Following a three-plus-year hiatus from fashion, Phoebe Philo is back. According to Business of Fashion, the former Céline (turned-Celine) creative director, who announced her departure from the French fashion house in December 2017, will soon launch her own eponymous fashion brand. It will be backed by luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns brands like Fendi, Givenchy, Loewe, and Dior. The brand was filed by Philo and her husband Max Wigram under the name Phoebe Philo Studio Ltd. on July 9, 2021, according to Companies House. It will be based in London.
In a statement to BoF, Philo called her return to fashion both “exciting and incredibly fulfilling.” Also in the statement, the designer remarked on finally being her own boss after more than a decade working for someone else — first at Chloé, and then at Céline, where she was employed for 10 years. “To be independent, to govern and experiment on my own terms is hugely significant to me,” she said. Of the brand itself, Philo said it will be “rooted in exceptional quality and design.” Not that we expected anything else from the "Old Céline" designer.
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Whether or not the designer will be bringing back her signature minimal colorways and oversized silhouettes, is yet to be determined, especially given how the sartorial tides have turned to favor tighter, more revealing garments of late. That, and the fact that upon her departure from Céline, and Hedi Slimane’s subsequent arrival at the brand, designers like Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta, Peter Do, and Totême’s Elin Kling and Karl Lindman were quick to swoop in and take her place as go-tos for ultra-luxurious, refined styling with a touch of the unexpected.
Sadly, it'll be a while before we find out. According to BoF, Philo has not yet released a date for her first collection, though she has revealed that more information will be shared in January 2022.