Hedi Builds His Team

Some familiar faces have shown up in more recent months at the house of Céline since Hedi Slimane joined in February to expand the brand’s reach into men’s, couture and fragrance.

Former Christie’s communications manager Lilian Bard, who also worked at Saint Laurent in New York from 2012 to 2015, was made press manager in the New York office of Céline.

Maxfield former chief brand- ing officer Peter Utz was made director of couture and events based out of Paris, according to a company spokesperson. Utz, reached by e-mail, declined to be interviewed.

Utz worked with Slimane during his four-year stint at Saint Laurent as part of the brand’s Los Angeles team.

The executive is credited with breathing new life into the Maxfield brand, which included touch-ups to the interior of the main store on Melrose Avenue and most notably a series of high-end streetwear pop-ups and other events that began with Fear of God. It continued on with brands such as Virgil Abloh’s Off-White, Vetements, Amiri, ReadyMade and Enfants Riches Déprimés in Maxfield founder Tommy Perse’s vintage furniture gallery space, the Maxfield Malibu store and the concept shop’s main outpost on Melrose and neighboring Jean Prouvé home shipped to the store from Paris.

Céline tapped Slimane after Phoebe Philo announced her resignation from the brand late last year. Sources told WWD in January Slimane is expected to keep his home in Los Angeles, where designs will be generated, while also splitting his time in Céline’s Paris headquarters. — KARI HAMANAKA