Six Things to Know about Hedi Slimane’s Celine Menswear

Last night, in what was the second big designer debut of the season, Hedi Slimane delivered his hotly-anticipated first collection for Celine. Coming in the wake of a major BoF interview and a dripfeed of campaign imagery, it’s safe to say that it was one of the most exciting moments of fashion month. Having been absent from the show schedule for two and a half years, Slimane came back with a bang. Here are six things to know about Celine by Hedi Slimane menswear.

It was inspired by nightlife

The invitation was a large coffee table book featuring photographs of iconic Parisian bars and clubs, shot by Slimane of course, while the collection itself was titled Paris La Nuit. This theme fed more visibly into the womenswear, which had a strong 80s going-out feel (picking up where he left off at Saint Laurent), but it was there in the slick dressed-up-ness of the menswear too.

It was all unisex

Despite including menswear (a first for a Celine collection), these pieces weren’t just for the male species. “The entire wardrobe worn by the male models is unisex, and therefore will also be available for women,” read the show notes. Slimane is clearly responding to a shift in consumer attitudes, where people are now shopping outside of the black-and-white, men’s and womenswear parameters. The men’s pieces will even come up in women’s sizes when the land in stores.

It was all monochrome too

Slimane’s approach to gender and fashion may not be black and white, but his colour palette was when it came to the men’s looks. Everything was rendered in black and white – from the suiting, to the new era Celine shades. The exceptions could be counted on one hand: a skinny yellow tie, a leopard print coat and a red, blue and gold sequinned bomber.

The silhouette was classic Slimane

Slimane, lest we forget, pioneered a silhouette (skinny, cool and New Wave-inspired) during his tenure at Dior Homme, which was possibly one of the most revolutionary and impactful innovations in recent menswear history. Last night, he delivered that same silhouette, modelled by an army of predictably rakish youths.

There was an emphasis on tailoring

Over the last few years, many of fashion’s most prestigious houses have been chasing a new consumer – the teen male – and creating collections tailored to his needs, i.e. streetwear-inspired pieces. Not so here, where Slimane, ever the tailor led with slick suiting. There were no t-shirts, no hoodies and no trainers.

It featured an artist collaboration

The collection also featured a collaboration with American-Swiss artist Christian Marclay, whose works were transformed into prints that appeared on the below bomber jacket, among other pieces. Marclay is best known for his 2010 piece, The Clock, which, 24 hours long, features thousands of TV and film clips of clocks collaged together so they show the actual time.