HEDI SLIMANE’S long-awaited collection, The Dancing Kid, has sprung onto our screens on various social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, and Celine’s website. Filmed at the Circuit du Castellet racing track on the outskirts of Marseille, the camera followed solitary teenage boys – clad in racing helmets and jazzy jackets – as they strut down the deserted Formula 1 runway.
Attuned to new adolescent codes, Slimane is quite literally down with the kids. Designed ahead of the pandemic that took hold in March, The Dancing Kid collection was set to be a celebration of youth culture and their convictions – notably musical. The pandemic indeed confirmed the designer’s direction, as confined youths all over the globe turned to dancing in their bedrooms to stave off lockdown boredom. As a result, TikTok became a platform for solitary teens to post their performances and connect with fellow dancers.
Celine‘s SS21 menswear collection is thus a tribute to a generation of young people that, in the face of adversity, showed great resilience by asserting a new mode of creativity. It wasn’t just their dancing though, it was their music too – Slimane utilised Canadian rapper Tiagz’s TikTok famous They Call Me Tiago song as the soundtrack for the film.
And the result? The invention of “an initiatory language anchored in dance and teen romance.”
“Spanning eboys and current skate culture,” the Dancing Kid collection is grungy but effortlessly cool and comfortable. Oversized knitted cardigans are paired with chunky beanie hats, while plaid shirts are worn underneath cut-off denim jackets emblazoned with racing badges. Garments are layered on top of one another in clashing prints, from chequered racing stripes and gaudy animal prints to beautiful botanical leaves. Not to forget the groovy tie-dye, of course, which comes in washes of violet and bubblegum blue.
Slimane’s relaxed silhouettes and throwback styles truly embody the care-free nature of youth. But my favourite piece of the collection has to be the structured sequinned tiger print blazer – its iridescent golden sheen makes it the perfect post-lockdown party number (while the polka dot pyjama bottoms are appropriate for the day of lounging that will undoubtedly ensue!).
While there is an element of nostalgia to Celine’s Dancing Kid collection, there is also a glimmer of hope for a future in which lonesome kids may dance together again – in a chaos of colours and prints.
by Rhiannon Jenkins