Who is Hedi Slimane, how he changed Celine and why he is being talked about

It’s official: Hedi Slimane is ending his collaboration with Celine, after seven years. The news, which has been rumoured for several months now, has just been confirmed in a press release by the Maison itself. Although it did not surprise the most attentive, the end of this collaboration represents the closure of a fundamental chapter in the history of contemporary fashion.

Hedi Slimane, born in Paris in 1968, grew up helping his mother, a seamstress, in the making and creation of clothes. Despite having no academic training in fashion, his talent poured into various creative disciplines managed to get him noticed by Pierre Bergé, who in 1996 hired him as director of the men’s ready-to-wear line for the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house. At the end of this collaboration, it was under his name that Dior Homme was born at the beginning of the new millennium, the Maison's exclusively men's line, of which Slimane was appointed artistic director, holding the post until 2007.
 

Slimane’s approach, based on rigour and proportion, was the harbinger of a new way of looking at men’s fashion: at a time when post-modernism was trying to betray traditions in order to establish new rules, Slimane rejected the idea of sculpted and bursting masculinity, opting for a more androgynous and elegant ideal, which took the name of skinny style.

In 2012, after Stefano Pilati’s departure, he was asked to return to Yves Saint Laurent. Hedi Slimane's return was destined to revolutionise the brand’s codes, starting with the studio, which was relocated to Los Angeles, and ending with the name of the Maison, which lost ‘Yves’. Slimane was not afraid to take risks, and during his tenure at Saint Laurent, which lasted until 2016, he was the promoter of a Californian grunge style based on black and white contrasts, leopard prints and leather jackets, oversize and layering.

When he was named director as Céline’s creative director, his first request was to get rid of the accent on the letter e. But as well as becoming famous for changing the names of the fashion houses he worked for, Slimane adopted a sober and elegant aesthetic that marked a period of remarkable growth, consolidating Celine as one of the most important fashion houses of recent years.

After almost a decade, Slimane appears to be ready to write a new chapter in his career, leaving Celine in the hands of Michael Rider, who recently left his position at Polo Ralph Lauren. As for Slimane's next moves, there is no confirmation yet, and all that remains is to wait.