This is an edition of the newsletter Show Notes, in which Samuel Hine reports from the front row of the fashion world. Sign up here to get it free.
If Michael Rider was intimidated to follow up Phoebe Philo and Hedi Slimane at Celine, he didn’t show it in the lead-up to his Sunday afternoon debut. The American designer was relaxed when I spoke to him at Jonathan Anderson’s Dior show last week; on Sunday, as Anderson, Raf Simons, Dev Hynes, Alanis Morissette, and Kristin Wiig found their seats at Celine’s rue Vivienne offices, Rider’s close friend, the actor Dan Levy, told me that his buddy has been nothing but calm. “I’ve been seeing him over the past couple nights, and when you’re ready to step into something like this, you’re ready,” Levy said.
Levy was right. Rider formally introduced his Celine—and himself—with preppy confidence. And a lot of leggings.
Rider didn’t shy away from Slimane’s skinny signature, but took it to his own extreme with jogging tights, bony equestrian trousers, and even a pair of stretchy white jeggings. Tight as the pants were, the ensembles actually felt totally loosened up from Slimane’s severe precision. Bright, cheerful primary colors cut through the overcast skies, as did the echoes of Philo’s Céline (as it was styled at the time), where Rider spent nine years working for the queen of intelligent power dressing. We saw this in notably long overcoats with padded shoulders that caressed gently around the torso and Philo’s iconic Luggage bag, which Rider elongated and anthropomorphized with a smiley side zipper.
Backstage, Rider pointed to the leggings as an example of how he was nimbly building on a foundation rather than tearing down the house that Philo and Slimane (and another American, Michael Kors!) built. The snug pants, he said, “have been around here at different points of time during the history of the company for women, for men.” As menswear moves back to tight fits the painted-on look felt strangely compelling, though Rider also provided a more practical alternative, with trousers that were voluminous and rippling with pleats.
There was a lot to like for both Hedi Boys and Philofiles. But as the models walked, sure-footed in their soft leather boat shoes through the rainy courtyard of Celine’s 2nd arrondissement headquarters, my mind kept turning to Ralph Lauren, where Rider served as women’s creative director from 2018 until last year. (You can spot Rider’s curly-haired, energetic presence orbiting the boss in the documentary Very Ralph back before he stepped out from behind the scenes.)
Ralph famously designs according to American archetypes—The Chairman of the Board, The Cowboy—which Rider comfortably adapted to his own cast of prepsters. Prep was all over the runways this season, but Rider got the last word. There was a schoolboy theme with a bold red blazer and nifty washed jeans tacked at the ankle, and a couple of great knit rugby shirts elongated to dress-length. Under Slimane, Celine became practically synonymous with ultra-luxe leather moto jackets, which Rider redesigned with big rounded shoulders and a new sense of ease. His boardroom guy looked every bit a modern dandy with a hair ribbon around his head and white ballet flats on his feet.
