NEWS FOLDER
Transmission & Savoir-faire
Designer – Fashion House Tandem
On one side, legendary fashion houses; on the other, a pool of creative talent. Between the two, a delicate equation, a subtle alchemy.
A subtle alchemy
One which enables our brands to constantly reinvent themselves, but never compromise their identity. At LVMH, it’s all about being avant-garde yet true to tradition – an ethos that requires visionaries who can stay a step ahead. When, back in 1996, the singular John Galliano was appointed Women’s Creative Director at Dior, it was a bold and historic move – for the first time, a designer was being asked, not merely to perpetuate the heritage of the original couturier, but to bring the Maison fresh creative energy.
It was the start of a new era, when creative directors would be expected to integrate the spirit, values and codes of a brand, achieving a subtle balance between “forever” and “now”, while at the same time imposing their own vision to create desire as never before. The challenge is to juggle long-term strategy and instant impact, especially in the world of fashion, with its notoriously fast cycles. Hence the merry-go-round of designers and fashion houses. Because designers too need to nurture themselves, to be nurtured and to nurture their creative vision. And what better way to do that than to be given a new territory to explore, an almost-blank page on which to write?
Hedi Slimane comes home
A case in point is the recent appointment of Hedi Slimane as Artistic Director of Celine, with the mission to extend the scope of the label to menswear, couture and fragrance. In the 2000s, he literally redrew the Dior Homme silhouette, asserting a sharp, close-fitting, minimalist line which revolutionized the way men dressed. All of a sudden, the suit, inspired by the Sixties’ New Wave, became alluring – a world away from its previous image of a dull, everyday uniform. Today, this resolutely cosmopolitan Frenchman, who divides his time between Paris and Los Angeles, is back at an LVMH Maison… after a decade spent sharpening his near-supernatural sense of the contemporary zeitgeist. A renowned photographer and music lover, he has produced a series of books and exhibitions with a particular focus on the punk-rock scene. Multi-faceted and multi-talented, fascinated by contemporary art, Hedi Slimane will bring his overarching esthetic vision to Celine, always guided by the history of the brand. His homecoming symbolizes the will to bring, via the creative genius of an artistic director, new momentum to an iconic fashion house.
A woman’s touch
Two LVMH Maisons have recently thrown open their doors to two exceptional women, whose vision and couture sensibility are challenging the codes previously established by an arguably more masculine idea of seduction. Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri is a true fashion feminist, armed with uncompromising savoir-faire and widely admired for her talent for fusing romance with modernity.