On a mid-week afternoon, Phoebe Philo dropped the preview of her latest collection – “B” – that will be available in her on-line shop (and among a tight group of selected brick-and-mortar retailers) in the beginning of 2025. The newest offering is both a continuation of and a departure from her debut, which was a very thoroughly considered edit of styles that kept the industry in aesthetical chokehold throughout this entire year: from COS and H&M to Proenza Schouler and Saint Laurent, a vast number of brands, big and small, had iterations of Philo’s cargo volumes, commanding visuals and the new, rough sensuality the British designer is channeling so well. Even the biggest nay-sayers of Phoebe’s venture must admit: this designer still has a massive influence on fashion. Why? Because like no one else, she knows what contemporary women want (unlike her male counterparts like Alessandro Michele or Sabato De Sarno. Even Jonathan Anderson’s latest collection for Loewe, which I thought in the beginning of the month was truly contemporary, now feels overly decorative).
The Phoebe Philo woman doesn’t care about trends. But she’s aware of good fashion. And style. She might be a restaurateur, own a flower shop (a big one, all very organic). She isn’t entirely politically correct. She swears a lot. And she doesn’t treat clothes as something fragile or too precious: they should serve her well. And might get dirty. That’s what makes Phoebe Philo’s brand feel much more viable for the real life than The Row: you don’t have bathroom slip-ons made from silk that won’t survive a subway. But you’ve got a big, red plastic bag – a theme Philo debuted in her swan song collection for Céline, IYKYK – that will fit everything and more. And has this odd, but absolutely desirable twist that has always been Phoebe’s signature spice.
In collection “B“, there are no design after-thoughts or anything that feels superfluous: the ultra-shaggy shearling coats are total investments, just as all the super-versatile day-to-night dresses, masculine tailoring or utterly perfect shirting proposals. But the line-up has something Philo’s debut offering lacked: easier entry-points that are (hopefully) more affordable than all the outerwear, leathers or knits. Oversized t-shirts with prints of Talia Chetrit’s photos and the brand’s red logo? A guaranteed sold-out, and an item I will totally save up for. It’s also very intriguing how Philo decided to reuse the photographer’s highly-persuasive shots: there are no printed look-books, the brand’s Instagram feed is frequently erased, so in the end, a t-shirt becomes a (wearable) ephemera of the brand’s visual identity.
Philo proves that her brand isn’t cold-minimalist or soullessly stern (many had this impression with her first collection). She lets wit in with organza collars and teddy-bear-ish volumes. A sense of warmth – and glamour, as Cathy Horyn rightfully noted! – comes in vintage-inspired, bigger-than-life jewellery. What Phoebe Philo is doing feels like a much-needed mutiny towards fashion and its old ways – and its endless pursuit after the new thing. Continuity and assertive trust in your own instincts: that’s true defiance. A bit like Charli Xcx’s “Brat“, an unprecedented success of an absolutely non-commercial album. Philo’s “B” collection reminds me more of “Brat“‘s remix album: even better, even sharper, even more intense than the first.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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