Prestige: Hedi Slimane "The Tempo of Fashion" Interview

Prestige Magazine‘s Vivenne Tang spoke with fashion photographer and former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane in a recent interview titled “The Tempo of Fashion.” The interview addresses some pertinent issues including fashion’s relationship with the internet, Slimane’s own future designing clothes, and his revolutionary role in helping defining menswear. Excerpts can be seen below with the full interview seen here.

You revolutionised menswear at Dior Homme. How did you experience that period in your life?
It was a very creative time. I was extremely committed to my time. I was surrounded by all the creative and emerging talents of the decade. I dressed them, collaborated with them and photographed them. I ended up designing the wardrobe of a generation and pushed a certain idea of men’s fashion, music related to fashion, the allure of this decade. I had no idea about the outcome. It was not about the outcome, but the energy of the moment. It was just my everyday life, my friends that ended up defining this style.

Do you ever miss fashion from a design perspective?
Yes, I miss the fabrics, the atelier and the craftsmanship. I still have models and clothes around me, though, through photography. So I equally develop fashion through image making today.

How do you think technology has influenced fashion? What are the pros and cons?
Fashion was reluctant at first to embrace the Internet, and it’s still not totally a natural marriage. With that said, blogs and social networking have considerably enhanced the power of fashion and changed its purpose. Fashion became entertainment, just like Hollywood is entertainment. Fashion is finally a global consideration and, of course, a global fashion business at last.

Do you think websites will eventually replace print magazines?
They already do, I believe, but magazines have to understand that they become the real place for some sort of creative quality, in photography, graphic design and content. Glossy magazines need to become glossier, rarer, more exclusive and create that real sense of exception to exist next to the immediacy and globalisation of the fashion www.

Are you planning to return to fashion design? Would you start your own label?
Yes, of course I am, but I’m really down to earth with fashion, and I have a business and brand-oriented mind. I know what it takes to make a brand strong in the long term in a global economy. Besides design and communication, I need to make sure I have the right tools to make a new design project successful in the long run.

Would you ever collaborate with a high-street retailer?
No, never. I could do my own jeans line, for instance, because I have legitimacy in launching the skinny jeans in fashion, and jeans for me feel like a real noble item in fashion, a social territory almost. On the other hand, I don’t like the collusion between high fashion design and high street. You have to know where you stand. I belong to luxury fashion. That’s what I’ve always felt and embraced. I like the best quality, the best fabrics and the most creative field in fashion. I will stay consistent. I belong to this world.