[tricotineacetat]

Saint Laurent is apparently for the moment still keeping quite a hand full of Pilati-era accessories' and footwear lines as a side sell to Slimane's latest offerings, so no, there is no complete cut with the past. This should on the other hand allow Slimane to take things a step slower-paced at developing his own leather goods range - He hasn't had that much of a commercial cash cow at Dior Homme in that regard and I do not see those first leather goods as being close contenders for a new 'hit' handbag as the Célines or even something as niche as The Row's very successful ultra-upscale bags range. Perhaps he'll need to hire somebody specifically for the handbags, surely for a house as big as Saint Laurent, you cannot neglect such potentially profitable product categories.

Concerning the denim, I also do wonder whether the latest Saint Laurent jeans will keep up the same popularity as when Dior Homme was at the peak of it's success - What I can see so far are relatively basic washes and not too many recognizable 'trademarks' such as Dior's easily identifiable darted back pockets and custom hardware, besides the fact that the jeans have not been given a particularly strong focus on the runway, unlike at Dior Homme, where there have always been a few key denim styles to be seen on the runway.

Also, I do not want to necessarily de-mystify the matter, but Japanese Selvedge denim is more of a prestige and preference in style than an actual quality upgrade - Those fabrics are woven on vintage looms and the characteristics are irregularities that modern industry looms do not produce. A.P.C's classical raw denim line makes use of Japanese selvedge denim since day one, Slimane apparently wore their 'New Standards' at the very beginning of his tenure at Dior, so it wouldn't surprise me if the cut of his Dior denim's was loosely based around those.