Originally posted by Fashion Wire Daily Paris June 30@ 2003
Dior Homme: Hedi's Dark Expressionism
By Karl Treacy
"This was definitely my most expressionist collection -- it's post-expressionist," designer Hedi Slimane commented backstage after his Dior Homme show Monday night at Salle Marcel Cerdan in the Bercy area of Paris.
As always, the buzzword was black, and for spring 2004 Slimane wasn't going to let anyone change his viewpoint on men's fashion. Amidst the dark hall, low lights and hazy air, Karl Lagerfeld's powdered gray hair shone like a lone beacon in the stygian darkness, as he took one last TV interview just before the show.
Slimane -- with a new bad-*** choirboy coif -- knows how to put on a show, and with the aid of production company Gaslight, he opened this one with impressive red laser beams that gave way to a backdrop of mirrored tile-covered panels.
The music boom, boom, boomed as Slimane's skinny minions, like overzealously wound-up toy soldiers, started their stomping beat. If it seemed as if the models -- largely recruited from Berlin's streets, with Carine Roitfeld's son Vladimir thrown in for good measure -- had become even thinner this year, it was probably because the clothes certainly had.
Slimane cuts the tightest pants in the business, and these circulation-stoppers didn't disappoint. There were no wide pants to speak of; Slimane, the perfect model for his own designs, wore those ultra-low pants with a hint of flesh peeking out over the top. "I hate those big cargo pants," he proclaimed damningly.
Though cargo pants aren't Slimane's thing, he didn't let sporty influences desert him completely -- pretty much everything was shown with high-top sneakers. "I wanted them clean, simple -- and not with a hundred logos," Slimane said decisively.
Even with the venue's gloomy lights, bugle beading stood out, graphically tracing seams on the backs of cavalier-inspired jackets and looped in great strings around the neck and torso and trailing to the ground. The little jackets were great, especially with piping and inserts as linear decoration. "They weren't short tails, you know, they were more a spencer. On that we tried to work a lot," said Slimane.
Speaking of taking inspiration from vintage clothing, Slimane described the collection as "an enormous work of couture." But that's the problem -- in the dimly lit, incredibly fast-paced show, it was hard to appreciate, or even see, that quality. One might get the mood, the vision and the special effects, but it's only when you go to the showroom or store that you can truly appreciate Slimane's genius.
It is then that you see that couture heritage and get the real wow factor. At the end of the day, these are pieces to be worn, not glimpsed in a blur, and Slimane's clothes are just about as good as it gets.
I can't wait! I will post pictures as soon as I get them.
im waiting ... impatiently for his collection.....
i enjoy the way he makes men look yummy 
not me Scott* and you know how much i'm looking forward to his menswear 
hedi is back to his old self, vive GLAM rock , cool Dior collection 
