Has Anyone Noticed CELINE Making Every Classic Shoe Better?
As I recently browsed through CELINE’s latest selection of shoes, cosplaying as someone wealthy enough to drop $900 on a sneaker, I was struck by the sense that I’d seen all these styles before, but not as good. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, CELINE’s footwear is an exercise in idolization.
Each style traces back to a popular silhouette. To my bespectacled eyes, the ultra-slim-soled CELINE Flat and Racer look like ultra-luxe takes on the PUMA Speedcat and Nike Cortez, while the rubbery Alan is to a pair of vulcanized Vans as the CT-04 Trainer is to the AF1, especially in its clean all-white colorway. And that fat-tongued Huntington skate shoe? It’s giving lovechild of Converse Jack Purcell and Nike Dunk — assuming said lovechild got the best genes of both parents (and maybe indulged in a little looksmaxxing).
CELINE’s sneaker game is on fire. This all hits different now that we’ve left the distinctly slim, indie-sleaze vibe of Hedi Slimane behind — which, to be fair, did double CELINE’s sales to over €2.5 billion.
In just three collections, CELINE’s latest creative director, Michael Rider, has brought a preppier, sportier vision to the brand after six years at Polo Ralph Lauren (and, before that, a decade-long stint at Phoebe Philo’s Céline). The brand’s elevated take on classic sneakers is now paired with rugby shirts, trim sweaters, striped shirts and pinched-waist blazers, matching the lightness of Rider’s creative vision.
When Rider debuted his first solo menswear collection earlier this year, he wrote a letter that championed “character over costume.” His focus, he said, was on building a new kind of CELINE with “classics with bite, when discretion and restraint make the right kind of noise.”
That’s not to say there isn’t the odd oddity loudly asserting itself. The vibrant red Ballet Lace-Up, for example, has an upper half that is defined by strips of leather that allow your toes to poke out like they’re in prison. But CELINE’s sneakers seem to mostly adhere to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. Or, maybe that’s “if it ain’t broke, make it better.”
As we wade through a sea of odd shoe silhouettes, from the sneaker-mule to the Tabi-fication of seemingly everything, it’s refreshing to just see a really, really well-done take on sneakers that’re beloved for a reason.
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