fashionologie

Stefano Pilati Says Being Let Go From Yves Saint Laurent Was "Beautiful"

fashionologie — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:07:44 PDT

>> What's next for ousted Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati? For the moment, he's not planning to jump back into the fray - or to do anything else for that matter.

Pilati told the audience that assembled to listen to him talk at the French Institute Alliance Française Tuesday night that after decades of being in the fashion industry, he's not exactly chomping at the bit to create more clothes. "I started to work in fashion at a really early age, and somehow leaving Saint Laurent ended a chapter, a career I started almost 30 years ago," he said. "For some reason, I realized I haven't planned any move."

That reason could be a number of things - Pilati ran through his entire history in the fashion business, having worked in retail and as a stylist before hitting it big as a designer for Miu Miu and YSL. Fashion writer Jim Chi quoted Pilati in a tweet as saying that "it's pretty beautiful what's happened to me," referring to being replaced by former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane a few weeks ago. "I'm really happy, which is something I never believed I could be under these circumstances," he said. And while Pilati might not be sure what his future circumstances will be, he was more than happy to talk about his past.

On making YSL profitable with the addition of accessories: "I lived the business aspect of fashion since day one . . . It's not something that for me was like, 'What do you mean? I am a creator! Who cares if you can sell it?' No way . . . I put aside my ego, I put aside my freedom, and I worked hard to respond to what the market was asking for . . . You design something and you want every single woman or man to wear it. You know that they're going to pay for it, so you're going to get some money somewhere. Maybe it's my education, but I never thought, 'I hope nobody gets this except for me.'"

On leading YSL after Saint Laurent's death in 2008: "A lot of people started to ask me, 'Do you feel something has changed?' or 'Is it going to change for you now that he's not alive anymore?' At first, I said, 'No, I don't think so, why?' I've always tried to do my best, but in fact it had changed. I could really feel the fact that his physical presence wasn't there anymore. In a way it gave me a sense of freedom."

On how young people should approach working in fashion: "Don't lose your passion, be true to yourself . . . Go to work as soon as you can . . . Do any job in fashion. No matter what. I've been a salesperson in a shop. I've been an assistant, a stylist, done internships . . . I knew that I wanted to work in fashion. That for me was the same thing, to be a fashion designer came up, but you have to try many things."

Hedi Slimane Confirmed as Yves Saint Laurent's New Creative Director (Update)

Christina Perez — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:53:51 PST

>> It's official. Yves Saint Laurent has named Hedi Slimane its new creative director, effective immediately. In a statement released earlier today, the company said that Slimane will "assume total creative responsibility" at the house, but will also continue to pursue his career in photography. "Hedi Slimane's exceptional talent and understanding of the spirit of Yves Saint Laurent heralds a promising new chapter in the story of the maison," CEO Paul Deneve said. Slimane's first outing for the label will be the Resort collection, presented in June.

The sentiment was echoed by PPR Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault. "As one of the most important French fashion houses, Yves Saint Laurent today possesses formidable potential, which I am confident will be successfully harnessed and revealed through the vision of Hedi Slimane."

Slimane replaces Stefano Pilati, whose contract with the house ended Monday after a successful - if sometimes rocky - eight years.

Yves Saint Laurent Fall 2012

Christina Perez — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:36:59 PST

>> If you've got to go, might as well do it with a bang. Or better yet, with an army of sharp-shouldered power women leading the charge.

For his last collection at Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati did just that. His coats, dresses, tops, and trousers were cut in strongly tailored '80s shapes - broad-topped, angular, and belted. Chainmail dresses, slinky jumpsuits, and asymmetrical furs felt darkly glam in dusky greens and inky blacks; and the house's Le Smoking was re-imagined in sharp swaths of silver or leather. It was tough, chic, and as confident as they come.

Pilati may be out, but he's not looking back.

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YSL Confirms Departure of Stefano Pilati

Christina Perez — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:47:54 PST

>> The designer shakeups continue: YSL has announced the departure of creative director Stefano Pilati.

"We are all at Yves Saint Laurent grateful to Stefano for his important achievements in advancing the mission and success of this historic and treasured fashion house," YSL's CEO, Paul Deneve, said in a statement.

Pilati has been head designer at YSL since 2004. His Fall 2012 collection, which will be shown in Paris on March 5, will be his last outing for the label.

