Last July, London’s beau monde congregated at a garden party in a 17th-century manor house in the heart of Oxfordshire’s decadent Chipping Norton area. The guest list included a potent mix of designers, entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians, filmmakers, models, writers, and aristocrats. But it was the unexpected presence of fashion designer Phoebe Philo that captured the attention of all 400 of them.
After suddenly resigning as the creative director of LVMH-owned Celine in 2018, Philo left entire populations of stylish women wondering what on earth they were supposed to wear. She had mastered a look that was both ascetic and directional, knowing and intellectual.
