Stephen Jones on HEDI SLIMANE for CÉLINE
I remember the f irst time I met Hedi was shortly after he joined Dior. It was at the feast of Saint Catherine, which is the equivalent of the Christmas party for all the couture houses. The band was playing, everybody was having fun, but he was a little bit on his own at a table. So I sent the girl I was with to ask him i f he wanted to dance and he said: “not very much!”
And that is a good metaphor for what he created at Dior Homme - he did not want to dance! He wanted to make something entirely in his own vein and of his own. The fact is what he did at Dior was completely new. Some people poo-pooed it but whether you liked it or not it was new f ashion. And famously of course the person who loved it the most was Karl Lagerfeld.
From the beginning Dior was very dif ferent to other houses... and that difference is that it is about fashion: the newness of the new, and unabashed sex and glamour. And in a funny way that is exactly what Hedi provided for men. When he went to Saint Laurent it was very dif ferent, and more American. It was divisive - equally loathed and adored - even more extremely than his Dior Homme. It worked so well with the customers, it was about club fashion and rock and roll and it wasn’t about being f ashiony.
Céline is a fantastic label. Do you remember Michael Kors at Céline? And in the 80’s when I was working in Japan it was absolutely one of the biggest labels there. Now I think that the idea they are going to turn it into a complete fashion house, with menswear and couture too, well, these are really exciting times. And I think it will look more like pure Hedi than his work at any other label. Because the identity of Céline is not nearly as strong as that of Dior or Saint Laurent.Thi si sabr il liantm ove by BernardArnault.
I’m real ly looking forward to seeing what Hedi does. And al l the men’s customers around the world are foaming at the mouth for it. Personal ly, I’m very much hoping for an XXL s ize - s omething with a 32-inch waist - s o I canwea ritto o!