The first glimpse and film for Hedi Slimane’s new fragrance project for Celine is not about smell, nor a fantasy of life under its spell. On Sunday Celine shared news of the project on Instagram, YouTube and the houses’ website with a single, simple statement: “15 years after the creation of Maison Christian Dior Perfume Collection, Hedi Slimane Presents his Parfumerie Collection For Maison Celine.”
Slimane underscores the artisanal preciousness of container and vessel, making an industrial, modern art object of the stout rectangular glass container for the new perfume. Depending on one’s preferred design aesthetic, the video creates a yearning to hold the object — a vessel of substance, perceived authenticity and industrial roots. The vessel is not artifice but the very bones of the new fragrance.
The reference to LVMH’s Maison Christian Dior stories Slimane’s tenure there as creative director for menswear and a time when he crafted Dior’s first colognes since 1947.