Celine SS19

Like Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, Hedi Slimane’s tenure at Celine started with the crack of a drum: the continuation of a beat he’s been riding throughout his oeuvre. Here, a Garde Republicaine drummer wearing traditional uniform set the night in motion – the crack of the snare drum being the starting pistol on a new chapter set to reverberate from Madison Avenue to Avenue Montaigne.

After all, few things are as visceral as a piercing drum beat. But Hedi Slimane’s output is a worthy rival. Lest we forget, at Dior Homme he defined modern menswear, ushering in a new masculinity embodied by his young, slim-hipped and androgynous musician and street-cast models, while his tenure at the helm of Saint Laurent saw him reposition the house to become one of luxury fashion’s superpowers, driven by youth, music and the designer’s immersion in LA’s burgeoning arts scene. Throughout it all, Hedi has carved a universe populated by a cult-like following – we’re talking Beatlemania-style, kids climbing over walls to get a glimpse of the action – via a totally authentic and uncompromising ethos, attitude and style. 

Vision of this ilk is so often polarising. But whether you love it or hate it, you can’t ever ignore it. So following the news that Phoebe Philo was set to leave her position at Celine after ten defining years at the brand, Hedi’s appointment as successor saw opinions flair. Not that Hedi noticed – or indeed cared. “You don’t shake things up by avoiding making waves,” said Hedi in his first interview since joined Celine. “When there is no debate, it means there is no opinion, the definition of blind conformity.”

As for clues to Hedi’s Celine: on his appointment we learned he was set to introduce the Celine man via the house’s inaugural menswear line; in the months leading up to the show we were hit with a series of monochrome images shot by Hedi and establishing his new muses; and then came a logo change. What was Céline is now Celine. Dummies were spat, facts ignored and history repeated: as with when Hedi dropped the ‘Yves’ at Saint Laurent –  a highly respectful nod to Mr Yves Saint Laurent, who named his game-changing 1966 ready-to-wear collection ‘Saint Laurent Rive Gauche’ – the Celine logo change reverted back to the house’s original logo debuted back in the 60s (sans accent aigu), before Philo introduced the accent during her tenure.

Back to the day of Hedi’s debut collection for Celine, and guests entered a specially-constructed show space at Les Invalides for the show, titled Paris La Nuit.

Inside was a kaleidoscopic set concept designed by Hedi and based on the idea of a wind-up ballerina in a music box – bringing those French guard drummers mentioned earlier into new context. Here was a homage to Celine’s heritage: founded in Paris by Céline Vipiana in 1945, the brand was originally conceived as a made-to-measure children’s shoe boutique.

Like Dylan’s aforementioned 1965 track, Hedi’s drum beat took things electric. The mirrored set shapeshifted and glistened to the beat of an original track – Runway – by Parisian synth psych band La Femme and from behind the hot lights emerged our first introduction to this new Celine gang.

Referencing the French ‘cold wave’ music scene in the show notes, here that crowd spilled onto the catwalk. Like characters from a Jean-Pierre Melville movie, guys strutted with purpose in impeccably tailored, Jeunes Gens Modernes-inspired monochrome suiting (cut to the bone, of course, and occasionally rendered in leather). Slim Parisian trenchcoats, pointed black 40mm heel boots and those quintessentially Hedi leather perfecto jackets that fit like no other also filtered into the mix, while silver bomber jackets, sequinned blazers and a series of metallic pieces all hinted at glam. Everything was finished with thick Lou Reed-esque black shades. And we should point out, all the menswear looks were unisex and will also be made available for women, further cementing Hedi’s commitment to androgyny that began with his initial Dior Homme campaign image featuring Dutch female model Saskia de Brauw – spotlighting a menswear collection that was also made available for women (a very big deal at that time).

In complete harmony with their male counterparts, Hedi’s Celine girl was plucked from the back booth of a Parisian haunt. The Elli to the guys’ Jacno, she switched between masculine suiting (sometimes paired with Parisian Bibi hats – a tribute to Hedi’s misspent youth at the Palace and the Bains Douche), A-line shifts, puffball skirts and short cocktail versions that shimmered like the Eiffel Tower on the hour. While ‘Dancing Dresses’ were designed with hanging skirts and draped metal beads – designed to be worn under coats or men’s jackets and later let loose on the dancefloor. In a show heavy on the black, we also got a collaboration with Swiss-American artist Christian Marclay (his work, The Clock, is a current must-see at Tate Modern), whose paintings and comic book collages were translated as prints across bags, patches on jackets, and fully transformed into hand-embroidered couture dresses.

