Hedi Slimane’s debut collection for Celine S/S 2019 at Hôtel des Invalides, Paris

It’s almost midnight in Paris. Hedi Slimane for Celine lights the place with a spring 2019  collection greeted by two drums from the Republican Guard. But this solemn introduction felt more like a counter-artifact to better unveil a spirit of true adolescent adulthood.

This inaugural collection coming out of a giant music box in mirror, on an original sound piece by La Femme, was certainly the most awaited of the week by professionals and fans alike. And Slimane—evenly, steadily—did not upset the rule, and offered to Celine its first letters of nobility in couture. His strength is like that of any master, a capacity to wind up and unfold time at once. His classy wardrobe travels with alluring beauty from the sixties era of swinging London to the disco couture of the eighties. Nothing felt old in this collection—everything is up-to-date. These are the common themes Slimane has always cherished, and stated in the early 2000s when he created his famous androgynous silhouette, also known to be extremely skinny. Men and women here today were equally celebrated in an ode to gender fluidity.

Slimane is a true showman who knows how to design clothes in the best classical and formal way, and last night he once again confirmed to the world of fashion his immeasurable talent.

Text Dorothée Perret and photo Christina Fragkou