Someone on Instagram shared excerpts of the
Glitz article that is behind a paywall (it was a story so unfortunately I couldn't save it). The gist of it was that his decision to leave stemmed from a heavily strained relationship with Severine Merle and Sidney Toledano. Apparently there was a lot of back and forth with Delphine Arnault on Hedi's future within LVMH. His relationship with the Arnaults is seemingly still in good standing as he did LVMH a solid and got Gaga for the Olympics opening ceremony.
I think this is also evidenced by the fact that we still have a lot of Hedi related Celine lined up for the next year or so (the "À Rebours" perfume is scheduled for release in 2026), and despite all the happenings regarding his replacement, he stuck around and worked on the last couple of shows, campaigns, etc.
I believe that with Michael Rider, the future of the house will retain the new foundations and aesthetics that Hedi put in place (
they literally just demolished and redid the infamous Miami store)
The conversation regarding the perfumes; Hedi has patents on the bottle design, his name is under pretty much every description, his photo is on the "Haute Parfumerie" web page link, and they sell like hot cakes. I'm sure it's something that was heavily discussed, and iirc there was a Glitz article on their future (never read it though), I reckon they'll stick around but I'm so curious on how they will proceed when they're so intrinsically linked to Hedi. The scents he did at Dior I find didn't have such a strong outright connection to himself so I think it was easier for his fingerprints to be wiped from their inceptions (unpopular opinion but I find the Francis Kurkdjian reworkings to be faithful and just as good as the originals).
This rumour was started here I believe? I can't see Hedi at an Italian house, but I'm so so curious as to where he'll end up. I don't think Chanel is in his cards though.