Despite Pilati's somewhat turbulent tenure at YSL, the label has shown marked growth under Pilati's leadership, especially in accessories. "Pilati has been instrumental in the rebuilding and repositioning of an iconic French luxury brand. Under Stefano’s guiding vision and artistic direction, the house has become a contemporary reference in high fashion," the statement acknowledged.

YSL has declined to comment on who will replace Pilati at the creative helm. However, several sources this past weekend - including WWD - have reported that former Dior Homme designer, Heidi Slimane, is poised to take over.

"I wish the maison Yves Saint Laurent and its new creative director the very best for the future," Pilati told WWD. “I exit the house with fierce conviction in all that we have achieved and deep gratitude to those who have supported me along the way. "

Yves Saint Laurent Spring 2012

fashionologie — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:27:19 PDT

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Tilda Swinton Works With a Creative Director for Her Red Carpet Looks Instead of a Stylist

fashionologie — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:11:00 PDT

>> Tilda Swinton has played muse for Viktor & Rolf and Haider Ackermann - she met both, as well as Alber Elbaz, Stefano Pilati, Phoebe Philo, and Raf Simons (who designed her wardrobe for the 2010 film I Am Love) - through her close friend Jerry Stafford, the creative director of a French production company, who she works with in place of a stylist. “He’s my playmate,” she says. “It’s a game, and we have great fun with it.”

Swinton cites David Bowie and her father, Major General Sir John Swinton, as her style icons, and says of working with friends on what she wears for the red carpet: “For someone to know what you need to make you comfortable, they need to know who you are. Having them make clothes for me is like being cooked for by someone who knows what you like to eat.”

For the one-sleeve black Lanvin sheath she wore to the 2008 Oscars, for instance, she told Elbaz she wanted “to attract as little attention as possible and to feel as comfortable as if I were wearing pajamas. Little did I know that the really simple, chic dress one might have worn in Paris or Berlin would stick out like a sore thumb in Los Angeles.”

Stafford also creative directed Swinton's cover story for the August 2011 issue of W (left) - together they created a mood board for the shoot.

Kate Moss's Wedding Ceremony Is Under Way

fashionologie — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:48:11 PDT

>> Kate Moss's wedding ceremony is about to get under way - at 3:30 pm GMT at St Margaret's Parish Church near her Cotswalds home. Pictures of the wedding may be few and far between - Vogue has the exclusive for their September 2011 issue, with Mario Testino on camera duty - and the events are under security lockdown, with both neighboring villages of Southrop and Little Faringdon closed down. In fact, wedding guests and locals had to be issued permits to allow them to pass through roadblocks. However, PopSugar has a look at Kate on her way to the ceremony this afternoon in her veil.

Last night, Moss and Hince gave paparazzi a rare treat, posing for photographs outside The Swan pub in Southrop before their rehearsal dinner. Moss, in a vintage dress and blue Tabitha Simmons boots, looked visibly ecstatic, and apparently told the Daily Mail: "I was so nervous when I was practising signing the register. I've been so stressed out. My hands were shaking like an old woman's!" As for Hince, the couple's friend, Primal Scream bassist Mani said: "He's all right, he's marrying a supermodel. What's there to be nervous about?"

Moss is apparently set to wear a custom John Galliano gown to the ceremony, with Christian Louboutin shoes. Jamie Hince and his "best man," Kills bandmate Alison Mosshart, are confirmed to wear Yves Saint Laurent, while maid of honor Trish Simonon will sport Erdem. The newly-wedded couple and their 300 guests (including Naomi Campbell, Vivienne Westwood, Stefano Pilati, Stella McCartney, Sir Philip Green, and Edward Enninful) will then retreat to the model's home for the first of a three-day, reportedly £500,000 ($800,000) celebration.

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Yves Saint Laurent Resort 2012

fashionologie — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:35:37 PDT

>> Yves Saint Laurent's Resort 2012 collection - which Stefano Pilati hopped the pond to show yesterday at Haunch of Venison art gallery in New York - started with a poppy motif pulled from a 1971 Saint Laurent collection. “There was a shoe with a poppy on the ankle,” Pilati explained. “I’ve always been kind of obsessed, but I thought I’d never use it for a fashion show. But then I had a book, which had a lot of poppies, and I went to the [Italian] countryside and there were a lot of poppies.”

