Hedi Slimane - Designer, Creative Director of Celine

[GERGIN]

I find this weird, to be honest...

I'd prefer that YSL got to rest in his grave and HS got a brand of his own....

You're funny

 

[glitterpeacock]

How about instead of changing the brand's name and refusing to stay in Paris he puts his stamp on the brand by creating amazing clothes? His current actions wreak of inflated ego, with an out of date portfolio being his only defence.

 

[Creative]

He can do both things. He's creating expectation around the brand, but not for the sake of it... Slimane is genuine.

 

[Thefrenchy]

He's creating expectation around the brand, but not for the sake of it...

That's a good one !

 

[Creative]

That's a good one !

Of course it is. He's not doing it because he needs attention (like Tom Ford did with his first show). He wants to work in LA because he's based there right now and he was given the possibility to do it.

By changing the name he has made a statement of what he's going to offer at YSL. It was the name Yves chose to differentiate his ready to wear label from his couture line. Slimane just wants to recapture, in a way, all the freshness that line meant to the sixties.

Thinking he’s just craving attention for the sake of it is ridiculous; as if it weren’t enough that he’s returning to fashion and debuting as a womenswear designer…

 

[Selfportraitgrl]

Well...


my screen shot

 

[Creative]

The entire buzz he creates is not on purpose. As I said, he's very genuine and very perfectionist, and likes things to be done as he wants. It is no news that he didn't establish his own fashion brand under the LVMH umbrella because he was very picky and couldn't reach an agreement with them...

 

[Selfportraitgrl]

And, according to Jim Shi:


my screen shot

 

[thejarc]

So obviously all the buzz was unjustified, its obviously like Burberry and Burberry Prorsum, just having an more experimental rtw line and a more commercial line for stores.

 

[Lee MG Tisci]

Thinking he’s just craving attention for the sake of it is ridiculous; as if it weren’t enough that he’s returning to fashion and debuting as a womenswear designer…

it's not enough considering that he'll have to compete against Raf and Dior
the guy needs the buzz..

 

[Creative]

it's not enough considering that he'll have to compete against Raf and Dior
the guy needs the buzz..

Raf Simons at Dior might be one of the biggest bluffs in fashion history. His F/W 11 collection for Jil Sander was quite good, but that's it. He's overrated. I don't like Slimane as a designer either, but there's much more hype around Hedi than around Raf.

 

[gallianoboy]

I know one thing, in terms of menswear, Hedi at Dior Homme was a beast!!! He did more for menswear than Raf ever did!!!

 

[Creative]

I know one thing, in terms of menswear, Hedi at Dior Homme was a beast!!! He did more for menswear than Raf ever did!!!

Well, people who think they know about fashion will tell you it was Raf who "created" the concepts Slimane used later at Dior Homme... It's not true though; at all.

 

[anlabe32]

One word: sacrilege!
Why would he expirement with such an iconic brand? I mean if he would take over Alexander Wang and change it to Wang NY, who cares, but YSL?
Ugh, he's overrated already.

 

[Marc10]

I somehow understand the statement that Hedi is trying to make with these changes. Ever since he was announced as the CD, many people raised questions and assumptions on how he would approach the brand's heritage and if he was going to adapt his indie-rock-rebel aesthetic to YSL's feminine sophistication, and when he decided to work in L.A. as well. For me, this is he saying: "Yes, I do respect and have knowledge on YSL history. This is still going to be a parisian haute couture house, but i'm doing on my way". And this is what I expected from him, but i'm not so sure is this is the right way of doing it, and especially if it's necessary. Changing the name of an almost 50 years old brand, and with the importance that this one has, is not a right move or the right statement. Nicolas, Riccardo and Phoebe made huge changes and injected fast-forward bloods in their respective houses by changing names and brading details? Nope, and how they did that? With fantastic collections. And this is what Hedi needs to focus at this stage, he can think about business later when everything is more established.

On a sidenote, he doesn't need buzz. Peope would be euphoric over his work regardless, because a) this is a new era for the brand and b) he's an extremely talented designer, that's a fact.

 

[disco54]

Honestly this is very idiotic, the whole YSL brand is built around YSL people know it and recognize it, its been there since the 60s and 70s. Working out of LA is also quite idiotic its 12-14 hour flight away lol. Living in LA is not exactly inspiring either, I lived there for 5 years, I should know. Working out of London is not a big deal, its only a 1 hour flight from Paris but LA hahaha come on lol. I honestly don't see Hedi staying at YSL beyond 2 or 3 seasons.

 

[ogepma]

This is pathetic! From the perspective of loyal customers, it is even worse. Bringing back that dated logo from the 60's seems like a really bad move. If Hedi wants to make his mark, he should create wonderful collections just like Nicholas, Ricardo and his predecessor Pilati did. You don't try to fix something that is not broken! The reason why YSL called his RTW line Saint Laurent was to differentiate it from the HC line. Are they planning on starting Haute couture again? YSL HC is where he excelled most and a lot of what we reminisce about was done in haute couture. It is only respectful to keep the brand as it since haute couture is not offered anymore. I am also wondering what would happen to all the YSL logo bags, shoes and accessories Pilati created, some of them just had Y on them. The present YSL logo and name is one of the most respected and elegant ones in high fashion. I hope they don't sell out and become an over-hyped, over-rated and very commercial brand all in the name of money and excess publicity and lose the true elegant essence of the brand which is very rare in high fashion these days. With him designing from LA, this might be inevitable. I really miss Pilati

