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Slimane's Moment
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by: Gruber-FWD
Paris, Jan 28, 2001/ FWD/ --- There was a powerful smell of success after Hedi
Slimane's debut collection for Christian Dior here on Sunday.
In about 15 minutes flat, Slimane's lean, hard-hitting show transformed Dior Homme
into something it hasn't been in decades - hip.
Politically, the show was a stylistic shootout between fashion's two most powerful
conglomerates: LVMH, which controls Dior, and its rival Gucci, the owner of Yves
Saint Laurent, which Slimane fled last year on the arrival of the American Tom Ford as
creative director for the whole Gucci Group.
Inevitably, people compared Slimane's debut at Dior to Ford's debut at YSL the previous
evening, though it would be pointless to claim either one was better. But in terms of a
fashion moment, the weekend belonged to Slimane.
The show further exposed the battle within Saint Laurent between the old guard, which
still controls YSL haute couture, and the new Italian/American masters of the bulk of
the house. Smack in the middle of Slimane's front row sat Saint Laurent himself, along
with partner Pierre Berge and a YSL icon, actress Catherine Deneuve.
"He's formidable, formidable. What a pity Hedi didn't stay at YSL," sighed Saint Laurent,
whom Slimane embraced very publicly on the edge of the catwalk. A day before, Saint
Laurent didn't even deign to attend Ford's men's debut for YSL.
Tensions were even evident chez Dior. The house's couturier and womenswear designer
John Galliano, looking like a buffed blond D'Artagnan, escorted in Cate Blanchett,
who wore an extremely fetching mannish suit made in Galliano's Dior couture atelier.
Across the catwalk, several editors wore outfits from Slimane's last men's collection
for YSL.
The collection was a winner almost before the first outfit hit the catwalk in the
Botanic gallery of the Jardins des Plantes. You could feel Paris, Europe even, closing
its ranks behind Slimane. In the front-row sat famed former Culture Minister Jack Lang,
and backstage Karl Lagerfeld shot the proceedings in digital for Interview and Visionaire.
After midnight, in the aptly-named Museum of Money, Visionaire hosted the party of the
season with Slimane. A decidedly trim Lagerfeld, Galliano and his tresses and LVMH
patron Bernard Arnault and wife Helene mingled with the young Paris crowd as the
magnums of Moët Hennessy, another LVMH brand, flowed copiously.
Immediately after Slimane took his bow to a standing ovation, guests fought to get
backstage to congratulate the designer. A shoving match ensued as Slimane's mentor
Jean-Jacques Picart played the role of self-appointed gatekeeper.
Slimane chose exclusively pale adolescent models, with hot-tonged spiky hair jutting
out to the side. Many of them were unknown.
"It was a casting sauvage. I found the guys on trains, in cafes and on streets throughout
Europe," Slimane, who now lives part-time in Berlin, told FWD.
His models emerged from a long, black tunnel, their graphic silhouettes preceding them
on the catwalk. The clothes struck a neat balance between classic French taste and a
modern edge - one-button black pencil-thin suits over gray silk T-shirts, surgically
cut, glossy black leather trenches and lacquered white shirts. Slimane also took risks,
placing leather flower brooches on jackets and tops. It sounds foppish but it packed
real punch.
He even composed a new Dior silhouette of trim jackets with narrow, leather lapels
over slightly flared hipsters, which will be widely copied.
It didn't all work. Frankly, it was hard to envision many men wearing the sleeveless
cotton tops that dominated the finale. But overall this collection was a resounding
success, with Slimane wisely avoided re-shuffling his YSL ideas at Dior.
"There was no point in repeating myself," smiled Slimane, looking a little like Daniel
Day-Lewis in "The Last of the Mohicans," except in a very good suit.
Looks like Christian Dior is in for a hot, and very profitable, designer cohabitation at
the house.
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