HEDI SLIMANE - RENEGADES OF FASHION

[Music] oh [Music] it's all a game and i think that's the way fashion should be for men it's like they take it so seriously because they think the meaning to anything you know that if you wear this and that you look like you're gay or if you do this or that it's really totally uh i find totally [ __ ] for over 20 years eddie sloman has rocked the fashion world bringing his obsession with music culture and pop icons into a new wave of designs that cross gender lines redefined the waist and place shoulder pads back on top try to explore what already exists in the in the streets which is a certain idea of wearing clothes of behaving this exists it's just trying to translate it through is it a new masculinity or is it just a pure masculinity no i think it's a it's an evolution of machines his love for androgyny led to an influx of men's style and the era of the skinny suit and tie was born sliman is a true artisan uncompromising to his vision which has been at the heart of his tumultuous ride the extreme highs and lows of his career from rebranding the house of eve sandleron to his next chapter at celine sliman continues to push buttons and boundaries in pursuit of the great design everything is new and in fact nothing is new nothing is new because like what we're trying to do on the grocery coastline is not trained to be modern to be modern i try to be young just to be young it's really much like trained to be stan o'hara eddie suleman had been designing at eth san leron for three years before the house of gucci acquired it he had arrived almost by accident his work as a louis vuitton assistant had drawn the attention of the san loron ceo pierre beijer who tapped him as the man to turn around the moribund fortunes of their menswear line sliman had just begun to find his signature style when gucci led by their hallowed creative director tom ford stormed the offices of ysl ford had been raised to deity status by reversing the fortunes of the flagging italian label now he looked to do the same for the french at yves saint laurent i think probably 90 of my success is my drive there are a lot of designers who are maybe more creative but maybe they don't work as hard maybe they don't have my drive when i was hired in 1990 at gucci the company was in such bad shape by 1993-94 we were almost bankrupt by that time i had assumed the role of design director and the businessmen who were running the company at the time were spending all their energy focusing on how to break the company apart what to do with it so i had this moment where i was in complete creative control and i could do whatever i thought was right for gucci so i designed a collection that was very very different than anything gucci had ever done i also had at that time in my contract the stipulation that i was not allowed to speak to the press that i was not allowed to publicly be the face of gucci that i was not allowed to step out on the runway uh i broke all those rules i did a collection that i believed in i sent it down the runway and at the end i stepped out on the runway there was a huge amount of excitement both in the press and from buyers and buyers started buying the collection so immediately six months later those clothes were in the store and they started sell and then i had another collection luckily it was a hit and another collection luckily it was a hit and our sales really started to take off you know they were doubling and doubling and doubling and doubling by 1999 we were very successful and so we bought epsilon ford insisted that all san laurent designers report directly to him creating a new and unfamiliar hierarchy that sliman could not abide after a single disastrous meeting with ford suman walked out on ysl and the golden ticket he had stumbled across three years prior it seemed insane to many and rightfully so who was slimmer a three-year veteran of design to question the messianic and unparalleled wisdom of tom ford in time we know the answer hedy sliman is a creature entirely unto himself a forced majora of fashion whose fascination with rock and roll iconography permanently shifted menswear and with it the cultural perception of what an ideal man could be like the rock gods of old he so idolized who could come to idolize him in return capitulation is simply not a part of his build it is and always has been eddie's way or the highway [Music] i don't want to live i don't like to defend things this is what you mean when you said automatic writing you mean something that just happened something you have to do this assembled with a mantra for me i don't like to define there's no i like it it's very open the world is full of people who want to define it for you that's everybody wants to define yes eddie sliman was born july 5th 1968. the son of a tunisian father and italian mother he was raised in the pleasant but unremarkable suburbs of paris with a name directly lifted from the traditional heidi and the gradual emergence of his svelte frame and pronounced almost feminine facial features sliman always expected his perception of genders would be slightly out of focus but at an early age he discovered a cultural respite from the generic machismo of mainstream society sliman was six years old when he received his first record a live recording of david bowie produced as he tore headlong into his thin white duke face the album was universally panned mick jagger went so far as to claim that if he got the kind of reviews david live did he would honestly never record again but for slimming it opened the door to a lifelong love affair with rock and roll seeing the pale disheveled bowie on the front cover allowed him to feel at ease with the idea of femininity within masculinity a concerted interest in his later work as a designer whilst leman became interested in a wide range of rock sub-genres including the rolling stones and the clash two bands he would later design for he has stated that glam rock is the most significant influence for the future in both design and photography buying clothes for his hollow silhouette proved a near impossible task and so at the age of 16 sliman borrowed his mother's sewing machine and began to design his own being svelte he discovered had its advantages i always thought clothes look better on a lean figure life was not that