On the front row sat Slimane-approved musicians – a line-up to rival any festival booker: from stalwarts Carl Barat, Bobby Gillespie, Lady Gaga, Daft Punk, Jamie Hince and Ian Svenonius to nascent talent endorsed by the designer such as Juniore, Lescop, Papooz and Oracle Sisters. And as the French guard drummers brought proceedings to a close, the beating heart of Hedi’s Celine reset had begun to race.

Celine FW19

With Hedi Slimane comes radical and precise change. Having introduced Celine menswear to the house for the first time at his debut show in September last year, this season was Celine’s first time on the menswear schedule.

Last season’s Celine show caused waves that are yet to settle. Hitting reset on the maison’s codes with a single, defining drum crack, the designer presented a collection inspired by and designed for today’s Parisian youth. Pulling from the backbooths of bars throughout the French capital and plugging directly into his own laser-sharp vision of Celine’s ethos, and his own. A new beat was set. And the beat goes on.

Inside a vast, black custom-built venue on Place de la Concorde, guests sat on tiered stadium seating, facing a full-length window onto Paris, the city of lights: low beams, hazy street lights and a piercing full moon. While – more importantly – those on the streets could see in. After all, Hedi creates in harmony with what he sees around him – plus, it’s good to know what you’re going to be wearing next season.

At one side of the venue stood a large spherical pendulum filled with neon bars that strobed and crackled with electric pulse. Out of the speakers pulsed an original track, Philosopher’s Calling, written by Canadian collective Crack Cloud and the first model spun into view on a revolving floor that orbited the installation.

A black and white double-breasted suit, high-waist pleated trousers cropped shorter and cut wider and looser than Hedi’s synonymous close-to-the-bone angles to provide a certain amount of freedom to their wearer. Now in full flow, you could see Hedi’s vision in action: his first season six months ago was something of a realignment, orientating Celine’s design codes with his own. From this centre point, he can build.

Slimane’s most recent Celine menswear campaign featured four exciting, nascent British bands: Drug Store Romeos, Walt Disco, Lady Bird and Ugly. Shot in London late last year, it seems that his time back in the British capital has rubbed off on him.

Titled ‘A London Diary: Polaroids of the British Youth’, this was Hedi’s ode to London, via a Parisian, Celine lens. Not only did Hedi’s campaign faces walk in the show – alongside several musicians from Swim Deep, Bag of Laughs and Lucia – but the whole collection was a clever nod to a city Hedi has long been tuned into: see his days documenting the rising 00s indie scene.

Outerwear aplenty: we got parkas, thick overcoats in check, camel (very Del Boy), tweed, houndstooth and sheepskin (à la John Motson), duffle coats, striped ties underneath V-neck knits and collarless Beatles jackets – their outfits distilling British youthquakes from the 60s to the present. With many of the boys sporting a sort of 80s, half mullet – the kind you do yourself in the bathroom mirror one evening – it was a bit Gregory’s Girl at times. At a squint, the boys walking could easily have been 80s post-punk pioneers: Ian McCulloch, Mark E. Smith, Ian Dury, Edwyn Collins, Ian Curtis, and, in the case of one full leather look, Alan Vega.  

Prior to the show, a series of black and white geometric patterns sporadically appeared on the Celine Instagram feed created by three artists: David Hominal, Anneli Henriksson and Cody DeFranco. Here, these shapes went glam, translated across a series of jackets and coats embroidered to an inch of their life that shimmered like the Effiel Tower on the hour.

All the while, Hedi wardrobe staples filtered through: from leopard print coats to razor-sharp trousers; teddy jackets; and immaculately cut leather jackets that stick to the skin in all the right places. While sunglasses featured throughout, scaling from retina-skimming to Dirty Harry wraparounds, Private Eye Lemmy Caution’s futuristic opaques and Peter Fonda’s Easy Rider semi-transparents.

As the final model exited. Lights dimmed, the pendulum orb swang and the twisted sound of James Chance’s sax echoed around the venue. Revolving around the pulsating neon lights as he played, there was something a bit Lynchian in the scene, a bit Jim Jarmusch also.

In 70s New York, Chance and his Contortions ushered in a radical new creativity that shook audiences off their feet – literally, he would physically shake watchers out of their apathetic stupor. The takeaway lesson: never sit comfortably.

Where Hedi’s first show was a triumphant drum crack intro, now he’s riffing – and he’s shaking us to the core.

Celine FW23

Celine: Live at The Wiltern, Los Angeles – a three-part report

Last night, inside the iconic art deco Wiltern theatre, Hedi Slimane presented his Celine FW23 collection. The venue has previously played host to such luminaries as Prince, James Brown, Neil Young, Nina Simone, The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, and many more. Now, Slimane brings his Celine vision to the venue, titled Age of Indieness.

