Phoebe Philo - Designer

[jeanclaude]

Everything blends together, you don´t know if it´s new or old. At Céline you knew it, here you are lost.

 

[Nimsay]

I like how you made sure to include the accent.

Need to see more but it seems like a logical expansion of what we have already seen. This is her 3rd fur and the other two were black and brown...

 

[rowjellies]

First photo of Rebecca Longendyke reminds me of Khaite vibe

 

[Nimsay]

PP is much better. Phoebe's woman is reclining in what appears to be a cavernous house before going out for probably a $350 tasting lunch downtown then popping over to a gallery to view wip art her and her husband sponsored.

The Khaite woman is wearing sunglasses in the corridor between her office parking garage and lobby of her building...

 

[JohannesL]

Phoebe's woman is reclining in what appears to be a cavernous house before going out for probably a $350 tasting lunch downtown then popping over to a gallery to view wip art her and her husband sponsored.

Now I understand why it is so expensive as it is part of the art money laundering process！

 

[tourbillions]

slowly becoming loewe

 

[rowjellies]

What in the Old Céline

 

[jeanclaude]

What in the Old Céline

Rinse and repeat!

 

[90sfan]

It all feels very 2016 to me. And i dont care for it

 

[FashionFanatico]

What in the Old Céline

finally something colorful and fun from her - even it's a déja-vu

 

[plentyofhorns]

Is this a phoebe philo drive bag I spot on Lisa’s latest IG post? Phoebes first foray into kpop influencers? Lisa is dating Frederic arnault and basically represents all of LVMH at this point, although she’s officially an LV ambassador. LVMH invested in PP, correct?

 

[Mathewthew]

I just saw the news that Bruno Sialelli will be the head of Design RTW, interesting to see they are still expanding the brands.
I think they should invest a better person for marketing. They need a good marketing strategy, because staying anoymous doesn't really work.
You can be niche, but at least let poeple try and feel the clothes. They look good on models, but it's a different story on human and the price !!!
I know there's lots of rich people, but are they really buying your stuffs ??

 

[Lola701]

I just saw the news that Bruno Sialelli will be the head of Design RTW, interesting to see they are still expanding the brands.
I think they should invest a better person for marketing. They need a good marketing strategy, because staying anoymous doesn't really work.
You can be niche, but at least let poeple try and feel the clothes. They look good on models, but it's a different story on human and the price !!!
I know there's lots of rich people, but are they really buying your stuffs ??

She literally launched her first collection in October 2023.
This is still at this stage, a fashion start-up. So we must hope that she is expanding and developing. That will lead to her having shows.
She doesn’t need all the people (rich or not) to buy but a loyal base of customer that she is building now…
Rome wasn’t build in a day.

 

[KilltheLook]

She literally launched her first collection in October 2023.
This is still at this stage, a fashion start-up. So we must hope that she is expanding and developing. That will lead to her having shows.
She doesn’t need all the people (rich or not) to buy but a loyal base of customer that she is building now…
Rome wasn’t build in a day.

Also her strategies are changing too. According to someone who's working very close with her, Collection B is much more limited. For the high ticket items, she only produced 2-3 pieces per size for the whole run. For example, all the leather jackets are sold out. I think this is smart on her end, because her collectors (and let's be honest, they are very rich) will be trained to fight for the key pieces from each collection.

 

[Lola701]

Also her strategies are changing too. According to someone who's working very close with her, Collection B is much more limited. For the high ticket items, she only produced 2-3 pieces per size for the whole run. For example, all the leather jackets are sold out. I think this is smart on her end, because her collectors (and let's be honest, they are very rich) will be trained to fight for the key pieces from each collection.

It’s interesting but also clever.
I have realized that a lot of her offering on her e-shop is a lot more sensible in terms of pricing.
The collection in stores is much more complete as it includes some styles from previous drops.

The main goal for a brand like Phoebe’s is to sell items at full retail price so producing less for her e-commerce + producing enough for her retail network is clever.

I have seen a photo of Tracee Ellis Ross in the printed top from the new drop. That top is rather affordable and almost sold out in all sizes.

People assume that buzz is necessary to sell clothes when it’s not. The people who loves Phoebe are checking for her. The same way it was for Alaia or even Dries.

I just hope that we will be blessed with a show this year.

 

[KilltheLook]

It’s interesting but also clever.
I have realized that a lot of her offering on her e-shop is a lot more sensible in terms of pricing.
The collection in stores is much more complete as it includes some styles from previous drops.

The main goal for a brand like Phoebe’s is to sell items at full retail price so producing less for her e-commerce + producing enough for her retail network is clever.

I have seen a photo of Tracee Ellis Ross in the printed top from the new drop. That top is rather affordable and almost sold out in all sizes.

People assume that buzz is necessary to sell clothes when it’s not. The people who loves Phoebe are checking for her. The same way it was for Alaia or even Dries.

I just hope that we will be blessed with a show this year.

I couldn't agree with you more re "buzz is necessary to sell clothes."

And for a show, I would love to see it but I have a feeling it's not in the pipeline. Critics already saw her collection before the public, and her core clientele doesn't need to go to a show to buy the clothes (a la Chanel). I can see her team hosting an intimate dinner for the VIPs and walk them through the collection though.

 

[style_expert]

She's now expanding her wholesale network to 37 retailers worldwide...so slowly but surely she's actually entirely moving away from DTC only.
I suppose she has strict rules for the multibrand stores when it comes to not applying markdowns etcetera as more brands do.

 

[Nimsay]

I thought you wanted old Celine?

 

[Thefrenchy]

I'm going to be the Debbie Downer here but I don't believe in her brand in the long term. It's already barely making any noise anymore, purely nostalgia based, has zero world building and the whole scarcity thing is not a differentiating factor on the market. Good for them if they want to be able to add a "sold out" label on their website and pretend this venture is a success but that's about it.

She chose to go with very restricted marketing and let the product speak, except the market is full of Phoebe-adjacents who found their customer base during her absence. Now she's just one of many, and I'm pretty sure her customer base is full of Céline nostalgics (who also shop at the Phoebe-adjacent brands). After having been gone for so long, you need to let people back into your world. Almost reintroduce them to it and show them why they missed you somehow. Instead, she chose to present everything in the driest way possible.

Rome wasn't built in a day for sure, but she's not a new designer who just popped up. She benefitted from months, years even, of anticipation. Everybody in the industry was dying to get the opportunity to work with her on that project. She ended up opting for a rather wonky hiring strategy, and the reality was that the launch was okay, and from the second drop onwards it's been quieter. Then came along the comments on sizing issues, etc.

She needs to focus on world-building. it doesn't have to be a show per se, but some kind of presence that will grab people for good. Because you can't survive on nostalgia forever. Especially when you're not that unique anymore.

I wish her well, yet I can't help but wonder if maybe this launch came too late? Look at NG, post-Balenciaga he seriously considered launching his eponymous label. He even mentioned it on a French TV show back in 2016. But now it seems that it's not the case anymore. Perhaps he realised there's so much time that can pass before your brightest days become a fond memory but are not enough to build a business on.