Hedi Slimane has added his name to the short list of designers to respond publicly to Cathy Horyn's criticism of their work this season.
by Justin Fenner
Hedi Slimane has added his name to the short list of designers to respond publicly to Cathy Horyn's criticism of their work this season.
Slimane, who showed his Spring 2013 collection for Saint Laurent in Paris on Monday night, tweeted a message titled "My Own Times." The text read in part:
"Miss Horyn is a schoolyard bully and also a little bit of a stand-up comedian. Insiders argue she is an average writer, and a bit provincial, but I disagree, she did some great things. Her biggest achievement so far is a book about Bill Blass, that I haven't read. It might be terrific, and I'll be happy to recommend it, if it helps the sales. . . As far as I'm concerned, she will never get a seat at Saint Laurent, but might get two for one at Dior. She should rejoice. I don't mind critics, but they have to come from a fashion critic, not a publicist in disguise. I am quite mesmerized she did get away with it for so many years."
Horyn was not invited to the Saint Laurent show on Sunday and pointed that out in a post about the collection. She explained her exclusion thus:
"Despite positive reviews of his early YSL and Dior collections, as well as a profile, Mr. Slimane objected bitterly to a review I wrote in 2004 — not about him but Raf Simons. Essentially I wrote that without Mr. Simons's template of slim tailoring and street casting, there would not have been a Hedi Slimane — just as there would never have been a Raf Simons without Helmut Lang. Fashion develops a bit like a genetic line."
Oscar de la Renta took out a full-page ad in WWD to respond to Horyn calling him a "hot dog" in her critique of his Spring 2013 show. In it, the designer asked Horyn, "If you have the right to call me a hot dog why do I not have the right to call you a stale 3-day old hamburger?" Horyn later told us that she was trying to compliment de la Renta "as someone showing off his tricks, like a surfer."
A look at the full text of Slimane's tweet, below.
To showcase Massimiliano Giornetti's beautiful Russian-inspired Fall 2012 collection, Salvatore Ferragamo has created a short film featuring some of Russia's biggest style stars. 
