"Breath of toxic masculinity": How was the first Celine show with Edie Slimane
Last Friday, September 28, in the Paris House of Invalides The long-awaited show of Edie Slimane as a new creative director of the Celine brand. The lack of emphasis on the letter "e" in the name of the French house is not a typo. Sliman, known for his constant rebranding of brands under his jurisdiction, was used to acting radically. Having headed Saint Laurent, the designer also deprived the house of a part of the name, removing the key "Yves". This point of contact of his latest works is not limited to: only those who are not interested in fashion at all, did not notice some similarity of Celine with what Slimane did for Saint Laurent and what his successor Anthony Vaccarello continues to do. Under the vigorous soundtrack of the La Femme group, models all in the same strict tuxedos, gowns in shimmering silver sequins, with frills and a high waist walked on the catwalk. Now, the brand also produces the men's line (which was previously known), therefore, male models could be seen on the catwalk.
The fans of the “intellectual style” of Phoebe Failo, who left Celine last year, were initially unfriendly towards the new appointment. They declared mourning for a French home: they released a number of memes, including funny ones, and created an @oldceline account in which they continue to express their love for fur slippers, a laconic coat, pure forms and other elements of the designer’s heritage. We decided to ask industry experts about the show.
Regarding the show of Sliman for Celine, I wrote in my telegram channel, so I repeat. I think that hardly anyone expected from a new creative house of revelations. Slimane, in my opinion, a designer with a very limited stylistic (namely stylistic) vocabulary. He adheres to a clear aesthetics, and he does not care deeply about the changes taking place in the fashionable and socio-cultural space. When he was at Dior Homme, his style looked fresh and cool because it was something new. It's funny that even when he came to (Yves) Saint Laurent and started making his "Topshop for the Rich", everyone rumbled and then seemed accustomed. But if then his decisions caused at least some wow effect, then in the case of Celine everything looks like a jam.
The new brand logo, fully updated instagram, as if nothing had happened before Sliman, - we saw all this last time, as well as the bows that he showed in the collection. The paradox is that the new Celine, I am sure, will be sold no worse, and perhaps even better than the old one, because Sliman has a very large army of fans and he, anyway, has an excellent commercial “designer” (in quotes, because everything - so he is more a stylist).
As for me, this whole story is not so much about fashion as about the battle of the two largest fashion conglomerates, LVMH and Kering: Celine belongs to the first, Saint Laurent to the second. Anthony Vaccarello, now the creative director of SL, continues to do plus or minus what Sliman did before him (I suspect that is why he was taken as a substitute). Here in Celine comes the father of all this aesthetics and offers exactly the same thing. At the same time, Sliman has a cult status and, again, a crowd of admirers. What do the customers who have bought the SL after his departure do? That's right, switch to Celine. Plus, I think that Celine pretty well cut down on the last two seasons of the authorship of Phoebe Faylo: collections marked as “the end of an era” usually sell well. In general, nothing personal, just business. Today, such decisions are rarely taken on the basis of other considerations.
I have the Celine brand, I think, like many, I have always been associated with the image of a woman who “I want to become when you grow up”: self-sufficient, intellectual, strong, but at the same time in her own feminine and naturally chic. All dreams, of course, went to ashes after the Edie Sliman show. In fact, everything was clear already after he removed the accent from the title - given how reverently the French treat their language, it was an act of vandalism. At the show, it finally became clear that Celine and, most importantly, “Celine women” did not remain a trace. Instead, as many have noticed, Slimane released exhausted teenagers on the catwalk in the à la carte collection “Topshop 2008”.
Worst of all, perhaps, the fact that Slimane showed nothing new - all this is a copy-paste of collections for Saint Laurent. On the other hand, Celine is not to blame for the death of Slimane (who simply does what he does best), but LVMH, who have fallen into the sky with a finger. I'm afraid that instead of raising sales, the brand will lose all its fans, and Celine will remain only in our hearts and interests.
I really love Slimane as a phenomenon and after his appointment to Celine I remembered the entire list of his merits for Wonderzine. But even more I love Phoebe and what the brand has become under her leadership. On Friday, we witnessed an amazing victory of the individual over the brand, and the brand is very influential, with the prevailing mythology and the strongest visual concept.
At the same time I have no questions for Sliman, but many for the concern LVMH. One of the main issues is why for Edie, who, obviously, in LVMH is considered to be the hen that brings golden eggs, they will not make their own name brand? She would have completely occupied her niche and allowed all the devotees of the group (and after all, Slimane is really such an old-fashioned rock star from the world of fashion) to spend money in a focused way. But the most interesting thing in this whole story is, of course, the public outcry, which was caused by both the show and the collection itself.
Let's remember how some five years ago a wave of indignation and misunderstanding caused the first shows of Vetements and Balenciaga and how amazing the various casting seemed, which the fashion brands started to practice. Today, conditional aliens at Gucci shows are quite a common thing, and the lack of diversity in the selection of models and Sliman’s complete failure of the ideological component in the collection seem shocking and outrageous. He absolutely doesn’t care about what the current fashionable agenda is concerned with - the image of a modern woman - and everything would be nothing if he showed a similar position not within the framework of the main feminist brand. However, as Financial Times fashion critic Joe Alison has rightly written, let's not forget that Phoebe left us first.
What else is said about the show:
All the same narrow black suits and herring ties, ultra-short dresses, bombers and biker jackets ... It's a shame because the company Celine, owning the Celine brand, spent a fortune on this launch. What he saw proves that Slimane is no longer so keenly aware of the spirit of the times. His influence formed brands such as The Kooples, Zadig & Voltaire, not to mention Saint Laurent after his departure. Everyone hoped that the LVMH investment would allow the designer to step over his past towards a bright future. Unfortunately, it did not happen. In fact, such a tactical move — Sliman’s unobvious appointment at Celine — was for LVMH something of an end in itself. As a result, the brand, which had previously so accurately anticipated the desires of women in terms of fashion, unexpectedly blew with toxic masculinity.
The arrival of Sliman in the fashion industry was similar to an earthquake and occurred just in the early years of the new century - when the models that participated in his debut show for Celine were still children. But generation Z has grown up and is buying unisex things - sometimes even more willingly than Sliman’s first customers. Therefore, this show was aimed specifically at them. Slimane acted in the same way as with Saint Laurent, another brand under his jurisdiction that had great commercial success from 2012 to 2016. Now there is an active struggle for a new customer, and the debut of Sliman is the first salvo of the commercial war between Celine (LVMH) and Saint Laurent (Kering). And only time and marketing tricks will show who will emerge victorious from the bout of relevance.
After joining Celine, Fileo presented the brand with aesthetics, which later became so important to women - because her vision was aimed at themselves, instead of being based on black and white photos from nightclubs. This begs the question - why can't Mr. Slimane be given his own brand? After all, in fact this is what happened. Why not call a spade a spade?
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