Phoebe Philo isn’t going to waste her time—or yours, or mine, for that matter—waxing lyrical about what she was thinking about when it came to her Céline pre-fall collection. "It’s a continuation of the Céline wardrobe" was the simple and straight-to-the-point statement imparted by the public relations team on Philo's behalf at the presentation Monday morning. Fair enough. These days, when no one wants to feel what they own is entirely redundant after being in their closet for a only a few months (actually, did they ever?), continuity is a very good thing. And it's an extremely good thing when that notion is in Phoebe Philo’s wonderfully capable hands. For all that was recognizable—the tapered boy pants in an Yves Klein blue, for one thing, and a color-block roll-neck sweater, for another—there was a lot that was new, too.
An awful lot, in fact. In which case, it’s probably not a misinterpretation of Philo’s words if we say that "continuation" does not translate to "here is more of the same." What we have instead is a designer who is engaged with developing and deepening her idea of what she can bring to the world each season by scrutinizing each piece for its relevance, therefore extending the idea of what Céline is, and what it can be. For example, there is a fresh take on the boyish androgyny she has played with since the very beginning of her Céline tenure found in her new idea for the masculine three-piece suit, reinterpreted here as an oversize (everything is scaling up—get ready) navy-blue pinstriped suit, comprised of a big jacket, a top, and slouchy tapering pants. The head-to-toe print dressing she started with her Moroccan–patterned silk a few seasons ago is now represented by a distorted batik that she wittily echoed with the markings on an oversize (you see?) fur, which was then given that inimitable Philo touch by fastening it with a skating-the-borders-of-bad-and-good-taste white leather belt.
Actually, it's that collision of seriousness and playfulness, luxury and utility, classic and out there that makes a Céline collection so good. This one’s no different. Philo isn’t afraid to identify—and then go with—the contradictory impulses and desires currently shaping many a woman’s closet. It's a world in which black leather track pants, ultra-bourgeois shoulder bags, and kind of trashy/brilliant pointy sixties pumps can not only coexist, but do so in absolute harmony. And if the sighs of desire that emanated from the women sitting around me this morning were anything to go by, continuation is all they—and most likely, you—will need or want.
