CULTURE

Hedi Slimane’s 50th Birthday Was the Most Hedi Slimane Event Ever

No one could bother to stand up during the party.

July 23, 2018

Hedi Slimane has been on this earth for 50 years, and spent over 15 of them as one of the most talked about fashion designers on it (even though he’s spent large chunks of time not actively designing). And if there’s anything we know about him by now, it’s that he loves rock ‘n’ roll music and stark black-and-white photography. So maybe it’s not much of a surprise that Slimane’s 50th birthday party, thrown as a surprise by friends, was basically a culmination of the aesthetic he’s perfected throughout the years. The photos he shot of the party basically look like they could double as a campaign for Slimane’s next collection (perhaps for his long-awaited debut as the new artistic, creative, and image director of Céline later this year).

Slimane’s crew held the fete in one of his favorite venues, Paris’s Le Palace. The nightclub was the pinnacle of cutting-edge French nightlife in the late ’70s and early ’80s (the staff wore outfits by Thierry Mugler and Grace Jones played opening night). It closed in the mid-’90s after falling into the hands of David Guetta, but has since been reopened as a popular theater and performance venue.

Slimane partied at the original incarnation of the club in his youth, and his birthday cake was modeled after the club’s facade.

Guests seemed to have spent their time laying about in the most effortlessly hip manner, or at least they were when Slimane’s camera was trained on them. Though his actual birthday was the 5th of July, he uploaded photos of the party to his Instagram and online diary today. Take a look at some of the highlights for yourself.

After leaving Saint Laurent in early 2016, Slimane has now been given unprecedented leeway to take the house of Céline and make it over as he sees fit (in addition to adding menswear and couture, he’s also doing things like redesigning the stores and changing up release schedules). It may not be a surprise, though, if Céline’s new image draws inspiration from rock music, if Slimane’s party is any evidence.