PARIS — Celine said on Wednesday it will sit out Paris Men’s Fashion Week this season, robbing the week of one of its major draws and signaling a change of strategy at the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned brand, which plans to stage a coed show in the spring instead.
A spokeswoman said the decision reflected the gender-fluid esthetic of creative director Hedi Slimane, who for his last men’s and women’s shows showed similar Seventies-inspired looks pairing flared jeans with tailored jackets, invoking the nonchalant attitude of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
Slimane could return to the men’s catwalk in June, whether in Paris or another location, the spokeswoman added, noting that the decision to hold a separate men’s show would be taken each season, depending on the direction of the collection. Fashion Network had initially reported the news, citing unnamed sources.
Slimane, who changed the face of men’s fashion with the skinny silhouettes he introduced during his tenure at Dior Homme, launched the category at Celine with his first men’s show for the brand in January.
While LVMH does not break out the performance of individual brands, chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony recently indicated that Celine has yet to reap the benefits of the full creative revamp instigated by Slimane, who recently launched his first fragrance collection for the house.
“The initial signs of clients’ response to the new offer are positive and particularly in terms of traffic, but yet it will take some quarters — and I don’t know how many — before the branding and the new products planned bear full fruit. I will probably make the same answer for a number of quarters,” he said after the group reported third-quarter results in October.
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The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body, late on Tuesday released the name of the new brands joining the men’s calendar this season, but won’t release the full provisional schedule for the men’s fall 2020 shows until Dec. 13.
Among the additions is British designer Craig Green, who usually presents his collections in London where he is based, save for his spring 2018 collection, which was unveiled at Pitti Uomo in Florence.
He will be joined by fellow London-based designer Kiko Kostadinov, who is also switching to Paris fashion week on the official schedule for presentations.
Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, creative directors of Nina Ricci, will be showing their first collection on the official schedule for Botter, the men’s wear brand they founded in 2017 and for which they won the 2018 Hyères fashion festival’s main prize.
Other names joining the Paris men’s wear calendar are Rochas Homme, under the creative direction of Federico Curradi; Los Angeles-based label Rhude, which made its Paris debut last season as part of the presentation schedule; and streetwear brand Casablanca.
Returning to the schedule are Jacquemus, who chose to present men’s and women’s together in a lavender field in June, and Givenchy. It will be Clare Waight Keller’s second standalone men’s show since the French house unveiled its spring 2020 collection at Pitti Uomo in June.