Phoebe Philo leaving Céline?

[ThatRascal]

Phoebe Philo, creative director of French fashion house *Céline, is looking to leave the company, sources tell Page Six.
The designer and fashion industry darling has been at Céline since 2008, working out of London and traveling to the Paris headquarters for fittings and shows.
But industry chatter in Milan is that Philo “is getting bored of [Céline’s parent company] LVMH and being in Paris so much. She wants to stay more with her family,” which is also based in the UK.
Philo has three children with her husband, gallerist Max Wigram.
She first started working under Stella McCartney at Chloé in 1997, and rose to creative director when McCartney left to launch her own line in 2001.
Philo resigned from Chloé in 2006 to focus on her family, but returned to fashion and joined Céline two years later.
Insiders says she’s in discussions with luxury firm Richemont, which owns Chloé, Azzedine Alaïa and Cartier, for a position at one of their brands.
But other sources say news of Philo’s departure is not true.
A rep for LVMH declined to comment.
Richemont’s rep didn’t get back to us.

page six

 

[Marc10]

Let's put a ? until we get any confirmation.

I don't know what to think of this. Only thing I know is that we need Phoebe making clothes, anywhere.

 

[t-rex]

Wow!

I know that she copyrighted/trademarked/whatever her own name. So we may someday see "Phoebe Philo F/W 2018"

 

[Clipse]

It's probably better for her if she does look for an investor and launch her own line to show in London Fashion Week. She clearly doesn't want to leave her family in London so it doesn't make sense to look for a position at another Company that shows in Paris!

 

[Lola701]

From what i've heard from various insiders, it's fake. This article doesn't make sense.
Phoebe Philo's studio is based in London and while the HQ are in Paris (they have been refreshed), the design team is traveling. She is only in Paris days before the show.

At this point, she has a total creative control and because the brand has been more successful than ever before, LVMH executives are going to let her do what ever she wants.

And seriously? Richemont? to work for Chloé, Alaia, Lancel? or one of their watches manufacture?

 

[Mutterlein]

When she signed on for Celine they actually gave her a stake in the company as an incentive to mind the business and stay awhile if it went well. It has. I always assumed that she, like Ricardo Tisci at Givenchy, was in it for the long haul.

But she's been there for 7 years and everyone, especially fashion designers, need change. Wouldn't be surprised if she was itching to go, especially now as the brand seems to have plateaued,

 

[jescajade]

Now that would be a surprise! I always wonder what would happen to Céline when Phoebe does eventually leave, Céline is so bound in her image it almost is her own label anyway, which one of the reason why I think she hasn't gone down that route. Though I don't think Phoebe has any qualms about leaving the industry she's done it before at Chloe. I'm doubting it at the moment, but we'll see.

 

[t-rex]

Does it mean anything that LVMH hasn't responded yet?

 

[orchidee]

I think Céline is too much of a cash cow for LVMH to let Phoebe go that easily. Especially because her devotees would undoubtedly follow her whether she starts her own brand or ends up at another company.

 

[t-rex]

Apparently her spokespeople aren't answering questions of whether she is leaving or not. If this means anything.

 

[arlekindearrabal]

Apparently her spokespeople aren't answering questions of whether she is leaving or not. If this means anything.

Uh oh

 

[Nymphaea]

Phoebe Philo ‘Committed’ to Céline, Internal Memo Says

PARIS — And now for something completely different: A designer happily staying put.

Phoebe Philo and Céline are to continue their long and fruitful collaboration, squelching an avalanche of online speculation that Philo was eying the exit.

Employees of the fashion house, controlled by luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, were reassured this week that the designer and the company are remaining together.

An internal memo seen by WWD — jointly signed by chief executive officer Marco Gobbetti and Philo — spells out that the designer and the company “are more motivated and committed than ever to their partnership and will continue to create beautiful products.”

The memo acknowledged that the company has been the subject of reports “based on rumors, not truths,” lamenting the “poor journalism” and “dubious sources” that have fueled the gossip mill.

Speculation about a Philo exit has been percolating since mid-2015, and reached a boiling point last week when a blog specified that the designer would exit after the fall-winter 2016 collection is presented in March.

Céline officials have remained silent amid the rumors.

A raft of recent designer exits – Raf Simons from Dior, Alber Elbaz from Lanvin and Stefano Pilati from Zegna among them – has ignited an online guessing game about other partnerships that could become unglued.

While shy of the media, and rarely seen in Paris, Philo is widely implicated in Céline’s development, including the interior concept for its sprawling showrooms in a 17th-century mansion on the Rue Vivienne, which opened last year.

It was recently the site of the brand’s pre-fall presentation, Philo’s Seventies-tinged clothes hung amidst vintage furnishings and elaborate flower arrangements.

She also has signed on for the third time as juror for the LVMH Prize, joining such designer peers as Karl Lagerfeld, Riccardo Tisci, Marc Jacobs and Nicolas Ghesquière. Judging is to take place in mid-June.

One of the biggest fashion stars of her generation, Philo joined Céline in 2008 after a three-year hiatus and almost single-handedly brought minimalism and realism back to fashion. She also unfurled an array of hit handbags that made the brand a powerhouse in the leather goods category, catapulting sales beyond half a billion euros, according to market sources.

A graduate of London’s Central Saint Martins fashion school, Philo was classmates with Stella McCartney and worked with her when McCartney launched her own collection after graduation. Philo followed McCartney to Chloé in 1997 and took the top job in 2001 when McCartney left to set up her own fashion house in a joint venture with Gucci Group.

Philo succeeded in accelerating Chloé’s rejuvenation, and resigned for personal reasons in 2006, mainly to spend more time with her children and her husband, art dealer Max Wigram.

The next Céline show is scheduled for March 6 in Paris.

wwd