She was born in 1973 in Paris, but since she was little she moved to England. Phoebe lived surrounded since her childhood by people dedicated to the world of design, as her father was an architect, while her mother was a graphic designer.
She graduated from Central Sain Martins fashion school in London in 1996.
Phoebe Philo began to be known within the world of fashion in 2001, the year in which, At only 27 years old, she was named Artistic Director of “Chloé”, where she worked as an assistant to Stella McCartney.
After collaborating for 4 years with the designer McCartney, he took the reins of this prestigious French brand.
Since 1992, Karl Lagerfeld held the position of Artistic Director of this French house and his mission was to reinvent the concept of the “Chloé” woman.
In 1997 the time came for the relief and the position of Lagerfeld fell into the hands of Stella McCartney. One of the conditions Stella imposed to accept the position was to bring in her friend Phoebe Philo as an assistant.
Both took on the tough challenge of reviving the veteran French brand to fame shortly after graduating from fashion school.
The team worked quite well, as from 1997 to 2001 Chloé’s growth was spectacular.
Phoebe and Stella knew how to renew this well-known French brand.
Her youth and energy revitalized Chloé, who extended her sales to a new generation of luxury customers.
The formula of the young women was successfully merge Chloé’s romantic spirit with a more urban and casual vision of fashion.
In this way they managed to create very feminine garments but with a structured cut.
Bold ideas like combining sheer blouses with jeans and stiletto sandals.
Femininity and sophistication were the main characteristics of the new Chloé woman, whose new collections were very successful worldwide.
Along with the success came the envy. The rumors spoke of the talent of Phoebe as the person in charge of the new success of Chloé and not so much of the talent of Stella.
But the reality was different: Stella’s figure was highly valued and in 2001 she announced that she was leaving Chlóe to create her own brand under the umbrella of the great luxury multinational Luis Vuitton MH.
From that moment on, it was proven that the rumors had some truth, as Stella’s career has not gone as well as expected while Phoebe’s continued to be successful.
When Stella left Chloe, Phoebe had many doubts about her future, but the owners of the firm decided to leave her in charge, as her bet was the correct one.
Phoebe’s talent was an essential element in the continued transformation, modernization and growth of the brand.
The designer admits to having learned a lot from Stella.
Close in age and lifestyle to Chloé’s new clientele, Phoebe was able to transmit all these values in the new collections, with such success that she has led the creation of new lines of business. A complete line of accessories and another of swimwear. It has also been dedicated to the supervision of “See” by Chloé, (a second line more accessible than the main collection) that contains all the characteristics that have made this a prestigious brand: modern, fresh, feminine, with a Parisian air, sexy and very cool.
In 2004, the British Fashion Association declared her “Designer of the Year”.
Phoebe is an independent, dreamy and romantic soul. She lives in Paris, and like her friend Stella she is a vegetarian.
She is in a relationship with the artist Max Wigram, with whom they had a daughter in 2005, whom they baptized with the name of Maya.
From this moment on, Phoebe gave up Chloe, to dedicate her time to her family, especially her baby.