Don't Worry, Cathy Horyn Also Wasn't Invited to Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent Debut

As Hedi Slimane undoubtedly knows by now, if Mitt Romney's still on the market for a "zinging" coach, he could do a lot worse than Cathy Horyn. The designer didn't extend an invitation to The New York Times fashion critic for his debut "Saint Laurent" collection which — and maybe Giorgio Armani can back me up here? — has never really worked out too well for anyone. By forcing Horyn to write her review of his collection based on the digital images, like all the Internet's great unwashed (literally — I haven't showered yet today), Slimane dug himself a pretty deep grave. Let's go look at it!

Horyn thinks Slimane's still bitter about a piece she wrote in 2004, which concerned Raf Simons' influence on menswear:

"Essentially I wrote that without Mr. Simons’s template of slim tailoring and street casting, there would not have been a Hedi Slimane — just as there would never have been a Raf Simons without Helmut Lang. Fashion develops a bit like a genetic line.

Because geniuses have no influences, Slimane, then at Dior Homme, was understandably furious. (Who knew the Slimane/Simons rivalry ran so deep?) The designer came to believe that Horyn preferred Simons' designs, and so his resentment has held at a slow and steady boil for the past eight years.

Just to recap: Slimane is so unwilling to take criticism that he banned a critic from seeing his work. And so Cathy Horyn exacted the best revenge. She reviewed him:

"The collection was a nice but frozen vision of a bohemian chick at the Chateau Marmont. Or in St. Tropez."

ZING!

"I had the impression from the clothes of someone disconnected from fashion of the past several years."

ZING!

"Also, the self-important air of Saint Laurent’s media relations — the calls informing reporters that Mr. Slimane wouldn’t be taking questions backstage — is out of touch. Meanwhile, its competitors— Balenciaga, Dior, Givenchy, Celine, Lanvin — are having a terrific season."

ZING ZING ZING

Image via WENN.com