Classic: Hedi Slimane

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A new, occasional feature: classic flavours-of-the moment.

Hedi Slimane, previous designer for Christian Dior, was my FOTM in August 2006.

(from an email to my best friends entitled ‘Randolph Duke for Halston…was my other favourite childhood designer):

y, hedi slimane originated your haircut.  h.s. is the designer of dior homme (r. wainwright, whose new album is coming out next year!!!!!!!, is wearing d.h. by h.s. on the cover of interview)….dior homme is hands-down my favourite menswear…i would put all of my favourite men in dior homme (skinny pants, skinny ties, skinny jackets).s, franz ferdinand are devotees of dior homme as are orlando bloom and brad pitt.  apparently, he likes to cast skinny male models off the street….y, f, are you up for this? i was reading vanity fair yesterday, the best dressed issue, and i practically flipped out of my skin there was hedi slimane… i mean, honestly, i didn’t think he really existed or that he was young…i thought he was some karl lagerfeld guy…tres intriguing…so i have taken a break from obsessive googling of h.s. to write this email.  (seriously, prince ernst of hanover, best dressed?)

2 days later:

my hedi slimane fixation is starting to affect my work.  also my love of americanos.

the next day, in a email describing my typical day, entitled ‘atelier’:

2:00pm…l has come in [to my office] for lunch…try to find the details magazine profile of hedi slimane on google….check macy’s for intriguing blackwear….show disgust at ralph lauren’s boxy aesthetic at macy’s

7:30pm-.drive to —— walking track……..chat with mom for a few hundred yards, then begin to outpace her, listen to interpol’s antics, call —- and leave message, drink aforementioned seltzer, work on couture and ready-to-wear collections, decide to make a simple skirt with gorgeous lining, survey black options in my wardrobe, decide i need more shirts, imagine what hedi slimane’s purported women’s line might look like, think about what —- and i talked about, walk 2 miles…

a day later:

i’ve been woefully occupied by work, and still trying to figure out the proper pronounciation of “hedi”…..egads

two days after that:

also i was reading this article about hedi slimane (whose name is pronounced “edi sli-mahn” apparently…since i am american, i think i could americanize it to “hedi”….which is tres rock star)…oh it was “the new yorker” and the reporter remarked that HS looked like “the apotheosis of hedi-ness” and so i’ve been thinking about what “the apotheosis of Julian K.-ness” would be…my flexibility is up in yoga….i can put my heels down on the first pass in down dog, and i did shoulderstand twice this week

and

ps…the official hedi song is “this boy” by franz ferdinand

Finally, 19 days after Hedi-mania had commenced:

I was supposed to write this email finally explaining all the reasons why I love Hedi Slimane, and I’ll definitely get to that. I mean, seriously, when one starts getting sent HS care packages, well…

(it’s true; my gay best friend [GBF] mailed me an article from that fall’s Fashion Rocks with Hedi and Phoenix.)

GBF got so into Hedi that he was still talking about Hedi a month later, and I was just like, ‘wtf? hedi’s over.’ GBF also bought a pair of Dior jeans so…yeah, he definitely took it to the next level.

Well, the question still is: why did I love Hedi so much? Not to give anything away, but people who can pursue two interests successfully, multi-talented sincere people–they tend to intrigue me, if, as it always is with classic FOTMs,the timing is right and I identify with them or their values. Now I’m not a skinny gay Tunisian-French (Tunisia forever!) fashion designer who moonlights in photography, but (from emails)…

Hedi (in the Independent, 2004, bout his clothes): “No, it’s not meant to be sexy. I don’t like this idea of exhibitionism. Tarty. No, no, no. I like more the idea of attraction.”

and

Hedi again: “Yes, I had a happy childhood. It was very isolated – I was a really isolated kid. I was just like that.” A pause, and then he adds, “Actually, I was bored with being a child. I just couldn’t stand it. I had to be with grown- ups. Now, it’s fantastic, but then, I was bored and I couldn’t wait to do thing” (who does that sound like?)

also:

i don’t know why i always have the impulse to be completely unexpected…contrarian, even.  i really don’t like to be completely known. i love the element of surprise, but i hate being surprised.  i also can’t wait to wear plum nail polish….i know that much of this emphasis on fashion is a way to destress and be creative….

don’t forget:

[at a historical library with GBF] —- asked us what our interests were, and i said we were interested in fashion, so she unlocked the costume design cabinet for us, and pulled out a Vogue book and also some plates from the early 1900s (women would view the plates, and then have their dressmakers make up the dresses)…..i said that i was interested in learning more about construction and design, and she gave me the contact info of their program director, who in a previous life was a hat designer….

You know, this is all from the girl who sketched dress designs during sermons and watched ‘Style with Elsa Klensch’ religiously.

For further Hedi reference: A Giddy American Meets Hedi in the Grocery Store