Those on the front row at the Céline show in Paris yesterday saw for the first time what most of them will probably be wearing next season. The label’s designer, Phoebe Philo, has a talent for conjuring up what the fashion pack want before they know it themselves.
The new collection mixed khaki cotton twills with the silky lingerie style that inspired her last time round, plus a stealthy dose of “athleisure”.
It’s all about layering, ideally of contrasting fabric weights and shapes: a stiff, sleeveless tunic over draped wide trousers, a beaded cream satin gown over black leggings.
It’s also about clothes with room for growth: shirts with cuffs that cover the hands; trousers with hems that preclude the need to hoover.
Diversity of influence has been an element of many shows this season, but it’s nothing new at Céline, which has long mixed the mannish with the feminine and luxury with the everyday.
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The drawstring hood of a common-or-garden parka had been reinvented as a long collar on uptown coats in black bouclé and white wool. More Park Avenue still was a trench coat in soft petrol leather.
The trousers, some with a side-slit hem, were reminiscent of track pants and there were plenty of similarly relaxed polo-necks. Less reassuring were the gladiator sandals we will apparently be wearing next winter.
The palette was a wearable black, camel and cream plus a splash of blue.
Even a challenging black bouclé top with bubble sleeves, worn with one arm in and one arm out, looked like something one might come round to.
Yet again, Céline made cool, laidback modernity look easy.