Michael Rider must have finished all his meals the past week to have the kind of weather luck he needed to make his ballsy move into the Parc de Saint-Cloud outside of Paris work out for his second show at Celine. The sun was out and not only the weather but also the fashion gods were on his side for his confident stride through an easy but highly sophisticated elegance exercise with relaxed tailoring and floral fit and flare dresses to open the show. In fact, the sun made everything shine, especially the printed silks. Rider is firmly immersed in Parisian life now as he accessorized his models with branded cycling helmets: a continuation from his first show (read our review) when he had the rue Vivienne filled with Celine branded bikes and locks. Backstage he said: “My clothes are not for the most outrageous fashion person but they say something more quiet.” This neatly sums up his approach to make highly worked on, incredibly detailed looks which come heavily accessorized with bags, chain belts, jewelry and beautiful silk scarves. The scarves are not plucked from the archives but were newly created for the show and showed up as pants, skirts and tops adding a zesty richness to the often black wool tailoring. He repeatedly used them on his jackets fused with the collar to create another layer and color-block or they came out shining under long black coats.

A penchant for?

This Celine shares the obsession of formal garments like the tuxedo which came in different variations tightly tucked into pants or as generous six button versions. By adding hybrid Chelsea biker boots, Rider kept it far from formal. And there are jeans at Celine, particularly one boot cut, creased men’s denim with white stitching on the side that looked amazing. 

Obsessive detail?

For Rider the closures of a garment is a design opportunity so instead of buttons he adds multi charms in the form of coins or even small scissors to individualize the piece. 

The branding?

Rider doesn’t shy away from strong branding messages as his yellow men’s sweater with a giant horse carriage underlined.

The prior polemic?

After Hedi Slimane took to IG and mildly accused Rider of violating his intellectual property by copying his black and white campaign photos, Celine came out with a whole new set of sun-drenched images in color which made the issue a bit pedantic from his predecessor’s side. Rider seems to have the sun on his side.