Hedi Slimane - Designer

[Lola701]

Hopefully he will post his Dior Homme and Rive Gauche shows. That’s the shows that I want to see.

I’ve always wondered who Hedi lawyer is, because the level of control he secured in his contracts feels almost mythical. The fact that groups like Kering and LVMH agreed to terms where the visual authorship remains so closely tied to him — even to the point of brands wiping or archiving content after he leaves — really says everything about his negotiating power. Honestly, I doubt he had to discount himself to get those rights.

At this point, all I want is a perfectly organized archive of his campaigns laid out in immaculate chronological order. It would cure my OCD instantly — and yes, I’d probably reach a full-on fashion orgasm the moment everything is aligned exactly the way it should be.

Not really his lawyer but more of a reflection of him as a talent.
The fact that he is multidisciplinary, involved in everything makes him sensible in every aspect of things and helps him negotiate things that probably a lot of designers don’t think about….
Choosing to have custom soundtracks by mostly independent bands or artists, make sure that he is credited everywhere, which give him the right to use the videos, he shoots the campaigns, styles the shows and campaigns. He is doing « alone » what an army is doing in a system.

I’m curious to see if he is going to post about Dior and Rive Gauche.
At Rive Gauche he had less power and leverage, never shot the campaigns so it’s probably the Fondation that has the videos. I’m sure he is friendly enough with Madison Cox to have it unlocked.

At Dior, I don’t have the feeling that his system was that locked yet. But he has maintained great relationships with the Arnault/Toledano.
I’m thinking also about the rights to use music.
But since none of it is for monetary gain, maybe it will all work out.

 

[tricotineacetat]

Hopefully he will post his Dior Homme and Rive Gauche shows. That’s the shows that I want to see.


Not really his lawyer but more of a reflection of him as a talent.
The fact that he is multidisciplinary, involved in everything makes him sensible in every aspect of things and helps him negotiate things that probably a lot of designers don’t think about….
Choosing to have custom soundtracks by mostly independent bands or artists, make sure that he is credited everywhere, which give him the right to use the videos, he shoots the campaigns, styles the shows and campaigns. He is doing « alone » what an army is doing in a system.

I’m curious to see if he is going to post about Dior and Rive Gauche.
At Rive Gauche he had less power and leverage, never shot the campaigns so it’s probably the Fondation that has the videos. I’m sure he is friendly enough with Madison Cox to have it unlocked.

At Dior, I don’t have the feeling that his system was that locked yet. But he has maintained great relationships with the Arnault/Toledano.
I’m thinking also about the rights to use music.
But since none of it is for monetary gain, maybe it will all work out.

Since he was so close to Bergé and particularly Lagerfeld, he was very well advised from the very beginning. Lagerfeld, after all, had similar arrangements with tge brands he worked for.

You gotta leave him that he always remained the upper hand in his legal disputes, quite rare to find that in this industry!

 

[Lola701]

Since he was so close to Bergé and particularly Lagerfeld, he was very well advised from the very beginning. Lagerfeld, after all, had similar arrangements with tge brands he worked for.

You gotta leave him that he always remained the upper hand in his legal disputes, quite rare to find that in this industry!

Yes. Being close with Karl and Bergé and overall people of power allowed him to have a vision on those questions. He surely is/was a student of fashion and of the industry.
Karl got away with a lot of things that couldn’t be done today (launching a fragrance named Chloe under his own company while he was at Chloe, owning the rights of the Fendi logo up until selling to LVMH, using loopholes to be able to design with so many brands at the same time…etc).
Pierre Bergé was a frustrated creative so maybe he learned something out of what he did for the campaigns of the collections him and Amber designed.

I would though that I regret that unlike Karl he has the tendency to not share credits…A bit like Tom Ford even if he took it way further.

Making every step of his creative endeavor seems like a solo project when it’s a collective enterprise is a bit of a pity for me.

Obviously he has mastered skills so it’s totally believable to have him solely credited for photography, art direction, styling, the set design. I’m a little bit more puzzle when we talk about architecture and fragrances creation because he would likely be associated with someone…

And as someone who made discover so many musicians, who also helped raising the status of young Francis Kurkdjian or Olivier Polge, it would be great if he associated other people who are maybe more in the conception side.

But yes it’s impressive to see how he has found a way to make the system work for him.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

I am not a big fan of Hedi's work but there are some aspects of his personality that I find fascinating.

His sharpness in tayloring comes from the sharpness of his mind in every sense.
He knows perfectly well the people he is dealing with.
And they'd better be correct with him, otherwise they will regret it.

 

[PDFSD]

I’ve always wondered who Hedi lawyer is, because the level of control he secured in his contracts feels almost mythical. The fact that groups like Kering and LVMH agreed to terms where the visual authorship remains so closely tied to him — even to the point of brands wiping or archiving content after he leaves — really says everything about his negotiating power. Honestly, I doubt he had to discount himself to get those rights.

