Celine is once again, arguably, fashion’s favorite brand. Creative director Michael Rider has charged the French luxury house with a fresh, sporty-sophisticate sensibility. So of-the-moment does his output feel, that the more you look, the more you see notes of Rider’s runways in the way people are dressing everywhere: offbeat color and proportion combinations, aptly placed scarves, dainty shoes.
Rider worked under Phoebe Philo at the label from 2008 to 2018. Naturally, his work at Celine has now been put in conversation with hers, especially because both designers share an aptitude for creating clothes real people want to wear–and, therefore, many of the same fans. Recently, a video of Rider and Philo literally in conversation at the LVMH Prize in September, captured by Loïc Pringet, was met with excitement and feverishly passed around in fashion circles. Other designers who worked under Philo, now helming fashion’s biggest brands, include Matthieu Blazy, Daniel Lee, Chemena Kamali, and Drew Henry.
We decided to bring two acolytes of their respective work–the brains behind the Instagram accounts @OldCeline and @CurrentCeline–together (can you believe they hadn’t met yet?!) for a conversation over Zoom about Celine, fashion, and why they are tracking these two designers. What they’re doing clearly resonates. @OldCeline, run by Gabrielle Boucinha, counts nearly 350,000 followers; @CurrentCeline, run by recent fashion school graduate Martina Bait, has accumulated over 20,000 followers since launching a year ago.
OldCeline: I started the page the summer I finished my undergraduate degree in fashion communication, in 2018. It was right before Hedi was taking over Celine. I just wanted to document all of the images and just kind of mark that time in fashion. When Phoebe announced her departure, I knew there was going to be this wave of people that would follow her wherever she went.
OC: No other fashion campaign ever kind of made me feel any type of way. When I first saw the Joan Didion campaign, or the Daria Werbowy campaigns shot by Jurgen Teller, I was just like, this is fashion. Even if the image wasn’t even showing clothes or an accessory, it was just that language.
CurrentCeline: I just graduated from fashion school and work in embroidery. I started the profile in July 2025 when Michael Rider released his first collection. I was so thrilled, and I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t I start sharing stuff that I really like from a designer I want to support?’ But I was really into Phoebe’s work too. There are certain designers that give you a feeling, Phoebe is one of them, and I had that same feeling when I looked at Rider’s first collection.
CC: She gave a new meaning to what it means to dress beautifully. It doesn’t always have to be cute things or really sexy clothes, it's something more. It’s a subtle elegance that is really important. The campaign with the fur shoes next to the pool was one of my favorites.
CC: It's more in the philosophy they have. Clothes are really at the center point for both of them. They focus on clothes that you really want to wear and that you feel strong in yourself in them.
OC: The main thing they have in common in terms of the collections is the focus on silhouettes, prints, color, and tailoring.
OC: It's hard to pick one. But I liked when she would do a really interesting shoe with pretty minimal styling in the outfit, mainly because I think that’s also part of Phoebe’s design philosophy of making the everyday desirable. Another thing I think about when I think about Phoebe’s designs is that Joan Didion quote, “everyday is all there is.”
CC: The opening look from Fall/Winter 2026.
CC: I’m not an accessory person, but now I’m more interested in playing with layering in more accessories. I also typically dress in all black, but now I'm trying more colors outside my comfort zone.
OC: I focus the most on jewelry. I have a couple of earrings and the letter necklace, and I'm always on the lookout for shoes, especially the sneakers.
I have so many dream pieces, the Peter Miles scarf and some of the wool coats. I do have a massive Cabas tote, and that was one of my dream pieces. And then I finally found it [on Depop] for a really good price.
OC: The styling transcends into the feeling. You feel transported, which is similar to the Phoebe Céline campaigns I love so much. This is the campaign style that really resonates with me because looking at them makes me feel immersed in a story, with different layers to analyze and discover.
I also loved seeing Unzipped featured in the promotional video for the Spring 2027 show.
CC: It’s for sure my personal favorite out of all of them. The moody, cinematic quality of the images and the context in which they were taken, around the streets of Paris in constant motion, really pulls you in and makes you see the clothes from a familiar POV, which is walking around the city, noticing a well-dressed stranger and wondering where they got the look from. I love that it also includes lots of details and close-ups at the same time, like the bicycle photo with the heels on the pedals, or the hands opening the bag to get something from inside, because that’s exactly where your eyes go when you analyze someone’s outfit from head to toe.
OC: I think it's all of the above. I’ve always loved the community of it and being able to highlight the imagery through my eye. I always post three photos that relate to each other at a time to show the timelessness of Phoebe’s work and how it's relevant to current designers or current things happening in fashion, even though these collections are already almost 10 years old.
CC: It's a community, but also more about sharing the vibe. I like to show the clothes and what they look like, but also show the story and world behind them.
OC: There are so many, from women all around the world who like to collect her stuff, to fashion editors.
But the one that stands out is this one man: All of his photos were of him fishing and holding fish, and he had such a depth of knowledge on Phoebe Philo, and you would never expect it. Her work has touched so many different people in all these different ways, which I think goes back to the testament of it not even really being about the fashion … it's this way of seeing.