Céline becomes Celine as it enters Hedi Slimane era

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 3, 2018

Céline has lost its acute accent and is now simply 'Celine'. The LVMH group’s luxury Parisian label heralded the start of a new chapter in its history on its Instagram account, ushering in the era of Hedi Slimane, who was appointed last January as the creative director of all the label’s collections, including the future menswear line, haute couture and fragrances.

To mark this new departure, the label has hit the ‘reset’ button on everything, including its Instagram account, where the images posted by the previous creative director, Phoebe Philo, have been deleted. One image only can be now glimpsed on the label’s social media accounts and website: a sort of gold-coloured paper curtain, extending endlessly as we wait for the label’s new strategy to be unveiled, with the name CELINE in black capital letters on a white background, the first ‘e’ with no acute accent.

“The new logo is inspired by the historic logo of the 1960s, featuring a modernist lettering dating back to the 1930s. The accent on the first ‘e’ is gone, signalling a focus on pared-down purity, as in the collections of the 1960s,” explained the label in the Instagram post.

Is this a hint of the creative direction Hedi Slimane is about to take? At any rate, Slimane seems to be adopting a similar approach to the one he used when he relaunched Saint Laurent, whose name and logo he also modified. “The word ‘Paris’, ubiquitous in the past, will be an institutionalised presence on the label’s new packaging and in the new collections’ names,” added Celine, specifying that the word ‘Paris’ will instead not be featured on future advertising campaigns.
 

In parallel, Celine has advertised, indirectly yet very cleverly, its first item designed by Hedi Slimane, choosing Lady Gaga as the ambassador of its new handbag model.

The pop singer, a social media mega star with 29 million followers, visited Paris at the end of August and made sure she was seen sporting Celine’s smart, understated new black leather handbag. Enough to get the fashion world excited, as it awaits Celine’s first Hedi Slimane catwalk show, scheduled in Paris on the evening of Friday September 28.