Céline AW13

Dusty pink and white streaked ceilings contrasted against soft lighting.Bleached out wooden benches with hints of yellow paired with natural light oak flooring. That was the exacting show interior chez Céline. Phoebe Philo’s seasonal scrapbook was filled with images of clouds, Renaissance paintings, Sarah Lucas artwork and classical sculpture. It’s all too easy to over analyse all of this into a convoluted line of thought, where everything symbolically means something.

There’s one strong and very simple deduction that can be taken from the collection Philo debuted yesterday.  Women all left wanting to be enveloped in Philo’s proposal of rounded softness. The rubbing away of the hard edges began last season with its unfettered slouchiness and homebound relaxation. This time round, the edges were still soft but precisely so. Skirts had flare. Shoulders were round and roomy. Egg-shaped skirts in mink dresses had accurate curvature. The faintest of pinks, yellows and greys made up this soothing paint palette. The humble jumper around the waist is transformed into a gigantic sleeve knot at the front on wool dresses and coats. That’s street meets chic.

Speaking of the street, Céline outerwear has been dotted around on showgoers in high frequency and that won’t be abated judging from how many brilliant want-it-now coats were on show today, injected with mid-century couture volume.

Philo also threw in a bit of much-needed sense of humour to all this soft-shaded perfection. Airing out dirty laundry? Do it wearing these laundry bag (some say Tati, I say Chinese laundry) checkered knit ensembles with a flat form rounded coat summarising this most extreme high-end-low-end of contrasts. Cut hashtag #chictothenextlev across the Twittersphere.

www.celine.com

Models pictured: Bette Franke-@Bette_Franke, Vanessa Axente-@VanessaAxente, Josephine Le Tutour-@JosephoneLT_, Hilary Rhoda-@HilaryHRhoda, Ashleigh Good-@Ashleighh_Good