It's a Francis Ford Coppola moment. The director's “Megalopolis” premiered at Cannes last week, although Hedi Slimane was already tapping into Coppola's vibe earlier this year when he filmed his fall 2024 menswear collection.
Celine's art and image director created a stunning, melancholic 14-minute film filmed primarily in the Mojave Desert and soundtracked by Hector Berlioz's “Symphonie Fantastique.”
The grand, romantic piece of music captured the imagination of Slimane, then 11, and added resonance to this dramatic collection that unfolded in black, white and gray with flashes of gold and silver.
Slimane described it as his “return” to tailoring and it was packed with the slim silhouettes he has been making for decades, albeit with a more formal and gentlemanly edge. As always, they were just for the energetic crowd.
With the music of Berlioz (conducted by Leonard Bernstein) in the background, a set of black helicopters appeared, “Apocalypse Now” style, over the desert, but they were not in the attack.
Instead, one of them floated low to carry a Celine jukebox on a long road through the desert. The helicopters finally gave way to a caravan of black 1960s Cadillacs and a line of lonely-looking models walking down the road, some wearing wide-brimmed black preacher hats.
Despite the funereal atmosphere, the collection conveyed a fresh and youthful feeling. Slimane's jackets were slim and short, with shrunken sleeves that reached just above the wrist. Shirts had small white collars and ties were thin or stringy and knotted into a tight bow.
The designer said he was thinking of “1960s tailoring inspired by 19th-century Anglomania,” hence all the frock coats, three-button suits and vests hand-embroidered in silk, cashmere and vicuna.
It was difficult to see all those details on film and from such a distance, but you can't argue with Slimane, one of the most influential menswear designers of the new millennium. On the contrary, he also chooses to show his collections many months after the close of the European show weeks.
This collection will be available in store from mid-July.
Like any good director, Slimane also left room for some surprises. There were flashes of metallic detail: shiny coats with gold or silver studs made an impact on that lonely road, as did the sweep of a dark hooded cape covered in black sequins. He was ready for the romantic, the artist or the star ready to take a bow.
