Business

BREAKING: Phoebe Philo To Exit Céline

By Donovan | December 23, 2017 1 Comment

Céline Fall 2017 Ready-To-Wear.

PARIS — It’s official! Designer and creative director Phoebe Philo is set to exit LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton owned – Céline after 10 years at the label and following months of rumors around her long-term plans.

Last October, DM Fashion Book exclusively reported that Phoebe Philo is exiting Céline before the end of the year (see it here).

WWD reports, “According to a source with knowledge of the matter, Philo will not work for another label in the near future and her successor to the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned house will be named in the coming months.”

The Fall 2018 collection, to be presented in March during Paris Fashion Week, will be the last collection crafted by the designer.

In the interim, the label’s collections will be designed by Céline teams, “in keeping with the craftsmanship the house is renowned for,” the person said.

In a statement seen by WWD, the designer thanked her teams.

“Working with Céline has been an exceptional experience for me these last 10 years. I am grateful to have worked with an incredibly talented and committed team and I would like to thank everyone along the way who has been part of the collaborations and conversations…it’s been amazing.”

LVMH chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault said:

“What Phoebe has accomplished over the past 10 years represents a key chapter in the history of Céline. We are very grateful to Phoebe for having contributed to the great momentum of this maison. A new era of development for Céline will now start and I am extremely confident in the future success of this iconic maison.”

Philo is a graduate from London’s Central Saint Martins. Over the past decade, she helped lift the label’s annual sales from €200 million to more than €700 million, according to analysts. (LVMH does not break out figures for Céline).

Philo studied with Stella McCartney and followed her when she took the creative director job from Karl Lagerfeld at Chloé in 1997. When McCartney left Chloé to set up her own fashion brand in a joint-venture with what was then called Gucci Group, now part of the conglomerate Kering, Philo was left out of the project and then CEO Ralph Toledano exploited the rift to place her in the top job in 2001. Philo left five years later having significantly boosted Chloé’s sales revenues.

In the past, we mentioned that Philowas reportedly offered Raf Simons’ former position at Dior following his departure in 2015, but the parties encountered difficulties in closing the deal when Philo insisted upon bringing her team with her to Dior (see it here). Eventually, Maria Grazia Chiuri was appointed Christian Dior‘s new artistic director, the first women to hold the position in the French house’s 70-year history (see it here).