Celine designer Phoebe Philo is nearly seven months pregnant with her third child, due in April, and has consequently decided to cancel her runway show this season. She’s still producing a collection, and will likely mount a presentation during Celine’s normal time slot at Paris Fashion Week. Celine CEO Marco Gobbetti assured WWD that Philo is still very much at work, “designing the collection with her team,” and that she’ll attend the presentation in whatever format it takes. “A runway show is a very demanding and personal engagement for a creative director,” he added. “The objective is to simplify.”
Philo has previously stood up for her right to spend time with her kids outside of work. Earlier this year, she told the Telegraph that she’s “disciplined” about keeping normal, sane hours: “We’re just organized. Everybody in this building knows when I arrive and when I leave and the important things are done within those hours. That’s just the way it is.” While plenty of other top female designers also have children (Stella McCartney, Clare Waight Keller), it’s quite rare for a designer to visibly scale back on her job for maternity reasons, and she should have every right to do so if she pleases.
