#philophiles

Phoebe Philo Chloé printemps/été 2005, photographiée par Inez et Vinoodh

Le sac du défilé Céline printemps-été 2016.

“Philophiles” by Malcolm Venville

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Bauhaus coat I was reminded how much I love this coat #celine #Philophiles #minimalism

via The Philophiles 

They have been spotted prowling pavements from Paris to Beijing, slinging block-color tote bags from arms clad in graphic silk blouses and sharp leather sleeves. “Philophiles,” as many call this new style species, are the droves of women who wear the Céline label with ardor. They have adopted the minimal or “pure” aesthetic of the brand under the creative direction of Phoebe Philo. Ms. Philo, 38, who joined the brand in 2008 after taking a two-year maternity leave, previously had had a star turn at the Parisian house Chloé, where she specialized in floaty, ruffled sundresses. Ms. Philo’s Céline is both more sumptuous and starker. Because of her third pregnancy, she is forgoing a fashion show this season in favor of a presentation — another fashion first in the name of family. She designs the collection from a Georgian townhouse near her family home in London, having uprooted the brand’s design studio from its traditional home in Paris, where it still shows. So who are the Philophiles? “I like the idea that at Céline we attract a very varying group of women,” Ms. Philo said by e-mail while preparing for the March 4 presentation. “They are all different, but with the common thread of an appreciation for clothes that suggest something new but made to last far beyond fast-trend fashion.” Katie Bain, 29, show manager at the British Fashion Council, echoes Ms. Philo: “Phoebe Philo at Céline creates a collection each season that is about building a wardrobe rather than focusing on throwaway trends. I think, as a working woman (and mum), she really has that ability to resonate with what women want to wear.” Céline’s critical and commercial success lies not only with the customers’ feelings for the clothes, but with their marketing and the public image of their designer. Ms. Philo’s maternity leave resonates with Céline fans. In Milan, the editor-in-chief of Petits Luxes Magazine, Vanessa Caputo, 41, says, “Phoebe Philo has never made a bad move, including her decision to take time off at the height of her success to dedicate herself to work that to many of us women is much more important than anything else: maternity. At Céline, it didn’t take long for her to seduce women with her work, for she is one of us.” Agata Belcen, 28, the fashion editor at Another Magazine, agrees: “I'm seduced by the sense of it being the vision of a strong woman who has created a fashion moment, who wonderfully negotiated working from London because that’s where her family is and who has decided not to do a runway show this season because of her pregnancy.” Penny Martin, editor-in-chief of The Gentlewoman, put Ms. Philo on the cover of the feminist fashion magazine’s inaugural issue in March 2010. “It's not just the clothes,” she said. “She’s not put a step wrong in building up a peerless visual context: whether it’s the masculine typography of Peter Miles’s redrawn logotype or the stunning National Geographic-style contextual photography that she collates into print material.” “Initially, what Céline was selling was ‘Phoebe herself and her perfect wardrobe.”’ Ms. Martin said. “And crucial to that was that they are manufactured at such a high grade.” The brand DNA, it would seem, is indeed Ms. Philo’s own. “It will be whatever I make it for the time I’m there,” she has said of reinventing a brand with no particular identity, a brave choice while others scramble to pin down a heritage. Hannah Gruy, 27, who works with artists at White Cube Gallery in London, had eagerly awaited Ms. Philo’s return to the fashion scene in 2008. “Philo was designing for Chloé when I was in high school,” Ms. Gruy said, “and I was drawn to the carefree comfort and young fun of the flared trousers and lacy tops. Now that I am working, I choose Céline because it has that mix of understated elegance and confident minimalism.” The brand was founded as a children’s shoemaker by Céline Vipiana in 1945 and bought by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 1996 for €412 million, or $550 million. Over the years, it had a slew of designers but no precise identity until Ms. Philo’s tenure — give or take a polished East Coast jet-set feeling when the collection was designed by Michael Kors from 1997 to 2004. Now the label sells in more than 105 stores and concessions around the world. Ms. Philo works