Hedi Slimane Delivers Industrial Strength Vessel Tease for New Celine Perfume

Hedi Slimane Presents his Parfumerie Collection For Maison Celine.

The first glimpse and film for Hedi Slimane’s new fragrance project for Celine is not about smell, nor a fantasy of life under its spell. On Sunday Celine shared news of the project on Instagram, YouTube and the houses’ website with a single, simple statement: “15 years after the creation of Maison Christian Dior Perfume Collection, Hedi Slimane Presents his Parfumerie Collection For Maison Celine.”

Slimane underscores the artisanal preciousness of container and vessel, making an industrial, modern art object of the stout rectangular glass container for the new perfume. Depending on one’s preferred design aesthetic, the video creates a yearning to hold the object — a vessel of substance, perceived authenticity and industrial roots. The vessel is not artifice but the very bones of the new fragrance.

The reference to LVMH’s Maison Christian Dior stories Slimane’s tenure there as creative director for menswear and a time when he crafted Dior’s first colognes since 1947.

Related: “The Unexpectedly Tropical History of Brutalism”. Long associated with European cities, the style has plenty of history in other parts of the world, too. In Brazil, it reached a surprising apotheosis. New York Times T Magazine August 15, 2019

A wood-grain spiral concrete staircase that leads to the five bedrooms of Casa Millán, completed in Cidade Jardim in 1970 by the architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The table and chairs beneath it are 1960s-era designs by the Brazilian midcentury Modernist Jorge Zalszupin.CreditTodd Hido via New York Times

Ella Hope Merryweather Poses In Celine By Hedi Slimane Lensed By Louie Banks For RAIN Magazine

Ella Hope Merryweather Poses In Celine By Hedi Slimane Lensed By Louie Banks For RAIN Magazine

Model Ella Hope Merryweather wears Celine by Hedi Slimane, lensed by Louie Banks for biannual magazine RAIN Magazine Fall 2019. / Hair by Mark Francome Painter; makeup bhy Terry Barber

Celine Creative Director Hedi Slimane Captures Marland Backus In Winter 1 2019 Collection

Celine Creative Director Hedi Slimane Captures Marland Backus In Winter 1 2019 Collection

Model Marland Backus is lensed by Hedi Simane in images for Celine’s Winter 1 2019 Collection. Sarah Mower described Slimane’s third Celine collection in glowing words for Vogue.com:

There have been all sorts of jokes about “old Celine” since Hedi Slimane took over. But in his third showing for the house, this—and everything that followed—was his turning of the tables. This was old, old Celine—exactly the kind of politely classy merchandise originally sold under the label before LVMH acquired it, long before even Phoebe Philo’s predecessor, Michael Kors, was drafted to make runway shows out of it.

In our time of so much fashion, this was Slimane’s moment to iterate, and reiterate, his version of French fashion from a time of nonfashion—a niche of Parisian upper- and middle-class style that he must have understood from being a boy growing up in France. In a way it was exactly what Slimane has always done—taking the subject of a seam of preexisting street style and drilling into it for all it’s worth.

Eye: As Phoebe Philo Prepares To Leave Céline, Will She Sink Deeply Into Her British Roots?

Eye: As Phoebe Philo Prepares To Leave Céline, Will She Sink Deeply Into Her British Roots?

Phoebe Philo is officially leaving Céline, after a decade spent restoring and reinvigorating the LVMH label as a favorite of powerful, working women. WWD reports that Philo's last collection for the label will debut at Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2018, with succeeding collections crafted by various Céline employees until a new creative director is appointed. 

In a brief statement announcing the news, Ms. Philo thanked her team, and Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the luxury group that owns Céline, said: “What Phoebe has accomplished over the past 10 years represents a key chapter in the history of Céline. We are very grateful to Phoebe for having contributed to the great momentum of this Maison. A new era of development for Céline will now start, and I am extremely confident in the future success of this iconic Maison.”

Binx Walton & Selena Forrest Wear Céline Spring 2018 Collection, Lensed By Talia Chetrit

Binx Walton & Selena Forrest Wear Céline Spring 2018 Collection, Lensed By Talia Chetrit

Céline Creative Director Phoebe Philo reminds us why modern women love her design aesthetic. Models Binx Walton and Selena Forrest join Ellinor Arveryd showcase the Spring 2018 collection, lensed by Talia Chetrit./ Hair by David Harborow; makeup by Stephanie Kunz

Kira Bunse Eyes Celine Magnificence For Interview Magazine Germany Fall 2017

Kira Bunse Eyes Celine Magnificence For Interview Magazine Germany Fall 2017

Celine photographer Kira Bunse injects her total creative self into exquisite images of the Parisian luxury brand for the current issue of Interview Germany. 

LVMH Arnault Vision Cools On 'L'Enfant Terrible' Designers

LVMH Arnault Vision Cools On ‘L’Enfant Terrible’ Designers AOC Style

Arnault has been dazzled by Céline, a brand enjoying triple-digit growth, even in critical emerging markets like China where glitz continues to tantalize the nouveau riche. In 2010, Asia—excluding Japan— was the largest market for all LVMH products.

The chairman admits that his daughter Delphine is working at Dior, “but she wears Céline.”

Writing in early March Wanted at Dior | Super Creative, Low Drama, Confident Not Abrasive Designer Who Loves Women, I said:

Philo doesn’t have the uber-intellectual pedigree of Riccardo Tisci. She’s more like Marc Jacobs with a strong vision of what women want to wear every day and an excellent eye for handbags and accessories. 

It goes without saying that I would LOVE to see a woman designer at Dior, but I think Phoebe is a long-shot.

What Bernard Arnault doesn’t want right now is an arrogant “his highness” designer or a tortured soul. The world is in a fragile place, and there’s no room for drama queen creatives or tortured personalities.

Can one be creative and not full of drama?  Many people on this list prove that you can be.

Opening Ceremony @Kenzo

Earlier this week LVMH put a new design team in place at Kenzo. Designer Kenzo Takada retired in 1999, and the brand has continued under the design direction of Sardinian designer Antonio Marras since 2004.