HEDI SLIMANE / The Genius

Interview excerpts / Index Magazine

Dear Hedi Slimane,
We’ve never met, but I’m sure we’d get along. I just found out that you are friends with another great creative, Gus Van Sant. Apparently I’m not too far from him. You obviously have no mailing address that I can find, so I’ll have to put this out to the world in hopes that you will one day come across it. The thing is, I don’t just love what you do, I think what you do is also great.

KLAUS: How did he know you would be a great designer?
HEDI: It’s not for me to say. I was twenty-three, and I was a little bit lost, doing things like street casting, anything. I was all over the map. He’s been involved with fashion for so many years. He did the same with Christian Lacroix — he started Lacroix.
KLAUS: He just had the instinct?
HEDI: Some people care about you, and are really able to see you, and other people will never see you, even if you’re standing in front of them and waving. It’s like I said about ambition — who you meet next is so important. That’s how ideas get translated into a project. What makes it wonderful is that you never know what will happen next.
KLAUS: You said that you like to observe. Is that why you take a lot of photographs?
HEDI: Since I was eleven, I’ve always carried a camera with me. I’m always taking pictures for my archives.

“Hedi Slimane (born July 5, 1968 in Paris) is a French fashion designer of Italian, Tunisian-Brazilian origins. He studied political sciences and Art History at the École du Louvre, and was also educated as a tailor. From 1992 to 1995 he worked for Jean-Jacques Picart, notably on the centenary exhibition of Louis Vuitton’s “LV” monogramme label.”

For many, you’re an inspiration. For me, you’re a way of life. A man of mystery. You’ve influenced the world, made them skinny, and now everybody wants to be a thin Brit in a rock band. You’ve cultivated black & white, and sparked a movement of minimalism. You’ve once again made people beautiful, through your raw portrayals and flaws. There are many things about you that I, nor anyone, understands. Why are you doing this? What do you get from it? A sense of accomplishment? I see that creative freedom is important to you, but with freedom we have the right to choose what we want to do. You constantly reinvent yourself, but it’s come to a point where everybody speculates your every move. You are the biggest unknown celebrity, and I have a feeling you decided it to be this way. You have chosen people who have risen to fame or glory, and your eye for talent never blinks. Even if you aren’t the everything we imagine you to be in person, its really unique how you’ve managed to influence us with your idea, and how we come to think of you.

You mention living day-to-day, as if nothing else matters. There I can completely agree, as nothing besides this moment exists. However, I wonder if your meetings with the right people at the right time were just chance. Your life cannot just be a chain reaction? I believe that we have the power to guide our lives, even if to a very small degree. It’s all about choices, which we have the right to make. A lot of our lives falls out of our hands, but with determination we are able to work hard and get what we want, if merely through persistence. I hope this letter can convey how I’m feeling. Should I just wait to see what happens to me, or should I make choices that I think will guide me towards what I want? For example, when I listen to songs I filter the lyrics until I hear the advice that I am searching for. So I’m writing you this letter, and I can only hope that you can read it if you get it. Hoping if you get it that you won’t ever forget it.

I guess you could say I’m speechless. Is there a difference between recognition and fame? Do you create strictly as an outlet, or are you always thinking of others? Do you simply translate what you observe into art, or is it a more ambitious experience? I think I understand you. I’ve been doing a lot of research on success, and it has brought me to several conclusions, but there is some underlying thing that every successful person possesses. The idea is the greatest force out there. The idea has been possessed by people like Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld, Luciano Pavarotti, Stanley Kubrick. While many may have felt it for a fleeting moment, the aforementioned icons learned it, honed it, possessed it, felt it for a long time. It destroyed some of them, but it is a power nonetheless potent and willing to elevate whoever comes across it. If there is one thing you’ve taught me, it’s that youth is fleeting, so I’ll appreciate mine while it’s still here. Keep being interested and influenced, so you can pass it on to us. Just know that if you arrive upon this letter, it didn’t happen by accident.

KLAUS: You actually prefer the city to the beach or the mountains?
HEDI: When people say they’ve found an incredible, empty beach with no one around, I understand why they’re excited. But to me, the idea of a holiday by myself on a beach — I’d have a nervous breakdown! I need to have lots of things around to observe. I don’t necessarily need to interact with people — in fact, I usually don’t — but I need to see people interacting.
KLAUS: What is your ambition?
HEDI: I don’t really have one, I’m afraid. Everything I’ve done is part of a chain reaction. But I’m naturally determined, so I guess you could say that my ambition is just to make the next day interesting. Also, I’ve been lucky enough to meet people with whom I have a good understanding. So another ambition is to meet the people with whom I might develop future projects. Things arrive by accident. I really believe that.

“In July 2007, Hedi Slimane decided to quit the house of Dior. In order to convince him to stay, LVMH proposed him to finance his own signature line. Negotiations lasted for 6.5 months. Slimane called them off in February. He made a statement on his website to explain his choice. Slimane did not want to lose his creative freedom, sell his name, and lose the management of his own brand. He left for US, joined his friend Gus Van Sant, and started a new project, ‘Young American’, which was partly shown at FOAM museum in July 2007.”

“Slimane was misquoted in many interviews as saying that he survives on a delicately balanced diet and prefers food that he doesn’t have to chew much. The mistake came from a mistranslation: “baby food”, means “comfort food” in French. He does not drink, smoke or do drugs. He designs on his own.”

If you remember only one thing from this letter, let it be this: I learn from you and every no brings me closer to yes. I’m going to keep doing what I love, making time for things that are important, and not caring what others think. Know that you are appreciated, and thank you.

KLAUS: Do you want to make a difference?
HEDI: What do you mean?
KLAUS: In terms of your art, are you trying to create beauty, or clearness, or truth?
HEDI: As an objective? Not so much. I’m quite day to day.
KLAUS: You’re not a missionary for minimalism, or beauty?
HEDI: No, no. In fact, I’m always thinking that something will come along to destroy whatever credo I have. I’m most interested in that moment when my entire perspective changes, and I have to reconsider everything. g
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