PHOEBE ENGLISH was founded in 2011 and has since focused on creating clothing with close attention to detail and narrative. The studio has dual roots in textile craftsmanship and reduced environmental impact: aiming to develop ways of working with design, and its surrounding systems, that better fit within the realities of our planetary boundaries. The PHOEBE ENGLISH studio has shown at London Fashion Week since 2011 through a variety of performative installations, exhibitions, shows and events across the city.
In the decade since Phoebe established the studio, the brand has developed into an internationally renowned label. In recent years the studio has been undergoing an ongoing transition into exploring less extractive fashion systems with a focus on the design potential for the circularity of textile waste, designing out waste from the design stage and the chemical content of our clothing; through exploring plant dyes.
In recent years, the studio team has received the following accolades: The Marie Claire Sustainability Award for Best Sustainable Designer Brand (2022), The Fashion Awards Leader of Change for Environment Honouree at The Fashion Awards (2021) was featured as a Beazley Design of the Year (Design Museum, 2020), The Fashion Awards Community Honouree for co-founding the Emergency Designer Network (2020).
The studio’s archive has been acquired by and now sits in the national archives of the V&A in London and the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh amongst others. The studio’s work has been featured in exhibitions around the world, such as the Design Museum’s Waste Age: What can waste do?, Homo Faber: Crafting a more human future, Venice curated by Judith Clark. In 2017 the studio's archive was the subject of a day-long live event as part of the ongoing V&A Fashion in Motion series.
Phoebe attended Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London for both her BA and MA in Fashion Design with Knitwear. Completing the acclaimed MA under the tuition of Louise Wilson, where her practice evolved to focus on constructed textiles. Upon graduation she was awarded the L'Oreal Professional Prize.