Celine S/S 2021 Monaco

[Frida]

BY SARAH MOWER

Since the summer of 2020, when he showed his Dancing Boy men’s collection—an ode to e-boys—on a Formula One track in the South of France, Hedi Slimane has switched his approach to documentary mode. The second half of what he called (in an email) a “portrait of a generation”—this one for girls—was also filmed in a sports venue, the Stade Louis II in Monaco. “With this collection Hedi wants to show, through the youth [and] optimism, the hope [in] this uncertain time.”

Styling and restyling the bourgeois codes of what Celine used to stand for is how he started at this house. Now, interrupting them with how they might be rehandled by French Gen Z on the street—or at home—is the name of his game.

She’s “always the Parisian but with a new energy—she listens to rap/hip-hop music”—like the track by Princess Nokia, which looped hypnotically as the models strode the circuit, their Celine-logo baseball caps and bucket hats pulled down, hands thrust in the pockets of their jeans, shorts, and ’80s style blousons.


The timeless bits of luxury fashion—like the tailored blazer, the glamorous sequined dress, and the ladylike Sulky bag—are still centrally represented: Slimane isn’t about to give up on plying that wardrobe. The difference is his sharp-eyed assessment of the way that the granddaughters of Celine’s earlier customers will likely give the posh stuff a complete dressing down. Gone are the old tropes of proper, high-heel polish. This generation will only wear flats—anything from sneakers to fluffy bedroom slides to hiking boots and Wellington boots—put crop tops under blazers, throw on nylon jackets over loose-fitting sparkly dresses and track pants under jackets.

It’s a rewritten language of style that Slimane aims to be read by youth globally. The parting shot of the film soared up through the roof of the Monegasque stadium, switched to a darkened sky, and culminated with a view of the earth seen from space. What did it signify? That our planet is beautiful and we’re still lucky to be alive on it—maybe something like that. For the anxious times that all kids are living through, that seemed to be Slimane’s small gesture of hope.

vogue.com

 

[jeanclaude]

We are living in a time where "critics" reviews are more creative than the collections they are writting about...go figure!

 

[donyan]

^^^ LOL



Absolutely very pragmatic if I’m feeling kind— but in all frankness, it’s abysmally cynical and stunningly marketing-by-numbers (even more so than Chanel/Dior/Burberry), like even Hedi gave up and just pulling together utilitarian pieces that are popular with teen girls (while the men’s was so much stronger even if it’s the same type of kidz). Maybe the 2-3 lone dresses are the only (borderline) HF elements. Everything else is so junior sportswear section of the department store. Not even a tailored suit in sight :sigh:

When even Hedi feels the pinch— hard times ahead, kidz.

the whole thing just doesn't make sense to me. Why would anybody not go to Zara to buy this? IS it really worth the great quality, when Zara is really good as well ? I buy at luxury brands to have something special, specific, aspirational, something with a certain energy or emotional impact. The pieces in this collection are so bland and pedestrian, and there is literally nothing that says Celine here. I never thought I would say this but his first few collection made more sense than this. The overwhelming feeling I get from this is desperation. I feel sorry for him, the pressure to sell must be beyond

 

[susseinmcswanny]

All of his embroidered crap is so redundant. They're advertised to take like 2000 hours to embroider with like 8 trillion individual beads/paillettes. Okay congratulations do you want a medal like you can waste record time making a $40k RTW plain *** shirt dress. No one cares. Go be pretentious somewhere else.

 

[WAVES]

BY SARAH MOWER

Since the summer of 2020, when he showed his Dancing Boy men’s collection—an ode to e-boys—on a Formula One track in the South of France, Hedi Slimane has switched his approach to documentary mode. The second half of what he called (in an email) a “portrait of a generation”—this one for girls—was also filmed in a sports venue, the Stade Louis II in Monaco. “With this collection Hedi wants to show, through the youth [and] optimism, the hope [in] this uncertain time.”

