Hedi Slimane - Designer

[Lola701]

I can only hope that this time, all that will be a part of a bigger and longer strategy. Hopefully, having total control will make him renew his contract this time...

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Hedi's obsession to change everything once he is in a new house bores me to death and finds it ridiculous. The é did not need any change but it has been modified just to prove he can change things same with the blue door in black. Plus, Hedi has no respect at all for his predecessors. Phoebe Philo did a good job and should at least keep some ideas and merchandises but he prefers to do for the 1000th time a dior bis/Saint Laurent 3.0 that everyone knows because his formula has been done by others for years now (formula so easy to imitate as it is far from complicated or groundbreaking).

 

[kasper!]

I hate this delete-all-posts-at-IG thing, so stupid..

 

[Deleted member 141309]

I have to be honest - I really missed this. Why? Because all the hype and rage that will come with Hedi’s doing at Celine... I can tell we will feel alive again!

 

[MissMagAddict]

I have to be honest - I really missed this. Why? Because all the hype and rage that will come with Hedi’s doing at Celine... I can tell we will feel alive again!

Exactly.

Whatever Hedi does the fashion cognescenti will always clamor for more!
More!
MORE!

Especially now—as they are literally starving for it.

 

[LostInNJ]

Hedi's obsession to change everything once he is in a new house bores me to death and finds it ridiculous. The é did not need any change but it has been modified just to prove he can change things same with the blue door in black. Plus, Hedi has no respect at all for his predecessors. Phoebe Philo did a good job and should at least keep some ideas and merchandises but he prefers to do for the 1000th time a dior bis/Saint Laurent 3.0 that everyone knows because his formula has been done by others for years now (formula so easy to imitate as it is far from complicated or groundbreaking).

I'm not seeing the issue here, tbh. Riccardo is doing the same at Burberry, and the old Celine logo prior to Phoebe didn't have the accented e either, at least not the ads with Gisele or Karolina. Phoebe changed that and updated it, but no one accused her of not respecting the legacy before her.

I don't think it is about not having respect for his predecessors either, at least not here. Phoebe certainly didn't pay an homage to what Michael Kors had done, and why should she? Neither did the designer that came after Michael left for that matter. In order for fashion, or anything to move forward, it must evolve. I don't understand how the conversation can be to complain for him changing things around (Saint Laurent 3.0) when had he or anyone else rehashed what Phoebe had done, or tied to emulate her, it would've been dubbed Celine 2.0, no doubt.

Fact of the matter is, Hedi is in, Phoebe has gone, and the man will do as he pleases. Of course it can only go so far, as there is a bottom line to remember. But, this constant bashing him because he has an aesthetic and he changes things is not only tiresome, it's just boring.

 

[Lola701]

^^
In fact, as you said, the Logo update is quite common in fact anytime a new designer comes around in a house. And it's not necessarily the logo, it can be other things...

But i think there's something about Hedi, his personality, his work and his vision that comes across as agressive and not gentle at all. He is very polarizing even for the people who loves him. I adore his vision, i loved his work but i was one of the most critical person of his work at Saint Laurent.

Hedi comes across as someone who doesn't respect or at least, shows respect to the work of his predecessor because of what he did at YSL.
Phoebe had no reason to pay "homage" to Kors even if for me, her earlier work really echoed the vision of Kors...Maybe in a higher level.
Kors left Celine in 2004 but the house had a designer who was doing fairly good in that lane that Celine had. Phoebe is the one who made Celine into the powerhouse it is today...

We can't say that at Saint Laurent, Hedi particularly showed respect to Stefano's work. I mean, Hedi may have turned YSL into a billion dollar house, Stefano was the one who made profitable. And in a deeper level, Tom elevated YSL to a luxury house status.

But i have to say that Hedi this time at Celine kinda showed respect to Phoebe. This strategy and the whole logo thing was done a longtime ago now. Phoebe's last collection was showed in January and in a very gentleman way, he let her last 2 collections really "live": The campaign for S/S18 were on magazines and the Prefall collection hit the stores in July.
At YSL, they killed Stefano's last collections as Hedi quickly introduced his Introduction campaigns.

Why Riccardo's ugly redesign didn't create so much controversy? Maybe because he is much more gentle and warm in his approach...
And maybe also because compared to Hedi, he delivered as a womenswear designer.

For me, now Hedi has the opportunity to show if he has a real talent as a womenswear designer. That styling travesty that was Saint Laurent was embarrassing IMO.

 

[helmutnotdead]

I've just unfollowed Céline.

 

[perhydrol]

I feel like Hedi had to change anything with the logo and he could only delete the é... with Phoebe, adding the accent was way more natural and no one felt offended. What's more, it was needed back then because Céline was a non-event that had to rebrand itself. This time it's done just to show how powerful Hedi is.

And that caption of the logo, it's just trying to prove that it's BETTER than the Phoebe's one imo and it's just disrespectful.

Oh, and I can tell you that 'we want Phoebe back at Céline' will be the new 'we want Galliano back at Dior'. It already is.

 

[LostInNJ]

I feel like Hedi had to change anything with the logo and he could only delete the é... with Phoebe, adding the accent was way more natural and no one felt offended. What's more, it was needed back then because Céline was a non-event that had to rebrand itself. This time it's done just to show how powerful Hedi is.

