In 2018, French designer Hedi Slimane – creative director of Parisian house Celine – relocated from California to Ramatuelle, a picturesque hillside village on the Saint-Tropez peninsula in the south of France. The locale’s influence has seeped into his recent womenswear collections for the house, a so-called ‘French Riviera cycle’ of shows presented via short films shot in Monaco, Nice, and, most recently, Saint-Tropez.
‘For the past five years, the couturier has explored Saint-Tropez and a more general nostalgia for the French Riviera as a counterpoint to the Saint-Germain-des-Près codes of Celine,’ said the house on the presentation of the latter, which was captured on the town’s harbourside boulevard. Defined by its ‘sophisticated nonchalance’, the S/S 2023 collection’s insouciant spirit inspires Celine’s new Plein Soleil pop-up (May 17 – June 14, 2023) open this month in London’s Harrods.
Celine Plein Soleil at London’s Harrods
The wood-beamed space on the ground floor of the Knightsbridge department store – which takes over a section of the windows on Brompton Road – features pieces from the ‘La Collection de Saint-Tropez’ alongside a series of summertime ephemera, from wicker and raffia handbags and hats to ‘Art de Vivre’ pétanque sets, beach bats, and a jacquard deckchair (several of the pieces are exclusive to Harrods). A vast Celine-branded hammock, which hangs in the window, provides the space’s central feature.
Of the clothing, the house says that the various pieces were designed by Slimane to capture both uncomplicated beachside style and the more dressed-up Parisian codes for which the house is known. ‘The convergence of seaside and city is explored as a holistic wardrobe of silhouettes, replete with hand-crafted details, that is designed to be worn in the off-season as well as on the beach,’ says the house.
An accompanying campaign is photographed by Hedi Slimane in and around Saint-Tropez, featuring American model Quinn Elin Mora, a recent house muse. The Plein Soleil pop-up will be followed by the opening of a permanent Celine Haute Parfumerie space on June 14th.
Celine Plein Soleil is open at London’s Harrods from 17 May – 14 June 2023.
