Thursday, March 29, 2007

Au Revoir Monsieur Slimane

Contract talks between Hedi Slimane, former design leader at Dior Homme, have been up in questions for quite a while. Today, by Women's Wear Daily it has been confirmed that LVMH will not renew their contract with him. "The Hedi Days Are Over: LVMH Dumps Slimane, Van Assche Deal Near" The full details have yet to be released; however, ideologies are spreading that Hedi wanted a women's line and an excessive amount of money for his continuations which LVMH believed were out of proportion and wanted to add some new ingredients to spice up their collections.

Hedi's Response Posted at www.hedislimane.com:

I GUESS THIS WEBSITE COULD BE MY OWN TRIBUNE. ENGLISH IS NOT MY NATURAL

LANGUAGE, BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD WRITE THIS MYSELF. HOPEFULLY IT WILL MAKE

SENSE TO SOME, AND STRAIGHTEN SOME IMPRECISE RECORDS. I WAS SILENT FOR A

LONG TIME. I OBSERVED WITH INTEREST HOW BLURRY AND TWISTED EVERYTHING

HAS BECOME. I ALMOST FEEL LIKE I’M A STRANGER TO ALL THIS, AND TOTALLY

RELIEVED IT HAS FINALLY COME OUT.

IN JULY 2000, ALMOST 7 YEARS AGO, I JOINED CHRISTIAN DIOR AND STARTED TO

DEFINE DIOR HOMME. I CAME FROM SAINT LAURENT. I WAS A LITTLE MISERABLE AND

SAD OF THIS SUDDEN EXODUS, BUT THE IDEA OF STARTING EX-NIHILO A DIFFERENT

MASCULINE PROJECT AT DIOR WAS APPEALING. I’VE ALWAYS FELT FOR THIS

BEAUTIFUL HOUSE.

I BELIEVED DIOR HOMME, NEWLY CREATED, COULD BE A HOLISTIC PROJECT.

THROUGH THE YEARS I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO COLLABORATE WITH SO MANY

CREATIVE MINDS AND DEVELOP A COMMON SENSIBILITY. I WANT TO THANK THEM

ALL FOR A REALLY FRUITFUL COLLABORATION. IT WAS A TIME CAPSULE—7 YEARS

OF PRODUCING MUSIC, BANDS, ARCHITECTURAL SPACES, ART PROJECTS, AND

DESIGN. I GUESS I WAS SOLELY INTERESTED IN THE TIME I WAS IN, LIVING IN

COMPLETE MOVEMENT.

I ALWAYS TRIED TO STAY FAITHFUL TO MY BELIEFS, AND THE IDEAS I WAS

PURSUING. I TRIED NOT TO GET DISTRACTED. I HAD A CERTAIN IDEA OF THE HOUSE

OF DIOR, WHICH I LOVE, AND TRIED TO EXPRESS IT THROUGH DIFFERENT MEDIUMS. IT

WON’T BE FOR ME TO JUDGE IF IT WAS OF ANY RELEVANCE. I WAS JUST TRYING

SOMETHING.

I CANNOT THANK MY TEAM ENOUGH, MY STUDIO, AND MY ATELIER, WITH WHOM I

BUILT DIOR HOMME. IN SOME WAYS I FEEL IT IS THEM I HAVE LEFT, AND I WOULD

HOPE THEY WILL UNDERSTAND. I WANT THEM TO KNOW I LOVE EACH ONE OF THEM.

THEY WERE ALWAYS BY MY SIDE, AND ME BY THEIRS. WE HELPED EACH OTHER

THROUGH THE PROCESS OF DESIGN AND THE EXPECTATIONS. I ASSUME WE HAD THE

BEST TIME TOGETHER DESIGNING ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IN THIS TINY STUDIO.

I ALSO WANT TO THANK ALL THE BOYS THAT DID MY SHOWS AND THOSE I

PHOTOGRAPHED, THE ONES I FOUND RANDOMLY AND ALL THE OTHERS. THEY HAVE

BEEN A STRONG INSPIRATION–IF NOT THE ONLY ONE–AND THE REASON WHY I

DESIGNED THE CLOTHES. I LIKED NOTHING MORE THAN SEEING THEM TAKING OVER

THE SHOWS AND MAKING THE CLOTHES THEIR OWN.

I WANT TO THANK ALL THE MUSICIANS I WORKED WITH, THE ONES I DRESSED, THE

ONES I PHOTOGRAPHED, AND THE ONES THAT COMPOSED MUSIC FOR ME. I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BIRTH OF THIS NEW SCENE, WHICH I GUESS HAD A LOT TO DO WITH THE SILHOUETTE I WAS TRYING TO CREATE. I ALWAYS HAVE THIS GENERATION IN MIND, AND I GUESS I’M STAYING BY ITS SIDE. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THE BOYS AND GIRLS WHO FELT IT.

I WANT TO THANK ALL THE PEOPLE THAT MANUFACTURED MY DESIGNS

WITH SO MUCH CARE AND PRECISION, THE TEAMS THAT CARRIED THIS

PROJECT INTO STORES, AS WELL AS THE RETAILERS THAT SUPPORTED MY

COLLECTIONS.

I WANT TO THANK BERNARD ARNAULT, WHO TRUSTED ME WITH THIS PROJECT. I WAS

REALLY BLESSED TO BE ABLE TO DEVELOP IT. I HOPE HE WILL UNDERSTAND MY

POSITION AND DECISION, IF NOT NOW, THEN HOPEFULLY WITH SOME TIME.

CLOSE TO A YEAR AGO, MORE PRECISELY LAST JULY, AT THE END OF MY CONTRACT,

I FELT IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO MAKE A MAJOR CHANGE, AND LEAVE THE COMPANY.

I HAD ALREADY SET UP THE PRINCIPLES THAT COULD CONTINUE TO BE THERE FOR DIOR HOMME. AS FOR MY OWN STYLE AND AESTHETIC, I DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO SEPARATE THE 2.

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT A PROPOSAL CAME TO ME TO START A NEW HOUSE UNDER MY NAME IF I STAYED WITH DIOR HOMME.

I TRIED TO MAKE THINGS WORK FOR ABOUT A YEAR. HOWEVER, I HAD THE FEELING IT WAS NOT THE RIGHT PROJECT FOR ME. THERE ARE AREAS I WILL NOT COMPROMISE WITH AT ALL WHEN IT COMES TO MY WORK, AND SETTING UP A LABEL UNDER MY OWN NAME. I ALWAYS KEPT IN MIND THE PRECEDENCE OF SOME DESIGNERS I ADMIRE WHO WERE IN A SIMILAR SITUATION, AND CHOSE THE OTHER PATH. PERHAPS IN ANOTHER TIME IN MY LIFE, UNDER OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, MY NAME, AND THE MANAGEMENT OF A COMPANY UNDER MY OWN LABEL WOULD BE CONSIDERED DIFFERENTLY. RIGHT NOW I FEEL IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO STAY TRUE TO MY PRINCIPLES, AND THE IDEA I HAVE OF FASHION.

I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE THAN TO REFUSE THE KIND PROPOSITION THAT WAS MADE

AND TO DECLINE A NEW DIOR HOMME CONTRACT. I MADE THIS CLEAR JUST AFTER

MY LAST SHOW, THE SECOND WEEK OF FEBRUARY, AND LEFT FOR LOS ANGELES.

I DECIDED TO WALK AWAY FROM DIOR, AND MOVE ENTIRELY FORWARD.

* Also has a list of people who have helped him which I have deleted to conserve space.

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