Celine and Hedi Slimane are parting ways after a fruitful, seven-year collaboration.
Celine parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced his departure in a brief statement.
“Under his creative and artistic direction, Celine has experienced exceptional growth and established itself as an iconic French couture house,” it said.
“The holistic vision of Hedi Slimane, his exigence and rigor have made it possible to redefine the codes of Celine whilst reaffirming its feminine and Parisian roots,” it continued. “He has also remarkably enriched new territories for the maison such as the men’s silhouette, couture and haute parfumerie. The extraordinary journey taken together over the last seven years has made Celine a house with a formidable foundation for the future.”
Celine declined further comment, including on its succession plan, as did Slimane.
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The development adds to the climate of creative uncertainty and upheaval that hangs over the industry, currently grappling with a slowdown in luxury consumption and consumer caution.
As reported, the employment contracts of John Galliano at Maison Margiela, Jonathan Anderson at Loewe, and Lucie and Luke Meier at Jil Sander are coming to term before the end of the year or in early 2025, according to market sources. There are also creative vacancies at Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Jean Paul Gaultier.
WWD broke the news on April 24 that Celine was girding for a possible Slimane exit and was lining up a potential successor in Polo Ralph Lauren creative director Michael Rider.
It would mark a return to Celine for Rider, who logged a decade as design director of ready-to-wear from 2008 to 2018, working under then-creative director Phoebe Philo.
It is understood Rider has already relocated to Paris, but has kept a low profile. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Slimane’s departure comes only three days after he unveiled his spring 2025 women’s collection for Celine via a 10-minute film broadcast on the brand’s website and social channels.
It reaffirmed Slimane’s reputation as a formidable fashion designer, filmmaker and dream weaver, able to crystalize a style and present idealized imagery that’s compelling and precise.
His women’s collection film brought to vivid life the late French singers and fashion icons Juliette Gréco and Françoise Hardy via bushy bangs, heavy eyeliner, babydoll dresses and shapely tuxedos.
Meanwhile, his latest cardigan jackets, tweed suits, long necklaces and skirts that cover-the-knee further fanned a widespread industry conviction that Slimane has the chops, esthetic and the vision to tackle Chanel, which is currently searching for Virginie Viard’s successor.
Chanel executives told WWD this week it is not yet ready to reveal its next creative leader – and that it’s not necessarily looking for a big-name designer.
Slimane cemented his reputation — and influenced men’s tailoring for more than a decade — as the designer of Dior Homme between 2000 and 2007. He went on to reinvent and ignite the Kering-owned house of Yves Saint Laurent, which he rechristened Saint Laurent, between 2012 and 2016 — all the while maintaining a close rapport with the Arnault family, which controls LVMH and Dior.
His next move could not immediately be learned. To be sure, he has a track record of revving up a brand and then leaving at the height of its success.
In between, he has also taken long sabbaticals to pursue his photography and art making.
When Slimane took over the design reins of Celine, with a mandate to expand the heritage brand into menswear, couture and fragrance, he took a different tack from its previous creative leader, English designer Phoebe Philo.
“I am enchanted, what a great choice,” Karl Lagerfeld, one of Slimane’s most enthusiastic fans, told WWD at the time of his appointment. “It will be great.”
Slimane immediately brought a blast of cool and youth to Celine, signing up Lalisa Manobal from Blackpink and conscripting her to walk in one of his collection films during the coronavirus pandemic.
When she attended Slimane’s spring 2023 men’s show for Celine along with BTS member Kim Tae-hyung, better known as V, and his bestie, actor Park Bo-gum, pandemonium ensued.
After a few esthetic tweaks, and after Slimane unearthed the Triomphe logo, Celine took off like a rocket, synonymous with cool, French-girl style with a bourgeois twist.
He meticulously built Celine into a complete universe, adding stationery, headphones, pet accessories, other lifestyle products and Celine Beauté, the first cosmetics line in the house’s history. Lipsticks were added recently and an eyeliner is out next.
The beauty line dovetailed from Slimane’s launch of the Celine haute parfumerie collection, which debuted in 2019.
However, it is understood relations between Slimane and LVMH management have grown increasingly strained.
Still, it seems Slimane worked diligently until the end of his contract, last week releasing a 445-page hardcover book titled “Celine Art Project,” which details the 250 site-specific artworks Slimane curated for the brand’s flagship boutiques around the world.
