Philippe Model Paris names Tuomas Merikoski creative director

Philippe Model Paris is taking it up a gear with its apparel line. In the last two years, the Italian high-end sneakers brand has developed a range of premium casual ready-to-wear for women and men, designed by an in-house studio. The line now has a new creative director, Finnish designer Tuomas Merikoski, the founder of the Aalto label, who has previously worked with some leading luxury labels.

Merikoski will unveil his first collection, for Fall/Winter 2024-25, in January. Philippe Model Paris had previously tested a ‘see now, buy now’ format for the line, but has now dropped it to return to a traditional seasonal rhythm.

The plan is to develop Philippe Model Paris into a lifestyle brand. The label was bought in 2016 by 21 Invest, the investment fund led by Alessandro Benetton. The Philippe Model label was founded in the 1980s by the eponymous French colourist and accessories designer. In 2008, it was bought by Italian designer Paolo Gambato and businessman Roberto Doro, who gave it an Italian feel, tapping Italian know-how by relocating manufacturing in one of Italy’s footwear-producing districts, Veneto.

Merikoski hails from Tampere, in south-western Finland. He was initially attracted to music and art, before switching to fashion. After a master degree at the French Fashion Institute, he worked for various top Parisian labels as a men’s ready-to-wear specialist, notably at Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. He became popular in 2014 by creating womenswear label Aalto, renowned for its contemporary Scandinavian elegance, but the pandemic forced him to put Aalto on hold.

Earlier this year, Merikoski relaunched the label as Aalto Recoded, with a new, fully sustainable approach, developing a men’s collection that features mostly unisex items blending urban and functional wear, sport performance and some vintage pieces.

“The goal of Philippe Model Paris is, and always will be, reconnecting with the DNA that has introduced the label into the fashion world,” said Stefano Di Nezza, who took charge of the company in May. He underlined that, in the 1980s and 90s, the label’s founder Philippe Model collaborated with some of the top names in Parisian fashion design, like Montana, Lanvin and Jean Paul Gaultier.

According to Di Nezza, Philippe Model Paris is characterised by extremely precise codes like “colour, volumes from architecture and design, Paris as a cosmopolitan city that is inspiring but is also a hub of cross-pollination of international cultures.”

Di Nezza added that “Tuomas embodies and expresses all this through his creativity. Born in Finland, his culture has given him an architectural concept of shapes and volumes, but he has chosen Paris as his home for the past 20 years and is constantly influenced by it.”

He also has “a social and environmental vision which we as a company share, as part of our aim of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025. [Tuomas’s] eclecticism is a feature that has always been embodied by Philippe Model Paris,” concluded Di Nezza.