The moving melody of Kate Bush's iconic song "This Woman's Work," set the tone for the spring/summer 2015 Celine show. In fact, the singer herself inspired designer Phoebe Philo. She is a kindred spirit who, just like Philo, has no problem passing up on the lime light in favor of focusing on the work.
And how wonderfully all that hard work looked on the catwalk on Sunday.
The clothing was practical and made for women who have jobs but don't want to dress like corporate drones, dolled up sex kitten or folksy feminists. But at the same time, they still have a need to express their individuality.
Here Philo gave her minimalistic aesthetic a new sense of character through proportions and movement. She started out strong with some knitwear tank dresses that burst into lively yarn fringe along the hem. Tunic tops and shift dresses were energized by bands of fabric flapping loose at the sides. And long tops with the sides scooped out or the neckline sliced back, were visually striking.
There were quite a few fantastic coats, which often came adorned with cow bells as belts or buttons as quirky accents. And the wait list for the new leather bracelet bag and heeled ballerina flats is already probably a mile long.
If there was one element to the show that felt slightly out of cadence with the rest, it was the flower dresses, more for the tricksy panels of fabric that randomly held down the models arms, than for anything else. Restricting a woman's ability to move never feels modern.
Otherwise, just like the leader of the fashion heard that she is, Philo- with her ringing cow bells- is showing the industry the way forward.