Michael Rider made his debut for Celine over the weekend and it was filled with a massive array of references. The new artistic director took care to balance codes from both of his predecessors, Phoebe Philo and Hedi Slimane. As a result, a few familiar silhouettes came strutting down the runway—most important of all, the Phantom bag.
The purse first debuted in 2011 under then-creative director Philo and was inspired by the house’s original suitcase design. The more spacious sister to the Luggage, which was released the year prior, the Phantom added flared gussets and leaned into the 2010s carryall craze that was just beginning. Like the Luggage before it, the bag was an immediate success, becoming synonymous with celebrity status and paparazzi street style. At the height of its fame, the bags flew off the shelves and waitlists could reach months-long. Anyone who was anyone tossed their belongings into the caverns of one of these bags before leaving the house, including Celine Dion, Kim Kardashian, Linsday Lohan, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Now, the Phantom is here again, and hopefully to stay. On the runway, Rider showed two new iterations with some key differences. One was chestnut and the other reminiscent of Yves Klein blue—another Philo reference from his decade spent as her design director.
Don’t worry, the bag still retains its wide-winged shape. If anything, Rider pushed the silhouette even further, shortening the height and expanding the width. The new style feels similar to many of the presiding popular rectangular shoulder bags—the Bottega Veneta East/West Andiamo, Prada Bonnie, and Alaïa Le Teckel all offer options in this shape. However, the advantage of the Phantom is and always will be its size, especially since we’ve all had enough of micro-purses too small to even hold your phone.
While Rider is paying homage to those who came before him, he’s also smartly investing in the current It bag resurgence. In recent seasons, designers like Chloé and Fendi have reissued their own street style icons: the Paddington and the Spy, respectively. There’s no stopping it—nostalgia is saturating design to the max, and Celine is smart to play into it, especially under the leadership of a Philo disciple. Fashion fans rejoice: on the runway, all good things eventually come back around.
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