TO wear or not to wear a designer's clothes to said designer's show? It's an age-old quandary but not one that exists here: the Celine-ometer at Phoebe Philo's show this afternoon was off the scale. Lets see, there was the leopard ponyskin coat with leather lapels, gargantuan felted sweater in blocks of blues, lace-up brogues with shiny gold plates, more than two dozen trapeze bags, that red, gold and green jacquard coat (in store now, assuming there are some left) spotted twice: on Anna Dello Russo and again on Susie Bubble. And that was just in block A. Women - at least this room full of them anyway - want Philo's clothes in their wardrobes. And so, what to pine for come autumn?
For starters, the Celine girl will have a hard time choosing between the designer's desirable coats. From the opening series of formal, full-skirted, double-breasted styles - buttons slightly askew - to others more mannish, with sloping shoulders and tufted seams, to a camel coat - with matching mink belt in the same toffee hue, focus was on toppers.
Philo reimagined her hit refuge bag check, this time it morphed into a blue and white gingham, and she revisited ostrich feathers also, recreated using strands of nylon which were painstakingly appliquéd individually over dresses and coats, wafting with such fragility that they almost appeared to be transparent. But there was plenty here that was new, too. Brand new. Flares for example, and if anyone can make a pair of Seventies-style ribbed knit flares appealing, it's this house, and yes, they did look pretty swell peeping out from under matching tunics flapping atop jumbo wedge open-toe sandals.
It's also the styling and subtle nuances that turn these clothes into something so covetable; like the way a grey funnel neck gently folds over to reveal contrasting ivory, the precision slitting and splicing up of midi skirts to make them kick out just so, the way elbows on ribbed tunics are exposed by incisions. Even down to those twisted ponytails and a single long tasselled earring, which gave an almost tribal feel to proceedings. She is expert at selling her idea of a woman.
The show invitation was a fold-out paper silk poster featuring a photograph of the German artist, Hannah Hoch. An exhibition of her work opened earlier this year at the Whitechapel Gallery. There was nothing of her photo montages in this collection this afternoon (unlike Philo's spring/summer 2014 more literal execution of Brassai's works). But her references are far and wide, although mainly, these are clothes born from an instinct of knowing what suddenly feels right, even if Philo and her critics can't quite put their finger on the reason why. This collection was no exception.
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