unfair after all there was a future for skinny people after high school slimming studied art history at the l'ecole du louvre in paris using his free time to help friends on fashion shoots as a freelance director and casting scout there were also early aspirations to become a reporter but he put them aside to spend three memorable but destitute years in new york during the early 90s his first big break came in 1992 when lvmh consultant jacques picard spotted him and on a hunch hired him as an assistant together they worked on the project monogram canvas for louis vuitton recruiting seven of the most influential designers in the world including helmut lang manolo blahnik and vivian westwood to reinterpret the iconic monogram design in celebration of its centenary picar was one of the first to encourage slimming to become a designer after three years as an assistant such an opportunity arose in the form of yves saint laurent pierre belgae ceo of ysl at the time and the stalwart companion of the man for whom the brand is named had heard of sliman through reputation and despite his lack of design experience deemed him the perfect man to revive the fortunes of ysl menswear milan was menswear and french houses were not interested in men's fashion zliman has said to hire me was an insignificant decision if you think of it in concrete terms from a different perspective i really had as a kid a natural attraction to the house of saint laurent and when pierre beijer took the chance i thought i was extremely blessed sliman admits to initially being petrified of the daunting task ahead of him walking on tiptoes for many a month until he grew more comfortable in his role yves saint laurent himself attended the debut menswear show in 1996 bestowing his blessing by enthusiastically applauding the collection from his seat in the front row sliman was named the men's artistic director of ysl the following year his confidence as a designer grew with each passing collection culminating in the black tie collection that debuted in january 2001 the foreshadowing of his skinny silhouette designs that could later come to dominate the male fashion world it was the last collection he would design for ysl for over a decade in the ensuing months sliman would reject the stringent authority of tom ford and abandon the label he helped to redefine sliman absconded from paris despite it being his home he had never felt comfortable there a move to the progressive scene of berlin for two years where he took up residence at the kunstwerker institute for contemporary art it was during this time in berlin that slaman began to seriously indulge his burgeoning passion for photography he took pictures of the locals and street kids with a unique flair for style and perhaps most importantly to his later work as a music photographer he began to document the underground dance club scene that berlin is famed for the photographs were eventually released to the public through an exhibition and sliman's first book the appropriately titled berlin sliman's respite from the fashion world was a short one during his time in germany he was offered the creative directorship of jill sander but turned it down to accept a position at the head of the christian dior menswear line it was during his time at dior that sliman redefined the contemporary masculine concept and elevated himself to a position resembling cult fanaticism in the process it was really about culture for man which is a definition i started really when i was at san juan seven years ago and i sort of moved on from inside id and from that technique and i wanted to come back to it vision is definitely different than everyone else's it's just very heady it's flawless celebrity clientele began to clamour for sliman's designs brad pitt asked the designer to create the suit for his wedding to jennifer aniston the next year dior saw their profits rise by 41 after attracting the attention of cultural taste makers it became inevitable that the mainstream would follow suit the traditional adonis perception of masculinity was tilted on its axis displaced by a lighter and more feminine body type exemplified by men like jared leto and orlando bloom it wasn't just the men either despite exclusively designing menswear sliman began to draw female wearers like madonna and nicole kidman women for whom his slender designs transferred across gender lines in 2002 sliman became the first menswear designer to win the coveted cfda award for the international designer david bowie whom slimming now dressed for tours presented him with the award he brought to men's collection the smoldering androgyny a mysterious sexual allure [Applause] that had always been the exclusive provenance of the women's collection thank you so much for your support that's all i can say the move to dior had clearly been a masterful one for slimming yves saint laurent by contrast was imploding despite the guidance of the venerable tom ford the company was losing tens of millions of dollars a year their collections in a creative slump rumors swirled of incessant turbulence within the ysl camp sliman however could seemingly do no wrong his three great creative passions music photography and design were becoming seemingly inseparable from one another i mean music has been always so inspiring fashion but the time is like late 70s i would say when tank emerged in england i think in england right now it's really much what's happening and it's like a total new generation taking over and i spend a lot of time there and this is the people i see so what eddie has done with his career is he hasn't played in a band but he's essentially made a context for himself which is like everything except playing in a band he's a quintessential designer as rock star one of his most celebrated photography books london birth of a cult captured the resurgence of the british rock scene in all of its disturbed destructive glory the book centers around libertines and baby shambles frontman pete docherty perhaps best known to the fashion world as the drug-addled former paramour of model kate moss sliman followed dougherty for over a year chronicling the musician and his signature flair the press would come to describe a skank sheep [Music] [Music] the london underground came to strongly influence his designs and shows as former band manager alan