Hedi Slimane Taking the Reins at Céline
The move is a return home of sorts for Mr. Slimane, 49, who began his career at Yves Saint Laurent
and was hired by LVMH in 2000 to create Dior Homme, where his pin-thin jeans and sharp tailoring became the stuff of men’s (and some women’s) obsessions.
At Saint Laurent, Mr. Slimane became famous for collections seemingly aimed at the young
and the fretless, including the musicians, models and hangers-on he met in Los Angeles, where he made his home and where he relocated the Saint Laurent studio.
Hedi Slimane, one of the most successful but also controversial designers of his generation, will be the new artistic, creative
and image director of Céline, the luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced on Sunday.
“I am particularly happy that Hedi is back within the LVMH Group
and taking the reins of our Céline maison,” Bernard Arnault, the chairman and chief executive of LVMH, said in a statement.
He left Dior Homme in 2007 and returned to Yves Saint Laurent, owned by LVMH’s rival Kering, as creative and image director in 2012.
The result delighted customers — Mr. Slimane’s Saint Laurent sold well —
but frustrated some critics with its unwavering commitment to a narrowly defined rock look.
The appointment also signifies a potential major shift in direction for Céline, where the former designer, Phoebe
Philo, 45, became a hero to fashionable women for her emphasis on clothes for working women like herself.