Phoebe Philo

Phoebe Philo

Phoebe Philo OBE (born 1973) is a British fashion designer. In 2014 she was named by Time Magazine as amongst the world's 100 most influential people.

Early life

Philo was born to British parents working in Paris. Her father is a surveyor and her mother is an art dealer and graphic artist (who had a hand in creating David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album cover). She was raised in Harrow-on-the-Hill, London. In 1987, at the age of 14, she began customizing her clothes after receiving a sewing machine as a birthday present from her parents. She studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, graduating in 1996, a year after Stella McCartney.

She graduated showing a final student collection that The Guardian would later describe as having a “Latino influence and huge gold jewellery. She quickly joined Chloé as Stella McCartney's first assistant for Ready-to-wear in Paris.
Career

She began working for Chloé in 1997 as Stella McCartney's design assistant, succeeding her as Creative Director in 2001, after the Gucci Group offered McCartney the opportunity to launch her own label.

In 2006 Philo left Chloé. During this break from the industry, she moved back to London to be with her family and had her second child. In 2008, LVMH offered her a job as Creative Director and board member of the old French house Céline, where she can work from London. She agreed, and presented her debut collection the next year to much critical acclaim.

Philo's consistent and critically acclaimed collections for Celine have successfully reinvigorated the previously stalwart brand, catapulting it onto everyone's must-have list. It's not an exaggeration to say that Philo's relaxed, easy, slightly boxy, '70s chic is the look everyone wants right now.