Celine Fall-Winter 2026 Nods to Client Wisdom as LVMH Ponders the Right Path
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Celine’s [IG] creative director Michael Rider claimed his rightful place as a designer to be taken seriously, as the Fall-Winter 2026 shows came to an end in Paris this week. As Rider’s own branding vision takes shape, American film director Gus Van Sant [IG] turned his attention to Celine’s Fall 2026 cast.
In an interesting twist, Van Sant captured models in “their everyday street clothes and again in their runway looks.” Another major twist was the director and photographer’s use of old Polaroid stock to create images that will eventually fade.
Trusting Celine’s Clients
Rider and his team chose an equally original approach in designing the clothes. Not only did Celine emerge with a leaner silhouette than many other houses. Rider & Co decided to prioritize the client’s instincts about how she wants to organize her own wardrobe.
In their hearts, the Celine team knew that ‘big-ass coats’ don’t really mirror the reality of how Celine clients dress. Daily wardrobes for luxury clients should be defined as getting in and out of cabs from London to New York City. Town cars are preferred by some and subways as well.
Celine is high on the desirability scale in Shanghai, especially among younger professionals. In Shanghai, ‘luxury’ and ‘utility’ live in the same lane. It’s a city where someone might be carrying a Celine Triomphe bag while hopping off a HelloBike or checking their reflection in the window of a packed Line 2 train.
Efficiency is the ultimate status symbol in China’s biggest contiguous city, with a population of 24-29 million people. If the Maglev saves 40 minutes over a private car, Shanghai professionals wearing Celine are taking the train every time.
Talent, Talent Everywhere
You are forgiven for having the weird feeling that only one designer in Paris matters today. Everywhere we turned in the run-up to the Sun King’s Fall-Winter 2026 fashion show, he basked in the spotlight.
Even in fashion shoots, the self-assured King of all who worship him, jumped into more than one image — as if we were playing Jack in the Box. When a prominent magazine website offered up a painting of the Sun King, besides his images in a fashion story, Anne said “Basta! We have many talented designers presenting collections this week and Michael Ryder at Celine is one of them.”
The Race Is On
When the shows ended, the Sun King was under severe pressure from the ghost of Coco Chanel. In summarizing the week from the point of view of buyers, expressed by WWD as The C-suite: Buyers Want Coats, Corsets and Chanel From Paris, two other names emerged out of darkness, previously blinded by the Sun King’s ubiquity.
If there’s a race between the big houses, Chanel and Christian Dior are neck-and-neck, with the two emerging equally as buyers’ favorite collections. [Not to mention the frenzy at Chanel stores during the week for pieces from Matthieu Blazy’s first collection was all anyone could talk about.]
They were followed by Haider Ackermann’s Tom Ford and Michael Rider’s Celine . . .]
We See Only One Horse on the Leader Board
Note that it’s not at all clear to AOC that that Blazy the New Humanist and Anderson the Sun King are running neck and neck. The only person I’ve heard say that Dior is rocking, is the Sun King.
Meanwhile, the Parisian frenzy continued stateside, when Mathieu Blazy’s first Chanel collection hit New York City. Chanel in Soho gives birth on Tuesday and it’s madness. AOC so loves it when the nice guy finishes first.
“Enough, Anne. Put the dagger in your clutch like a good girl and get back to Celine.”
Celine Sweeps Wide in the Final Turn
What matters here is the excellence of Michael Rider’s Celine presentation. And his refusal to be boxed in by trends and inspirations. “Rejecting the idea of a ‘concept’” was, itself, his concept.” While AOC does like concepts, Rider’s position commands enormous respect from us.
Given the importance of accessories — and especially scarves — for Fall 2026, Rider might be leading the pack in this category. Just as Anne sees Blazy outrunning the Sun King in fashion’s Kentucky Derby, Celine is best positioned to go bold, sweeping wide in a surprise finish.
‘Less I; More We’
Realistically, Rider can’t outrun the Sun King. Not this year, anyway. But I have this vision of Celine being that high-revenues race horse who is waiting for the final turn, where s[he] moves out wide to the outside of the pack to gain a clear path and then goes full throttle down the track outpacing the Sun King in this historic finish.
Faster, faster. Everybody is screaming like crazy. They know Blazy is home free but the Sun King is confused over his actual revenues. Who does this American upstart Rider think he is!!! And then, the impossible happens. What the heck!!! His worst nightmare Chiuri is right behind Rider.
Maria Grazia is refusing to ride side-saddle. Instead her fist is held high in the sky, calling for Lilith to bring protection to the LVMH team. From everywhere in the heavens, the goddesses on high are called to action.
We must protect the Arnault family. They are good people.
Pietro Beccari has been through this drill for days on end. Today, he’s just the Louis Vuitton CEO with the binoculars, the Head of LVMH Fashion Group. Beccari artfully rearranged budgets to suit this moment. Pharrell’s got the whole band playing the same tune for what looks like a spectacular finish.
The true race horses in the LVMH stable are picking up the slack. They are all in alignment with one vision. The crowd is chanting: “Less I; more we!” Rider is screaming “America tried to tell you: No Kings.”
Bernard and Delphine can not believe what they are witnessing. It’s a historic finish never dreamed possible. Jay-Z is yelling power to the people. Beccari now has a microphone yelling to the Arnaults: “I told you we could pull off this upset.”
Indeed they have. The financial analysts are so thunderstruck over what they have witnessed that they don’t even care about the details of this new business plan — for one New York minute. Who knew LVMH could overcome such monumental challenges to the Sun King without a financial wipeout.
Even Xi Jinping is taking a deep breath halfway around the world, barely concealing his admiration for this spectacular LVMH team rally, with all their artisans and makers also on board.
Xi reminds us that Confucianism teaches that "unity is strength" (Zhong Zhi Cheng Cheng), meaning that when people are "of the same mind," their combined strength can "break metal".
