Phoebe Philo - Designer

[terrainvague]

i am excited for a few things – who will be her collaborators? will it still be peter miles studio for the logo (kinda looks like it given from her press release)? will daria et al be fronting the campaigns and lookbooks? will it be shot by her usual stable of photographers? will she reset like how she did for spring 2010? or will she pick up from where she left back in 2018 and maybe mellow into a more subdued look as the collections go? how will be the garments be priced?

so many questions and 2022 feels like such a long way to go. but 2022 feels like something i can finally look forward to. now, to not succumb to the urge to still buy old céline now that this in the pipeline. ugh, opportunity costs and fomo hits hard.

 

[terrainvague]

last point - i hope she snatches camilla back to style the collections.

 

[aracic]

will daria et al be fronting the campaigns and lookbooks?

God, I hope she brings Daria out of retirement! What a dream that would be.

 

[Avonlea]

I wonder who is she going to copy this time. It better not be Margiela and Lang again.

 

[MulletProof]

^ or Sharon Wauchob! (she used to do it so blatantly and within a week or so..).

 

[Phuel]

Encouraging news, of course. I’ll just wait to see what she’s got to offer first before rejoicing for her return as a sign of the end of the worst era in fashion history— or expect her designs to move fashion heaven and earth etc etc Once bitten and twice shy and all that— and we’ve been bitten more than once to say the least (...LOL..).

 

[liberty33r1b]

god I pray she delivers, we really need it!!

 

[joedago]

Does this mean I have to stop buying anything and be prepared to redo my all wardrobe?! I am ready...

 

[dior_couture1245]

last point - i hope she snatches camilla back to style the collections.

For everyone’s sake, let’s hope not.


Looking forward to what she brings to the table. Could be really nice.

 

[Mathewthew]

^ or Sharon Wauchob! (she used to do it so blatantly and within a week or so..).

REALLY? I love Sharon's works. It's sad that she's not as popular as she did.

 

[Frederic01]

^ or Sharon Wauchob! (she used to do it so blatantly and within a week or so..).

It's more like the other way around to be honest. Take a look at Wauchob's early collections when she was doing doing Riccardo Tisci Givenchy-esque clothing, which then evolved into Clare Waight Keller for Chloe-esque clothing, and then peaked with copying Phoebe Philo.

 

[MulletProof]

^ that could be a nice plot twist.. except it never happened. I have followed her work for over 15 years.. I know most people's memories get a bit blurry and they don't know who did what or when or where or what haha, but I pride myself on pretty accurate memory, especially with something as easy as the way the Paris schedule used to be split between independent designers that actually had an input and the trite, simplistic commercial houses that would present 6 months later (or in the case of Phoebe, a bit sooner!) what some smaller label had already shown and receive standing ovation, and god forbid someone calls them out for being thieves, no social media and 'maybe you're just jealous!'. Nicolas would do this all the time, Marc, Riccardo pretty much debuted at Givenchy with some strangely identical 'inspiration' from Bruno Pieters, which later morphed into borrowing from Rei, Boudicca.. basically into watering down whatever the lesser known designers were doing and packaging it into a bombastic production for the hype-starved clientele at Givenchy. It takes one look at Sharon's work circa 2005 to learn she was doing "Tisci for Givenchy" before Tisci was even at Givenchy.

As for Phoebe, we could make this pretty long, but this gem sums it up..

Sharon on February 20, 2017


Phoebe on March 5, 2017

(livingly)

It's sad but I really don't think anyone was ever looking at Clare's insipid tenure at Chloé as a reference for anything. I like her but she really reached creative glory at Pringle of Scotland, one season, and it went downhill ever since (and then that collection wasn't exactly swimming in originality!). If anything I always thought Sharon had an eye on Ann and Rick's earlier work. I know the joke is that Victoria will finally have something new to show but maybe Victoria could do Phoebe a favor and bankroll Sharon, or Bruno.. where would all of these excellent trend-makers and stylists be without the people that actually design.

 

[Frederic01]

As for Phoebe, we could make this pretty long, but this gem sums it up..
Sharon on February 20, 2017
View attachment 1178192

Phoebe on March 5, 2017
View attachment 1178193
(livingly)

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how these two are similar apart from the burgundy and black colour combination? The first is a (very basic) toile de jouy motif that you could probably find on google images and the second is an abstracted print that was most-likely designed by the in-house print designer at the time, which would have taken weeks, even months (before the show) to produce? Look again at Wauchob's work from 2015-now which is like a deja-vu of Céline collections and ideas. I can see even in her Winter 2021 collection she is still going through Phoebe's archives, and even worse, she has taken some ideas from The Row!

Furthermore, Phoebe was certainly inspired by Margiela in terms of deconstruction and in challenging the ideas of "the classic wardrobe", but I don't see how that would warrant calling her out for "copying". And Helmut Lang? Phoebe's Céline was light years away from Helmut Lang's austere and sensual minimalism. For a start, Lang had a very signature palette, using colour very carefully and sporadically. In my opinion, Francisco Costa at Calvin Klein Collection was in fact closest to Lang in terms of colours, textures, and silhouettes. Lang's clothing was also very body-conscious and more often than not he was concerned with showing skin. If anything, Céline was the opposite of all that; an abundance of colour and voluminous silhouettes.

 

[YohjiAddict]

The person that wanted Camilla on board didn't have to wait long for his wish to be realized...

 

[perhydrol]

^^ I do believe Phoebe's earliest collections for Céline were inspired by Helmut Lang tho. For example FW10 is pure Helmut's aesthetic, just a little bit less raw and more bourgeois. And don't forget her love letter to Geoffrey Beene from 2013 or Chloé SS04 that was built around a vintage look and print.

However, in my opinion there's a major difference between Phoebe and, let's say, Daniel Lee. Daniel is running away with his carbon copies of Céline's pieces because he was in Phoebe's team, but he's literally stealing other designers' work. I can remember the jewellery designer who had worked with Phoebe posting his work that got copied by Daniel in an extremely literal way. And while Lee has been stuck with this idea of recreating pieces from his previous, successful employer to snatch a bit of the cult surrounding anything Philo-related, Phoebe had been doing a better research on fashion history. Especially her later work was more abstract with that.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Not surprising as Camilla has been a part of Céline's success and they share the same vision.

 

[THD96]

I was hoping for Phoebe to work with someone new like Suzanne Koller. Camilla is responsible for that Proenza Schouler mess, so she better step up her game for Phoebe.

 

[perhydrol]

^ But actually how do we know if it's the official account?

 

[Deleted member 141309]

I wouldn't be surprised to the slightest if it flops. Phoebe is Phoebe, but a lot of people here tend to overhype things to the stratosphere.
Elbaz's AZ Factory flopped so hard that I heard the sound of it hitting the bottom all the way here in Eastern Europe. Galliano at Margiela was nowhere near as great as him at Dior, not even close, Hedi at Celine recurrently brings a s*itstorm to the masses here, Clare at Givenchy, despite me absolutely loving it and her not being close to the previous three, seemed lukewarm at best for the majority. Tisci at Burberry is also a total pile of cr*p, and his Givenchy was absolutely loved. There are others, but you get the point. So far Karl has been the only one to be able to pull off constantly good work.

 

[LostInNJ]

The Fashion Spot: Bring Phoebe back, fashion needs her
Also The Fashion Spot: It'll prob fail and be horrible and she copies everyone anyway

I was hoping for Phoebe to work with someone new like Suzanne Koller. Camilla is responsible for that Proenza Schouler mess, so she better step up her game for Phoebe.

Please not Suzanne...So cold, so lazy, let her go run her magazine.