It’s official: Hedi Slimane is exiting Celine after a seven-year tenure. The news broke this morning across various outlets, including Vogue Business.
Slimane first joined Celine as its creative, artistic, and image director in 2018, following a successful stint as Saint Laurent’s creative director. Under his tenure, the French label experienced a full rebrand with an edgy aesthetic and a new logo that famously dropped its signature “é.” In 2019—the same year his first collection launched for Spring 2019—Slimane launched Celine’s first menswear collection and a fragrance line, followed by a makeup line for fall ’24.
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- Celine Fall 2019 (firstVIEW)
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- Celine Fall 2019 (firstVIEW)
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- Celine Fall 2019 (firstVIEW)
After Phoebe Philo’s artistic, minimalist aesthetic, Slimane’s Celine continued his signature mix of rock n’ roll glamour, nonchalant bohemian dressing, and stark minimalism. Many of his collections featured his signature skinny suits, jeans, sequined minidresses, and Cuban-heeled ankle boots. Handbags also grew at Celine with minimalist styles like the Triomphe and Teen Triomphe crossbodies, Claude shoulder bag, and 16 satchel. Aside from the ’70s French bourgeois movement, Slimane’s collections drew inspiration from French cities and cultural references like e-boys, indie rock, Saint-Tropez, Los Angeles, and the 15th century Renaissance. Today’s young rising stars frequently served as his brand muses, including Kaia Gerber, Ever Anderson, Blackpink’s Lisa and NewJeans’ Danielle.
Kaia Gerber for Celine Spring-Summer 2021 (courtesy)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Slimane embraced releasing films online for Celine’s new collections, as opposed to traditional runway shows—a practice that continued into the 2020’s. His last film, “Un Été Français,” was released for his Spring 2025 collection during Paris Fashion Week in September.
Aside from a creative change, Slimane’s Celine also experienced vast financial growth for parent company LVMH. By 2023, the brand’s annual sales had risen to an estimated estimated €2.6 billion. That number more than doubled its near-€1 billion annual revenue in 2018—shortly before Slimane’s appointment was announced.
At this time, Celine hasn’t named a successor. Slimane also hasn’t announced his next move. However, many in the industry view him as a candidate for Chanel’s open creative director role, following Virginie Viard’s exit from the brand in June. Watch this space as this story progresses!
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