Styling and restyling the bourgeois codes of what Celine used to stand for is how he started at this house. Now, interrupting them with how they might be rehandled by French Gen Z on the street—or at home—is the name of his game.

She’s “always the Parisian but with a new energy—she listens to rap/hip-hop music”—like the track by Princess Nokia, which looped hypnotically as the models strode the circuit, their Celine-logo baseball caps and bucket hats pulled down, hands thrust in the pockets of their jeans, shorts, and ’80s style blousons.


The timeless bits of luxury fashion—like the tailored blazer, the glamorous sequined dress, and the ladylike Sulky bag—are still centrally represented: Slimane isn’t about to give up on plying that wardrobe. The difference is his sharp-eyed assessment of the way that the granddaughters of Celine’s earlier customers will likely give the posh stuff a complete dressing down. Gone are the old tropes of proper, high-heel polish. This generation will only wear flats—anything from sneakers to fluffy bedroom slides to hiking boots and Wellington boots—put crop tops under blazers, throw on nylon jackets over loose-fitting sparkly dresses and track pants under jackets.

It’s a rewritten language of style that Slimane aims to be read by youth globally. The parting shot of the film soared up through the roof of the Monegasque stadium, switched to a darkened sky, and culminated with a view of the earth seen from space. What did it signify? That our planet is beautiful and we’re still lucky to be alive on it—maybe something like that. For the anxious times that all kids are living through, that seemed to be Slimane’s small gesture of hope.

vogue.com

did Sarah Mower get paid to write all this sh*t?
I mean, it’s very well written but the biggest issue here is that nothing presented on this runway show was ORIGINAL or CREATIVE.
regardless of how the show ended if the YOUTH (because the fact that this specific demographic was mentioned says it all) really needs to open their eyes they should go watch David Attenborough’s latest documentary ‘A Life On Our Planet’.

yes, Fashion can and should create awareness about whatever needs a pointing finger but this review is ridiculous.

 

[Lola701]

the whole thing just doesn't make sense to me. Why would anybody not go to Zara to buy this? IS it really worth the great quality, when Zara is really good as well ? I buy at luxury brands to have something special, specific, aspirational, something with a certain energy or emotional impact. The pieces in this collection are so bland and pedestrian, and there is literally nothing that says Celine here. I never thought I would say this but his first few collection made more sense than this. The overwhelming feeling I get from this is desperation. I feel sorry for him, the pressure to sell must be beyond

There’s a large part of the luxury clientele that buys HF versions of their everyday wear. There are also rich people who buys it because it looks « cool » and the name and brands attached to it are somehow aspirational.

If people are buying 800€ Chanel and Dior tshirts, they sure can buy distressed Celine shorts.

There’s something very irrational sometimes with fashion and it Power of attraction.
And Buying HF comes with that irrational factor.

 

[Fulton St Critique]

Exactly. I'll never quite understand when someone voices their concern regarding similarities in ready to wear clothing. How many styles of a classic trouser, or jacket can there possibly be? The terms used are often "overpriced" and "basic" which, in all honesty, they may in fact be. However, when it comes down to it, fashion fanatics pay for, quality, style, and name. That is just the truth. You can pick up a Ralph Lauren trench coat at Macy's for a fraction of what you would pay for an authentic Burberry one. They are both functional, nice outerwear pieces that will "get the job done" so to say. But in this instance, Burberry has cemented themselves as an iconic brand known for its classic trench coats which makes it more appealing to true fashion fans. In the same way, if you are looking for a chic leather jacket, I am sure you would prefer a Celine one to an H&M version, again both are similar in silhouette and style. There is a story, there is a brand, and there is heritage dare I say that these great houses and brands have built that continue to serve their base. Brushing off a collection as "irrelevant" simply due to rather mundane ready to wear pieces is a rush of judgment in my opinion. If you are looking for one of a kind pieces delve into couture!

 

[SpeedRacer666]

it’s just such a vast departure from the image he made for the brand. with surf sound, the look was still rooted in the grunge rock diy California scene. this doesn’t make sense in the Celine universe at all (save for 1 or 2 looks) and screams to me compromise and giving in to outside influences. wasn’t lisa already wearing celine before this collection? that didn’t save the brand , so why would this?

