CARLOS CALLING: Phoebe Philo is planting her flag in London’s Mayfair with plans to open her first store on Carlos Place, in a former office building, according to industry sources.
The store will be in London’s Mount Street neighborhood, one of the city’s hottest areas for high-end shopping. Philo’s store will be across the street from The Row, and a few steps from the Connaught hotel.
Neighbors on Carlos Place and nearby Mount Street will include the diamond jeweler Jessica McCormack, designer Huishan Zhang, and the Prada-owned patisserie Marchesi.
As reported, the chocolatier Barnaby, perfume brand Fueguia 1833 and celebrity facialist and aesthetician Melanie Grant are all opening in the neighborhood this summer.
Mount Street is different from other swanky shopping districts in London because it’s quiet, green and people actually live there.
There’s a church, a library and an elementary school in addition to Scott’s restaurant, stores including Erdem, Simone Rocha and Moynat, and wellness destinations including Omorovicza.
Philo’s decision to move into the neighborhood is part of a wider expansion strategy for the brand, which launched in 2023 and includes ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes and accessories.
Last year, the brand began expanding internationally, starting with Bergdorf Goodman in New York. It has since waded deeper into brick-and-mortar by wholesaling to a handful of additional marquee retailers including 10 Corso Como in Milan; Dover Street Market in London and Paris; Maxfield and Neiman Marcus in Los Angeles.
The site also ships to the U.K., Europe and the U.S. and is available in Asia-Pacific on phoebephilo.com, as well as through brick-and-mortar wholesale partners including at Dover Street Market Ginza and Isetan Shinjuku in Tokyo.
Philo announced she was starting her own brand in 2021, a few years after she wound up an acclaimed 10-year tenure at Celine in Paris.
The mission of her independent, namesake house — which counts Celine parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton as a minority investor – is to create clothing and accessories “rooted in exceptional quality and design.”
In 2021, Philo said that “to be independent, to govern and experiment on my own terms is hugely significant to me.”
The British designer forged a newfangled take on a direct-to-consumer fashion brand, launching all the main product categories at once, but producing them in limited quantities in order to sidestep overproduction, one of the biggest blights on the fashion industry.
She also takes a seasonless approach, placing value on permanence.