Spring/Summer show at the end of November, less than a month before Christmas? Anything is possible at Celine, including backless halter-neck tops for men
The next spring/summer drops can appear anytime now. At the Celine store, too. Yet, the brand saw it necessary to release a film of their spring/summer 2024 collection belatedly to replace the "Show That Never Was", as Celine happily calls its fashion week absence. Harking back to the now largely forgotten 'see now, buy now'? According to the brand, when that show, originally scheduled to stage at La Gaîté Lyrique (the cultural centre in Paris) last July, was cancelled due to protests and riots across France after a teenaged Moroccan/Algerian boy was fatally shot by police (even Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany), Hedi Slimane went back to the venue with his team to personally shoot the film, which includes scenes captured at Le Rex (a cinema in Paris), and, in Monte Carlo, the Opera Garnier, where German classical ballet dancer (who's also a model) Laurids Seidel—outfitted in Celine, no doubt—performed, complete with close-ups of his very young face.
The film opens with Mr Seidel dressed not for a ballet performance, even when he dances. A black, high-neck top (we avoid using 'shirt') with massive, couture-seeming, bell-shaped sleeves set the mood. It quickly cuts to a scene in a glittery and golden passageway, where the show proper unfolded. The opening look is a backless halter-neck top (again, and more to come), worn with a sash fashioned into a bow that sat up to the left of the chest. Could this glamorous corridor be a deliberate pull-away from the studious setting of his womenswear for Celine? From a library to a club/cinema, Mr Slimane sure loves going places. But despite the vastly different locations, both shows are held together sonically by the soundtrack: LCD Soundsystem; this time for the men, the American band's 2005 debut dance-punk single Losing my Edge. Is Mr Slimane trying to say something?
The collection boasts of Mr Slimane's usual rock-inflected styles, complete with skinny leather pants that ageing rockers would gravitate to, as they clutch to the last, weakening strands of youthful rebellion. It is understandable why Mr Slimane relates to those for whom the members of The Who are still rock gods. He is not from the generation of, say, Anthony Vaccarello, whose own menswear for Saint Laurent has the vibe of Celine's influenced-by-grungy-musicians aesthetic, but projecting a lot less of the preference of graying performers. Mr Slimane seems to intuit that, although his target customers are young, they want to look like fading rock gods, desperately desiring to appear youthful. And those skinny suits—they are the equivalent of the box sets released again and again, and again by recording companies unable to venture further than the output of those Sultans of Swing who stopped swinging long ago.
But it is in the gender-fluid looks that Mr Slimane shows he can do better womenswear for men than for women. In case there are those who want to emulate Gene Simmons in his younger days, the collection acknowledges that there are men who do not wish to wear regular men's clothes (least of all those that look like they are for another generation). So Mr Slimane offers more halter tops; an open-work, sleeveless number; or a flowy beaded tunic, with a hemline that is shorter in front than the back. The closest to Celine womenswear is a collarless, round-neck jacket that is mirrored (akin to the Indian mirror embroidery known as abhala bharat), and accessorised with a giant, pink pussy bow, fastened high at the natural waist. Show notes from Celine informed us that "the emergence of a strong, utopian, and free artistic youth, from the area of 'Dimes Square' to the borders of Brooklyn, confirms the return of the New York scene". That perhaps explains why the collection is titled "Delusional Daydream". Hedi Slimane knows what he is talking about.
Screen shot (top): Celine/YouTube and photos: Celine
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