Hedi Slimane - Designer

This very much encapsulates it. Yes, Slimane changes. He evolves. He's not static; but he has his own specific codes — the rail-thin silhouette, the predominance of monochrome, an adherence to a certain demimonde aesthetic — and those codes will always come before any pre-existing codes of the house he inherits. Case in point: YSL was very much about gold — lots and lots of shiny, blingy gold. Donald Trump levels of gold. The more gold the better. But Hedi Slimane... he doesn't like gold. He likes silvery chrome. So... buh-bye gold, even though it's a YSL code. Why? Because it's not a Slimane code.

I personally think Hedi Slimane should be the creative director of the house of Hedi Slimane. He's shown that his vision is so strong that he's going to make House of Slimane products wherever he goes. He's not Karl Lagerfeld, who could adapt himself one way to Chanel and another to Fendi and a third way to Chloé. It's not that he's untalented or a bad designer — but he is a bit like a parasite that infiltrates a brand, replicates himself, and, once he's used up whatever inspiration and resources he can suck out of that brand, he moves onto the next fashion house to repeat the process.
Bringing your style to the house you are currently designing for is natural.

Tom Ford did that at YSL, Michele did that at Valentino, Tisci did that at Burberry, Galliano did that at Margiela, etc.

Karl is literally the only one who was a total chameleon. The rest… are not. And it’s actually nothing to blame them about.

Also, as stated before, Hedi has given a different version of himself in every brand he’s been to.
 
This very much encapsulates it. Yes, Slimane changes. He evolves. He's not static; but he has his own specific codes — the rail-thin silhouette, the predominance of monochrome, an adherence to a certain demimonde aesthetic — and those codes will always come before any pre-existing codes of the house he inherits. Case in point: YSL was very much about gold — lots and lots of shiny, blingy gold. Donald Trump levels of gold. The more gold the better. But Hedi Slimane... he doesn't like gold. He likes silvery chrome. So... buh-bye gold, even though it's a YSL code. Why? Because it's not a Slimane code.

I personally think Hedi Slimane should be the creative director of the house of Hedi Slimane. He's shown that his vision is so strong that he's going to make House of Slimane products wherever he goes. He's not Karl Lagerfeld, who could adapt himself one way to Chanel and another to Fendi and a third way to Chloé. It's not that he's untalented or a bad designer — but he is a bit like a parasite that infiltrates a brand, replicates himself, and, once he's used up whatever inspiration and resources he can suck out of that brand, he moves onto the next fashion house to repeat the process.
But Hedi Slimane... he doesn't like gold. He likes silvery chrome. So... buh-bye gold, even though it's a YSL code. Why? Because it's not a Slimane code.

Even if i don't agree it was only about silver chrome at ysl...even at Celine for a person not liking cold (as you say) its everywhere....
 
Hedi has given a different version of himself in every brand he’s been to.
Yes, I see this in his work too. To my eye he is very much giving us Hedi through the lens of Celine. It seems to me that he has a very clear idea of what the Celine vibe or attitude is. Of course, there's room to disagree with Hedi on what the Celine vibe is/should be and how much weight he should give to each prior CD's tenure.

But I wonder if part of the reason he strikes some people as so tediously repetitive and others (me) have a lot of time for his endless Hedi-isms is that he is putting 'the Hedi thing' (the clothing, the interiors, the branding, even the foray into streetwear) through a 'Celine' filter, whereas they would rather he start with Celine-isms and put a Hedi sheen on them.
 
Well if you see the same thing at 3 houses then that's on you. If you go deeper I find the 3 period of work rather different from the other.

Dior Homme - Sharp, precise super minimal than the others. Boutique were rather black lacquer and white. Product wise more tailoring, slim fitted u know for early 2000s metrosexual men.
Saint Laurent - Still my favorite era. True to YSL 60-70s. Too bad he didn't stay long enough to tap into 80s would have been so fun. Paris rive gauche saint germain vibes. Stores marbles and chrome like a gallery.
Celine - I think it's his most fun era. References to Paris and France. More conceptual and fun. Clothes and products classic with a touch of casual wear (duh it was 2020) Muses and we the daughter that lives on the left bank and the mens were French 80s singers. Interior at stores are more warm. Marbles had colors with an accent of gold and wood!

