It took only minutes after LVMH announced that Hedi Slimane would be leaving Celine for the Chanel speculation to start. The brand that Coco built has been without a creative director since June, when Virginie Viard stepped down, and who will get the post has become the hottest guessing game in fashion. Mr. Slimane’s name has been in the mix for months. His status as a free agent gave the rumors more juice.
It’s understandable. Mr. Slimane’s last two Celine collections veered into jolie madame territory. Chanel is one of the biggest global names in the industry, the Hope diamond of fashion. Mr. Slimane is one of the more mythic designers, not unlike Karl Lagerfeld, the designer who made Chanel into a pop culture phenomenon.
Mr. Lagerfeld was a fan of Mr. Slimane, famously shedding weight to fit into the skinny suits that Mr. Slimane designed in one of his previous gigs, at Dior Homme. Like Mr. Lagerfeld, the original archetype of a designer who reinvigorated a heritage house, Mr. Slimane has changed the industry.
But despite having generated billions in profit and having created a new silhouette, Mr. Slimane has not necessarily changed it in the best way.
At this point, he’s fashion’s equivalent of a serial dater: all sex and seduction with no interest in long-term commitment. And when he’s in a relationship with a brand — his seven years at Celine is as long as any has lasted — it increasingly seems as if it’s all about him.
Before Mr. Slimane, designers joining an established fashion house at least pretended to care about preserving the foundations of the brand’s aesthetic. Since he came onto the scene, however, a pattern has emerged in which designers take on familiar names, but rather than engage deeply with the essence of a brand, as developed over time, they make it a reflection of themselves for the time they are there. When they leave, the slate is wiped clean.
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