Phoebe Philo, creative director at Céline, has announced she is expecting her third child in April and as a result, will be cancelling the brand’s autumn/winter 2012 catwalk show this March. The brand has been a schedule highlight at Paris Fashion Week since the British designer took over in June 2009.
Celine has axed its catwalk show this season because creative director Phoebe Philo is pregnant.
The designer is expecting her third child in April and Celine’s parent company LVMN have taken the drastic decision not to have a show for the Autumn/ Winter 2012 season because it would be too demanding for Phoebe.
Marco Gobbetti, chief executive officer of Celine, told WWD, “A runway show is a very demanding and personal engagement for a creative director. The objective is to simplify.”
It is thought the label will hold a small presentation for press and buyers at their studios on March 4 at 1pm – the time the runway show was due to take place – which will be attended by Philo. However, Marco said it is “business as usual” at the moment and London based Phoebe is still working and “designing the collection with her team”.
Phoebe – who has been credited with turning the French ready-to-wear brand into one of the most sought after luxury labels since joining in 2008 – has insisted she never set out to invent a new kind of minimalism in fashion.
She said, “I hadn’t ever thought much about Celine before I was approached, but then I looked at everything they were doing and it felt very irrelevant. What I love is this idea of a wardrobe; the idea that we’re establishing certain signatures and updating them, that a change in shade or fabric is enough. I do think that the world doesn’t need many more frivolous bits and bobs that end up left in cupboards or landfills.”