 

[Gaultier_Bandit]

He cannot do this! We get that he is trying to do a complete revamp at YSL...ala Phoebe at Celine. But YSL is ICONIC. Especially the logo/name. Thats like someone taking over at Vuitton or Chanel....and trying to change the name. They, unlike Celine/Balenciaga/Lanvin/Balmain(pre-Phoebe, Nicholas, Alber, Christopher/Olivier), were and continue to be ICONIC and RELEVANT. Those designers had no problem doing a revamp at those houses because there was nothing to loose. But a house like YSL does. That means they would loose their customers who buy those asperational items: YSL logo belts, YSL logo bags, YSL parfums, YSL wallets. Those after all are the bread and butter of big luxury companies. Not the clothes. Maybe he's trying to be more exclusive.

 

[blackcherrified]

It's a total blasphemy to Mr Saint Laurent himself.

No matter how much he wants to distant his work from the founder, calling the house "Saint Laurent Paris" is... unthinkable!

When the prêt-à-porter arm was founded, Saint Laurent named it "Saint Laurent Rive Gauche" was to bring in the vibes of the rive gauche area, the young, hipster, trendy vibes to the brand. This is a well known fact written in that thick coffee table book.

Today, even though the branding remains fully as "Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche", it's no longer the same as the prêt-à-porter division of the house then. It has already became a symbol of classic elegance since the closure of the haute couture arm. And people could see how the design has evolved from Saint Laurent's helm, to Alber Elbaz, Tom Ford and eventually Stefano Pilati. The Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche woman has grown from a girl in her twenties to a woman.

Hence, I just simply could not understand how does the "Paris" part of the name comes into play when his idea was to linked it back to the 60s era. If he were to put it as "ok, I want to continue today's idea (which seems more Paris-y than the 60s ideas, that were a representation of the rive gauche identity), and differentiate the founders work from mine." Fine. I buy that, YSL is a representation of French elegance now after the closure of the haute couture arm. But calling "Saint Laurent Paris" and saying that it will be a reference to the 60s? I don't get it.

Moreover, for the typography of the full "Yves Saint Laurent" now, are they going to revert back to that san serif font in the 60s when "Saint Laurent Rive Gauche" started? If so, I think I will die. Serif fonts, are, supposed, to be classier than san serif ones (the only exception for a major classical French fashion house with a san serif font I can think of now is only Chanel, but it's in Chanel's identity to be rebellious, young, girlish, as always) with that little italicized twist. And the serif font totally suits the current brand image, in terms of the design of the clothes and their customer base (the late twenties, early thirties and even women in their forties and fifties, using the Chyc totes and the Muse bags, wearing their Tribute pumps).

If we read deeper into the change in branding, are we expecting them to also change who they are targeting? Moving on to fresh graduates coming out of college, a demographic with less percentage of the crowd able to pay for a $2000 bag, and losing their older supporters? Well, not saying that it has not been done before, given that Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli did it too with Valentino, but the change was gradual, over a couple of seasons, and definitely not changing the label's name when they were appointed. And also, such a sudden change would totally mean that they are cutting of their current customers who are so attached to that YSL branding (read: GAP).

Before anyone call me a Slimane-hater, gosh, I love his work for YSL menswear and Dior Homme to death, and I also have my slightly uncomfortable moments with Stefano Pilati starting Edition Soir when Saint Laurent himself wanted the couture division closed forever with his departure. But seriously, no matter how much my love for Slimane's punk yet minimalistic style is, it can never make the name changing right.

Anyway, in summary, it sounds like another Balmain by Christopher Decarnin to me, just in terms of branding and much more drastic. And also, they didn't shortened the name, it's still three words, but now, it's five syllables instead of four. It's lengthened, and most of the time, people get "Saint Laurent" wrong (some people call it "saint-law-(cur)rent") as compared to "Yves." And definitely it's sad for Stefano Pilati, when his works for YSL is starting to get recognize, with the increase in sales over the last season.

(Just in case nobody notices, almost no luxury brand goes by the location of their origin today, just scroll through style.com designer index. It's seriously, passe.)

 

[saann]

I somehow understand the statement that Hedi is trying to make with these changes. Ever since he was announced as the CD, many people raised questions and assumptions on how he would approach the brand's heritage and if he was going to adapt his indie-rock-rebel aesthetic to YSL's feminine sophistication, and when he decided to work in L.A. as well. For me, this is he saying: "Yes, I do respect and have knowledge on YSL history. This is still going to be a parisian haute couture house, but i'm doing on my way". And this is what I expected from him, but i'm not so sure is this is the right way of doing it, and especially if it's necessary. Changing the name of an almost 50 years old brand, and with the importance that this one has, is not a right move or the right statement. Nicolas, Riccardo and Phoebe made huge changes and injected fast-forward bloods in their respective houses by changing names and brading details? Nope, and how they did that? With fantastic collections. And this is what Hedi needs to focus at this stage, he can think about business later when everything is more established.

On a sidenote, he doesn't need buzz. Peope would be euphoric over his work regardless, because a) this is a new era for the brand and b) he's an extremely talented designer, that's a fact.

Yes! Completely agree! This is ridiculous, YSL will always be YSL no matter who is designing. Whether its Pilati or Slimane or even Yves himself.. The brand is beyond the single man now. I know it may have started as SLP but that's not what it became. If Slimane wants that kind of control he should be going for his own brand.