mcgee attested every [ __ ] model looked like a liberty it wasn't just docherty sliman had an uncanny ability to befriend the most influential rock stars on the planet mick jagger and david bowie rest in his personal rolodex so too do courtney love and thomas mars of french band phoenix the designer has dressed everyone from jack white to franz ferdinand to paul simonen of seminole pal bend the clash the key to his popularity authenticity eddie's things are very simple but with great detail and they're very classic so it means you can wear them from season to season i think that's very important he doesn't change too quickly but he's probably the most [Music] the fabrics and the way he cuts and the details and the bijou a thousand different pieces of jewelry i like that saman prides himself at being on the precipice of the rock movement his celebrated shows are almost painfully cool ultra modern extravaganzas scored by the buzziest of both unknown and iconic bands with set designs plucked directly from the youth culture of whatever city he finds himself entrenched in at the time it's an aesthetic that extends to his audience more often packed with skeletal musical misfits than the couture designs and haughty critics that so often dominate other collection unveilings yet sliman is something of an anomaly within the culture he adores so much he doesn't drink smoke or take drugs preferring to consecrate those who do his demeanor from every indication is that of a shy genial man whose immaculate politeness stands in stark contrast to the template of both the fashion and music industries two avenues hardly renowned for their abundance of healthy egos there is one area beyond the commonality of creativity that slemen shares with many of his rock and roll idols perfectionism every aspect of his collections from conceptualization down to the design lighting and casting of his stage shows is overseen by sliman with a quibbling sensibility that borders on the slaman has distinguished himself from other designers for his parchant of casting unknowns and non-professionals in his shows he will often draft band members to represent his designs or otherwise scour the streets looking for just the right personality to mesh with a collection a process he refers to as boy safari boys girls boys girls the guys were chosen they were sort of a street casting a lot of them some of them are models but he wanted them to look like themselves and they're kind of i don't know if they're skaters or or you know they're kind of punks i love that kind of dandy that kind of grotesque dandy look and that's what it was for me i wish more people to take a chance to make clothes like that like every other element of his creative process he is reluctant to define the essence of his casting you sort of know if it's working or not his glibly remarked in the past but based on his track record slimen prefers his models tall lean and slightly androgynous not overly dissimilar from himself no one can fault sliman on his creations his perfectionist streak and myopic vision for fashion has resulted in a cultural shift in menswear that continues to this day but such vision often acts as a double-edged sword his unwillingness to compromise for all of its vaulted genius has been the root cause of every major controversy in his career sliman was becoming restless towards the end of his tenure deal his contract with the label had expired in 2006 and he wished to spend more time pursuing his extracurricular passions not only photography but also architectural spaces and art projects in which he had dabbled over the previous few years dior bent over backwards to accommodate him negotiating a non-exclusive contract that would free sliman from the endless cycle of collections and give him more time to pursue his outside interests whilst he accepted the new contract sliman remained discontent he was unhappy with the direction the menswear line was taking and a proposal for his own signature label one that would allow him to design women's wear for the first time was wholly unsatisfactory in his eyes negotiations broke down a year after signing his non-exclusive contract bernard arno the chairman of lvmh told slimming to come back to reality slime would do no such thing releasing a statement that said there are areas i will not compromise at all when it comes to my work for the second time in his career slaman walked away from the world of fashion this time however his sabbatical would not last months but years relocating from europe to the semi underground of the los angeles music scene california was in the early stages of a rock and roll renaissance at the time independent label burger records had just formed and was encouraging a new wave of psych surf and punk rock exemplified by bands like hunks and his punks mystic graves and the garden slimman was there to capture it all on camera immersing himself in the scene for five years even after returning to fashion he chose to remain in la his time in the underground would later be collaborated into the exhibition sonic a photographic chronicling of rock and roll culture since the late 50s sonic ran the gamut of his experiences in berlin london new york and los angeles his grainy black and white photos capturing the essence of rock and roll grimy venues replete with spilled drinks and sweat the raw energy and anger of the fans the youthful eternal call of the bands regardless of age and era it was an essence that reflected his design philosophy sliman has described his work as a reflection of the transient age between childhood and adulthood what most of us would colloquially describe as being a teenager that same ethos is at the core of rock and roll there will always be disenfranchised youths trying to find their friends trying to find their place according to burger records co-founder lee rickard slimann certainly had friends during his self-imposed exile he shot portraits of celebrities as diverse as amy winehouse lady gaga gisele bunchen and robert de niro his place however proved to be more elusive sliman continued to keep a weather eye on the world of fashion consistently toying with the idea of returning to the field in which he made his name many within the fashion industry were less than inviting sliman had managed to burn a number of important bridges on his