By Niamh ODonoghue
01st Oct 2018
01st Oct 2018
Hedi Slimane made his highly anticipated debut for Celine on Friday and the result was a combination of commotion for the new, and a sense of familiarity from Hedi’s old haunt, Saint Laurent. Formerly the head of Creative Direction at Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane is famous for dropping the “Yves” from the houses ready-to-wear line and accelerating the French house’s popularity among younger buyers.
For the last ten years, Celine has been under the safeguard of Phoebe Philo, who is hailed for harmonising the relationship between women and their wardrobes. She designed for modern women: structured and unstructured silhouettes would become synonymous with the label, as would fine leather, cotton suits, explosive patterns and minimal ornamentation. In 2017, after Philo’s final collection for Celine, Vogue fashion critic Suzy Menkes noted how Philo’s Celine “offered respite to women’s closets”, stating that the former designer “shows an understanding of 21st-century female empowerment through whimsical clothes”. Philo’s clothes were not just simply for women, they were also about women. There’s little doubt that she is one of the most interesting and elusive designers of the past generation, so it came as a surprise when it was announced by LVMH last December that Philo was stepping down, and even more of a surprise when her successor was announced to be Hedi Slimane.
Céline SS18. Photo credit; Jason Lloyd Evans
Hedi Slimane’s Celine – sans accent on the ‘e’, of course – is, in every way, incredibly different from Celine of old, and very much mirrors his previous collections for Saint Laurent. Models wore super-skinny tailoring and sparkling pouf skirts. It wasn’t sloppy or even sporty – as Menkes notes in her most recent critique. It was, however, a carbon of Slimane’s previous work at Saint Laurent – particularly its AW18 collection, which caused uproar after the catwalk show.
Fashion insiders and influencers are sharing their love of old Celine in the most millennial way possible: with an Instagram page dedicated to the designs of Phoebe Philo. Aptly named @OldCéline, the account shares retrospective images from Celine’s earlier collections under the stewardship of Philo, including one of Celine’s most-loved campaigns featuring Joan Didion, shot by Juergen Teller. The account, which launched last month, has already amassed a following of more than 36K followers dedicated to keeping the spirit of Philo alive. Though the creator(s) of the account is unknown, many have shared their congratulations on owning a brilliantly simple Instagram handle, which in itself is a total anomaly.
Celine has entered a new era and it’s hoped that it will be a profitable one (Slimane is praised for Saint Laurent’s meteoric success. In his first three years, the brand more than doubled annual sales revenue to €707 million, up from €353 million, according to Business of Fashion). But as from The Cut puts it, Philo is a designer for the slower era and new Celine is directly targeting Gen Z – those born in the mid-1990s – now 25 per cent of the American market, and even more in Asia.
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