Paul Deneve, the president and CEO of Saint Laurent Paris, has written a letter to trade publication WWD scolding them for pitting Hedi Slimane against Dior's creative director Raf Simons in a recent article.
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| Hedi Slimane Photo: REX |
Paul Deneve, the president and CEO of Saint Laurent Paris, has criticised fashion industry publication Women's Wear Daily for an article which he felt inappropriately pitted Hedi Slimane, the creative director of Saint Laurent Paris, against Raf Simons, the creative director of Dior.
After reading the article titled 'Paris Match' by WWD journalist Miles Socha, Deneve felt compelled to write a letter to the trade journal outlining his problems with the piece, which compared Slimane's debut at YSL to Simons's ready-to-wear debut at Dior. The letter was today published by WWD .
Deneve begins by accusing the publication of inaccurately reflecting the reviews Hedi Slimane received for his debut womenswear collection at the most recent Paris Fashion Week.
"First, the article summarises the reviews as "comparatively tepid" for "Slimane's reverential treatment of smokings (tuxedos) and bohemian dresses," only quoting three editors, one of them admittedly partial (Cathy Horyn: "a cheerleader" for Raf Simons, the article says)," writes Deneve. "This does not reflect the highly positive coverage Hedi Slimane received from the press commentators around the world, from France to Italy, Japan, China and the U.S."
Deneve goes on to say that he regrets that the well-respected publication reduced the "collective talent of all designers showing in Paris to a so-called duel between two fashion houses and two men."
