After Stefano Pilati’s Fall ’12 men’s presentation in Milan this past January I had one prevailing thought, “this signals the end of his time at the storied house of Saint Laurent.” I didn’t discuss that show here as I don’t typically cover collections and presentations on MD that I don’t absolutely love or find incredibly intriguing; there are simply too many collections each season to offer a point of view on each. But with the announcement of Mr. Pilati’s departure and the gossip that Hedi Slimane may return to lead the house I thought it an interesting tipping point for the YSL label.
I’ve never been a fan of Mr. Pilati’s menswear work at YSL. It’s not that I don’t respect the man as a designer (I do think that he’s quite talented and have admired much of his work in womenswear) — I just feel that, with menswear in particular, he never authentically connected with the heritage of the brand or the essence of its founder, Yves Saint Laurent. Mr. Pilati’s menswear collections often felt a bit disjointed, reductive, and unfamiliar. Taking a historic brand in a new direction, exploring new territory and exposing a clientele to a new way of thinking is often not just creatively necessary but financially prudent, yet for me it often appeared as if Mr. Pilati was confused on how to do that and unsure of what message he was trying sending.
His past two collection (Spring and Fall ’12) were clunky with a futuristic point of view on luxury apparel that was perhaps more Star Trek of the 1990′s than relevant to a forward thinking, edgy and sexual, modern YSL man.
Hedi Slimane is intimately connected to the YSL brand, having been the head designer and creative director for the men’s division of the house before leaving to lead Dior Homme where he became one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful menswear designers in the world. And then, at the height of his popularity and success, he gave it all up to focus on another passion, photography.
If Mr. Slimane does indeed return to YSL it may be just be that missing ingredient needed to focus the brand, especially given Hedi’s ability to project and deliver a vision of utter and singular creative unity.
Check out what others are saying about the change on Modern Destiny In The Moment.
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