Hedi Slimane is often accused of always doing the same thing – whether for Saint Laurent, Dior or Celine. But he only stays true to his (narrow) line.
Typical look: Celine creative director Hedi Slimane in tight jeans, a striped shirt and a biker jacket. Y.R.
“Some people are sure of themselves very early on,” I thought to myself when I first met designer Hedi Slimane in spring 1993 at a press reception in Jean Jacques Picart’s famous Parisian PR agency. I still remember his slim, almost skinny appearance when he shyly stuck his head in the door. An impression that will always remain, even after he has had a career in the fast-moving fashion industry that has lasted almost three decades. After studying journalism and a model scouting job with the designer José Levy, he ended up as an intern at the Picart agency. Picart, who always had an eye for great talent, knew immediately what Slimane was made of.
In the conversation we were having at the time, he already firmly refused to one day found his own brand. The son of an Italian mother and a Tunisian father, born in Paris in 1968, preferred to work for other labels. Like Karl Lagerfeld, whose protégé he later became, Slimane had never attended fashion school. Unlike Lagerfeld, however, Slimane was initially primarily interested in men’s fashion. He is less a designer and more of a stylist who brings together elements from the youth cultures of the 50s, college looks, American basics and razor-sharp French cuts. This is how he created his very own Hedi style. A size-zero style that, predominantly in black, immediately conquered women’s wardrobes.
Hedi Slimane became creative director at Saint Laurent, then at Dior Homme
Something that was totally new at the end of the 90s and seemed even more radical, younger and new after Tom Ford’s sexy “Studio 54” line for Gucci. His first collections as creative director for the men’s line of the outdated and slightly outdated house of Yves Saint Laurent showed the unprecedented and quickly made him the youthful superstar of the slim silhouette. His greatest achievement to date: he brought the slim jeans out of the woods after decades of abstinence. He used the break after selling Yves Saint Laurent’s house to devote himself to photography, music and multicultural projects such as book publications in Berlin.
Joining Dior as the design head for the men’s collections not only consolidated his style, but also brought him the first reviews. After the model anorexia debate and an apparently always the same target group, the accusation was raised that he would always do the same thing. But can’t you see it differently? Namely: Slimane is always Slimane. He does not adapt to any brand, but the brand is “slimanized”. His codes work through their timelessness and their homage to youth cultures. Even after he returned to Saint Laurent and was also responsible for the women’s collections in 2012, sales skyrocketed. He, who always puts his person in the background, works through his spirit, which can be read in every part. He never changes his baseline. Leaving the Kering brand Saint Laurent and joining Céline in 2018 in the LVMH group worked entirely according to his recipe.
Hedi Slimane has a lease on eternal youth (without meaning it in a negative way) – that’s why he was able to capture every generation anew with his work. A modernity runs through his work, which always required very few, careful changes and adjustments, because a sexy-looking silhouette is superior to any trend. Sharp classics, without the risk of having your own brand, which might have dissolved in favor. And by the way, Hedi Slimane also pursues his passion as a photographer. He photographs his own campaigns for Céline, among other projects. Here, too, there is a line that never blurs: all photos are always black and white.
Images from a series photographed by Hedi Slimane on the occasion of his 50th birthday, which he celebrated in 2018 at Le Palace in Paris:
Models Grace Hartzel and Helena Severin on the carpet at iconic Parisian club Le Palace.Courtesy of Hedi Slimane
From left: musician Lauren Auder, Armand Penicaut from the band Papooz and Lewis Lazar from the Oracle Sisters.Courtesy of Hedi Slimane
Here Marlon Magnée from the band La Femme poses.Courtesy of Hedi Slimane
Still life: tray with champagne glasses on a drum set.Courtesy of Hedi Slimane
model or guest? All we know is her name was Marion.Courtesy of Hedi Slimane