 

[Phuel]

^^^ I suppose the strategy now is that this "look" is much much much more accessible to the masses. Much like how all the once exclusive brands from Prada to Dior are just churning out safe, outlet-level aesthetic to appeal to as many people as possible. Gone are the days of challenging your clientele and having faith that your customers will learn/educate themselves to a more refined aesthetic of construction and design. It’s now appeal to their lowest common denominator of sensibility with logos/monograms (… but the pricing is higher than ever, of course).

 

[susseinmcswanny]

^^^ I don't get that tho. Who buys Celine logo stuff???? Like they're just that desperate and casting that wide of a net?

And I understand that there are brands that have a heritage, like Burberry where one might go to for a trench. But what is Celine's heritage? To be frank the only identity it has from my perspective is Phoebe Philo, and the identity was her designs. Now it's just overpriced basics? Who cares?? There is absolutely nothing there that I would go to for. I understand there are rich people that buy stuff just bc it's expensive, but look around at our planet. The amount of unnecessary sh*t being churned out right now is ridiculous. Hedi Slimane does not need to be creating and marketing this crap when it already exists. Its "quality" is totally irrelevant.

 

[Sai]

Urban Outfitters with a dash of H&M a scrunchy - there is a lot of thinking going on there

 

[Sai]

really this is too dumb

 

[kenndale]

What everyone in Williamsburg looked like in 2010.

 

[george5]

Well, I'm surprised to find out that the only journalist who hasn't been afraid of calling Hedi out, now is selling her reviews to Celine

Viewers of Hedi Slimane’s fashion shows know what to expect. There’s the storm of young and skinny models, many of whom have no facility for walking in high heels; there’s the dark venue throbbing with the music of a fairly new band. I saw my first Slimane shows in the late ’90s, when he was designing men’s at Yves Saint Laurent. In principle, there was little difference between these shows and his Celine show in February 2020. You felt him trying to dominate with his vision of youth, largely by closing down the frame and shutting out any unnecessary light.

So it was curious to see the film of his new women’s collection. It opens with a drone shot of the blue Mediterranean, then a pan of Monaco’s famous, yacht-filled harbor and some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. Next, the camera zooms over a manicured green space, makes several quick rotations, and then, like a giddy bumblebee, hovers in front of a beautiful woman before it finally pulls back to reveal our location — a sports stadium (minus, of course, the spectators).

The pandemic forced Slimane to innovate, as it has most designers. In July, he showed Celine’s men’s collection on a racetrack in southern France. But the move outside isn’t just convenience. I’ve had the feeling that he has struggled to get his bearings at Celine. He can probably do Celine’s brand of classy bourgeois dressing in his sleep — the blazers, the ruffled shirts, the pleated skirts. That’s not the problem. The problem — and I’m just guessing here — is how to translate a vernacular French style to an audience to whom social and sartorial nuances matter less and less. I read somewhere that the attention span of Gen-Z people is eight seconds, on average, compared to 12 seconds for millennials. One of Slimane’s strengths is his understanding of the Zeitgeist. I think that accounts for the simplified approach he took at Saint Laurent when he was creative director of the whole brand (from 2012 to 2016). He knew that people could only process so much information. Also, the clothes had to be sexy.

We all know that the pace of change has drastically accelerated. One consequence is that the fashion industry cannot nurture, much less sustain, new creative talent — because of the shortening of development time. Consumers also relate to different things. Celine recently hired a TikTok star to be a “face” of its advertising, and on its Instagram on Monday there were almost as many mentions of Lisa — the Blackpink singer and now Celine ambassador — as there were of Slimane.

For me, this latest show signaled a small but crucial shift. The styling of the clothes was younger, with the blazers and boucle jackets now worn with cropped tops, hoodies, and branded track shorts. At the same time, a lot of the classic looks could be worn by a woman of any age. The slinky dresses were way cooler than they have been in the past; more skin showed; and Slimane paired everything with sneakers, ballerina flats, or hiking boots.

