Last night, Lady Gaga emerged in a leather coat and a boxy black bag with the twinkle of golden hardware. Quickly images zoomed across the web, not just because it’s one of America’s most famous singer-songwriters, but because from the crook of her elbow hung the world’s first look at Céline designed by Hedi Slimane.
Since the notoriously press-shy designer replaced Phoebe Philo as artistic, creative and image director of Céline in February, there has been constant speculation about what the label will look like. When he previously took the reigns at Yves Saint Laurent he made every effort to rebrand the storied house - beginning with renaming it, relocating it (from Paris to Cali) and refining it into the type of fodder fit for the scion of a rockstar. Fans of Philo’s Céline were divided over his appointment. Would he do the same to the famously sophisticated label? Would he move the atelier from the continent to SoCal?
After hours of speculation, Gaga’s stylist Tom Eerebout confirmed that this was, in fact, a Slimane design. ‘He gifted her the bag and it's the first one from his new collection’, he told Business of Fashion. He added that this design will be part of the label’s first collection, which will be presented this at Paris Fashion Week.
It’s not the first time Slimane has tapped Gaga to showcase his designed. In 2012, the singer was the first celebrity to get her hands on Saint Laurent’s SS14 collection.
With Slimane's first Céline first runway show just weeks away, get ready for the hype to reach fever pitch.