Michael Rider makes Celine fashion’s most-wanted label again
Michael Rider has made Celine feel desirable again, with scarves, layered jewelry and a new gilded belt buckle doing the heavy lifting.
Celine has found its pull again, and Michael Rider has done it without turning the house loud. Christopher Bollen’s Vogue profile lands on the point Old Money dressing cares about most: Rider has made the French label feel coveted by tightening its polished restraint and letting accessories do the talking. That is the modern luxury sweet spot, where quiet status still matters, but only if something on the body actually catches the eye.
The lineage helps. Celine was founded in 1945 by Céline Vipiana, and LVMH identifies Rider as the house’s current creative director. His appointment followed Hedi Slimane’s exit, officially confirmed on October 2, 2024, after almost seven years at the brand. Rider came back to Celine with unusual built-in credibility: he worked there under Phoebe Philo from 2008 to 2018, then led women’s design at Polo Ralph Lauren from 2018 to mid-2024, a résumé that makes his return look less like a gamble than a reset.
That reset became visible at his first runway show, staged at Celine’s 16 rue Vivienne headquarters in Paris on July 6, 2025, at 2:30 p.m. Business of Fashion called the moment a homecoming and a reset, and the show made clear what kind of Celine Rider wants to sell. Before the presentation, he emphasized “quality,” “timelessness,” and “style” in a letter to attendees, and the clothes were backed by the pieces that matter in luxury right now: scarves, layered jewelry, chains, and a new gilded belt buckle. The message was simple. Keep the silhouette disciplined; let the finish signal the money.
That balance is why the label is moving again in a softer luxury market. LVMH said its Fashion & Leather Goods business was broadly stable in 2024, even as the group posted €41.7 billion in first-half revenue and €60.8 billion for the first nine months of the year. Inside a conglomerate operating at that scale, Celine’s renewed momentum matters because desirability is the most valuable accessory of all, and Rider has restored it by making the house look expensive in the old way and current in the new one.
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