Q: What [style] do you see on the streets that just drives you crazy?
Lazaro: "Ummm . . . " Makes a face, turns to Jack.
Jack: Scrunches his brow. "Pretty much everything . . . "

For the full effect, watch live at 1:34 in:

The wider fashion press is likely to spend most of today memorializing one of fashion's true greats. Yves Saint Laurent died at his home in Paris late Sunday at 71 after a long, undisclosed illness. We here at Coutorture feel a great burden upon us as we discuss this life, for after all what can we say that you cannot hear elsewhere in the news media?

We do not doubt that all of the blogosphere will be buzzing for days to come. We wish we knew in our sadness over this passing what it is we should say. Should we focus on a straight obituary? Published biographies recounting the lives of those who have recently died have value no doubt. But certainly you can learn just as much from a wikipedia page.

Perhaps a eulogy would be more appropriate? We come here not to bury Yves Saint Laurent but to praise him? There is much to be said about Yves's incredible innovations, his work in the acceptance of ready to wear as a viable form of fashion for instance, his smoking jackets, his ever ingenious ability with menswear as womenswear, and yet we must assume that our readers are well aware of these praise worthy facts.

We imagine then perhaps our musings are more on the line of an elegy. The term "elegy" was originally used for a type of poetic metre (Elegiac metre), but is also used for a poem of mourning, from the Greek elegos, a reflection on the death of someone or on a sorrow generally. We cannot say we are much for poetry but we are certainly musing.

And so we have decided to leave you with another last form writing on death. The funeral oration is a storied tradition in classicism given by many a great leader. The true original oration came from one Pericles of Athens after the first year of the Peloponnesian War. In it, as Pericles mourns Athen's war dead, a vision of the Athenian people is given. Should you choose, you can read it in its entirety here. Pericles proposes to focus on "the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang."

Thus you can see why an ancient Greek funeral oration may have some use to grieving fashion lovers. Yves Saint Laurent embodies much of modern fashion history. Fashion today exists from the road laid by this great designer. Eulogies, obituaries, and even elegies are essentially the orations of our collective media painting a picture of who we are as fashion lovers and where we came from. Like Pericles, we may be mourning the passing of Yves Saint Laurent but we are also seeing our own fashion lineage and preparing for our fashion future.

Yves Saint Laurent once said "I tried to show that fashion is an art. For that, I followed the counsel of my master Christian Dior and the imperishable lesson of Mademoiselle Chanel. I created for my era and I tried to foresee what tomorrow would be." (1983)

We saw these faux-python sandals on three different women this weekend. No kidding. When we heard they were Jeffrey Campbell we knew exactly why. These deep brown slip-on sandals are a mere seventy dollars and look great in person. If you want to escape the confines of Dolce Vita (and, gasp, Steve Madden), but are limited to the 'Under 100' shoe budget, this brand is your best bet (try also, Matiko). This sandal is attractive because it touches on the gladiator trend, without making the same statement that the knee-high versions do, and, just like heels and boots, having a simple brown and black sandal in your wardrobe, will free-up your styling options. Seventy dollars for a conservative take on a trend, in a basic color that will do your wardrobe wonders, is worth the investment in our book. More Jeffrey Campbell options below.

Another week, another round of sample sales and cocktail parties. We have to say, the atmosphere in New York this week feels a bit on the serious side, but there are bound to be moments when a twenty minute break is needed. Hop on the train and check these happenings for a little alone time.

Monday: Maxx New York is having a sample sale today. Get a new summer handbag for up to 60% off. Try to find the quilted hobo, or something like that, because these bags have never been our favorites. That's what sample sales are for though, eh? Sale at 385 Fifth Avenue, runs through Thursday.

Tuesday: The DVF sample sale starts today with current season looks, including those featured in our DVF X Bloggers photo shoot, marked up to 75% off. Part of the Coutorture team hit up the sale this afternoon (press day) and gave us the scoop on what to expect. Apparently the selection is top-notch, and the prices hovering between 75 and 100 dollars. For right-now DVF, we say that's more than worth the money. Sale at 260 Fifth Avenue, runs all week.

Wednesday: There's a King Stampede party tonight at 40 Thompson. If you don't know the brand, don't worry. Expect a bunch of skater gents and ALife types. This is probably the only time you'll see women wearing hoodies with heels other than at the felafel place circa 3am. Flyer, top left.

