“Essentially I wrote that without Mr. Simons’s template of slim tailoring and street casting, there would not have been a Hedi Slimane — just as there would never have been a Raf Simons without Helmut Lang. Fashion develops a bit like a genetic line.
Because geniuses have no influences, Slimane, then at Dior Homme, was understandably furious. (Who knew the Slimane/Simons rivalry ran so deep?) The designer came to believe that Horyn preferred Simons’ designs, and so his resentment has held at a slow and steady boil for the past eight years.
Just to recap: Slimane is so unwilling to take criticism that he banned a critic from seeing his work. And so Cathy Horyn exacted the best revenge. She reviewed him:
“The collection was a nice but frozen vision of a bohemian chick at the Chateau Marmont. Or in St. Tropez.”
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“I had the impression from the clothes of someone disconnected from fashion of the past several years.”
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“Also, the self-important air of Saint Laurent’s media relations — the calls informing reporters that Mr. Slimane wouldn’t be taking questions backstage — is out of touch. Meanwhile, its competitors— Balenciaga, Dior, Givenchy, Celine, Lanvin — are having a terrific season.”
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Image via WENN.com
