Hedi Slimane Goes to 'La Bibliothèque' for Celine Summer 2024

It’s always fashion week somewhere, as they (we) say: A few weeks after the Spring 2024 season wrapped in Paris, Celine is revealing Hedi Slimane’s latest.

Subtitled “Tomboy,” the brand’s Summer 2024 collection debuts in a film directed by Slimane, set at France’s Bibliothèque Nationale Richelieu, which is located across the street from the Celine atelier in Paris’ 2nd arrondissement. The backdrop, plus the collection filled with pieces familiar to anyone who came of age in the naughties — the denim cutoffs sitting low on the hip (the default waist fit), the plaid drawstring-waist boxer shorts, the chunky brown shearling boots (that, yes, kind of look like those other brown shearling boots), the bootcut jeans held up by a black belt with a silver buckle, the bellybutton-exposing white cami, the Celine-ified track pants and even short track sets — triggers a very specific type of nostalgia. It’s like what I imagine the titular “Felicity” (or any coming-of-age heroine from the ’90s and ’00s) would wear after a year of study abroad in Paris, if she had a Celine budget.

The scholastic feel is furthered by the footwear (in addition to those shearling boots, there are thick-soled black leather lace-up shoes with white crew socks), the branded headphones (from a collaboration with Master & Dynamic) worn around the neck and the LCD Soundsystem soundtrack (an extended version of “Too Much Love”).

As usual, Slimane is restrained with his color palette. He loves his blacks, creams, browns and metallics. When he does deviate, it’s usually in the context of an animal print, like with the leopard button-up jacket and mini skirt set that opens the collection, styled with a cropped white blouse with a frilly front detail and red-brown combat boots. And his silhouettes, from dresses to suiting, tend to lean shorter, slicker and more form-fitting. (There’s plenty that Kaia Gerber might want to wear to a red carpet, or that Lisa could don onstage.)

The collection really comes to life in the styling — the elegance of a silky ivory midi dress worn with high-heeled, knee-high leather boots and an oversized grey blazer; the coolness of when a structured LBD with bows adorning an angular front cutout is made to feel more street style than cocktail party with thick-soled black leather lace-up shoes and white crew socks; the surprise of a sheer slip elevated with silver embellishments peeking out from underneath a big, brown faux fur coat.

It’s also how Slimane conveys the desirability of his Celine: Many of these head-to-toe looks feel like what you’d see a city-dwelling girlie wearing or talking about what she wants to wear on TikTok, despite this presumably not being his target demo. (The abbreviated hemlines with shrunken jackets and chunky shoes! The sparkly dresses with big jackets! The low-waisted-everything!) But if the ubiquity of the brand’s Triomphe sunglasses on social media tells us anything, the designer knows what that consumer wants.

See the full Celine Summer 2024 collection, below.