Fashion designer Hedi Slimane leaves LVMH's Celine

PARIS, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Fashion designer Hedi Slimane has left LVMH's LVMH.PA Celine brand, the company said on Wednesday, marking the latest high-profile departure from a fashion label as the industry grapples with a sales downturn.

LVMH has named Michael Rider as Slimane's successor. Rider, who will start his new job early next year, worked alongside former Celine designer Phoebe Philo at Celine for over a decade.

Slimane's departure will intensify speculation about upheaval in the industry, where a number of top designers have moved jobs. One of the most coveted roles, creative director of Chanel, remains unfilled after the departure of Virginie Viard in June. Creative directors most often depart when they no longer have a positive impact on sales, said Luca Solca, an analyst with Bernstein.

"I don’t think this is an exception," he said of Slimane's exit, noting that, like artists, creative directors tend to produce variations on a theme, which can become predictable. Solca said Slimane had done well at the label, likely more than doubling brand revenue to around 2.5 billion euros.

Slimane could not be reached for comment. Slimane joined Celine in 2018, quickly making his mark at the historic fashion house with his distinctive rocker-chic aesthetic. He is also known for the skinny silhouettes that he offered when he was at Dior Homme and Kering's Yves Saint Laurent, famously inspiring Karl Lagerfeld to slim down to fit into his Dior designs.

The designer rarely granted interviews and maintained tight control of all aspects of brand image, shooting advertising images himself and holding fashion shows outside of the traditional calendar. At Celine, Slimane sought to update the brand's French bourgeois aesthetic for a younger audience, with ad campaigns featuring model Kaia Gerber in cropped tops and faded jeans, accessorized with a baseball cap and small, leather purse. He also introduced a menswear line at Celine, as well as fragrances and makeup.

LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault set ambitious targets for Slimane, telling investors shortly after he joined that LVMH aimed to grow annual revenue at Celine to between 2 billion to 3 billion euros within five years, from close to 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion) at the time.

In January, at LVMH's annual results presentation, Arnault said that Celine was enjoying "great success" thanks to Slimane, and topping 2 billion euros in sales. The company does not break down revenue by brand in its published earnings statements. Growth in sales in the luxury goods industry in general has slowed sharply this year, as middle-class shoppers in China hold off on purchases due to the property slump and job insecurity.

Barclays analyst Carole Madjo noted during a recent trip to China that Celine was facing "brand fatigue" and was likely to be underperforming in the country. The change follows other moves at LVMH, including its investment in one of the industry's strongest performers in recent years, Moncler. It said this week it had sold off streetwear label Off-White, founded by the late Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh.