CELINE Spring Summer 2019

At precisely 20:55 Paris time, two military marching band performed by Les tambours de la Garde républicaine came out onto to the stage front and played their drum set signaling the impending start of the Celine debut show of Hedi Slimane. Inside a rectangular tent constructed on Place Vauban in front of the gold dome of the Hôtel des Invalides the wait was over for the most anticipated show of the year.

Since his appointment as creative director late in January there had been a virtual silence until mid September when Celine’s Instagram announce that the up accent on the logo would be dropped in order to better harmonize the space in between all the letters that compose the logo CELINE. Then came Lady Gaga with the 16 black bag, then a worldwide outdoor campaign with bus stops and construction zone walls in New York. A series of IG feeds followed with different images of models shot at the Rue Vivienne headquarter.

When the vinyl plastic covered stage moved and opened into a door way with blocks of mirrored rectangular boxes randomly placed, a model emerged from backstage wearing a black and white polka dots strapless micro dress with large puff sleeves followed by a male model wearing a in a fitted but not skinny black wool single breasted suit with a striped shirt and black tie.

With the theme of Paris by Night – A nighttime journey of Parisian youth, Slimane executed looks that built upon his years at Saint Laurent principally micro dresses for women and a very slim silhouette whether in a skinny suit or as skinny pants and leather bikers. Surely it is a radical change from Phoebe Philo’s Celine that focused on apparel and accessories for a more grown up women. Slimane wiped all that away with a single stroke. Slimane brought back his own vibes and what he see as how he want young people to dress.

A truly coed show with equal emphasis on women and men on a 1-1 ratio, the women’s silhouettes stayed mostly on the very short side: a black long sleeved dress with sparkle embroideries, a black vinyl and chiffon dress, a beaded baseball jacket and short wool skirt, a black spaghetti strap dress with exaggerated shoulder bolero or a red long sleeve sequin and a gold sequin dress that ended the show. For the guys, there was a mixture of sporty looks: a bikers with black wool pants, a more dressy suit looks that included a single breasted suit worn under an embroidered black and white pattern coat, a leopard print coat and perhaps that a silver leather coat black slim pants. Along the way there were plenty of merchandises at retail, leather bikers and outerwear, black dresses, a couture embroidered colorful short coat with original prints done by the artist Christian Marclay, many versions of men’s suits and vinyl leather coat for dress up or dress down occasions with a wash pair of cargo jeans.

On the whole the show felt much less teenage youth than the Slimane’s Saint Laurent shows and much more sophisticated and more merchandises for grown up young adults now. It is a point of departure, a total wipe out and clean slate for Slimane to build the Celine business the way he envisions and the way he has done so at Yves Saint Lauren Homme, Dior Homme and then at Saint Laurent. It is not expected that Slimane would abandoned his vision and his affinities for youth lifestyle and fashion as designer. He has built collections from one season to the next and in this case from one brand to the next, always following a path that slowly evolves. The show is a clear vision from a designer who has a sharp eye on the vagaries of youth culture and always had a hand very close to its pulse, this time to the original soundtrack written and composed by La Femme.

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Photos courtesy of CELINE