe Philo’s formal return to fashion following a six-year hiatus. As ever, the ‘Sphinx of fashion’ didn’t disappoint — and her comeback has only shrouded her in more mystery than ever.
Demand for the prodigal London-based designer’s comeback has already been proven by the fact that – writing less than an house after the website’s launch – certain pieces have already sold out (a £3,200 gold ‘Mum’ necklace, the Carrera-style goggle sunglasses, as well as most of the ready-to-wear pieces tbh). If you’re reading this now with hopes of snagging one of the unbranded, golden-clasped bags, tough luck! Still, that’s hardly a surprise given that acolytes of the one-in-a-generation fashion auteur have working up their appetites for a good while – since 2021, to be precise, when the London-based designer first announced her LVMH-supported venture; or, arguably, since 2017, when her swansong collection for Céline hit stores, and women literally gathered on the streets to mourn their loss.
So, what does it look like? Exactly what we were hoping for – an incredibly robust repertoire of pieces that exude that same sense of haute-bizarro, smart-yet-sexy elegance that characterised her work at Céline. Far go that to say that it feels at all derivative, though. Khaki wool trench coats with overblown lapels and epaulettes and a gigantic paper-doll tee in the crispest white poplin give the offering a backbone of formally rigorous, subtly directional classicism, against which more outré pieces like this outstanding jacket, constructed from decadent layers of leather fronds, and this bias-cut skirt in frayed floor-sweeping wet-look twill. There are hints of her high-low Chloé years, like the studded bandeaus and printed leggings that could well be sourced on a Friday morning at Portobello Market, and a plethora of artfully tailored trousers (some with zips that go all the way up for optional flashes of bare cheeks) that bring to mind her famous quip about her time at Central Saint Martins: “I just wanted to make a pair of trousers that made my arse look good.”
As if the clothes weren’t enough to gawp, the accessories are what really made us lose our shit – and yours, too, if the fact that most have sold out is anything to go by. From those gleefully tacky-chic ‘MUM necklaces in chunky gold-enamelled silver hardware to these acetate ski goggle glasses, it’s an offering replete with directional, easy-to-style must-haves that we guarantee will soon be so widely seen on the streets of any major fashion hub, you’ll be able to play Phoebe Philo bingo walking about town. There’s also this exquisitely pared-back bag, which feels like a concerted effort on Phoebe’s part to prove to the children, once and for all, that really is the mother of basically anything the TikTok girlies have lumped under the ‘quiet luxury’ banner, not to mention this delightfully odd shoe – Ladbroke Grove’s answer to a Rick Owens Kiss boot, if you will.
Whatever you want to call it, just don’t call it a ‘collection’. This is the first drop in what the brand is calling ‘Edits’, the first of three online releases — this one labelled as ‘A1’ — which will continue in December and sometime in the Spring. There will be no fashion show, probably no billboards emblazoned across bus stops, and everything will only ever be available on PhoebePhilo.com, intended to be seasonless, “to create a product which reflects permanence,” in the company’s own words. The designer hasn’t given an interview yet, it seems, but her message seems to be clear: Mama’s back, stay tuned for more.
