Vow to retake fans from Saint Laurent Celine will join Paris Menswear Week

Fighting for another step in the opening of Saint Laurent, Celine, headed by Hedi Slimane, announced that he will join the men's week in Paris in January.

After launching the new "16" handbag this month, Celine's new creative director, Hedi Slimane, has a bold move. According to the Women's Daily, Celine will host the first independent menswear show in Paris during the men's week in January next year, which will be the re-release of Celine's new creative director, Hedi Slimane, following the release of the brand's first men's and women's show series on September 28. The men's collection shows that Hedi Slimane's emphasis on men's wear may also mean that Hedi Slimane will “grab his fans” step by step from Saint Laurent.

Since the beginning of this year, Hedi Slimane's every move has set off a wave of public opinion in the fashion circle and even social media. However, social media's evaluation of Hedi Slimane is polarized. People who support Hedi Slimane are still applauding, but at the same time, their doubts and criticisms have never stopped.

On the night of the catwalk on September 28th, fashion critics pointed out that Hedi Slimane's design was suspected of discriminating against women, and even more accused him of being “disgusting women” because the women in his designs always wore sexy decadent mini skirts and tights. Dresses, and this is liberating women with the former creative director Phoebe Philo, advocating comfort, elegance, and minimalist design aesthetics.

In fact, the biggest controversy since LVMH announced the change of Celine at the beginning of the year is in Hedi Slimane's strong personal style. At Celine's debut, the fashion collection designed by Hedi Slimane clearly continues the individual's unique dark rock style. Diet Prada, a well-known Instagram account for reporting industry design infringements, lists the design comparisons between this series and Hedi Slimane during the Saint Laurent period, saying the two are too similar. According to the fashion business news report, there are buyers who call the latest collections of the two brands Celine and Saint Laurent, all using the same rock, black and ultra-short elements, which caused some troubles for buyers to purchase.

But all this seems to be LVMH's intention.

As the fashion headline network analyzed earlier in the report, LVMH dared to attack the Celine for ten years, mainly to develop a "B plan", using the matrix cofferdam composed of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Celine Frequently provocative old rival Gucci parent company Kaiyun Group.

After all, Hedi Slimane's ability to promote the brand's profitability is obvious to all. Since he became creative director, Saint Laurent’s income has doubled in three years. Among them, accessories have become the cornerstone of the business, accounting for 66% of leather goods and footwear. In the four years of his term, Hedi Slimane helped the brand enter the $1 billion club.

However, in 2016, he and the Kaiyun Group turned against each other and twice sued the Kaiyun Group for claims. At the same time, he asked Kaiyun Group to give him the right to handle the shares of Saint Laurent held by him. After various news reports, Hedi Slimane pointed out that some reports were inaccurate and made four counter-attacks on Twitter. He emphasized that Saint Laurent would have such brilliant achievements under his leadership.

At the helm of Celine in February of this year, Hedi Slimane also made it clear that the newly added categories of men's and perfume accessories will be the key growth drivers, and will continue to develop leather goods such as handbags. LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said in a recent interview that he is very optimistic about Hedi Slimane, hoping that his participation will enable Celine to achieve at least 2 billion to 3 billion euros in five years.

The appointment of Hedi Slimane, LVMH's intentions is no longer obvious, because the enemy of the enemy is a friend. In other words, LVMH took Hedi Slimane to his knees, perhaps not taking Celine's brand tonality into consideration, more like vacating an open space, letting Hedi Slimane try every means to recapture his former congregation from Saint Laurent, Saint Laurent It is currently the second largest luxury brand of Kaiyun Group, but after all, Hedi Slimane is the pioneer of the brand's new style.

As for the original customers lost by Celine, LVMH is not worried. Givenchy, Loro Piana, Creative Director Clare Waight Keller, Givenchy, and designer brand JW Anderson all have a certain degree of retention for female consumers. Although this is not without risk, it is clear that LVMH is more willing to bet on the commercial return of Hedi Slimane.

It is worth noting that in June of this year, Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello also released the first individual men's collection since joining the brand in 2016. The move by Celine to Paris Menswear Week further demonstrates Hedi Slimane's ambition to capture the market share of the former menswear market. Some analysts believe that this move is a stone and two birds. While colliding with Saint Laurent, it has also increased Celine's exposure and topicality, attracting the attention of many customers and deepening consumers' memory of the brand.

From emptying the brand Instagram, changing the logo, putting preheated posters on the main street of the city, choosing to let Lady Gaga first expose the new handbags on social media, discontinuing the best-selling handbags Frame and Clasp, and joining Paris Menswear Week, Hedi Slimane every step Brought a high degree of discussion for the brand. Hedi Slimane ranks first in the "50 Most Influential French People in the World" list released by Vanity Fair.

It is worth noting that another LVMH brand Givenchy also announced the return to Paris Menswear Week. According to a survey released by data research institute L2, the demand for men's wear is continuing to grow. The men's wear market will exceed the women's wear market. The compound growth rate is expected to exceed 6% in the next two years. The luxury brand giant LVMH certainly does not. Will miss this growth opportunity.