Celine and Hedi Slimane are parting ways after seven years of fruitful collaboration.
Celine’s parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced the resignation in a short statement.
“Under his creative and artistic guidance, Celine experienced extraordinary growth and established itself as an iconic French haute couture house,” the magazine said.
“Hedi Slimane’s holistic vision, his enthusiasm and rigor have made it possible to redefine the codes of Celine, reaffirming the brand’s feminine and Parisian roots.” . “He has also significantly enriched new areas for the Maison, such as men’s silhouettes, couture and haute puffumérie. Thanks to an extraordinary journey over the past seven years, Celine is a brand with strong foundations for the future. Ta.”
Celine, like Slimane, declined to comment further, including on succession plans.
This development further exacerbates the conditions of creative uncertainty and upheaval currently gripping the industry, which is currently facing a slowdown in luxury consumption and consumer caution.
As reported, market sources say that the employment contracts of Maison Margiela’s John Galliano, Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson, and Jil Sander’s Lucie and Luke Meyer will be signed by the end of 2025. It is expected to expire by the beginning of the year. There are also creative openings at Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Jean Paul Gaultier.
WWD reported on April 24 that Celine is fielding candidates to replace Polo Ralph Lauren creative director Michael Ryder in preparation for Slimane’s possible departure.
This marks Ryder’s return to Celine, where he served as ready-to-wear design director under then-creative director Phoebe Philo for 10 years from 2008 to 2018.
Ryder is said to have already moved to Paris, but has kept a low profile. No comments were received.
Slimane’s departure comes just three days after Celine unveiled its Spring 2025 women’s collection in a 10-minute video that aired on the brand’s website and social channels.
This reaffirmed Slimane’s reputation as a formidable fashion designer, filmmaker, and dream-weaver, able to embody style and present ideal images with conviction and precision.
Celine Spring 2025
Courtesy of Celine
His women’s collection film brings to life the late French singers and fashion icons Juliette Greco and Francoise Hardy through their bushy bangs, thick eyeliner, babydoll dresses and shapely tuxedos. I blew it.
On the one hand, his latest cardigan jackets, tweed suits, long necklaces, and knee-covering skirts suggest that Slimane has the talent, the aesthetics, and the vision to stand up to Chanel, which is currently looking for a successor to Virginie Viard. This further fueled the widespread industry belief that there is.
Chanel executives told WWD this week that they are not yet ready to announce their next creative leader and are not necessarily looking for a big-name designer.
Slimane made his name as a designer at Dior Homme from 2000 to 2007, influencing men’s tailoring for more than a decade. He later reinvented the Kering-owned Yves Saint Laurent house and renamed it Saint Laurent. In 2012 and 2016, while maintaining close ties with the Arnault family that controls LVMH and Dior.
His next move was not immediately known. To be sure, he has a track record of revitalizing brands and then exiting them at the height of their success.
Hedi Slimane attended the Celine Men’s Fall 2019 show as part of Paris Fashion Week.
Getty Images
During that time, he took a sabbatical to pursue photography and art.
When Slimane took over the design reins at Celine and was tasked with expanding the heritage brand into menswear, haute couture, and fragrance, he worked with his previous creative leader, British designer Phoebe Philo. We took a different tack.
Karl Lagerfeld, one of Slimane’s most ardent fans, told WWD at the time of his appointment that he was “fascinated by what a great choice it is.” “It’s going to be great.”
Slimane quickly imbued Celine with coolness and youth, signing Blackpink’s Larisa Manobar and conscripting her to star in one of his collection films during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chaos broke out when she attended Celine’s Spring 2023 Men’s Show by Slimane with BTS member Kim Tae-hyung, better known as V, and her best friend, actor Park Bo-gum.
After a few aesthetic tweaks and Slimane unearthed the Triomphe logo, Celine took off like a rocket and became synonymous with cool French girl style with a bourgeois twist.
He meticulously built Celine into a complete world, adding stationery, headphones, pet accessories, other lifestyle products, and the first cosmetics line in the house’s history, Celine Beauté. . Lipstick has recently been added, and eyeliner is next.
The beauty line was the perfect launch for Slimane’s Celine Haute Puffumeri collection, which debuted in 2019.
However, relations between Mr Slimane and LVMH management are understood to be increasingly strained.
Still, Slimane seems to have worked hard until the end of his contract, publishing a 445-page hardcover book titled “Celine Art Project” last week. The book details 250 site-specific artworks hand-picked by Slimane for the brand’s flagship stores around the world.