Thursday:Rebecca Taylor's sample sale ends today (starts Tuesday). Better get girly before it's too late. We hear it's going to be about 50-60% off which will most likely turn even the loveliest fashion rose into a raging sample sale maniac. Sale at 145 West 18th Street. See the collection here.

Friday: If you need something to romp around Manhattan in over the weekend (and we mean one of those weekends where you live in a variation of the same outfit from Friday through Sunday night) then hit up Opening Ceremony's ongoing 'Super Scary Sale' which, by this time, apparently will include Alexander Wang and Jeremy Scott for 30-60% off.

>>  A look to the left reveals a first image of Proenza Schouler's shoe deal with Giuseppe Zanotti, and now, to the right, the specifics.

Until now, the label didn't have any commercial shoes, except for the ones they did for shows with a little factory.  But moving forward, expect ballet shoes, loafers, lace-up sandals, and heels to hit stores for the resort season, running from the $300s up to $3,000, and hitting an average of $685. 

Now that there's a whole Proenza Schouler accessories team, handbags are on the horizon, too, but as Lazaro Hernandez explained:

The entire market is so dense with bags and everything else, that until we [find] something original and specific to say, we [don't] want to say anything. We don't do anything unless we have something to say.

Wise choice.

*images: source

>>  In the aftermath of Yves Saint Laurent's death Sunday evening, funeral services have been scheduled for Thursday afternoon, 3:30 pm,  at the Eglise Saint-Roch in Paris.  Afterward, YSL will be incinerated, and his ashes will lay in his Majorelle Garden in his beloved Marrakech. 

Although details surrounding cause of death were not originally released, it has now been confirmed that M. Saint Laurent was suffering from brain cancer, which he was diagnosed with in April 2007.  Lifelong business partner Pierre Berge and muse Betty Catroux were present at the time of death, and Catherine Deneuve arrived soon after.

*images: source

Today's article in WWD, on the strength of the flagship in spite of the recession, sparked our interest in writing about the newest Yohji Yamamoto outpost. Last week we walked by the space in the Meatpacking District, and admired its simple facade and modern interior. Though this flagship doesn't occupy multiple floors and boast the kind of bells and whistles that are characteristic of other fashion houses, it was designed with the same thought in mind: that the flagship is one of the most important dialogues between a brand and its customer.

For his second Manhattan outpost Yohji Yamamoto hired architect Junya Ishigami to design a pointed, low-slung boutique with equal parts utility and attraction. At night the wedge-shaped structure, made of large windowpanes and original brick walls, glows from the warm lighting and stark white furniture inside. The structure, divided into two triangular spaces, allows for one part retail and one part storage. In between them a small open-air garden functions as a clothing-free party space and otherwise convenient passageway between private and public quarters. Occupying only 1,300 square feet this sleek outpost was never meant to accommodate the entire Yamamoto range, only select garments and accessories are offered for sale. More than anything, the Gansevoort Street boutique means to embody and encourage the Yamamoto aesthetic, where minimalism is not without its own brand of warmth and detail.


Click to see images from the Yohji Yamamoto Fall 08 collection

Our network partner's post was the icing on the sweet, cavity-inducing cake that is The Hammer Pant Trend. This morning, wanting a fresh, fashion-forward look for Monday morning at the office, That's Chic snapped a pic of herself wearing H&M's latest incarnation of the pant of the summer. In her post on the outfit, she references another network partner of ours, a miss Style Bubble, who mused on the trend back in, ahem, August 2007. We might officially put this topic to bed, but before we do, we just can't help bringing back our posts on the silhouette that is holding our hand while we transition from skinny jeans to wider styles.

On Friday afternoon, in Phone Tag, we called 3.1 Phillip Lim to make sure they didn't have any harem pants left. A few months ago we got immaterial over a Rick Owens pair of drop-crotch trousers. We've also referenced the trend numerous times and had many a conversation over this punctuation mark in the changing silhouette. It also deserves a mention that, in the blogsphere, the conversation was being put to bed around the same time a certain fashion magazine wrote a nice little article on how, gasp, 'they're everywhere!'. A final sendoff to the pant that's given us so much content? The YSL Fall 08 version, our favorite by far (not to mention that haircut, which is, as we speak, taking New York by storm) and definitely a version that will not be forgotten.