Hedi Puts the "Slim" in Slimane

It’s no secret that Hedi Slimane’s runway debut as the new creative head of Celine has been highly anticipated. Since he revamped the brand’s name by removing its accent aigu back in early September, the designer has faced some fierce scrutiny, just as he did when he removed the “Yves” from Yves Saint Laurent in 2012. Known for introducing the infamous slim-fit jeans to Dior Homme that broke the then-popular male standard of being unrealistically built, Slimane seems to have continued the trend with Celine’s rebrand which, in this social climate, may not have been the most advantageous move.

While detracting from the expectation that men need not wield a six-pack in order to be fashionable may have originally been met with applause, his approach to applying this principle to Celine’s womenswear line did not necessarily garner the same reaction. So much time and effort has gone into shattering the image that only white, size-0 female models can walk the runway for a show to be successful that Slimane’s return to this unpopular norm seems counterintuitive and, frankly, unwise. In addition, his choice to replace Phoebe Philo’s feminine flare with a more androgynous vibe has been met with skepticism, especially when one considers that, at this very moment, women are fighting the good fight to be given the equality and respect they deserve in a time when sexual harassment and assault rage on.

However, what was perhaps most notable from Slimane’s launch was the continuity from his work done at Saint Laurent. To many, it seemed that he picked up where he left off with little distinction made between the two brands. I would even go so far as to suggest that Slimane lacks the creative genius that he was once believed to possess. Any novice fashionista can see that he is simply sticking to the same playbook of upending the signature charm of yet another classic fashion house by, well, changing everything about it. While this may have worked for him at Saint Laurent due to sheer shock value, the same cannot be said for his work at Celine, a revered brand known for being distinctly feminine.

It seems that Slimane is trimming the fat (literally and otherwise) with his Celine rebrand. Although his decisions are questionable in the advancement (or lack thereof) of the feminine mystique at a time when it is sorely needed, I could see his drastic changes to the infamous fashion house nonetheless ramping up sales among the younger millennial crowd that is markedly anti-gendered, which was likely the driving force for every decision, no matter how polarizing.