Nicholas Trikonis

Saint Laurent

Hedi Slimane circumvents a crowd with his hand slightly raised in front of him, leading the rest of his body—a practice derived from navigating the oceans waves on a surfboard. As the waves push, he moves forward not in resignation, but with a certain California cool. Slimane’s reaction to the unexpected is a relaxed poise. It’s a disposition he applies in life as well as in his work. He champions the unforeseen occurrences that inevitably arise in his practice. It gives his work a certain sensation- as if the intrinsic part of every work or every experience is never sought after, but simply found. We rarely get exactly what we anticipate. Therefore, there is no reason to become attached to our obsessive preparations. Real control is found in the surrender to the unexpected.