At this point, all I want is a perfectly organized archive of his campaigns laid out in immaculate chronological order. It would cure my OCD instantly — and yes, I’d probably reach a full-on fashion orgasm the moment everything is aligned exactly the way it should be.

because he photographs himself the ads, its normal that photographers keep copyrights, if the brands does not buy full rights to use, usually its only for a period. most brands don't own their ad pictures when they do brand books with archive pictures they need to pay again for usage rights etc.

he also designs the set the store interior so that also leave a strong visual imprint on a brand after he leaves even if you remove the visual brand image like ads and shows. he thinks of ever detail and even hardware on bags you can always see the difference when he is not around how brands slack , packaging etc with him its about establishing authority and a system for each house.

i love his ocd approach to brand and design i am same, its like ralph and old tom gucci old armani prada pre raf old calvin old helmut lang, its all a world you step in a life style informed by a set of rules and taste and style away to do something.

i don't like disjointed or incomplete brand expressions, its like watching a unfinished movie or with elements that are not well researched it takes me out and not trust the vision or fantasy sold on screen.

 

[PDFSD]

i like the consistency in sharpness with the boring chic bourgeoisie its snobby and i love it ..the more classic stuff always ages so well
some is shot in 2018 ..like 8 years ago lol and it would still look good if we seen it for the first time today

the rock twink stuff has its good and less moments sure but every designer has an obsession i don't always get into every season or like the logo commercial stuff most brands have to do i dont care nor ever buy.

 

[Lola701]

Mr Slimane uploaded the majority of his Dior Homme shows with a few seasons missing…😌
Enjoy yourself!

 

[WAVES]

I wonder if by suddenly uploading most of his work, this could be a way of him reminding the industry of his skills and therefore his availability?

it’s always chess with these people.

 

[Nimsay]

Miami is the hottest city in America bc of the insane amount of growth. Like it’s a fact. They don’t build multiple super tall buildings in unimportant places.

 

[Lola701]

I wonder if by suddenly uploading most of his work, this could be a way of him reminding the industry of his skills and therefore his availability?

it’s always chess with these people.

I actually think that it might be either a way to prelude the launch of something of his own or simply an ultimate farewell to fashion by making his archives available to generations of Hedi boys.

 

[Kimihiro]

Maybe a farewell… but I hope not!

I wish he’d upload the campaigns too. I’d take written abstracts on the collections too, in that sometimes INSUFFERABLE HEDI SLIMANE COPY.

 

[Caffeine]

I actually think that it might be either a way to prelude the launch of something of his own or simply an ultimate farewell to fashion by making his archives available to generations of Hedi boys.

and gals

 

[MulletProof]

I don't think it implies anything final other than 'final say' lol. Over the years, nothing seems to trigger him more and make him spiral faster than others receiving acknowledgement for something he started (or claims he started). I think this is his way of giving himself the credit he thinks he deserves given the revisionist tendencies of people in or into fashion, which are... actually insane, let 10-15 years go by and people will tell you, very smugly, something wild like 'Sabato was actually really loved by everyone when he came out, there was hardly any criticism, he actually quit but it wasn't widely reported'.

 

[Lola701]

and gals

True. TBH his Dior Homme days are still the best thing he has ever done.
I have more desire to wear what he did at Dior Homme than whatever happened after.

I think FW2006 and SS2007 DH are the best womenswear collections he ever did. Closely followed by FW2019 and his last collection for Celine.

 

[tricotineacetat]

I don't think it implies anything final other than 'final say' lol. Over the years, nothing seems to trigger him more and make him spiral faster than others receiving acknowledgement for something he started (or claims he started). I think this is his way of giving himself the credit he thinks he deserves given the revisionist tendencies of people in or into fashion, which are... actually insane, let 10-15 years go by and people will tell you, very smugly, something wild like 'Sabato was actually really loved by everyone when he came out, there was hardly any criticism, he actually quit but it wasn't widely reported'.

I don't find it surprising for designers of his generation and beyond wanting to protect their standing and legacy in an industry that quickly forgets or discards them in favor of the new, especially for those whose work did not equate with a grand, commercial success - People like Chalayan or Theyskens obviously fall into that category but also a few others who were once part of the infamous Vogue US group shot by Steven Meisel (?) in the late 90s that also featured Veronique Branquinho, Viktor & Rolf, Junya Watanabe and a very young Nicolas Ghesquière among many others. Painstakingly archiving/documenting their fashion work is something I have in fact witnessed a few designers do, lately, and quite a few are still doing consultancy work, in which case their archive is very much their work portfolio.

While Hedi Slimane decided to only post videos of his shows for now, I personally find it interesting to look at fashion from this 'archive' perspective, which grants a different view at the work of a designer that runway images do not tell - Especially when the clothes are shown in the austere setting of a simple background and bust we know of museum shows - As someone who is less and less interested in the grand orchestration around fashion and more into the fabrication and construction of clothes, I find that a welcome alternative to the spectacle of today that makes the clothes feel like a by-product of an elaborate marketing.