French luxury brand Céline’s long-time Creative Director Phoebe Philo has confirmed her exit from the label, effective immediately.
Philo began her career at Chloé in 1997 under Stella McCartney’s leadership, whose role she took over when the designer left to launch her own label in 2001. She famously took a break to nurse her kids leaving Chloé in 2006 and soon returned to the fashion industry on the same position at Céline in 2008.
The 44-year-old designer is often regarded as the empress of modern fashion, even the Lagerfeld of her cohort and is largely credited for reviving Céline. Philo’s almost ten-year long tenure at the French label saw her introduce a new fashion vocabulary of menswear-inspired clean staples and a thriving accessories business to the heritage house.
Prior to her entry, Céline’s business was almost dormant and several designers had come and gone with no success. A Central St. Martins graduate, Philo introduced the ‘back to basic’ aesthetic to mainstream fashion, even her personal aesthetic with the roll neck tops and no-fuss Stan Smith trainers has influenced the style of an entire generation.
Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO, LVMH said, “What Phoebe has accomplished over the past 10 years represents a key chapter in the history of Céline. We are very grateful to Phoebe for having contributed to the great momentum of this maison.”
The brand’s Pre-Fall 2018 collection, which will be presented in January will be the designer’s last collection.
A replacement for Philo’s position is yet to be announced and until then, Céline’s in-house design team will be designing the collections.
Rumours around Céline’s parent company LVMH looking for her replacement had surfaced in October and her announcement on December 22 makes this the fourth major fashion house departure in just the December month after Jonathan Saunders resigns from DVF; David Koma’s exit from Mugler; and Nicola Formichetti hood bye to Diesel.
