Ask someone about their favourite fashion moment of recent years and, for most, it’s quite a personal answer: a certain designer, a particular label, perhaps a specific period. “I’m always looking for anything from Nicolas Ghesquière’s first Balenciaga collection or Phoebe Philo at Céline or Chloé,” Jo Ellison, tailoring aficionado and the editor of How To Spend It, recently told Matches Fashion.

A large majority of style enthusiasts will rank Phoebe Philo’s reign at French heritage fashion house Céline as a unanimous favourite. Philo helmed the brand from 2008 to 2018; hitting refresh and making Céline a byword for a contemporary and empowered take on femininity. 

It’s little surprise that Philo’s pieces are still sought after and worn by tastemakers today, lovingly coined ‘old Céline’ by her devoted following. See Pernille Teisbaek, who recently Instagrammed an archive look for cocktail hour: a monochrome silk dress from the spring summer 2016 collection which she slipped on for evening drinks in Copenhagen. 

Main image: Jason Lloyd Evans.

Just this week, Matches Fashion launched a digital pop-up with new preloved luxury website Reluxe, founded by Hermès and Balenciaga stylist Clare Richardson. The site focuses on those much-sought-after pieces from a designer’s best era: the equivalent of fashion gold dust. Naturally, old Céline is front and centre, including a now-iconic shearling cape from the designer’s autumn winter 2010 collection, priced at €2,225. The response was a hungry one: the vast majority of Céline pieces have sold out already (see our edit below for the few still available).

Elsewhere, prices for old Céline range from manageable to collectable: a Céline trio, the brand’s now iconic cross-body sells in the region of €800, while more rare catwalk pieces, such as a vivid checked cape, is selling on Vestiaire for €5,000. A mere drop in the ocean compared to what ‘Philophiles’ are willing to pay. They know the price will be justified in compliments and cost-per-wear alone.

As Philo herself said, “What I love is this idea of a wardrobe, the idea that we’re establishing certain signatures and updating them, that a change in colour or fabric is enough.”

As we wait with bated breath to see when Philo will launch her own fashion brand (there’s been a drip-feed of rumours but nothing concrete as of yet), there is the thrill (and the hunt) of the Céline archives to keep us entertained. Shop our favourites below.

Céline pre-AW17 cotton poplin felt dress, Reluxe, €820; www.matchesfashion.com. 

Pre-owned trio cross-body bag, Céline, €978; www.farfetch.com. 

Céline overstriped cotton shirt, Reluxe, €527; www.matchesfashion.com. 

Jacquard check coat, Céline, €5,000; www.vestiairecollective.com. 

Belted wide-leg trousers, Céline, €847.74; www.1stdibs.com.