French summer under the influence of 60’s by Hedi Slimane for Celine

It is on a Celine typewriter that a model with delicate hands adorned with jewels types the name of the fashion show: “A French summer”. This season again, to present Celine’s spring-summer collection, point of show with public and celebrities awaited by hordes of furious fans, but a sober and elegant video. Since confinement, Hedi Slimane, artistic director of the house, has had his models walk in exceptional places, French monuments such as the Hôtel de la Marine, the Invalides, the National Library, or, this time, the Château de Compiègne.

It is therefore in the cozy corridors of this former summer residence of the court, transformed by Louis VX, that the Celine models unveil the clothes inspired by the summers that the designer spent in Saint-Tropez, by his friendship with Juliette Gréco, and in general, by the 1960s. To the sound of Nico and the Velvet Underground, the models appear adorned with a silk headband and their eyes made up with a beautiful black line of eyeliner. They have a gentle, peaceful gait and sometimes leave the floor of the ballroom to stroll near the sheep in the gardens of the estate.

Ex-fan des sixties

The looks are imbued with the spirit of sixtieswithout ever falling into mothballed nostalgia. We find intertwined the wisdom of the young women of the yéyé years and the mischievous attitude of those who are nevertheless beginning to emancipate themselves. This duality comes to life in the form of little short sleeveless dresses, houndstooth suits, pleated skirt suits, shirts enhanced with a ribbon tied around the neck in a lavalier style, twin sets embroidered with sequins, but also short leather jackets, a leopard coat or a pair of cowboy boots.

There is Françoise Hardy in the models’ brown fringe and Jane Birkin in the crochet dresses. Certain exceptional pieces, such as silk dresses hand-embroidered with feathers, crystals, sequins and giant lacquered rhodoid flowers, were made in Celine’s couture workshops. The end of the video, in which the crystal chandeliers collapse, is like a metaphor for a multiple and abundant era, which continues to live in particular through tributes like the one delivered here with style and brio, Hedi Slimane for Celine .