And that caption of the logo, it's just trying to prove that it's BETTER than the Phoebe's one imo and it's just disrespectful.

Oh, and I can tell you that 'we want Phoebe back at Céline' will be the new 'we want Galliano back at Dior'. It already is.

Had he not explained himself, surely it would've been called an arrogant move on his part. As Lola701 mentioned, he let Phoebe's collections "live" after she left. The website and Instagram included. Anyone who didn't think a rebrand was coming was only fooling themselves.

I do suppose it is the perception people already have of him that doesn't help, but I really think he should be given a chance to do his thing. The Hedi bashing, as I stated before, is boring.

 

[reesewu]

It's unnecessary to change the font of a logo if it was fine to begin with, it's even more unnecessary to change only one letter of it. And on top of that, he and his team even felt the need to come up with the most gratuitous, pretentious explanation of the supposed "differences" this new logo has.

If that's not arrogance, then I don't know what is.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

I'm not seeing the issue here, tbh. Riccardo is doing the same at Burberry, and the old Celine logo prior to Phoebe didn't have the accented e either, at least not the ads with Gisele or Karolina. Phoebe changed that and updated it, but no one accused her of not respecting the legacy before her.

I don't think it is about not having respect for his predecessors either, at least not here. Phoebe certainly didn't pay an homage to what Michael Kors had done, and why should she? Neither did the designer that came after Michael left for that matter. In order for fashion, or anything to move forward, it must evolve. I don't understand how the conversation can be to complain for him changing things around (Saint Laurent 3.0) when had he or anyone else rehashed what Phoebe had done, or tied to emulate her, it would've been dubbed Celine 2.0, no doubt.

Fact of the matter is, Hedi is in, Phoebe has gone, and the man will do as he pleases. Of course it can only go so far, as there is a bottom line to remember. But, this constant bashing him because he has an aesthetic and he changes things is not only tiresome, it's just boring.

Well you did not see my other posts with Hedi related to know that I defended him few times but anyway.

My problem is the way Hedi doing it. He is not the most talented and he is so one dimensional that at some point he has to realise he may need to keep some ideas of his predecessors.

Hedi comes to whichever house without any consideration of what has been done before just to do again the same thing. I don't see the point of accepting to work under a brand to not take in consideration what has been done in the past.

Riccardo does not have this bashing because the change of logo has a real history and meaning and he did not be childish to delete the whole Instagram.

I don't mind some rebranding when it is truly feels necessary as Saint Laurent or more recently Burberry. The two brands needed a rebranding.

Plus Hedi showed many times in the past that every action he did in a house was more to nurture his big ego more than anything so for him Céline is more his dream of having finally the total control of a brand more than the will of making the brand grow and be stronger.

We will see. We just have few weeks to wait. Céline by Philo is from the past. It was good and it is sure time to move on but if it is too see bad collections like he did many times at SLP then I pass.

 

[Lola701]

^^
You have perfectly explained the problem with Hedi.
In a way, there’s something romantic about this obsession of being able to obtain and express his vision to the fullest but, it’s all done in a very self-centered manner.
Every designer has a big ego and even more those who really had an impact on fashion and culture. They know their worth...

But Hedi is maybe the only one who doesn’t seems to mind at all of the history of the houses he is working for. Because we all know that is going to be a commercial success, that Celine’s PR is going to be the nightmare of the industry and that the controversy is going to be beneficial anyway.... It’s almost like there’s no challenge other than financial for LVMH.

And to think that people wanted him at Chanel. I don’t see the Weirthemers allowing someone to take over their treasure like that...

 

[Benn98]

Of course with his toddler-style tantrums in mind, I would expect nothing less than for him to be so aggressively pedantic as to change the logo. Even if it means just taking an accent off the 'e.' It's nothing new in fashion, but this need of his to make these petty changes each time and without even showing an ounce of clothing is nauseating, and shows insecurity more than anything. It's like he's very much aware his work will be compared next to that of Phoebe at some point, but unfortunately for this time around Phoebe's tenure was both a critical and commercial success, so good luck trying to live up with him with LA garb!

 

[TaylorBinque]

let me know when he decides the show the clothes. Also if you want to change a logo just do flip it around. This new logo is so unnecessary.

 

[Ed..]

It's not a big deal but I thought Hedi, out of all people, should know the importance of l'accent aigu. Heehee.

 

[madame_georgiana]

Waiting patiently for this show, surprise me Hedi...

 

[ghostwriter10549]

He better bring THE DEBUT COLLECTION, because if he dont...

 

[StockholmFW]

 

[Steddycam91]

It's not a big deal but I thought Hedi, out of all people, should know the importance of l'accent aigu. Heehee.

I know right? You'd think he would want to carry on with the air of pretension that it gives off.

Also, for someone who's such a stickler for detail, what gives with messy, aggressive all-caps IG captions? I'm imagining Hedi in a board meeting yelling, "THE SPACING BETWEEN THE LETTERS HAS BEEN BALANCED OUT AND THE LETTERS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT CLOSER TOGETHER!"