Hedi Slimane leaves Celine. He had doubled revenues

The farewell comes with the spotlight turned off, after Celine's spring summer 2025 fashion show held in Paris just two days ago: Hedi Slimane, creative director since 2018, is leaving the maison that belongs to the Lvmh group and whose brand he had helped to develop over the years and, according to third-party estimates, to double its revenues. Replacing him, as of January 2025, will be Michael Rider, former designer at Polo Ralph Lauren, who will have creative responsibility for all lines, from menswear to couture.

"Hedi Slimane's holistic vision, his exigency and his rigour have enabled Celine to redefine its codes, while reaffirming its feminine and Parisian roots. He has also significantly enriched new territories for the maison, such as the male silhouette, couture and haute parfumerie," reads the maison's statement.

Slimane, who was born in Paris to a Tunisian father and an Italian mother who was a seamstress, worked at Yves Saint Laurent and later directed the Christian Dior men's line, Dior Homme. In 2012, the return to Yves Saint Laurent, this time in the Kering galaxy: Slimane - together with Francesca Bellettini, then CEO of the brand and today deputy CEO of the entire luxury conglomerate, for which he is in charge of the development of all the brands - is the protagonist of the profound transformation of the brand founded by Yves, so much so that from then on it will be renamed simply Saint Laurent.

In 2018, his return to Lvmh, the world's leading luxury group, brought him to the creative helm of Celine. In his almost seven years at the helm, the maison has launched menswear, haute perfumery, and the beauty line and, according to estimates by Rbc Capital Markets, would have led the brand to a turnover of €2.5 billion (the Lvmh group does not release turnover figures segmented by brand, but only by division, ed.)

The future of this enfant prodige of French fashion - at only 27 years of age he was awarded Best Designer by the Cfda, it was 2002 - could be at the top of one of the French brands par excellence: Chanel. At least there the rumours would have it. The maison founded by Gabrielle Coco Chanel, in fact, has been without an artistic director since the departure of Virginie Viard who had taken over the reins after the death of Karl Lagerfeld. The separation took place last June.