Designer Hedi Slimane
The famous fashion designer Hedi Slimane has left the house of Celine, the brand, owned by the French group LVMH, announced on Wednesday, marking the latest departure of an artistic director within the luxury industry facing a marked slowdown.
“Under his artistic and creative direction, Celine has experienced exceptional growth and established itself as a key French fashion house,” the company said in a statement, released a few days after the brand’s filmed fashion show posted online on Sunday. during Fashion Week.
No details were provided on next steps for Hedi Slimane. The hypothesis of his departure had been raised by several specialized media in recent months. Hedi Slimane, who designed outfits for singer David Bowie and actor Brad Pitt, previously worked for LVMH’s Dior Homme unit in the 2000s.
The announcement comes as a number of fashion designers have changed jobs in recent months. The most coveted position, that of artistic director of Chanel, has still not been filled since the departure of Virginie Viard in June.
LVMH recruited Hedi Slimane as director of artistic creation and image of Celine in 2018. The CEO of the luxury giant Bernard Arnault then set ambitious goals for the brand, telling investors shortly after the arrival of Hedi Slimane that LVMH was targeting turnover growth of two billion to three billion euros in five years.
Although the group does not communicate the turnover of each of its brands, the growth in sales of its luxury products has generally slowed down significantly this year. Chinese buyers from the middle class have in fact delayed their purchases, due to the collapse of real estate and the instability of the job market.
The move follows other announcements from LVMH in recent days, particularly around its investment in Italian luxury down jacket brand Moncler, as well as the sale of streetwear brand Off-White, founded by Virgil Abloh , died in 2021.
The latter struggled to find a foothold, with consumers preferring products considered more discreet, a trend called “quiet luxury”.
(Written by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mimosa Spencer, Florence Loève for the French version, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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