The very powerful can afford to speak quietly in a crowded room, knowing full well that the audience will hush and strain to hear what they have to say. It is an impressive way to demonstrate strength, and – crucially at Paris fashion week – an elegant one.
Celine, the French label headed by the British designer Phoebe Philo, has taken this approach.
Instead of a catwalk show catering for hundreds of writers, photographers and bloggers, the house presented Philo's latest collection at home in the label's Paris showroom to a total of 70 guests, split between two shows. Only in-house photographers were invited, with guests instructed not to share their own photos on social media.
This was not a retreat from Celine's presence in the contemporary fashion conversation, but the opposite – a flexing of fashion muscle which underlined the power Celine now has.
While most brands attempt to ride the economic storm by reaching out to a broader audience via livestreamed catwalk shows and high street collaborations, Celine is confident that its signature form of minimal chic will continue to draw women without it having to shout to be heard.
The simple explanation for Celine's downscaled presence was very much in evidence as Philo welcomed guests to her show wearing a navy polo neck sweater stretched tight over her eight-month pregnant form.
Philo, who was unwilling to orchestrate and present a largescale show at this late stage in her pregnancy, has never shied away from prioritising her family life. While at Chloe, she was the first designer of a major house to take maternity leave, and subsequently took a sabbatical of nearly three years when her second child was born. "Those three years were about getting the fundamentals of my life set up," she has said since.
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While the catalyst for Celine's ultra-exclusive show was simple biology, it comes at an interesting point for a Paris fashion week in a state of flux.
Both Dior and Yves Saint Laurent are currently without figurehead designers. The John Galliano affair highlighted the way in which designers have become commodified by a luxury industry which valued the personality more than the person.
LVMH, which owns both Dior and Celine, now seems at pains to display a more humane side, with executives at the presentation keen to show full and smiling support of Philo's choice.
The small-scale presentation emphasised the power of a collection which was more punchy than in previous seasons. The soundtrack was the 1995 Portishead classic Glory Box, and the clothes were Celine with the volume turned up.
The show opened with a round-shouldered, textured cream coat with no visible fastenings, the back view finished with a black leather strap buttoned across the hips. Cricket sweaters, a Celine classic, were revisited with a new softness and volume.
A black leather dress with snaking zips brought a new upfront sensuality. Trousers, a Philo trademark, came in 7/8 or floorlength, slender or wide, some with the go-faster stripes that have become a Celine motif and some in a marl-effect wool with sweatpant patch pockets.
The collage of photographs which Philo leaves on each seat at her shows featured Mayan fertility statues juxtaposed with similarly cartoonish proportioned glamour models.
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Philo, who often offers "reduced" as the highest of aesthetic compliment, was less pared down this season. A bright pink fur coat, asymmetric colour blocking and a sweatshirt patchworked from neoprene and suede were all new territory for the erstwhile queen of minimal.
But subtlety is a house code at Celine, and no message is ever as simple as it looks. Even the message of Philo's family-oriented career is more complicated than it first appears.
It has become popular to ascribe Celine's success to Philo's affinity with the busy modern working mother. But cool, private Philo sells an image that is far removed from that of the busy everywoman juggling kids and career.
The Celine aesthetic is not about multitasking, but rather about compartmentalisation and focus. Her uncompromising stance on maternity leave emphasises a belief in doing one thing at a time, and doing it brilliantly. This purity of focus in the workplace is still to a large extent a luxury enjoyed by men, while women concede head space to the domestic.
The clothes are imbued with a streamlined energy which women crave, and so in a messy, compromised reality they represent a fantasy lifestyle. And that has always been what it takes to stand out at Paris fashion week.