Op-Ed: Hedi Slimane’s “Saint Celine” Destroyed Phoebe Philo’s Legacy

In the months after Hedi Slimane’s appointment at Celine in January this year and before his debut show with the brand in Paris last week, the fashion crowd had split into two camps: the ones who think Slimane is a real designer who possesses a modicum of respect for the house he has taken over, and those who have long believed that Slimane is a one-trick egomaniac hellbent on remaking the world in his own image, because that’s what egomaniacs do. For those of us in the latter camp, the Celine show held no surprises. We just shrugged our shoulders in that resigned “What did you expect?” manner amid handwringing from camp A. What we witnessed from Celine could have been Saint Laurent or, during the menswear part of the show, late Dior Homme under Slimane. No one would’ve known the difference. Read more at Highsnobiety.