Hedi Slimane (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Hedi Slimane is firing back at critics who weren’t impressed with his debut show as Celine’s new creative director by accusing naysayers of homophobia.

Slimane’s designs featured many short dresses and skirts, a far cry from his predecessor designer Phoebe Philo’s less revealing designs. Some critics even labeled Slimane as the Donald Trump of fashion.

According to WWD,  journalist Loïc Prigent asked Slimane for comment on his television program “5 Minutes de Mode by Loïc Prigen.” Slimane issued a statement via email.

“It’s very off-putting and I still feel like they’re talking about someone else,” Slimane writes. “The spirit of the show was light and joyful, but today, lightness and insouciance are being questioned in fashion.”

Slimane says he doesn’t see why women can’t be free to wear dresses and skirts.

“Women are no longer free to wear miniskirts if they wish to do so,” he continued. “The comparisons to Trump were opportunistic, rather audacious and quite comical, just because the women in my show were free and nonchalant. They are free to dress as they wish.”

He went on that Americans seemed to have a problem that a man took over for a woman at Celine.

“It’s possible that there is a surprising subtext of latent homophobia there,” he added. “There’s politics, conflicts of interest and cliques, a predictable viewpoint, but also astounding exaggerations of conservatism and puritanism.”