with Marco Gobbetti, the brand’s president and managing director, who previously regenerated Givenchy, another LVMH brand. And her creative team consists of designers plucked from cool brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and some who worked under Ms. Philo at Chloé. Although the performance of individual brands was not detailed in the end-of-year results, the LVMH chairman, Bernard Arnault, made special mention of only Céline and Loewe, the Madrid-based leather label, when it came to mentioning the LVMH smaller labels with a positive 2011. Over all, LVMH reported a revenue rise of 16 percent, to €23.66 billion. As for her creative process, Ms. Philo said: “I am interested in consistency and what Céline will one day stand for. There are various words that always come up when I talk or think about starting a new collection: awareness, sharpness, fabric, reduced, new, refined, discretion and attitude.” These words resonate with Maria Baibakova, director and chief curator of Baibakov Art Projects in Moscow. “Céline has, in many ways, become part of my identity,” said Ms. Baibakova, who was photographed in the November issue of Vogue wearing a patchwork Céline coat. “I have developed a trust with the brand. “I work in the art world, a world where aesthetics matter, and the wardrobe choices that I make mean something to both me and my peers. For me, Céline is about strength and dignity, about utility and style, and about beauty and femininity, all at the same time. “When I have a meeting-filled day that begins at 6:30 a.m. and ends after midnight, I wear Céline outfits that help me feel confident and beautiful for its duration.” Miriam Foster, a 26-year-old barrister in London, likes the brand in her professional life. “Céline makes youthful and credible workwear where other labels, by contrast, seem older and even a little passé,” she says. A 25-year-old London investment banker, Maia Mathieson, also referred to the brand’s role in her work life: “For me, Celine’s accessories are the perfect balance of femininity and workplace style. The clean lines and simple shapes are professional without being too sterile, and the bold blocks of colors, rather than prints, allow you to make a statement without being overtly girly or brash. “I don’t think there’s any other brand out there that has perfected that balance quite so beautifully.” Ms. Mathieson’s zooming in on accessories is not insignificant. Céline’s bags are a constant feature in street-style fashion photography, perhaps partly because while a Céline silk shirt cost more than £700, or $1,100, at Dover Street Market in London, its leather cross-body trio bag is available via the German store Andreas Murkudis for €550. Ms. Philo has created a growing accessories business with a broad commercial appeal, something other designers with strong clothing aesthetics can find elusive. There is a mystery to Céline that makes the brand all the more intriguing. Ms. Philo’s interviews are few and far between, and the house keeps a tight rein on its image, operating a strict “full look” policy, which forbids editors to mix Céline with other brands in layouts. And for such a modern brand, it is surprising that the clothes are not available online. But that anachronistic thrill-of-the-chase situation is the only unmodern element of Ms. Philo’s Céline, as her work stays clear of nostalgic references. The contrasting approaches of Ms. Philo, Miuccia Prada, Rei Kawakubo and Stella McCartney belie a notion that they are changing fashion as a coordinated group or a movement defined by sex. Consider Céline’s autumn/winter 2011 show, for which Ms. Philo was inspired by the power of the car, channeling it into functional, work-ready pieces. A season later, Ms. Prada also looked at the automobile but offered up a show with sugary Cadillac tones, pinup looks, spindly vertiginous heels — which would make driving difficult, if not impossible — and not a single pair of trousers. “I decided to work on things that obsess women,” Ms. Prada recently told Love Magazine, “because women can’t resist things like lace, sequins,” animal prints and python. In contrast, Ms. Philo is not quite ready to generalize. “I wouldn’t want to even try to begin to describe our customer, as I think she likes a certain amount of anonymity,” she said. “I try to offer clothes that allow that. I myself do not like being defined so readily, so I imagine that she is similar?” As Sarah Mower of American Vogue has noted, “There’s no need to put any abstract intellectual spin” on Ms. Philo’s designs. “It’s the work of a woman working for women, who simply gets it.”