Celine FW24 Honors Richard Avedon With Full ’60s Eleganza

Celine’s FW24 Womens collection, “L’Arc de Triomphe,” is a tribute to creative director Hedi Slimane’s mentor and friend, the legendary photographer Richard Avedon, commemorating two decades since his passing. The show, which dropped this morning in video format, diverts the Parisian fashion house from Slimane’s typical 21st-century downtown grunge back to the swinging sixties, when some of Avedon’s best-known subjects found their fame. From ultra-mini skirt suits to Mary Janes to polka dots, our editors Dara and Mekala couldn’t get enough.

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MEKALA RAJAGOPAL: How were the Oscars?

DARA: I held one. It was so major. Some person was in the smoking area and she was holding her boss’s.

RAJAGOPAL: Is it heavy?

DARA: It’s so heavy. It feels important.

RAJAGOPAL: It’s weighty, literally.

DARA: Yeah, they make it serious. Okay, I love this music box.

RAJAGOPAL: Speaking of the Oscars, there’s this little golden statue. Who’s she?

DARA: Oh, she’s glam. She has a pearl earring.

RAJAGOPAL: The Celine woman.

DARA: She’s very chic. I’m seeing the Avedon already, with the portraits of all the important women in the ’60s. The swans. Cool hat, cool boots.

RAJAGOPAL: It’s all about these caps, honestly.

DARA: And tiny little dresses. They are really mini. Oh my goodness.

RAJAGOPAL: It’s so twee. Fully preppy ‘60s chick.

DARA: The music is very secret agent. It’s in the Henry Mancini universe of music, which I love. 

RAJAGOPAL: It’s so cinematic. I know this character. She’s in a movie and it’s some type of heist movie.

DARA: It’s very Audrey in Charade with the hats and the glasses. There’s actually a really good Audrey reference for this really ’60s look, which is How to Steal a Million, where she plays the daughter of a man who fakes art pieces. She’s in a white cap with a little swing coat and white sunglasses. It’s really this girl.

RAJAGOPAL: That’s her. And this coat length is a little slutty.

DARA: Everything is really little, down to the little shoes.

RAJAGOPAL: The platform Mary Janes.

DARA: I’m really happy leopard’s coming back into the world. We’ve been missing it.

RAJAGOPAL: This girl is kind of bratty.

DARA: She is totally bratty. What’s my favorite word? She’s petulant. She’s a petulant girl. Wait, these boots are cut really hot. They’re higher in the front and lower in the back, so you can still walk around.

RAJAGOPAL: This dress—

DARA: Oh, this little pinafore gray dress, like Mary Quant. So short. Amazing. It’s just leg, leg, leg.

RAJAGOPAL: I feel like leg is the accessory of this summer.

DARA: But this is winter. 

RAJAGOPAL: She needs a tight.

DARA: Well, this girl doesn’t ever go outside. 

RAJAGOPAL: This is just her look for stomping through the sky bridge.

DARA: That fuzzy coat’s good. Celine does a great furry little coat. 

RAJAGOPAL: Lots of pearls, which is adorable.

DARA: I love a little pearl stud right now. I’m really about a little earring. Wow, these little bodysuits with the collars—

RAJAGOPAL: I’m obsessed. That’s my favorite if I had to choose one to wear. And these polka dots are back.

DARA: Polka dots are really having their moment. I’m happy about the lady coming back to the mainstream. 

RAJAGOPAL: Being a lady.

DARA: I love when a girl’s a lady. Elegance is something we cannot discard. Discretion, elegance, and etiquette.

RAJAGOPAL: This clumpy bottom mascara is so Twiggy.

DARA: I want to try this new Celine Beauté lipstick.

RAJAGOPAL: I’ve been looking for the perfect red.

DARA: Yeah, a Celine red lip is major. I love a red lip. The little tuxedo dress is very Barbara, very Liza.

RAJAGOPAL: And this capelet is cut so breezy.

DARA: What I love about Hedi Slimane is he really finesses and refines. All of these looks are very consistent.

RAJAGOPAL: We know who she is.

DARA: He is not clumsy about the shapes. I love that. And he is also an amazing and prolific photographer of the black and white portrait, which is Avedon’s bread and butter. They both kind of have their own universes. 

RAJAGOPAL: Right.

DARA: Oh my god, I really, really, really love the babydoll. It’s so cute.

RAJAGOPAL: I love the black and white babydoll.

DARA: That’s petulant as hell. 

RAJAGOPAL: She sits with her legs crossed. Wait, here comes a bustle.

DARA: This giant ball of fur, wow. It’s going so many amazing places I did not expect it to. And a train.

RAJAGOPAL: Breezy.

DARA: That was great. 

RAJAGOPAL: Who’s wearing this collection?

DARA: Every little it-girl. She’s got to be a hot, new young actress, and she has a role in a really big movie, but it’s only for 10 minutes and we all wonder who she is. Next year she’ll win best actress.

RAJAGOPAL: Next year. Celine’s been downtown lately, but she’s moving uptown.

DARA: Yeah, very sophisticated. The Celine logo on top of the L’Arc De Triomphe is really major. The logo actually comes from some engraving that’s near the L’Arc De Triomphe.

RAJAGOPAL: It’s like, the chain around the Arc.

DARA: Truly French. Truly chic.

RAJAGOPAL: I mean, monumental.

DARA: Work.