Couple the floral prints with traditional cruise elements - starfish, gold buttons, ropes, and anchors - and you have the gist of the navy and red-filled collection. As Pilati put it: "You know, why not dress like I’m going on a yacht when, in fact, I’m going to the office?” But some pieces are primed for seaside wear, too - the giant rubber necklaces, for example, “can be worn swimming,” he explained.

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Carine Roitfeld Announces Her First Post-Vogue Paris Gig

fashionologie — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:36:04 PDT

>> Carine Roitfeld was spotted a couple of days ago in New York, and it will likely be happening more often in the next few months. Barneys New York has asked Roitfeld to act as a guest editor, muse, and stylist for a multifaceted Fall 2011 initiative.

Roitfeld will style and edit Barneys' Fall 2011 catalogue, campaign (to be shot by Mario Sorrenti), and mailers, as well as put her touch on the retailer's Madison Avenue windows, to be unveiled in September. “It’s very exciting,” Roitfeld said. “It’s a new kind of project for me. It’s good to have a new life, because now I can do projects that I never dreamed of before. For me, Barneys has always been the biggest name in luxury department stores, so to be able to participate in this project with them, and be visible during the next fashion week in New York, is my dream come true. To a French girl, it’s a big, big dream.”

The collaboration came up after a conversation with Barneys CEO Mark Lee after Roitfeld announced she was leaving Vogue Paris. Barneys creative director Dennis Freedman explained that the campaign will reflect “the woman that [Roitfeld] is and her personal style, which we feel is the perfect reflection of our customer. She is the ideal muse as well as editor. She has a unique and extraordinary personal style. She appeals to all ages. She is independent and strong, and yet she is completely feminine. She is a woman of the world, which we like to think our customer is, as well.” It remains unclear whether Roitfeld herself will appear in the ad campaign.

Sorrenti is also expected to shoot a short film in New York and Paris for Barneys, with Roitfeld as the focus. “I am hoping to capture something very personal, a portrait of her in a way,” Sorrenti said. “When Carine and I are together, it’s fun, and she is really cool and really herself, and it’s that intimacy that I want to capture. She has a great sense of humor, and she is very provocative and very free in the way that she doesn’t plan about who she is and what she is going to say. She is very natural, which is great.”

This is Roitfeld's first publicly announced project since leaving Vogue Paris, and it sounds like she plans to stay a free agent for the time being. She says of recent rumors: “Each day it’s changing. One day I am going to Dior with Riccardo Tisci, the next day I am going to Saint Laurent with Hedi Slimane. I don’t think it’s very nice for the designer at Saint Laurent, and it’s just rumors. What I know is that I now have my freedom and I will keep my freedom forever. I am very excited to have this freedom and to have projects like the one at Barneys.”

As for what her future might actually hold, she says: “I am sure that one day I will, even if it’s not my own magazine, do special stories for magazines and maybe something on the Internet. I have projects and opportunities coming on. The only sure thing I know is that I will keep my freedom. I can be a muse for a designer, I can do work for some magazines, and do advertising, and maybe something like Barneys, but still keep my freedom.”

Stefano Pilati Finds All the Yves Saint Laurent Rumors an "Infuriating Distraction"

fashionologie — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:44:23 PST

>> Stefano Pilati has numerous times over the years been plagued with reports of his imminent demise at Yves Saint Laurent. But despite the house's denial of the latest round of rumors, he says, “You know, it affects me . . . I am a creative person, so I am very vulnerable by nature. When you have the idea for a collection, you are really happy, and when you don’t have the idea, you are upset and down and grumpy. That is your daily life. And that vulnerability . . . it can also be fragility.”

Pilati adds that he has at times wondered if the rumors might be true, and that they have been "an infuriating distraction because he thought that they were driven by jealous colleagues or those who were seeking to unseat him," the New York Times reports.

“I don’t let it go,” he says. “What is it about? I should be here, thinking about how beautiful my job is, and come to the office every day and work with colors and fabrics. But no, you have something that undermines you.”

Yves Saint Laurent just recently posted its first significant profit - of about $15 million - after almost a decade of stunning losses; PPR chairman Francois-Henri Pinault credited Pilati as having played a key role in the turnaround. Nonetheless, Pilati has questioned his place in fashion and whether the pressures are worth it: “I have worked and worked and worked hard again. I have been a monk here [at Yves Saint Laurent].”

But he's staying in the game for now - his contract with the house runs through March 2012, he says, but he will likely start discussing a new contract this Spring - he wants to stay with the brand.