Hedi Slimane has been mentioned several times in the press in connection with the introduction in the market of Black Opium with Edie Campbell by Yves Saint Laurent Beauté (L’Oréal Group). It is appropriate to precise that no creative direction has been given by Hedi Slimane on the market launches and on the choices of artistic elements, or definition of image, related to the product lines or the advertising campaigns of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, including the ones of Black Opium.
— Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane kindly asks that you not blame him for Black Opium, according to a release sent out via YSL at Twitter.
That must be the most damning statement to hit YSL Beaute! The fact that Hedi Slimane is desperate to distance himself from the hideous YSL fragrances is quite funny. Obviously they’re running the fashion and beauty brands separately but people still associate them as the same, even though creatively and aesthetically they’re now worlds apart. Dior Homme was a Hedi Slimane production I believe and if that’s the kind of thing we can expect I would be really keen to sniff a future Saint Laurent fragrance but I wonder whether he’ll fight not to give L’oreal the licence!
I have heard Black Opium is not all that great, but still, this might say more about Hedi Slimane than it does about the scent.
All the same, my thanks go out to Mr. Slimane for the morning giggle.
I forgot to add, I have smelt Black Opium and thought it was pretty bad and the bottle, which is encrusted with a coarse textured black glitter is hideously trashy.
Eck, glitter? That’s too bad.
This says it all. It really, really does.
As for Black Opium, I’m sorry to say that it’s an unimaginative floral gourmand with an embarrassingly tardy wish to jump on the Angel bandwagon. Such a shame.
Ah, but how many creative directors on the fashion side disavow crappy flankers from the holders of their brand’s beauty license? I’m trying to think of another and can’t, offhand. Whereas unimaginative flankers from designer names, well, there are too many to count.
I stand by my comment above that this says more about Slimane than Black Opium.
Either way, it’s quite entertaining.
Ahahaha! He is however responsible for Saint Laurent’s terrible Spring 2015 collection, a mix of cheap and trashy looking outfits that even Topshop can do better.
And for dropping Yves from the brand’s name. Such a stupid move.
Sales are apparently way up though! Loved this from the Guardian:
“They work on a rail. On a catwalk, Saint Laurent clothes represent nothing beyond an empty, soulless ode to avarice at its most base.”
*
* Nice. Thanks for the giggles!
Do you mean sales of the clothes or the perfume.
I expect the beauty sales are more profitable to the company than the clothing. (Does L’Oreal handle the cosmetics as well as the fragrance?) There skin care is quite good.
If the Saint Laurent brand does not have sufficient control over its perfume license to avoid releases which it evidently dislikes, it should try to renegotiate (with better attorney’s and executives than those who negotiated the last deal). If it had a right of approval,then shame on whoever is in charge for YSL for not stopping a release that it seems to feel is embarrassing.
And in either case, someone should have tried to work out the problem quietly with L’Oreal without its fashion designer issuing a statement like that. (And if the Slimane issued that statement without discussing it with his colleagues at YSL, he should be fired. You do not do a brand any good by proclaiming you are ashamed of some of what should be its most profitable products.)
I meant sales of the fashion, since HS took over. Yes, L’Oreal does the entire beauty line.
As a creative director Slimane should own up to his job and his responsibility.
There is no such thing as “no creative direction”. Same as “no decision” IS in fact a decision you just allow others to decide for you.
He – or those he let decide for him – have just killed an iconic brand.
At least some of us have fond memories of it.
Meow! I suppose someone decided their paycheck wasn’t enough to make the bad taste of souless artistic development go away. I can only imagine the internal corporate hissing lead-up to this press release.
When does Black Opium hit the United States?
Supposedly 2015.