Philo Philo, burning bright (part 1)

Phoebe Philo’s first eponymous edit gives Blake

[Also re: dread feet!]

You can find Phoebe Philo’s first eponymous edit here. Yes, it’s largely sold out. Yes, it’s astronomically expensive.

Here’s what Vogue had to say about it, the choice line being: “The thrill of her attitude radiates from her pictures with an uncompromising confidence: strong women, who are basically looking down on the viewer.” The Cut? “People will lose their minds.” Independent fashion journalist

Amy Odell

’s delightful ear-to-the-ground summary was blunter still:

A brand “factsheet” distributed to press said item quantities would be “notably less than anticipated want,” and that the scarcity was “a responsible balance between production and demand.” While I’ve seen this called “sustainable,” it’s utterly ridiculous to call a new fashion brand that requires resources to create and ship sustainable. This is about scarcity, which is a marketing tactic.

Indeed—though I’d probably use the word rarity as opposed to scarcity. More on this in the essay proper TK in part 2. Here I wanted to emphasize the raw Blakean impact of Philo’s art, and with the images alone am already up against the email load limit . . .

Thanks for reading, as always,

ANJ

PS—With thanks to HRH

Elif Batuman

for her recent essay on diachronic writing (also informing part 2!), here are few related posts from the archives I’ve been revisiting as I think about Philo:

Fame’s inflection point

A literary guide to luxury bathrobes