Profile: Phoebe Philo

For five years - between 2001 and 2006 - Phoebe Philo was perhaps more influential than any other designer as far as dressing the savvy young woman who liked her clothes witty, pretty and with just the right amount of urban edge was concerned.

It wasn't simply that the creative director of Chloe's pale-and-interesting babydoll tunic dresses, best worn with the type of vertiginous, heavy-heeled wedges that undercut any girlishness, were selling out as quickly as they could be produced. Or even that the padlocked Paddington had a waiting list that meant it was impossible to walk into a store and get hold of one.

Philo's own designs were among the most covetable pieces season after season. The London-girl, vintage-inspired aesthetic she gave the world resonated way beyond her own catwalk.

And then, at the height of her power, Philo - who took over the Chloe role from best friend Stella McCartney - disappeared from the face of fashion while still only in her early 30s.

With the cool self-possession of a politician, the determinedly private designer stated her reason for stepping down from Chloe was "to spend more time with my family".

Married to art dealer Max Wigram, and with a young daughter and son on the way, Philo was not prepared to travel to Paris and back on a weekly basis - and this despite the fact her hours had been cut down to eight days a month.

Philo, who went to Chloe in 1997 to assist McCartney before taking over, had worked constantly and in a hugely pressurised environment since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 1996.

She wanted a complete break, she has said since, and the fact that the label she had so adeptly transformed struggled to make anything like the impact it had done following her retirement only added to the allure around her name.

And then Philo returned. In 2008, she entered into talks with LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) France's most powerful luxury goods conglomerate, initially with a view to setting up her own label. After months of discussions she came away instead with the creative directorship of Celine which had been originally launched in 1945 as purveyor of children's made-to-measure shoes.

It expanded during the 60s with adult footwear, handbags and a women's collection of designer sportswear branded "fashion for everyone".

"By giving her Celine, we're providing her with a platform to express her vision," Pierre-Yves Roussel of LVMH said when her appointment was announced. For her part, Philo told Women's Wear Daily: "I want to create clothes, shoes, bags and accessories that are relevant right now - modern, exciting designs that women will desire and appreciate."

Even before her first runway show for spring/summer 2010 the buzz surrounding Philo's return was considerable. A pared-down pre-collection of carefully thought-out wardrobe basics heralded the return of a new minimalism to fashion.

Last October, following her debut for Celine on the catwalk, this buzz became pure fashion frenzy. Moulded leather tunics, neat A-line skirts worn with masculine white shirts peeping from beneath their sharply cut hems, blush-coloured bodies and pale leather clogs - yes, clogs - were like a breath of fresh air, so simple, chic and unashamedly functional were they.

As well as clothing and footwear came bags - free of hardware and in neutral colours and fabrics that might almost be described as worthy were they not treated to such deft cutting and finishing techniques.

In a rare interview in October last year, Philo, a willowy figure with the type of refined features and innate sense of style that makes her the ultimate poster girl for her own label, told American Vogue: "Women talk about getting older as if it's a disease, something to be terrified of. But it's not my experience. It feels really good to be 35. As I get older, I get a nice sense of knowing more what I want."

And that is? "Pieces that women can just wear and get on with their life and feel comfortable in."

Philo has followed her spring/summer collection with one that is equally pragmatic for the forthcoming autumn/winter.

While not boasting quite the freshness of her first show, the pale-and-interesting colour palette has been replaced by suitably seasonal darker shades, predominantly navy - when it was shown in Paris in March it still had fashion editors sitting up in their seats.

Perfectly executed coat dresses, tunics, riding boots with polished brass heels and strict lace separates with more than a nod to the narrow silhouette beloved of the 70s were all entirely desirable and had the feel of investment pieces.

Nodding to mid-90s giants Helmut Lang and Jil Sander and, perhaps more controversially, even to Max Mara, the collection will doubtless prove the type of commercial success that in the current climate LVMH executives might hitherto only have dreamed of.

In Philo's own words: "It was just about something that was not disposable. And I think to offer women something that feels more about investing in something, and less about being disposable, is a complete corrective to the world we're in."

- INDEPENDENT