Céline Fall 2012 Review
Photos: Imaxtree
Looks from the Céline Fall 2012 runway.
SHOW: Céline (See the full collection.)
ACCESSORIES: Unstructured fold-over clutches in leather and fur, heavy block-heeled shoes with a sharply pointed vamp, silk-look leather scarves
OVERALL TAKEAWAY: Minimal to the max, in 26 looks or less.
Just in case you've been hiding under a rock, sealed inside a mountain, hermetically-sealed in a tomb or otherwise isolated from fashion-focused news stories over the past three months, it should be stated that Phoebe Philo is heavily pregnant with her third child. Hence the decision to scale back one of Paris Fashion Week's major shows—hers, for the house of Celine—in favor of an intimate (read: exclusive, minute capacity, highly-anticipated, hottest-ticket-in-town) pair of presentations in the label's showroom on the Left Bank.
The presentation of just twenty-six looks was concise, but allowed arguably more variety than Philo's usual catwalk presentations, razor-honed as they are on a clutch of ideas worked to the fullest. This had more in common with her pre-collections, crafting a wardrobe for the modem woman. In a season of dressing-up she eschewed eveningwear, opting instead to focus on nubby wool overcoats that looked boiled, in unusual shades of puce, brilliant orange and electric blue combined with lots of white. A few sweaters patchworked all those together, in wool and leather alongside strips of mink dyed cerulean blue or a hammy pink for good measure.
The combination of oversized with undersized managed to elevate this Celine collection from a clutch of wearable, desirable garments into an editorial and catwalk statement—the major tussle between the wardrobe Philo builds with her pre-collections versus the magazine impact she achieves with her biannual offerings. At the same time, despite the edge, this offering had the instant desirability factor that comes from Philo's innate and uncanny knack of knowing exactly what women want to wear, right now.
SEE THE FALL 2012 RUNWAY COLLECTIONS