These are just small points I just thought of randomly here and there. I think people misinterpret doing the same with "having the same touch" there is always a touch that he always has but for me it's never the same. What does he need to do to be different make suits with five arms? After all fashion today in it's billions and billions is never about newness its all about formula each designer and creative director has their own he has his way.
Hedi’s most interesting era was Dior Homme. I think ultimately, his work at Saint Laurent was the logical evolution to what Dior Homme would have been if he had the opportunity to do womenswear.
The feeling of doing the same thing is valid because Hedi left everytime out of frustration, frustration of not being able to complete his vision in a 360 way.

So the building of each era is ultimately on the back of a previous one, even down to stores designs.
There’s not a feeling of discovering different part of his aesthetic.

Yes, there was a sense of modernity in his YSL days to maybe spring 2004 at Dior that disappeared progressively. From Fall 2004 DH to his current work at Celine, we see a common thread, maybe less fashion forward, more everyday clothes/wardrobe focused and maybe more infused with music than ever before.

I think the early days of Hedi were in tune with the French touch. The Daft Punks, Michel Gondry…That whole generation. Even down the actors…Romain Duris, Élodie Bouchez and etc. Hedi was very much part of that generation.

Ultimately, even if Hedi is a great CD and a fabulous merchandiser, I think some things are weaker each time. I think his Saint Laurent had the better offering in terms of products. I think the menswear all along was better at DH.
The womenswear is not speaking to me at all at Celine even though despite being critical of his Saint Laurent, I ended up buying some items.

But Celine is his most achieved project because there, he is responsible for everything.
That’s why it seems odd that he would leave Celine to go somewhere else.

At Dior Homme he launched Dermo system with skincare and everything. That to me, seems like the next project related to Celine Beauté that he should be involved in.
 
Since he is such a chameleon... a hedi version of margiela is something ill be interested to see. His clean lines mixed with margielas deconstruction. I think it could work plus margiela fragrance is such a mess, its almost like those random jelly bean boxes where you can either have tissue paper flavor or vanilla.
 
^Lmao, you say that after having John Galliano doing John Galliano at Margiela :lol:
 
I think it could work plus margiela fragrance is such a mess, it’s almost like those random jelly bean boxes where you can either have tissue paper flavor or vanilla.
Untitled is a relic of the Martin era, and Mutiny was a flop (largely in how blandly normal it was), but the Replica fragrance line seems to be a hit. It’s a mainstay at every Sephora, after all. I don’t think the OTB bosses would let him touch it. L’Oréal runs that operation with ruthless efficiency, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Replica perfumes are what actually pays for the whole Maison Margiela project.
 
I was looking for more news and info about the SS 25 that Hedi filmed with his team in Saint Tropez a month ago: does anyone know when it will be showing?
 
I'm looking forward to the beauty campaign, mostly to see more of Hedi's still life photography. He did a great job with the fragrance campaign. He's living his best life as a photog/director, designing beautiful objects for himself to photograph.
 
Noted that Hedi shoot in July another campaign for the Plein Soleil Summer 2024: could this be his last endeavour for CELINE or Spring Summer 25 defile’ is still in the cards?
 
After the latest news about the expansion of the beauty products, campaigns being shot up until a few weeks ago, and another addition to the perfume line there; is no doubt in my mind that Hedi will remain CD for the foreseeable future.
 
We can’t say « the contract must be finalized » as we don’t know the terms of the contract.

Celine will probably continue to use his visuals so he will get royalties regarding that.

It’s a whole confusion because SAs are sharing the news of his exit all around the world and yet, new stores, new visuals and products oversaw buy him are being released.
 
As for the beauty campaign, I'm surprised he hasn't featured any men yet. If anyone in the fashion sphere is positioned to market makeup to men from a not-particularly-feminine or campy angle, it's Hedi with his over-tailored rock f*ckboy schtick.

(Eta: the censoring is automatic)
 

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