Celine Men’s Spring 2025: Anglomania Redux — and Deluxe
Hedi Slimane, who has documented the grittier side of London’s music scene in the past, homed in on the conservative, polished and codified dressing of England’s upper crust for his spring 2025 men’s collection for Celine.
He is perhaps the only big-name designer to stick steadfastly to films to unveil his Celine collections, and this one is a real beaut: tender in register, every frame a gorgeous image, with an undercurrent of longing and melancholy that brought to mind those brooding ’80s movies “Maurice” and “Another Country” — only with way better clothes.
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This was an ode to aristocratic tailoring and preppy dressing that often rang literal, especially given Slimane’s rapid jump cuts. Still, you felt his French hand in the cutting, the romantic flourishes and the slyly edgy proportions of raised waists, pegged legs and pitched-forward shoulders.
The luxury quotient could also be felt through the screen, in the drape of summer-weight cashmere flannels, and in the glint of densely embroidered waistcoats.
Slimane brought his cameras and drones to Holkham Hall, a regal 18th-century country house in Norfolk, capturing its herds of fallow deer, ornamental gardens and opulent marble halls.
The film flickers between black-and-white and color to exalt the regimental stripes trimming school blazers, a red velvet cape with regal airs and an animal-print biker jacket to prove that Slimane hasn’t forgotten his rock ‘n’ roll soul.
The designer is formidable in his ability to crystalize a style, and present idealized imagery that’s compelling and precise, from the ducktail hairstyles and cricket sweaters to the walking sticks stamped with Celine’s Triomphe emblem.
His three-piece suits, fancy waistcoats and straw boaters were like nothing else seen during the spring 2025 shows last June, with the possible exception of Dunhill, which also went full English.
In press notes released after the show, Celine said Slimane began writing an essay on Anglomania back when he was a student at the École du Louvre in the late ’80s. It recurs frequently, including at the royal court of Versailles around the turn of the 18th-century and during the 1920s, and the ’60s in tandem with Beatlemania. This sweep of history nourished the spring 2025 collection.
Completing the cinematic picture were small- and big-ticket items: a new dandy-inspired fragrance called À Rebours after the 1884 novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans, and a black bicycle designed by Slimane and accented with natural leather and wicker baskets, price upon application.
Launch Gallery: Celine Men’s Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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