In Paris on Sunday, Michael Rider made his much-anticipated debut at CELINE, the French luxury house at which the newly minted creative director formerly worked for a decade under Phoebe Philo’s lead. A homecoming of sorts, the kaleidoscopic spectacle marked the beginning of a new era — one defined by preppy style codes, sculptural silhouettes, glamorous eveningwear, and, yes, skinny jeans — in the wake of Hedi Slimane’s departure last year.
“Coming back to CELINE, and to Paris, back to 16 rue Vivienne in a changed world, has been incredibly
emotional for me. And a complete joy,” said Rider, who more recently led design at Polo Ralph Lauren. “CELINE stands for quality, for timelessness and for style, ideals that are difficult to catch, and even harder to hold on to, to define, despite more and more talk about them out there.”
In a mix of business and extravagance, the collection opened with muted trench coats, blazers, sweaters, and button-ups heavily accessorized with decadent, gold necklaces and bracelets. Bold blues and saturated reds crept into the picture on oversized shoulder bags, wide-legged dress pants, and logo-laden scarves, before true greens and aquamarines commanded sports coats and sweaters made with perfect proportions.
Given the CELINE tag’s glaring prestige (and the hefty price point associated with it), these are the kinds of pieces that most shoppers would view as investments, the sort of prized closet fixtures that, eventually, pass down through generations. That idea of longevity fueled Rider’s vision.
He mused, “I’ve always loved the idea of clothing that lives on, that becomes a part of the wearer’s life, that may capture a moment in time but also speaks to years and years of gestures and occasions and change, of the past, the present and the future, of memories, of usefulness and of fantasy, of life really.”
Rider is just getting started, but he’s clearly got a legacy-defining plan in place. See his full debut collection for CELINE in the gallery above.
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