Growing Old Gracefully

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Classic design may be timeless, but evergreen luxury brand Céline is due to collect her senior citizen's bus pass. The fashion house turns 60 in December and has launched a range of commemorative goods to celebrate the occasion.

The venerable label began life as a purveyor of children's shoes. In 1945 Frenchwoman Céline Vipiana started making bespoke footwear for the well-heeled nippers of Paris. But when her young female customers turned teenage, she found they were still demanding her services. So the house of Céline came out with a Young Girl shoe collection. By the time these teens became women, their loyalty to Céline was so entrenched that she realized she'd be called upon to lead them in fashion for life. "If women followed me, it is because I understood them," she said many years later.

The label branched off into accessories and then, in 1969, unveiled its first ready-to-wear collection. The founder steered the house until its purchase, in 1987, by leading luxury-goods group LVMH. The brand today has 110 boutiques worldwide.

Limited-edition items designed for the celebration include a gold medallion necklace ($285), a gold charm bracelet ($310) and three classic leather bags that cost between $850 and $1,225. Just 300 of each product will be available from this week in each of the 23 countries in which Céline has outlets.

Further excitement for fans of the fashion house comes next month when Ivana Omazic, Céline's new artistic director of women's wear and accessories, shows her first collection (spring-summer 2006) at Paris fashion week. Omazic brings an Italianate dash from her eight years at the Prada group, but is expected to develop Céline's signature look, rather than make radical changes. As Madame Céline discovered, keep customers loyal and success is a shoe-in.