Phoebe Philo swept into Paris during fashion week to present her latest work, dubbed “collection B,” at a severe, yet serene, architectural studio in the 11th arrondissement.
Those adjectives also work as shorthand for her latest clothes. She managed to coax drama from austere designs, adding long trains or a puff of volume to the back of T-shirts, or an asymmetrical hemline and sharp shoulders to a trenchcoat.
Counterintuitively, she used cotton jersey for a garment with a train, and suiting wools for a strong-shouldered dress. The latter was cut out around the waist and gathered in front, creating an hourglass effect.
Oh, and there were bunny ears because, why not? They were a marvel of needle-punched wool, realized in Philo’s London atelier, which also turns out shaggy viscose coats and skirts on a made-to-order basis.
Philo has a unique, intuitive and eclectic taste. It can ping from a funnel-neck jacket in black leather with a kick-out back, to a bathrobe coat and wide pants in shaved shearling that had been ironed to make it glossier.
She’s exacting about proportions and texture, too, lightly padding a leather car coat, and giving a slightly weathered aspect to dark, pinstriped shirts, as if borrowed from a boyfriend who’s lousy at laundry.
Shoes ran the gamut from chunky, luxury flip-flops to high-heeled pumps gathered at the toe box, slightly outré in an “Erin Brockovich” way.
Accessories included a choker with a fringe-like cascade of chains, a pillow-like scarf, and a supersized floral broach in a technical nylon.
Philo began previewing “collection B” on her website Tuesday. It will be delivered from early next year through May 2025 exclusively online at phoebephilo.com and in physical stores through select global wholesale partners.
Last week, the designer revealed she would begin shipping to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea in November. Previously, her online store only served addresses in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S.
Among wholesale partnerships being phased in this fall are with Dover Street Market Ginza and Isetan Shinjuku in Tokyo. The brand will also be sold at Parlour X in Sydney and Shinsegae International in Seoul.
Philo launched her signature collection online one year ago, kicking off an expansion strategy with Bergdorf Goodman in New York. The brand has since waded deeper into brick-and-mortar by wholesaling to five additional marquee retailers: 10 Corso Como in Milan, Dover Street Market in London and Paris, Maxfield and Neiman Marcus in Los Angeles and The Webster in Miami.
The mission of her independent, namesake house — which counts Celine parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton as a minority investor — is to create clothing and accessories “rooted in exceptional quality and design.”
Philo considers her fashions season-less and part of a continuous body of work.