Michael Rider’s insouciant vision for Celine marries his own American roots – the designer was born in Washington D.C. and worked at Polo Ralph Lauren before his appointment – with the bourgeois-inflected codes of the Parisian house, founded by Céline Vipiana in 1945.
But Rider is also interested in the personal gestures of dressing: how the addition of a colourful silk cummerbund, or stacks of golden charms – whether hanging from a belt or wrist – can enliven a look and make it your own. ‘[It’s about] enjoying what we do in the studio, and desiring it ourselves, all of it, the clothes and the characters,’ he said earlier this year.
‘Infinite possibilities’: Celine’s silk foulards
It is why the silk scarf has become such a hallmark accessory of his tenure so far: the French foulard, after all, can be wrapped around the waist, wrist or strap of a bag, or used as an impromptu top or bandana. As Rider says, they offer ‘infinite possibilities’, with his adorned with a bold array of prints: from sketches of Parisian landmarks to hand-drawn motifs of stars and moons, or simply scattered with the Celine ‘Triomphe’ monogram, an enduring emblem of Parisian style.
‘We feel that Celine is a place to come and get dressed, for all sorts of days and nights and moments in life,’ says Rider. ‘Inviting everyone to find the best pieces and then to appropriate them into their lives, their rhythms, their style.’
A version of this article appears in the November 2026 Art Issue of Wallpaper*, available from 8 October in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
