Spotting Phoebe Philo accessories at the recent runway shows was a front-row parlor game. Here a small leather Gig bag in baby blue, there a pair of gathered flats in glossy white. Is that a Kick tailored jacket in salt and pepper? Why, yes. And you couldn’t keep count of all the Bombé shades. It’s two-and-a-half years since Philo launched her brand and she continues to operate in stealth mode—no shows, no personal Instagram, only the rare interview, even as the incoming creative directors at the biggest houses jockey for attention—but her influence is unmistakable.
Tommy Ton, the street style photographer who’s documented the scene outside the shows for 20 years, confirms this impression: “She really did give women a sense of empowerment in her clothes when she was designing for Celine and it carries on through her own collection. It’s almost a badge of honor wearing Phoebe Philo. It’s a type of armor that makes you feel like you’re still part of a members only club.”
Philo’s new Collection E was on view in a showroom in the far reaches of Paris during the haute couture shows in January, and it attracted a steady stream of members and fresh recruits, eager to paw the shearlings and admire the leather jackets of different finishes and silhouettes. Philo understands the power and allure of a statement coat—like the double-breasted belted jacket aptly named the Nuzzle in shearling melange-dyed shades of blue and apricot, or a longer shearling robe, the Ted, with a closer shave.
These are major investments, obviously, but Philo has her fun too. The impression that she’s serious about not taking fashion too seriously is appealing. A shaved blue shearling hoodie and drawstring trousers in shaved shearling a deep shade of red were as slouchy as your favorite sweats but inversely indulgent. She brought a similar sense of play to a pair of densely 3D-embroidered t-shirts in technical fabric, the effect of which she likened to the ruffled, layered texture of carnations.
For all her emphasis on unique trophy pieces, Philo also has a flair for the “everyday” item, as well: plain men’s t-shirts made special with patches on the shoulder, the barest of tanks tricked out with a sculptural-industrial tube at the hem—details that turn mundane garments into trophies too. She likes a high-low juxtaposition: wear a shearling with drawstring pajama pants, or pair that humble t-shirt with trousers featuring an asymmetrical train. Often, evening clothes are accessorized with canvas and rubber plimsoll shoes. Her ideas for after-dark are untraditional and adamantly unfussy—a t-shirt “gown” in silk, rangy black leather salopettes with nothing underneath, a scarf top suspended from a delicate strap at the neck that leaves the back completely bare. Badges of honor maybe, but definitely badges of cool.