Celine Homme

Céline was founded in 1945 by Céline Vipiana and her husband Richard, originally as a children's footwear and made-to-measure shoe shop on Rue Malte in Paris. The brand gradually expanded into women's leather goods and ready-to-wear, became known in the 1970s and 80s for an elegant, restrained Parisian style, and was acquired by LVMH in 1996. The defining era began in 2008 with the arrival of Phoebe Philo as creative director. Over seven years (2008-2017) Philo built a quietly revolutionary vocabulary — heavy crepe coats, long sculptural sleeves, the iconic Trio bag, the Luggage tote with its grinning-face structure, an architectural minimalism that became the dominant aesthetic of a generation of editors and stylists. 'The Philo era' is now shorthand for a specific kind of intelligent feminine luxury. Hedi Slimane took over in 2018, removed the accent from Celine, and pivoted the house toward a rock-n-roll Saint Laurent-adjacent vocabulary that was commercially successful but stylistically polarising. Michael Rider, formerly head of design at Polo Ralph Lauren and a Philo-era Céline alum, was named creative director in October 2024 — signalling at least a partial return to Philo-era codes. Few changes of creative direction in luxury have been as anxiously watched as Celine's.