2025 JANUARY ISSUE
FASHION QUOTE
PHOEBE PHILO
“Feeling good is about thinking as well as looking”
Written by Andrew Sia
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From the Desk of the Publisher
We continue to take the opportunity to do the fashion quote by the renowned fashion designer. This time we have chosen one who is loved by the minimalists. She is one of the most influential and respected fashion designers of the 21st century, known for her revolutionizing women’s fashion with her minimal, intelligent, and subtle powerful style.
Her career milestones included:
Chloé from 2001-2006 and Céline 2008-2018.
Her motto is “Clothes for women who live real lives” and it is well described her fashion line.
She is famous also for iconic Paddington bag during her debut in Chloé day. And in Céline she was famous for Trapeze Bag.
Philo was born October 25, 1973, to British parents who happened to work in Paris. Her father was a surveyor and her mother, Celia, was an art dealer and graphic artist. Philo was raised in Harrow-on-the-Hill in London. In 1987, at the age of 14, Philo started to customize her clothes after receiving a sewing machine as a birthday present from her parents. She studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London and graduated in 1996. It was a year after Stella McCartney.
At her graduation, she was showing a final student collection which The Guardian would later described as having a “Latino influence” with huge gold jewelry. She quickly joined Chloé as Stella McCartney’s first assistant for ready-to-wear in Paris. She succeeded her as creative director in 2001, while Stella McCartney accepted Gucci Group’s offer to launch her own label there.
In 2006 Philp left Chloé and she moved back to London to join her family and had her second child.
In 2008, LVMH offered her a job as creative director and board member of the old prestige French house—Céline. All this time she was working from London.
Philo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Year Honors for services in fashion. And prior to that she received awards as the following:
2003: “Best Dressed” by January issue of Vogue
2005: “British Designer of the year” by the British Fashion Council
2010: “British Designer of the year” by the British Fashion Council
2011: “International Designer for the Year” by CFDA
In Philo’s personal life, she married English gallerist Max Wigram in July 2004. They live in London and have three children.
Philo expresses her greatest professional pleasures is seeing someone who feels good in something she made. Her reality is fulfilling and that is why we used her quote, “Feeling good is about thinking as well as looking”
Going back to Phoebe Philo’s work in LVMH, her understated, minimalist reinvention of Céline, the chic Parisian label that was established in 1945 by Céline Vipiana. Follow by its relaunch in 2008, Philo emerged as the leader of a quiet luxury fashion movement that gained traction in the Great Recession, turning Céline into one of the most influential labels in the luxury industry. Her collections including bag lines like the Luggage and Classic, Philo became an instant hit with fashion editors. The street style bloggers like Scott Schuman and Tommy Ton, through digital media were beginning to transform fashion communication.
Philo’s devotees, known as the “Philophiles,” extended well beyond editors and other industry leaders to a wide range of women and men, notably Kayne West, who adopted her chic sportswear as a de facto uniform. Philo went further to redefine charm and avoidance of overtly sexy looks also made it a symbol of women’s empowerment. It influences fast fashion to the boom in popularity of Adidas’ Stan Smith sneakers and become part of the fashion uniform.
The Céline business grew significantly and the designer’s collections of LVMH annual sales of €200 million when she joined them to €700 million in 2017. LVMH doesn’t release sales of individual brands, but in the ten years, it grew by nearly three times.
In October 2023, Phoebe Philo launched her own brand under “Phoebe Philo” and its first collection was called A1 Edit offering ready-to-wear and accessories. The collection also consisted of oversized leather coats, zip-up trousers, square-toed heeled loafers, and angular, ironed shirts, as well as sunglasses and jewelry.
Philo and her husband are the majority shareholders of the company, with LVMH being a minority shareholder.
Once I came across the comparison between Phoebe Philo and Miu Miu and I came with the verdict for the two brands as the following:
Both are operating within the luxury fashion landscape, but they have distinctive approaches and targeting different aspects of the market. Miu Miu, a young sister of Prada, focuses on playful, youthful luxury with e trend-forward aesthetic. Philo’s brand, on the other hand, embraces a more sophisticated, minimalist approach, embracing quality and a focus on everyday wear, while also catering to both day and evening occasions.