Hedi Slimane's Boldest Moments That Shook The Fashion Industry

Hedi Slimane is a fashion designer and photographer, most recently known for his creative direction at Celine, a position that he left after his Spring/Summer 2025 collection. 

In 2000, Slimane snagged his first creative director role for Dior Homme, where he debuted his menswear skinny silhouettes, revolutionizing the rockstar subculture look to luxury fashion. The low-rise skinny jeans and fitted blazers in menswear were far from mainstream until Slimane brought the aesthetic into the spotlight. 

Critics and consumers were divided over Slimane’s work, with some advocating for it and some despising it. However, with this conversation around it, it only amplified his overall influence in the industry. Slimane became a designer to watch, consistently pushing boundaries in his unconventional and bold designs. 

After leaving Dior in 2007, Slimane took a five-year hiatus from design to focus on his photography before Yves Saint Laurent welcomed him as creative director in 2012 to oversee the men’s and women’s collections. And one of his first achievements at the label was changing the iconic YSL name and logo to Saint Laurent Paris. By dropping the Yves, it gave the ready-to-wear line a more youthful feel. 

But not only did he change one brand’s name, he later dropped the accent on the e in Céline when he joined as a creative director in 2018. Slimane continued making a statement with his designs and decisions. From altering brand names to concluding his latest chapter as a creative director, Slimane continued to make heads turn. 

L’OFFICIEL rounded up some of Slimane’s most viral and most controversial moments across all of his design work at Dior Homme, Saint Laurent, and Celine.

Ultra-Skinny Silhouettes

The Fall/Winter 2001 season was the first Dior Homme show for the renamed menswear line at Dior, and also marked Slimane’s creative director debut. This collection sparked widespread attention across the world, and not just because menswear at Dior was happening—rather, it was something rarely seen before. Taking the slim look of rockstar subculture to mainstream men’s fashion, these designs introduced the brand’s staple lean style with low-rise skinny jeans, snug blazers, and heeled boots that we continue to see traces of today in menswear. 

Though iconic in the eyes of today’s fashion crowd, at the time, it shook things up in the menswear industry. Slimane might’ve been highly controversial with his decisions, but he has continued to start conversations in and around fashion that have revolutionized the industry—and it all started with Slimane bringing gothic rock style to high-brow menswear. 

Brad Pitt’s Wedding Suit

Back in the 2000s, Slimane designed the one-and-only tuxedo seen on Brad Pitt during his wedding to Jennifer Aniston. Though the marriage ultimately ended in a rocky situation, the suit remains an iconic piece of pop culture history. Beyond being worn by Pitt, it was also the first piece that Slimane ever designed for Dior Homme. 

Pitt wore a four-buttoned, black tuxedo, with a skinny black tie that hinted at the slim and skinny style we would later see presented in the Dior Hommes Fall/Winter 2001 show. The tuxedo’s narrow lapels and fitted silhouette offered a glimpse into the rockstar fashion era Slimane was about to introduce.

YSL Became Saint Laurent Paris

When Slimane joined Yves Saint Laurent as creative director in 2012, he sought to reinvigorate the label in a young, contemporary image. With this in mind, he got rid of the Yves, which has been part of the brand name for 51 years since Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé founded the brand. He kept Saint Laurent, but added Paris to the name—to him, this move jumpstarted the label with a younger feel, which was the target for the ready-to-wear line. 

As one may assume, critics thought this change was disrespectful, especially since Yves Saint Laurent had only passed away four years prior in 2008. It sparked a lot of backlash, which resulted in conflicts with retailers. However, this decision ended up being a success as it gave the brand a youthful identity, which in turn increased sales, most predominantly from younger consumers.

From Céline to Celine

Slimane is most definitely a creature of habit, because after leaving Saint Laurent in 2016, he became creative director at Celine in 2018 and decided to once again change the brand’s name. However, this time it was a minor change. Slimane wanted to modernize the label, so he got rid of the accent on the e. This decision also coincided with the new menswear line he was introducing at the brand. Introducing a more balanced, modernized logo offered an edgier aesthetic that perfectly fit his staple designs.

Lady Gaga Debuts Celine Handbag in Paris

In August 2018, Lady Gaga was photographed with a mysterious handbag—now known to us as the Celine 16 bag—while visiting the Louvre. Later, she confirmed that Slimane had gifted the bag to her prior to his debut at Celine for the Spring/Summer 2019 ready-to-wear collection. With Lady Gaga walking around Paris with a sneak peek of Slimane’s new collection, it became the talk of the town. 

This stunt was a pivotal moment for the brand because it reminded people that there was a new creative director coming soon with a different aesthetic from the previous designer. Ultimately, Lady Gaga going about her day with a purse marked a strategic reintroduction to the Celine name, which set the tone for the collection Slimane debuted a month later.

Last Collection at Celine

As we all know, Matthieu Blazy became the creative director of Chanel in late 2024. However, there was a lot of speculation that Slimane was going to be the next designer at the French brand after his departure from Celine. 

Theories came to a head after the Spring/Summer 2025 Celine show, where many of the collection’s looks featured prominent tweed and pearl details. Plus, with classic looks like structured cropped blazers and matching knee-length skirts, the hints were there—if you were looking for them. 

Many critics and consumers alike associated Slimane’s final collection at Celine with Chanel’s emblematic, classic style of tweed, pearls, and a matching blazer and skirt set. Whether or not he was intentionally designing garments this way to cause speculation, Slimane most certainly caused a frenzy with who was to become the next Chanel creative director, taking over the iconic reins from the label’s recent line of leading designers.