So the story goes, in 1971, Céline Vipiana found herself momentarily stranded on Place de l’Étoile after her car broke down at the busy Paris junction that houses the Arc de Triomphe. It would prove a lucky coincidence for Vipiana, who founded eponymous French fashion house Celine in 1945, the brief diversion making her notice the distinct decorative motif adorning the chain-link fence that loops around the Parisian landmark. A version of the design would soon become the Celine monogram, decorating handbags, buckles and scarves, which were quickly adopted by the city’s bourgeoisie.
Over half a century on, the ’Triomphe’ monogram continues to be an emblem for the house, reintroduced by Hedi Slimane, whose tenure began in 2018 (the French designer says he reimagined the monogram on his first day). Now, his streamlined, modernist version is perhaps best known for appearing on the house’s ‘Triomphe’ bag, which in its various iterations ‘embodies the very essence and values of the couture house’, appearing time and again in Slimane’s collections.
Hedi Slimane reveals Celine A/W 2024 womenswear collection
Released today (12 March) in a short film directed and conceived by the designer (watch it below), Slimane’s A/W 2024 womenswear collection is titled ‘La Collection de l’Arc de Triomphe’, celebrating the house’s spiritual roots in the monument. Filmed in several of Paris’ landmark art deco interiors – among them Salle Pleyel theatre, Maison de la Chimie conference centre, and Musée Bourdelle and Musée des Arts Décoratifs galleries – alongside flashes of the Arc de Triomphe, the collection also reveals a first glimpse at Celine Beauté, which launches in autumn 2024.
The launch, which follows the debut of Celine’s Haute Parfumerie collection in 2019, marks the first cosmetic line in the house’s history. Here, models wear one of the 15 shades of the ’Le Rouge Celine’ lipstick range that be available in 2025 (the shade used is ‘La Peau Nue’, which translates to ’naked skin’), while the Celine Beauté line will launch this autumn with a satin lipstick shade ‘Rouge Triomphe’. A sleek, faceted gold case engraved with the ’Triomphe’ monogram continues the much-coveted aesthetic of the house’s Haute Parfumerie collection, which draws inspiration from traditional Parisian apothecaries (a recent bath and body launch from the collection was named by Wallpaper’s beauty and grooming editor as some of the best beauty packaging of 2023).
The collection itself looks back to the house’s 1960s heyday with a sleek collection of abbreviated skirts, coordinated nipped tailoring and moulded felt hats which recall those by the era’s ‘Space Age’ designers, like André Courrèges and Pierre Cardin (notably, no trousers feature in the collection). Meanwhile, a Parisian insouciance is conjured in chubby faux fur jackets, polka-top blouses and chunky, round-toed Mary Janes. Other looks are an expression of the Celine couture atelier, whether dramatic pussy-bow fastenings, sculptural baby-doll dresses or flourishes of embellishment, from swathes of jewellery-like crystal adornment to plumes of feathers and raised floral appliqué (out of the collection, 20 looks are from the house’s haute couture line). Bags include the ‘Nino’, ‘Terence’ and ‘Garance’ bags, each a riff on the ladylike top-handle handbag and complete with ’Triomphe’ monogram clasp.
The collection is dedicated to the photographer Richard Avedon, with whom Slimane collaborated Dior Homme campaigns during his tenure at the house in the 2000s. ’A friend and mentor’, he describes of the late American photographer, whose humanistic portraiture – which combined formal simplicity with a poetic majesty – no doubt influenced Slimane’s own prolific photographic oeuvre, which runs concurrent to his work in design.
