I first heard about Céline through a stylist friend
It just felt like something finally cut through my emotional sensibility, you know?
There are not many houses left I can rely on for that subdued, quiet dignity
Quiet dignity matters to me, and I think it matters to Phoebe too
There are many parallels between our lives
I'm a gallerist and she's married to one
She was born in Paris and I regularly catch the Eurostar when I do the fairs
I take quality and aesthetic seriously, and I think Phoebe does too
A real gallerist is unobtrusive and anonymous
Today I can wear my pool slides to meetings at Claridge's
and no one bats an eyelid
That's function
Those blocks of colour
They look exactly like the Bauhaus coat in look 30
Pure genius Philo
Phoebe brought a whole new luxe consistency: a cleaner kind of chic
We were hooked
Now, it's become the way I curate my life
Yesterday, I took a picture of the sky on my way back from Café Gitane
And tagged it "Very hashtag Phoebe Philo" and it got 295 likes
It was grey and textured
and it reminded me of the walls of the new London store I saw on Style Bubble
Now, I want to redo my floors but my landlord is like, "No fucking way Vivian!"
I choose this house because it's created the uniform for the ultramodern woman
The Philo effect
At first I thought, luxury leather is too old for me
At that point I was a maximalist
You know, all 70s prints
But so is Phoebe at heart
At work we have this motto:
WWPPD: What Would Phoebe Philo Do?
Wear Stan Smiths with a suit
Wear your sleeves too long
Keep a pot of lush seasonal greenery always available
and keep your left shirttail tucked in, right tucked out
Buy your jumper two sizes too big, then tie it around your waist
At the Vogue Festival I was sitting front row
I didn't know if she would get on with me
if we would see cool eye to eye
But I caught hers; just for a tiny second, we smiled