Following his illustrious F/W 20 collection, Hedi Slimane presented his pandemic-era runway presentation for Celine’s S/S21 collection: “The Dancing Kid.” Slimane began formulating the concept for “The Dancing Kid” in December 2019 after meeting and photographing Tik Tok’s resident e-boy, Noen Eubanks, in London. When the world went into confinement due to COVID-19, he observed that the new generation of youth staved off boredom by using Tik Tok to dance and be creative. This further cemented Slimane’s conviction to develop “The Dancing Kid” collection. 

This collection marked a return to Slimane’s love for California youth subcultures in skateboarding & surfing. The show was dominated by punk rock styles with the color contrasted leather jackets as well as a few classic tailored looks to maintain continuity with the clientele that he has already established at Celine. “The Dancing Kid” is aimed at speaking to a new generation and market. Slimane has been often been crowned as one of the kings of commercial design, but his most recent collection further cements his ability to attract a wide range of consumers. While the Celine man has been more sophisticated and classic in the first four menswear collections, “The Dancing Kid” speaks to a much younger demographic than those addressed previously. While tailoring has been a crucial element of Celine’s menswear collections since Hedi assumed creative control in January 2018, Slimane has transitioned from developing vestiaire staples (which will carry over season-to-season) to designing for a generation that is beginning to find its voice. Demonstrating their faith in the creative engine that is Gen Z, Celine took to Tik Tok to Livestream and promote the collection brand-aligned influencers such as Noen Eubanks, Lil Huddy, Luv Anthony, and Curtis Roach. In addition to the new collection and marketing efforts, Hedi Slimane recruited Canadian Sri-Lankan born artist, Tiagz to create a 15-minute edit of his song “They Call Me Tiago”, one which initially went viral on Tik Tok. 

Some key takeaways from the show were the skater-inspired sneakers, the vibrant prints, the lacerated denim, variety of casual knitwear, and playful accessories like trucker hats, colorful beanies and mismatched dangly earrings. Hedi Slimane began designing and featuring lacerated/distressed denim in the early 2000’s at Dior Homme and more recently, at Saint Laurent. Distressed denim made a return in “The Dancing Kid,” which is an exciting and youthful introduction to the Celine Maison. The sneakers were also a point of emphasis for Slimane, who is not known for his hot-selling sneaker design like other brands within the group such as Dior Homme, but this collection would seem as a benchmark to move into that direction. The addition of accessible product categories such as trucker hats & dangly earrings will attract an aspiring & younger client to Celine.

This collection was the most diverse and progressive that we have seen from Slimane since his appointment at the French maison. His establishment of the menswear wardrobe rooted in 70’s Parisian culture has provided a strong enough foundation for Slimane to now depart and create something much more vibrant and modern. There is now no denying the massive influence and phenomenon that Tik Tok has had on the entire world, a reality shared by Hedi Slimane.