CELINE By Hedi Slimane AW21.
Hedi Slimane unveiled Parade, his autumn winter 2021 and 10th collection for Celine, over a month after Paris Fashion Week ended. Fashion weeks don’t seem to make much sense anymore, and it’s always fashion week somewhere anyway. Yay… Last January, the men’s collection was presented at the Château de Chambord, an architectural wonder built by Francis I of France in 1519. For his latest outing, Slimane chose the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, or Versailles-before-Versailles, located less than an hour drive away from Paris. The castle was indeed a shooting star in the sky when built during the French Renaissance. It was regarded as a masterpiece, and king Louis XIV of France felt threatened by its architecture and innovative French gardens designed by André Le Nôtre. Eventually, the Sun King had had enough of what he considered an affront and threw its owner, Nicolas Fouquet, behind bars before launching his own overly ambitious project i.e., turning Versailles into the world’s most luxurious palace. At a time when France is still under lockdown and curfew restrictions, Hedi Slimane once more celebrates one of the country’s historical landmarks, inviting us all to indulge in virtual sightseeing.
As it is customary for LVMH-owned brands, the collection’s video falls into the high-octane, Hollywoodian type of production category. Clearly, Slimane wanted to pull out all the stops by directing and styling it. If you want something done, do it yourself, right? After all, Slimane’s project brief at Celine was to build it in his image and turn the brand into a machine exhausting billions of dollars, and that begins with attracting customers’ attention. As of now, the video has been viewed over 1 million times. Despite the harmful effect of the pandemic on the industry, the brand is picking up serious speed, should you believe corridor whispers. Slimane, whose vision is oftentimes misunderstood by those expecting funfairs and fireworks every season, is slowly but surely imposing the new Celine on us all.
If the job of a fashion designer is to reflect the now using clothing as a medium, Hedi Slimane is hitting his target with precision. Times when the rich and famous - royals, aristocrats, and Popes - seriously dressed to impress and stand out are long gone. The wardrobe of the rich and famous of today - from reality TV stars, Internet personalities, entertainers, and businesspeople to what’s left of royals and aristocrats - allows them to fit and mingle with everyone else. This is what Celine has become, a savvy mix of high and low, a clever blend of chic and casual, an appropriate reflection of the sartorial realities of the world.
The clothes are of course the focal point of Slimane’s strategy. Clothes for today, not for tomorrow, with here and there, a touch of nostalgia. Clothes for people who swipe their cards without checking how much is about to be taken out of their bank accounts. Close your eyes and think of young, hip, wealthy metropolitan women, and if you live in Paris, just walk around rive gauche and down Boulevard Saint Germain to see them in action. Hedi Slimane is designing upgraded versions of their uniforms. It’s seen in the comfortable jeans and tweed jackets; it’s seen through the influence of Tik-Tok on youth culture; it’s seen in the grungy attitude; it’s seen in the nods to haute couture. Besides perfectly cut tailoring, sequin joggers and crop tops, Slimane enthused viewers by presenting hand-beaded crinoline skirts that superbly caught the light. Oh, and yes, there were fireworks.
