Hedi Slimane Knows We All Want to Dress Like Moody French Teens

The designer builds on his obsession with youth for Celine's Winter 2021 collection.

In an industry obsessed with youth, few designers have returned to the teenage daydream well as often — and as thoroughly — as Hedi Slimane, especially with his recent collections for Celine. For Summer 2021, he went all-in on TikTok culture, sending models racing around a track in Monaco wearing Gen-Z-ready, subtly-branded baseball caps and sports bras. But with Winter 2021, he's swinging back towards his '70s chic vision for Celine, merging those bon chic bon genre sensibilities with a sort of teenage rebellion.

There's not much by way of show notes beyond a few brief literary quotes and a line indicating that the collection, dubbed "Parade," is about "an utopian parade and melancholic daydream of youth interrupted." Set in the André le Nôtre gardens at the Vaux-le-Vicomte château (echoes of his sweeping Celine Homme "Teen Night Poem" collection, which took over Château de Chambord), models stomped across gravel in sturdy black boots worn under straight-legged denim and sweeping midi-skirts in plaids and florals. That relaxed sensibility is contrasted with oversized blazers and louche trench coats, sequined cardigans and tweed jackets over pussy-bow blouses and cropped turtlenecks. There are flashes of glamour in a pleated silver skirt or a sequined jogger, though it's not stuffy or serious in the styling. Even the finale look — a stiffly-shaped bell skirt in gold — is worn with a hoodie underneath a bomber jacket.

Slimane's greatest skill has been making youthful style feel attainable, even to his luxury audience. With a few tweaks, the Winter 2021 pieces would pair together in a C-suite boardroom just as well as they would running weekend errands on the streets of Paris.

Sure, these runway looks could be easily replicated with a few well-sourced vintage pieces — and there are some who might splash out on one of those baseball caps and imitate the rest through thrifting. But if you're fabulously wealthy, Slimane has done all the work of dressing like a moody French teen for you.

See images from the Celine Winter 2021 collection in the gallery below:

View the 22 images of this gallery on the original article

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