That Phoebe Philo-shaped hole in your soul looks like it's going to be filled, after the designer finally announced the launch of her own high-anticipated luxury label in September 2023.
Almost two years after announcing she’d be returning to the world of fashion, Philo took to her newly-created Instagram account to confirm the launch, a venture she's been teasing since early 2020.
Philo's IG post confirmed that her brand would be "opening for registration in July" before its inaugural collection launches towards the end of 2023.
Best known as the Stan Smith-wearing creative director of CELINE from 2008 to 2018 — back when the brand was known as Céline — Philo previously declared that her intentions were to return with her own label back in 2021, but kept her fans sweating by maintaining a relatively low-profile since.
Philo's departure from the fashion industry was prompted by a desire to focus on family. Thus, Philo has presumably spent the intervening years since her departure sequestered in a small French villa with her young children and partner. Sounds pretty nice, no?
Philo's name has become a venerated symbol of minimalist excellence in the years since her disappearance, as fans and admirers boosted the visibility of what they called "old Céline" through a booming secondhand market.
Though Hedi Slimane's work at the fashion house where Philo made her name has proven comparably more profitable, Philo obsessives — often called Philophiles — contend that it can't hold a candle to the Philo's work.
Anyways, back in 2021, Philo purported that her label would be launching in partnership with LVMH (for whom she worked for during in her time at CELINE) although the Phoebe Philo brand launching in 2023 has yet to be confirmed as part of the LVMH family.
If Philo did partner with LVMH to launch her collection, it'd be the luxury conglomerate's first original brand since it oversaw Rihanna's short-lived Fenty brand, which launched in 2019 and shuttered in 2021. Prior to that, LVMH's last "new" line was Christian Lacroix's eponymous brand, which debuted in in 1987.
