01IF YOU WORE SKINNY JEANS OR A SLIM BLACK SUIT ANYTIME IN THE PAST
TWENTY YEARS, YOU WERE FOLLOWING HEDI SLIMANE. AT DIOR HOMME IN
2000, HE SHRANK THE MALE SILHOUETTE TO A RAZOR AND CHANGED HOW A
GENERATION OF MEN, AND THEIR ROCK STARS, DRESSED.
02IT WAS A REVOLUTION IN CUT. SLIMANE'S 'BLACK TIE' LINE PUT MEN IN
HYPER-SLIM TAILORING: NARROW SHOULDERS, CIGARETTE TROUSERS, A LEAN
ROCK-AND-ROLL LINE. KARL LAGERFELD FAMOUSLY LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT
JUST TO WEAR IT. THE SKINNY SILHOUETTE RULED MENSWEAR FOR A DECADE.
03HE DID IT AGAIN, AND AGAIN. SLIMANE REBUILT SAINT LAURENT FROM 2012,
STRIPPING IT BACK TO SKINNY ROCK GLAMOUR, THEN TOOK CELINE FROM
2018 AND DID MUCH THE SAME. EACH TIME, CRITICS HOWLED, SALES SOARED,
AND RIVALS QUIETLY COPIED THE LINE.
04AND HE IS AS MUCH PHOTOGRAPHER AS DESIGNER. SLIMANE SHOOTS HIS OWN
CAMPAIGNS, IN STARK BLACK AND WHITE, AND HAS PUBLISHED BOOKS OF
MUSIC AND YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHY. HIS FASHION AND HIS PICTURES ARE ONE
PROJECT: A LEAN, NOCTURNAL, ROCK-CLUB VISION OF COOL.
05HE IS ALSO FAMOUSLY PRIVATE. SLIMANE RARELY GIVES INTERVIEWS,
CONTROLS EVERY DETAIL OF HIS WORLD, AND LETS THE AESTHETIC, NOT THE
PERSONALITY, DO THE TALKING. TOTAL CONTROL IS THE POINT: ONE MOOD,
EXECUTED WITHOUT COMPROMISE, HOUSE AFTER HOUSE.
06THAT IS THE MYSTIQUE. FEW DESIGNERS HAVE IMPOSED A SINGLE
SILHOUETTE ON THE WORLD AS COMPLETELY AS SLIMANE, THREE TIMES OVER,
AT THREE HOUSES. YOU MAY NOT KNOW THE NAME. YOU HAVE ALMOST
CERTAINLY WORN THE LINE.