Celine’s new designer Michael Rider makes a strong start

When the first model came out in Michael Rider’s debut show for Celine, it was clear Rider planned to respect his predecessor Hedi Slimane’s legacy. Skinny jeans are a Slimane trademark and the opening look featured ultra-clingy denim, paired with white boots and a camel-coloured tailored jacket. If there was any doubt as to whether the lean jean is coming back into fashion, there needn’t be now.

Talking backstage after the show at Celine’s headquarters in Paris, Rider said the jeans look was “like something that was familiar but felt new right now, the right way to start”.

The American designer added that when it comes to the different designer eras at Celine, several of which were echoed in the collection, “I definitely did not want there to be a sense of erasure; it felt right to me to build”. Rider had a direct hand in forming one of those eras, having worked there under Phoebe Philo for nine years from 2008 before he became creative director of Polo Ralph Lauren.

Many designers want to reference their house heritage, but when Slimane took the helm at Celine in 2018 he made a volte-face from the luxurious refinement favoured by his predecessor, Philo. Many so-called Philophiles were devastated at the loss of clothes that felt modern, thoughtful and feminist.

But Slimane’s designs were a commercial success, with annual revenues climbing from around €800 million (US$940 million; S$1.2 billion) in 2017 to €2.6 billion in 2023, according to analyst estimates. Rider takes over a considerably bigger house than he left in 2017 — Slimane added both menswear and fragrance — but he also joins at a challenging time for luxury.

“Celine, like other maisons in the luxury market, is affected, but the maison has exactly what it takes to emerge from periods of turbulence stronger: Through quality and driven by exceptional savoir-faire and creativity,” chief executive Severine Merle wrote via email after the show. “There are still many territories left for us to explore.”

Optimism was running high for Rider’s debut, held on the eve of haute couture week in Paris. Some of the seats in the alfresco courtyard were arranged to form the “Celine” logo underneath a giant Celine scarf, with guests clutching branded umbrellas to shield against the rain.

The collection borrowed elements of Ralph Lauren’s signature sporty prep in crayon-bright colours mixed with ’80s blouson jackets and classic French tailoring. Block colours and clean lines were a foil to armfuls of coloured bangles and rows of rings.

Trouser shapes ranged from ultra-skinny to wide tailored culottes, worn with flat Mary Janes and cardigans, and given a more opulent twist with excessive layers of gold necklaces and horn-shaped pendants. Barrel-leg trousers in tan and check came with cinched, pleated waists paired with oversized blazers and nonchalant silk scarves.

There was also a dandy element in Chesterfield coats shown, in one example, in white with a white scarf neck top and embellished jeans. Coincidentally, it resembled one of the looks at Jonathan Anderson’s recent debut for Dior, and there were other parallels suggesting a trend, such as elevated sweatshirts. It seems like a hybrid dandy bourgeois prep is very much in the fashion ether, offering an alternative to athleisure that takes barely more effort but has a lot more style.

“I think he’s making clothes for this new cool girl,” said celebrity stylist Law Roach, who was in the audience. “We have been seeing all this Y2K fashion and this feels newer and a little bit more modern — easy but not too much of a departure from what we know Celine to be.”

Shoes included lace-up heeled shoe boots and Mary Janes as well as soft dance shoes that resembled the pair by Repetto that Serge Gainsbourg used to wear. However, the presence of boxing boots, some with Celine branding, felt a bit predictable as they are already an established trend.

Bags are important for the house and alongside logo-printed flat totes, slouchy shoulder bags and huge leather sacks, Rider brought back the Luggage bag from the Philo era. This time, however, the zip resembled a smiley face. “Having a sense of humour in the luxury space is actually a beautiful thing,” Rider said.

Carola Long © 2025 The Financial Times.

This article originally appeared in The Financial Times.