The Interview

Prior to the show, guests received an extremely rare interview with Hedi Slimane, conducted by Lizzy Goodman, author of Meet Me in the Bathroom, a riotous oral history of New York rock in the 2000s. This year, the book was adapted into a documentary, promoted using photography by Slimane. During this seminal era, Goodman and Slimane were “living parallel lives”, as Goodman puts it in the interview, both swept up in red-hot nascent creative scenes across either side of the Atlantic. Specifically in London, Slimane not only tapped into the burgeoning Indie music scene, but tuned it: as a documenter and designer for these young bands imprinting their own sound on the city’s rich musical heritage. We’re talking The Libertines, The Paddingtons, Franz Ferdinand, Littl’ans, The Rakes. Slimane was equally a face in the crowd and a curator translating this new lexicon into exquisite, era-defining clothing at the helm of Dior Homme, and later Saint Laurent.  

“The indie movement became an avalanche that ended up defining the first half of the decade,” says Slimane in conversation with Goodman, articulating the feeling at the time. “That sense of assumed amateurism or imperfection was a relief and provided a much needed sense of vulnerability… It was simply about music and a sense of community.” 

I was going to gigs all the time and saw the whole London scene emerging. The energy of it, the profusion of exciting bands, the sense of community defined a golden age for indie music in the UK. The bands and their fans were extremely joyful, warm, and free-spirited.”

Now, twenty years on, indie is having a revival. A younger generation is finding joy in the scene’s freewheeling attitude and chaotic charm, while those who lived it first-hand are looking back with what Slimane refers to as “optimistic naivety”. The designer finds parallels in collective feeling during Indie’s emergence after 9/11 and its re-emergence after Covid; a return to analogue, to living in the moment, to entering an underground room to discover a band and crowd united in distortion. (One Slimane quote perfectly encapsulates this: “I remember once Doherty arriving extremely late for a show in Paris, showing up at the venue, simply going through the crowd to reach the stage.”)

“It’s probably time to go back to analog mode, and get the filtered, ostracizing, theatricality of social media in perspective,” says Slimane. “A return to a sense of blunt and raw sincerity.” 

The collection

Back in those early 00s days, Slimane’s shows were unlike any other. They were loud, energetic, and stubborn in their attitude. Musicians became runway models, and in tune, many of the designers’ models picked up guitars.

Yesterday’s show at The Wiltern was fully-amped. Jack White’s iconic Hello Operator guitar riff came fizzing out the speakers – a screeching, sonic batsignal for indie’s drainpipe-jeaned, skinny-tied crowd to gather. And here they were in their splendour. Something of a Slimane greatest hits, silhouettes returned to slim, androgynous form – shoulders narrow, trousers skin-tight.

These refined rebels threw leather jackets over sequinned dresses – loose ties as languid punctuation. Capes swayed in step alongside beige trenchcoats and tweed blazers that brought Celine’s history into clarity. Wool overcoats and louche suiting for the guys (fringes to their eyes), leather trousers with Libs4eva military jackets and too-small waistcoats. Blouson jackets, lamé jackets, faux fur, fringed suede boots, velvet, pussybow shirts, baker boy hats and belts hung loosely around the hips. Embroidery, shearling, velvet, leather, shimmering tassels – that balance between effortless cool and the most meticulous artisan craft is Slimane’s most enduring riff, it rings out across everything. The show was closed by a series of exquisite, mirrorball eveningwear looks that danced under the spotlights. 

The gig

The collection’s encore saw the venue translate the electricity of the clothes into a gig for the ages. Iggy Pop, Interpol, The Strokes and The Kills each took to the stage for a set of classics. All musicians who Slimane has worked with throughout his career, Iggy took to the stage in a sequinned black suit, bare-chested – obviously – before swiftly throwing off the jacket as he launched into The Stooges’ I Wanna Be Your Dog and Search and Destroy, while The Strokes brought the pages of Goodman’s Meet Me in the Bathroom to the stage, performing Automatic Stop, 12:51 and a finale of Is This It that saw the audience join the band on stage, dancing around Casablancas and co, as Slimane nodded and smiled at the back of the stage.  

“I presume the musicians I knew early on, or that I met in my early days designing, and even through today, had an understanding that I was coming from music, from that perspective of the stage,” says Slimane to Goodman describing that intuitive kinship with the musicians he works with. “They probably simply recognized themselves in my design and approached me for that reason. It was always exciting to see my clothes ending up on stage where they participated to the performance.”