Ah, the models could walk!

I don’t know if this collection represented “a portrait of a generation,” as the press notes touted. More to the point, I think the sporty element offers Slimane a way to make contact with a younger generation, which remains the game in fashion. And I must say I loved the sky-high view of Monaco. It initially read like the teaser for a reality show about the lives of the mega rich, before settling into the stadium and the models on the track. Still, the message was conveyed.

thecut.com

 

[jeanclaude]

"I read somewhere that the attention span of Gen-Z people is eight seconds, on average, compared to 12 seconds for millennials."
"He knew that people could only process so much information."

So...basically the industry is working for *******? Are designers aspiring to dress a generation of *******?
Just because they are unable to process and understand concepts behind design...are we all condemned to dress like *******??

 

[susseinmcswanny]

"I read somewhere that the attention span of Gen-Z people is eight seconds, on average, compared to 12 seconds for millennials."
"He knew that people could only process so much information."

So...basically the industry is working for *******? Are designers aspiring to dress a generation of *******?
Just because they are unable to process and understand concepts behind design...are we all condemned to dress like *******??

 

[Frida]

Hedi Slimane Courts the TikTok Generation

With an even younger, sportier Celine.

By Cathy Horyn

Viewers of Hedi Slimane’s fashion shows know what to expect. There’s the storm of young and skinny models, many of whom have no facility for walking in high heels; there’s the dark venue throbbing with the music of a fairly new band. I saw my first Slimane shows in the late ’90s, when he was designing men’s at Yves Saint Laurent. In principle, there was little difference between these shows and his Celine show in February 2020. You felt him trying to dominate with his vision of youth, largely by closing down the frame and shutting out any unnecessary light.

So it was curious to see the film of his new women’s collection. It opens with a drone shot of the blue Mediterranean, then a pan of Monaco’s famous, yacht-filled harbor and some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. Next, the camera zooms over a manicured green space, makes several quick rotations, and then, like a giddy bumblebee, hovers in front of a beautiful woman before it finally pulls back to reveal our location — a sports stadium (minus, of course, the spectators).

The pandemic forced Slimane to innovate, as it has most designers. In July, he showed Celine’s men’s collection on a racetrack in southern France. But the move outside isn’t just convenience. I’ve had the feeling that he has struggled to get his bearings at Celine. He can probably do Celine’s brand of classy bourgeois dressing in his sleep — the blazers, the ruffled shirts, the pleated skirts. That’s not the problem. The problem — and I’m just guessing here — is how to translate a vernacular French style to an audience to whom social and sartorial nuances matter less and less. I read somewhere that the attention span of Gen-Z people is eight seconds, on average, compared to 12 seconds for millennials. One of Slimane’s strengths is his understanding of the Zeitgeist. I think that accounts for the simplified approach he took at Saint Laurent when he was creative director of the whole brand (from 2012 to 2016). He knew that people could only process so much information. Also, the clothes had to be sexy.

We all know that the pace of change has drastically accelerated. One consequence is that the fashion industry cannot nurture, much less sustain, new creative talent — because of the shortening of development time. Consumers also relate to different things. Celine recently hired a TikTok star to be a “face” of its advertising, and on its Instagram on Monday there were almost as many mentions of Lisa — the Blackpink singer and now Celine ambassador — as there were of Slimane.

For me, this latest show signaled a small but crucial shift. The styling of the clothes was younger, with the blazers and boucle jackets now worn with cropped tops, hoodies, and branded track shorts. At the same time, a lot of the classic looks could be worn by a woman of any age. The slinky dresses were way cooler than they have been in the past; more skin showed; and Slimane paired everything with sneakers, ballerina flats, or hiking boots.

Ah, the models could walk!