way out that to this day remain unrepaired carl lagerfeld who once included sliman in his entourage and famously lost 10 kilos to fit the new slim dictum of dior stopped wearing his clothes jean-jacques picard the man who initially encouraged slimming to become a designer in the first place had fallen into bad terms with his former assistant when the disgraced john gagliano was excommunicated from dior in 2011 rumors swirled of a triumphant return from slimean but his perfection again got the better of him and the label refused to acquiesce to demands that included even more creative control and a worldwide refurbishment of every dior boutique store and outlet but there was one influential figure from sliman's past who remains steadfast in his corner pierre berger the man behind the curtain at yves saint laurent ysl had continued to struggle through the years sliman designed at dior tom ford had left the label in 2004 after the pressure of designing for ysl and gucci simultaneously proved too demanding to say nothing of his notoriously frosty relationship with yves sandleron himself who felt the changes ford made were an insult to the legacy of his label stefano pilati head of ysl's ready to wear department inherited the mantle of the creative director it took six slow years but pilate managed to pull the company out of freefall through his successful accessory designs his collections however were hit and miss some were beloved by critics and celebrities alike while others barely registered on the fashion radar for yves saint laurent the designs were simply not up to scratch some of it is good some of it is not so good he wants remarks of his pilates work belgae agreed with his longtime partner going so far as to purposefully remove him from the guest list of a ysl retrospective in 2010. making matters worse were the rumors floating through the fashion industry the pilates head was perennially due to role for months there was speculation that rath simmons would be replacing the deposed pilates when his inevitable resignation came about the rumors as always were half right hilati was gone by early 2012 but it would not be simmons that replaced him instead it was slimmer while belgiue who had not been ceo at ysl since 2002 despite retaining serious clout claims he never actively championed slimming for the role of creative director it was a perfect match so [Music] i gotta try you girl wonderful extravener amazing i love the show the greatest show i've ever seen since sunderland's day not everyone saw the recruitment from berger's point of view sliman had lost favor with the critics who so adored him during his time at dior when he sauntered into the house of leaf celeron and began to make sweeping changes many saw the opportunity to fashion their pens into pitchforks under the perfectionist dictum of sliman stores were refitted to his specifications the headquarters were relocated from paris to los angeles and perhaps most blasphemous of all eaves was dropped from the name of the label critics demanded an explanation but sliman remained silent on the changes tensions mounted between the media and slamman in the lead up to his debut collection with newly christened san leron paris especially when told of their requirements for entry into the show only approved photos of slimming could be used in conjunction with articles the brand was never to be referred to as its former name and unlike the majority of designers sliman would neither be providing references for his collection nor would he be speaking to the media after the show sliman had undoubtedly earned the near unanimous ire of critics across the world but fashion aficionados were more optimistic there was tremendous hype surrounding the debut women's wear collection of sandler on paris the first slim man had designed in his career he had stiff competition raf simmons who had stepped into the creative directorship of dior following the departure of john galliano unveiled his first collection just prior to the san loron paris show to thunderous applause the fashion world expected sliman to receive the same rapturous reception but it never came his debut collection was intended as a retrospective nod to the past works of yves saint laurent a way of acknowledging the past before moving the label into the present embroidered chiffon blouses and ruffled capelets flared dresses and gold sequined cardigan jackets all evoked a distinctly seventies touch contemporized with a leathery touch of rock and roll and the slimeand staple of the uncannily thin construction i like it very much and suddenly we have sano after so many so many years it was so difficult and i was always back and i'm very very happy i think it's marvelous it's a genius there seems to be a real sexy tendency this season no and what i think is that there's a lot of things that a lot of girls would love to wear tomorrow like edmond said oh my god they saw me i want it all i think it was marvelous fantastic completely in the amazon style and so it's really respected the celeron so it's perfect [Music] there were a number of noteworthy names in salman's corner following the show an eclectic gaggle including anna wintour lady gaga and kate moss found the collection enchanting designer diane von furstenberg was old enough to have seen the debut collection of yves saint laurent and found it beautiful i thought it was pure saint laurent and i recognized my youth she gushed but to the great delight of critics the collection failed to connect with a wider audience the business of fashion website wrote that the game was up the moment they heard the somewhat muted applause and hushed voices after the show what was most surprising concluded esteemed reporter lisa armstrong was how unsurprising it was others were less kind the lack of professional courtesy smacked of ignorance or arrogance wrote new york times critic catherine horan i had the impression from the clothes of someone disconnected from fashion of the past several years [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Fashion Industry Broadcast

Views: 178,552

Keywords: HEDI SLIMANE, REI KAWAKUBO, JEREMY SCOTT, RENEGADES OF FASHION, NETFLIX, VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Id: ZEBDzWiuYtw

Length: 29min 45sec (1785 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 22 2019