Hedi Slimane

Hedi Slimane, born in Paris July 5, 1968, is a fashion designer. From 2000 - 2007, he held the position of creative director for menswear at Christian Dior, where his designs launched the highly influential Dior Homme.

Life and career

Early life

Hedi Slimane was born in Paris July 5, 1968, to an Italian mother and a Tunisian father. He grew up and studied in Paris. At 11, he discovered photography, received his first camera and learned black and white darkroom printing. At 16, without fashion in mind, Hedi Slimane started making his own clothes. Early in his career, he visited the offices of Le Monde, as he wished to become a journalist and reporter.

Fashion career

From 1992 to 1995, Slimane assisted Jean-Jacques Picart on the centenary of the project "monogram canvas" of Louis Vuitton. In 1996, Pierre Bergé installs Hedi Slimane in the position of ready-to-wear director of mens collections at Yves Saint Laurent and later he became artistic director. After the Black Tie collection for autumn-winter 2000-2001, which foreshadowed the advent of Hedi Slimane's silhouette, and the debuts of "skinny", he chose to leave YSL, declined the offer to resume Jil Sander, and accepted the position of creative director for menswear at Christian Dior.

In April 2002, Hedi Slimane was the first menswear designer to receive the CFDA award for International Designer. He received it from David Bowie, whom Hedi Slimane dressed for his tours.

He had created stagewear for groups such as The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and The Kills and artists such as Mick Jagger, Beck, Jack White. Slimane, produced original soundtracks for his runway shows for Dior Homme, created by bands such as Phoenix, The Rakes, Razorlight. The track "In the Morning" was composed by Razorlight exclusively for the Dior Homme show. He discovered a number of British groups. In 2006, he introduced These New Puritans, who compose "Navigate, Navigate" for the last défilé of Dior Homme in January 2007. Imitations of the slim silhouette and style by Hedi Slimane could be widely found in fashion and advertising for fashion and fragrances.

In July 2007, Hedi Slimane did not renew his contract at Dior Homme.

To persuade him to stay, the fashion house proposed to fund his own label, but the discussions that ensued failed, and Hedi Slimane declined. He wrote on his website that he did not want to lose control of his name, and management of his own brand. Hedi Slimane returned to fashion and portrait photography.

Photography

Berlin, published by Steidl in 2002, is Slimanes first book documenting the Berlin scene. Stage, published by Steidl in 2004, is his second book published on the rock revival and the 2.0 generation. "London Birth of a Cult", released by Steidl in 2005, described the daily life of a young unknown British rock star Pete Doherty. Pete Doherty is surrounded by The Paddingtons, his fans, and he symbolized the new generation of London punk rock. The book foreshadowed the project on "London". Hedi Slimane proposed "London" to the French daily Libération. The London issue, published in May 2005, marked the beginning of the British onslaught, and its adoption by a new generation of French fans. On July 5, 2005, Hedi Slimane celebrated his birthday at Tryptique club in Paris where Doherty took stage by surprise and sang Happy Birthday. The Paddingtons and The Others also performed.

In May 2006, Hedi Slimane creates the photographic blog he calls "Diary", Hedi Slimane Diary. Hedi Slimane creates his Rock Diary, beginning in 2004 in collaboration with the British journalist from NME, Alex Needham.

Hedi Slimane created the album cover for the band Phoenix's Alphabetical.

Late 2011, "Anthology of a Decade", by JRP-Ringier was published. The book was a photographic archive of the 2.0 decade explored by Hedi Slimane. The book was presented in the form of four volumes, each volume dedicated to different cycles of Hedi Slimanes time in: Paris, Berlin, London, and Los Angeles. "Anthology of a Decade" is a comprehensive lexicon of years of fashion and photography of Slimane.

Exhibitions

Hedi Slimane exhibited widely in Europe: The Ellipse Foundation Contemporary Art in Lisbon, the Foam Museum in Amsterdam, Arndt Partners gallery in Berlin a show on the young New York scene, which included Dan Colen, Nate Lowman, Dash Snow. Musac, and Almine Rech gallery in Paris.

Hedi Slimane left for America and based himself in Los Angeles in 2010.