I don’t know if this collection represented “a portrait of a generation,” as the press notes touted. More to the point, I think the sporty element offers Slimane a way to make contact with a younger generation, which remains the game in fashion. And I must say I loved the sky-high view of Monaco. It initially read like the teaser for a reality show about the lives of the mega rich, before settling into the stadium and the models on the track. Still, the message was conveyed.

thecut.com

 

[donyan]

Hedi Slimane Courts the TikTok Generation

With an even younger, sportier Celine.

By Cathy Horyn

Viewers of Hedi Slimane’s fashion shows know what to expect. There’s the storm of young and skinny models, many of whom have no facility for walking in high heels; there’s the dark venue throbbing with the music of a fairly new band. I saw my first Slimane shows in the late ’90s, when he was designing men’s at Yves Saint Laurent. In principle, there was little difference between these shows and his Celine show in February 2020. You felt him trying to dominate with his vision of youth, largely by closing down the frame and shutting out any unnecessary light.

So it was curious to see the film of his new women’s collection. It opens with a drone shot of the blue Mediterranean, then a pan of Monaco’s famous, yacht-filled harbor and some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. Next, the camera zooms over a manicured green space, makes several quick rotations, and then, like a giddy bumblebee, hovers in front of a beautiful woman before it finally pulls back to reveal our location — a sports stadium (minus, of course, the spectators).

The pandemic forced Slimane to innovate, as it has most designers. In July, he showed Celine’s men’s collection on a racetrack in southern France. But the move outside isn’t just convenience. I’ve had the feeling that he has struggled to get his bearings at Celine. He can probably do Celine’s brand of classy bourgeois dressing in his sleep — the blazers, the ruffled shirts, the pleated skirts. That’s not the problem. The problem — and I’m just guessing here — is how to translate a vernacular French style to an audience to whom social and sartorial nuances matter less and less. I read somewhere that the attention span of Gen-Z people is eight seconds, on average, compared to 12 seconds for millennials. One of Slimane’s strengths is his understanding of the Zeitgeist. I think that accounts for the simplified approach he took at Saint Laurent when he was creative director of the whole brand (from 2012 to 2016). He knew that people could only process so much information. Also, the clothes had to be sexy.

We all know that the pace of change has drastically accelerated. One consequence is that the fashion industry cannot nurture, much less sustain, new creative talent — because of the shortening of development time. Consumers also relate to different things. Celine recently hired a TikTok star to be a “face” of its advertising, and on its Instagram on Monday there were almost as many mentions of Lisa — the Blackpink singer and now Celine ambassador — as there were of Slimane.

For me, this latest show signaled a small but crucial shift. The styling of the clothes was younger, with the blazers and boucle jackets now worn with cropped tops, hoodies, and branded track shorts. At the same time, a lot of the classic looks could be worn by a woman of any age. The slinky dresses were way cooler than they have been in the past; more skin showed; and Slimane paired everything with sneakers, ballerina flats, or hiking boots.

Ah, the models could walk!

I don’t know if this collection represented “a portrait of a generation,” as the press notes touted. More to the point, I think the sporty element offers Slimane a way to make contact with a younger generation, which remains the game in fashion. And I must say I loved the sky-high view of Monaco. It initially read like the teaser for a reality show about the lives of the mega rich, before settling into the stadium and the models on the track. Still, the message was conveyed.

thecut.com

so did she like it or not? I don't understand this review, part from that she liked the shot of Monaco because it read "like a teaser for a reality show about the lives of the mega rich". What does she think about the Collection? Why did she even write a review? Or is it just me ?

 

[Cory333]

so did she like it or not? I don't understand this review, part from that she liked the shot of Monaco because it read "like a teaser for a reality show about the lives of the mega rich". What does she think about the Collection? Why did she even write a review? Or is it just me ?

It's not a review. Most of them aren't. It's a nonsensical rumination without having to take a stand or have an opinion.

 

[Deleted member 167090]

Those reviews are so irrevelent nowadays and I will take any comment from TFS any other day.
Didn't those critics always play their favorites like Horyn with Simmons and Fury with Galliano? LOL