For Eva Galambos, stocking Phoebe Philo is a signal of intent

As Phoebe Philo finally arrives down under, one of Australia’s foremost fashion authorities is predicting a vibe shift.

Parlour X director Eva Galambos in her boutique alongside the launch of Phoebe Philo. Picture: John Feder

Eva Galambos, director of Parlour X – the luxury Sydney-based fashion retailer which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year – senses a vibe shift.

It’s not only that Parlour X has just been announced as the exclusive Australian retailer of Phoebe Philo. Philo, long considered the patron saint of thinking women’s fashion from her time leading luxury fashion brands such as Celine and Chloe, launched her namesake brand in 2023 with a direct-to-consumer approach. One that didn’t, unfortunately for downunder Philo-philes, include shipping to Australia.

The opportunity is one Galambos is particularly proud of – the brand is now only stocked in a handful of top-tier retailers around the world, including the likes of Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Dover Street Market Ginza in Japan.

“After retailing for almost 25 years now, it was, I guess, a wonderful signal that we’re on the right track and that we are appreciated and we are seen and we are heard, even though we are so far away in Australia,” she says.

The arrival into Australia is part of a shift in strategy for the brand overall. Following its direct-to-consumer launch, according to Puck’s Lauren Sherman, the brand now occupies a bigger and more prominent space in the Bergdorf Goodman store, as well as opening up in the APAC region this month.

This new way of launching a fashion brand is, remarked Sherman, “a slow burn, rather than a sweeping takeover. Which, honestly, feels more modern.”

Galambos is excited about the launch of Phoebe Philo. Picture: John Feder

Galambos loves that Philo is back. Fashion, she thinks, needed it.

“When [her time at Celine] came to an end, it was such an end of an era and it was really sad because you miss the experience of being tantalised every season with her new themes and her new ‘it’ bag and her new ‘it’ shoe and her viewpoint, which obviously so many other people adored … Her missing from the fashion scene felt very prevalent. It just didn’t feel the same,” she says.

Galambos believes the arrival of Philo into Australia – landing in store this week – is part of a shift back toward appreciating craft, quality and creativity in fashion. Both on the international runways, and here.

The most recent fashion season in Paris, she says, was the best she’s seen in years.

“This fashion week was just so particularly exciting because these brands have really come out and they’ve said ‘this is our signature. This is who we are. We’re highly creative,’” she says.

This aligns with how Galambos is changing her business, making the decision to no longer stock some brands – even ones that sell well- that don’t fit this ethos. Instead her focus is on brands that could be described as more avant-garde, directional or at the very least the opposite of ‘quiet luxury.’ A phrase that Galambos would gladly never hear again (“most of my clients are not minimalist clients”).

So far, it’s working.

Alaia, stocked by Parlour X, is another brand focusing on creativity.

“I’ve just seen it with the season we’ve just had. Our ready to wear sell throughs are the best they’ve ever been and I’m looking at what’s selling. If [Japanese avant-garde label] Sacai has become our bread and butter you know for a hundred per cent fact that people are yearning and wanting something different,” she says.

“I was really nervous thinking if there’s not another logo bag or what have you, how’s that going to play out? And what we found, which has been absolutely phenomenal in this last year as we’ve slowly been changing, ...has been that the clients have been incredibly receptive,” she says.

Her clients, says Galambos, can see through the flattening of personal tastes effect that the social media algorithm can have. It’s something she’s been pondering for some time.

“I could see the direction in which fashion was heading in terms of this homogenised, draconian social media driven direction. And it was really not sitting right with me. I was thinking, ‘how do I stay true to myself and how do I stay true to Parlour X and continue to run a business that was moving into this direction that just did not resonate in any possible way?’”

Galambos believes she has two major kinds of shoppers too, and often they’re misunderstood. So too is the idea of what luxury actually is. For Galambos it means things that are rare and interesting, harder to come by and there’s less of it.

“I think there’s also misconceptions with how people shop and what they do with their money. Just because somebody is incredibly affluent doesn’t mean that they’re not concerned with value for money, it doesn’t mean that they just splash it around. Everyone wants value for money regardless of people’s level of wealth,” she says.

“And then there’s a lot of people who are not exceedingly wealthy, but they are very prepared to allocate a big portion of what they have to something that they love to that extent, because in their mind they know that they will wear it forever . Or just owning it and the love of having it makes them so happy and it’s such joy that they would rather have that and forego other things,” she says.

“So I think it’s a perception thing ... You don’t have to necessarily be exceedingly wealthy to have a luxury way of thinking.”

The Row recently took on investment from the owners of Chanel and the family behind L'Oreal.

It’s a sense shared by others.

In recent seasons high-end fashion houses such as Prada, Hermes, Alaia and Loewe have been defying the global luxury slowdown with collections that hone in on a specific, and creative, point of view. The Row, founded by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in 2006 with a singular vision and another brand that sells well at Parlour X, recently took on a minority stake from Chanel owners, the Wertheimer brothers and L’Oreal’s Françoise Bettencourt Meyers at around a USD $1 billion valuation.

Imran Amed predicted in industry publication The Business of Fashion, that the slowdown in luxury may come with a silver lining- a renewed focus on craft and creativity and personalised approaches to different markets. Right now, he noted, we are in a new era.

“Luxury also needs to reorient its focus towards genuine quality and ethical craftsmanship, and away from mass-produced luxury merch fuelled by celebrity hype and marketing,” he writes.

What Galambos wants to see too is a return to personal style, and appreciation of things that really are special.

“I think we need to recalibrate, and I’d like to see people recalibrate where it’s not necessarily just about what people have in their bank balance, it’s about what they appreciate...based on your creativity, how your style yourself and appreciation,” she says.