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- That day in march 2007
- Hedi’s legacy
- Fans galore
- Fashion without Slimane
- Hedi in the art world
- So what’s next?
That day in march 2007
Wherever I go with Jean François Lautard, a 27-year-old fashion professional I befriended a few years ago, girls and boys alike ask me the same question: “…mmm… is he single?”
Well, no wonder. Jean François’ pulchritude can hardly be denied: he boasts a childish face and stylish allure.
A dedicated follower of fashion with a strong penchant for Hedi Slimane’s clothes, Lautard does indeed embody a certain type of modern urban man, hovering at the elusive junction between coquettish and négligé, feminine and masculine, formal and sporty, bourgeois and rocker.
Even more remarkable than his looks are his phone conversations, during which he shares passionate and lucid insights on fashion - interspersed with narrations of his trysts with hip Parisian girls (yes, he is straight, and, by the way, not longer single).
But on March 29, 2007, his early morning phone call had a rather somber tone. “I don’t know what to say… I’m lost…”, he uttered dismally. This was his reaction to the news that had just been distributed over the wires, transmitted from fashionista to fashionista, and debated on fashion forums. An event the fashion industry had been dreading for a year, but somehow didn’t believe could happen. But it had: Hedi Slimane was leaving Dior Homme.
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Lautard was not alone in his bewilderment on that now-famous March day. Murphy Tansipek, a 35–year-old architect from Manilla, felt “disappointed” after reading about the news online. Kenzo King, an 18-year-old fashion student from London, was “totally outraged that such a motivator had decided to walk away from his creation”. Amaury Mkey, a French student, was at school in Paris, when the news appeared on his Blackberry. He couldn’t believe it. John Tan, a New York-based fashion stylist, was equally shocked. Actually, most people who had an inkling of what Slimane stood for in menswear were stunned.
“It was the end of an era”, Lautard reminisced last April over drinks in his ascetically-furnished, Slimanesque Paris apartment. “With his departure, people lost their references, and the only real menswear designer… OK, I don’t mean to exaggerate… but he was a pillar”.
It has now been a year since this powerful French designer left the august house of Dior, following disagreements with LVMH (Dior’s parent company) over the launch of a Hedi Slimane brand, which would have included womenswear. Since then, Kris Van Assche, a former Slimane assistant from Belgium, has already presented two collections under the Dior Homme label, to lukewarm reviews. Slimane himself has not remained idle: he traveled to the United States, exhibited his photographic work in European capitals, and sporadically shot spreads for glossy fashion magazines. He also keeps a photo diary on his website. He even gave interviews that hinted at an imminent return to fashion. But none of these activities seem to have quenched the fiery debate caused by last year’s departure from Dior. In private conversations and online fashion forums, people still discuss Slimane’s future, and, for that matter, fashion’s future. But what real consequences did this high-profile divorce have on his fans, and the whole fashion industry?
