Kate Phelan (born 1964) is a British fashion journalist and stylist. She is currently the creative director of

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...

Biography

Phelan grew up in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, and studied fashion at

Somerset College of Arts and Technology Bridgwater and Taunton College is a further education college based in the heart of Somerset, England, with main centres in Bridgwater, Taunton and Cannington, Somerset, Cannington. It educates approximately 3000 students between the ages of 16� ...

. She then went on to study fashion communications at

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

from 1984. In 1987 she took on a three-month internship with Sarajane Hoare at British ''Vogue'' which ultimately led to full-time employment as a fashion assistant. In 1990, she left ''Vogue'' after three years to join ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

'' as a senior fashion editor, but was asked back to British ''Vogue'' in 1993 by its new editor,

Alexandra Shulman Alexandra Shulman (born 13 November 1957) is a British journalist. She is a former Editor-in-Chief of British ''Vogue'', and became the longest serving Editor in the history of the publication. After assuming the role in 1992, she presided ov ...

. Until 2011, Phelan worked as a senior fashion director for ''Vogue'', commissioning and directing some of the magazine's strongest photoshoots from the 1990s and 2000s. Her favoured photographers included

Paolo Roversi Paolo Roversi (born September 25, 1947) is an Italian-born fashion photographer who lives and works in Paris. Early life Born in Ravenna on September 25, 1947, Paolo Roversi's interest in photography was kindled as a teenager during a family v ...

, Nick Knight,

Tim Walker Timothy Walker HonFRPS (born 1970) is a British fashion photographer who regularly works for '' Vogue'', '' W'' and ''Love'' magazines. He is based in London. Life and career Walker was born in England in 1970. His interest in photography beg ...

and

Corinne Day Corinne Day (19 February 1962 – 27 August 2010) was a British fashion photographer, Documentary photography, documentary photographer and fashion model. Early life Corinne Day grew up in Ickenham with her younger brother and her grandparents ...

. In June 2011, Phelan again left ''Vogue'' and joined

Topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British online fast-fashion retailer, which specialises in women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It is majority owned by Danish company, Bestseller. In 2024, ASOS sold 75% of Topshop and Topman to Bests ...

as their creative director. In 2013, she was asked to come back to ''Vogue'' in a part-time capacity. In 2017 her job title at ''Vogue'' was senior contributing fashion editor. In 2017 Phelan was the fashion journalist selected to choose a defining look of 2016 for the

Fashion Museum, Bath The Fashion Museum (known before 2007 as the Museum of Costume) was housed in the Assembly Rooms in Bath, Somerset, England. The collection was started by Doris Langley Moore, who gave her collection of costumes to the city of Bath in 1963. T ...

's Dress of the Year collection. She chose two male and female ensembles by

JW Anderson JW Anderson is a UK fashion label, founded by Jonathan Anderson. Anderson, who is originally from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland established JW Anderson in 2008 and subsequently launched his fashion house in London. The brand initially focused ...

, a designer who had previously caught her attention in 2012 when he was awarded Topshop sponsorship for his Spring-Summer 2013 collection. She was appointed creative director of

in 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelan, Kate 1964 births Living people English fashion journalists Alumni of Central Saint Martins Vogue (magazine) people Fashion stylists British women journalists Fashion editors Writers from Exeter British women magazine editors