California became the subject of many of his images and later the subject of several exhibitions. The first of the series was in July 2007, at the Photography Museum of Amsterdam, Foam, under the name "Young American". He curated a group show of Californian artists, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Chris Burden and Sterling Ruby, Mark Hagen, Aaron Curry, and Patrick Hill. The exhibition "Myths and Legends of Los Angeles" took place at Almine Rech gallery in Paris in February 2011, a week after a solo show at Almine Rech gallery in Brussels "Fragments Americana", where he showed his latest American photographs. Slimane had invited his friend Gus Van Sant, and the American artist Oscar Tuazon to the show. The California cycle was shown in November 2011 at MOCA. Hedi Slimane presented a photographic installation that showcased an archive of images from his California period. The exhibition, "California Song", was created in a kinematics way, accompanied by a soundtrack by the musical group No Age. No Age performed on the opening night on November 11, 2011 and brought a record attendance of over 2,000 people.

The opening night performance became the subject of a documentary by Hedi Slimane and Commonwealth.

Christopher Owens, the singer of Girls, was the lead figure of "California Song". Digital slide show Billboards could be found in the streets of Los Angeles showcasing the MOCA exhibition.

Bibliography

• (2011) Anthology Of A Decade JRP-Ringier

• (2009) American Youth DVD Box set, MK2

• (2008) Rock Diary JRP-Ringier

• (2007) Costa Da Caparica 1989 exhibition catalogue

• (2006) Portrait Of A Performer:Courtney Love A Visionaire Bookzine

• (2005) Interzone : The Hedi Slimane Book Purple Fashion 4

• (2005) London Birth Of A Cult Steidl/7L

• (2004) Stage Steidl/7L

• (2003) Berlin Steidl/7L

• (2002) Intermission 1 Charta

Exhibitions

• (2011) California Song MOCA, Los Angeles

• (2011) California Dreamin, Myths And Legends Of Los Angeles group show curated by Hedi Slimane, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris

• (2011) Fragments Americana Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels

• (2008) MUSAC Museum For Contemporary Art, Leon, Spain

• (2007) Perfect Stranger Almine Rech Gallery, Paris

• (2007) Young American Foam Museum, Amsterdam

• (2007) Sweet Bird Of Youth group show curated by Hedi Slimane, Arndt and Partner, Berlin

• (2007) Costa Da Caparica Ellipse Foundation, Lisbon

• (2006) Portrait Of A Performer Gmurzynska Gallery, Zurich

• (2006) I Love My Scene group show curated by Jose Freire, Mary Boone Gallery, New york

• (2006) As Tears Go By Almine Rech Gallery, Paris

• (2005) Thank You For The Music group show, Spruth Magers Gallery, Munich

• (2005) Robert Mapplethorpe curated by Hedi Slimane, Thaddeus Ropac Gallery, Paris

• (2004) Stage Almine Rech Gallery, Paris

• (2004) Berlin Koyanagi Gallery, Tokyo

• (2004) Berlin MOMA/PS1, New York

• (2004) Berlin Kunstwerke, Berlin

External links

• Hedi Slimane Official site
• Hedi Slimane at MoCA California Song 11/11/11-22/01/12
• Hedi Slimane at Almine Rech Paris California Dreamin 02/26/11-03/26/11
• Hedi Slimane at Almine Rech Brussels Fragments Americana 02/25/11-03/26/11
• Hedi Slimane at Musac Hedi Slimane Musac 05/17/08-09/07/08
• Hedi Slimane at Almine Rech Paris Perfect Stranger 11/29/07-01/05/08
• Hedi Slimane at Foam Museum Young American 07/15/07-09/12/07
• Hedi Slimane at Ellipse Foundation Costa Da Caparica 07/26/07-09/09/07
• Hedi Slimane at Arndt Gallery Sweet Bird of Youth 06/30/07–08/31/07
• Hedi Slimane at Gmurzynska Gallery Portrait Of A Performer 09/22/06-10/31/06
• Hedi Slimane at Almine Rech Paris As Tears Go By 01/06
• Hedi Slimane at MoMA/PS1 Berlin 03/11/04-05/31/04
• Hedi Slimane designer turned photographer at the top of his game again New York Times Nov 2011
• Dior Homme Hedi Slimane video of campaigns, SS02-SS07
• Guardian interview