Boys around me are still mourning about boring clothes at H&M and at elsewhere effordable places. But if I just mention the magic words
DIOR HOMME the boy's eyes will get watery and dreamy. No they are definitely not gay.
I always thought and still kind of think that male fashion is a hard thing to do. And I also agree with my dear friends that most of the things you can easily purchase are way too boring and simple.
The funny thing with this is this newborn interest some boys show concerning designer fashion. Yes the times are changing. I think I for myself have to stop thinking in this oldfashioned stereotype categories. And thats exactly what's happening with a lot of boys outside. They are fed up with what the industrie wants them to wear. They want the same freedom and creativity in clothing like us.
It's not just a retail problem it also became a true couture problem. And in the end it's them who set the course. The "
New Yorker" wrote two days ago: "Men’s fashion in Paris was moribund, but then Hedi Slimane came along."
But who is Hedi? Hedi Slimane came to Dior in 2002 to design their menswear collection. It is often said that he transformed the male silhouette.
Born in Paris, France in 1968 with a Tunisian father, an Italian mother and a Brazilian grandmother. His mother dressed all her kids in self-sewn clothes. And it was her who'd taught Little-Hedi his first sewing lessons. He once said in an interview that he always was lonesome cowboy, especially as a child he was the odd one.
The aforementioned "
New Yorker" described a quite funny scene in Hedis childhood concerning his influences reflected in his designs. Six-year-old Hedi sits on the floor in his room mooning over an album cover. It's 1974. He just got a birthday gift from a friend of his older sister:
David Bowie "David Live". "The friend, Véronique, likes to put on a blue jumpsuit and imitate Bowie. She does a good Mick Jagger, too. Slimane is captivated by her. He is also captivated by the album cover, which features a photograph of Bowie onstage, dressed in a powder-blue double-breasted suit: the jacket is cut short, with narrow but square shoulders, and the pants, although pleated and billowy in the legs, are tight at the crotch. Bowie looks bloodless and emaciated, well on his way to his 'Thin White Duke' phase, during which he subsisted, as he later said, on 'peppers, cocaine, and milk.'"
But 30 years later Slimane claims that he has no influences at all, he declares, "I have no nostalgia". Yeah, but sorry, taste has to come from somewhere...well...
Hedi actually studied art history and started his career at stylist José Lévy's. 1997 Yves Saint Laurent enganged the then 28-year-old Slimane as artistic director for his menswear. His creations were and still are revolutionary. He is famous for his slim silhouettes.
Oh that's funny: Slimane is famous for the slim. Well, I'm probably not the first one exploring this.
In 1999, as YSL is snapped up by the Gucci-Group, Slimane changed to Dior Homme becoming their Creative Director and Chefdesigner (what's this in English?). Three years later he became Designer of the Year.
And now he's famous and makes fabulous clothes a lot of boys make goo-goo eyes with. And then they cry because either they can't efford them or they are not skinny enough. Just look at Karl Lagerfeld. There are rumors about his turbo diet a few years ago. That he was just nearly starving to death to fit in slimanes slim outfit. Karl started with a tie, half a year later he fitted in a jacked and another half year later he could finally wear the famous slim Slimane pants.
Shocking news in the fashion world! Will Dior just let him go? Are they out of their mind? Vogue.co.uk wrote a few days ago that Hedi Slimane is having trouble renegotiating his contract. Salary demands are said to be the main stumbling block in the process, which sources say may lead to tension at the Dior Homme show in Paris on July 4. While fashion watchers would be as shocked to see Slimane, whose three-year contract is due to expire next month, leave the company as they were to see Gucci let Tom Ford go, it's rumoured that Dior has already set a contingency plan in place. A "wise" choice of replacement has apparently been lined up. According to WWD, the launch of Slimane's own womenswear line was another subject that caused heat at the negotiating table – though it is unsure whether the line would come under the Dior umbrella or be backed by another company.
