Hedi Slimane is leaving Céline

Celine and Hedi Slimane are separating after a fruitful seven-year collaboration.

Celine's mother LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced his departure in a short statement.

“Under his creative and artistic leadership, Celine has experienced extraordinary growth and established itself as an iconic French couture house,” it said.

“Hedi Slimane's holistic vision, his ambition and his rigor have made it possible to redefine Céline's codes while reaffirming its feminine and Parisian roots,” it continues. “He has also remarkably enriched new areas for the Maison, such as men's silhouette, couture and haute perfumery. The extraordinary journey we have undertaken together over the last seven years has made Celine a house with an excellent foundation for the future.”

Celine declined further comment, including on her succession planning, as did Slimane.

The development adds to the climate of creative uncertainty and turmoil that pervades the industry, which is currently struggling with a decline in luxury consumption and consumer caution.

John Galliano at Maison Margiela, Jonathan Anderson at Loewe and Lucie and Luke Meier at Jil Sander will all reportedly have their employment contracts expiring before the end of the year or early 2025, according to market sources. There are also creative job offers at Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Jean Paul Gaultier.

WWD broke the news on April 24 that Céline was preparing for Slimane's possible departure and identifying a potential successor in Michael Rider, the creative director of Polo Ralph Lauren.

It would be a return to Celine for Rider, who spent a decade as ready-to-wear design director from 2008 to 2018, working under then-creative director Phoebe Philo.

It is understood that Rider has already moved to Paris but has kept a low profile. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Slimane's departure comes just three days after he debuted his Spring 2025 women's collection for Celine in a 10-minute film that aired on the brand's website and social channels.

It confirmed Slimane's reputation as a preeminent fashion designer, filmmaker and dream weaver, able to crystallize a style and present idealized images that are compelling and precise.

His women's collection film brought late French singers and fashion icons Juliette Gréco and Françoise Hardy to life with bushy bangs, heavy eyeliner, babydoll dresses and shapely tuxedos.

Meanwhile, his latest cardigan jackets, tweed suits, long necklaces and knee-covering skirts have reinforced the widespread belief in the industry that Slimane has the skill, aesthetic and vision to take on Chanel is currently looking for Virginie Viard's successor.

Chanel executives told WWD this week that the company isn't ready to announce its next creative leader — and that it isn't necessarily looking for a big-name designer.

As designer of Dior Homme between 2000 and 2007, Slimane cemented his reputation – and influenced men's tailoring for more than a decade. He then reinvented and revived the Kering-owned house Yves Saint Laurent, which he renamed Saint Laurent, in 2012 and 2016 – while maintaining close ties to the Arnault family, which controls LVMH and Dior.

His next step was not to learn immediately. He certainly has a track record of revitalizing a brand and then abandoning it at the height of its success.

In between, he also took long breaks to pursue his photography and art.

When Slimane took over design leadership at Celine, tasked with expanding the heritage brand into menswear, couture and fragrance, he took a different approach than his previous creative director, English designer Phoebe Philo.

“I'm thrilled, what a great choice,” Karl Lagerfeld, one of Slimane's most enthusiastic fans, said at the time of his appointment to WWD. “It’s going to be great.”

Slimane immediately gave Celine a touch of cool and youth by enlisting Blackpink's Lalisa Manobal and enlisting her to appear in one of his collection films during the coronavirus pandemic.

When she attended Slimane's Spring 2023 men's show for Céline along with BTS member Kim Tae-hyung, better known as V, and his best friend, actor Park Bo-gum, chaos ensued.

After a few aesthetic changes and Slimane spotting the Triomphe logo, Celine took off like a rocket, synonymous with cool, French girl style with a bourgeois twist.

He meticulously built Celine into a complete universe, adding stationery, headphones, pet accessories, other lifestyle products and Celine Beauté, the first cosmetics line in the house's history. Lipsticks were added recently and eyeliner is next.

The beauty line is an addition to Slimane's launch of the Celine Haute Parfumerie collection, which launched in 2019.

However, relations between Slimane and LVMH management are understood to be increasingly strained.

Still, it seems Slimane worked diligently until the end of his contract, releasing a 445-page hardcover book last week called “Celine Art Project,” detailing the 250 site-specific artworks Slimane designed for the brand's flagships has curated around the world.