In recent days, a rumor had begun to circulate that was bound to spark debate: LVMH was reportedly in talks with Hedi Slimane to bring him on as creative director of Louis Vuitton. According to the rumors, the designer might even have taken creative control of the entire fashion house, overcoming the current division between womenswear and menswear, which are currently led by Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams, respectively.
A radical change, one that had inevitably come as a surprise—though perhaps not entirely. Since leaving Celine, in fact, his name has periodically resurfaced at the center of the ever-shifting landscape of creative directors, linked over time to various fashion houses. While the fashion world continued to speculate about his possible return, he, meanwhile, continued to devote himself to photography—a discipline that has never been a separate realm from his work as a designer, but rather a fundamental part of the way he constructs images, characters, and imaginary worlds.
After all, to speak of Hedi Slimane is to speak of one of the designers who has most significantly contributed to redefining the aesthetics of contemporary fashion. And reducing his style to simply “rock” would be limiting. First and foremost, he changed the proportions of the men’s wardrobe, establishing a slim, sharp, and androgynous silhouette at Dior Homme in the early 2000s that would influence fashion far beyond the house’s borders. But above all, he has helped blur the line between fashion and culture: music, photography, nightlife, and youth subcultures have entered his work not merely as aesthetic references, but as parts of a single narrative. Over the years, he has applied this approach to very different fashion houses, from Saint Laurent to Celine, creating highly recognizable worlds each time.
That is precisely why the Louis Vuitton rumor had immediately caught people’s attention. In recent hours, however, LVMH decided to address the rumors directly through a statement released by its press office; the group led by Bernard Arnault denied any contact with the designer: “The LVMH Group formally denies any contact—even preliminary—with Hedi Slimane regarding a creative role at Louis Vuitton. The rumors circulating in the press are completely unfounded.”
[📸 Snapix]
