Sorry I 'm late in thanking you all for these wonderful pics that reveal SO much of what Yves REALLY means as far as 20th Century fashion is concerned .
At the risk of Soft's ire , I cannot resist reposting this image as the outfit is ME . ( In spirit , at the VERY least . )
I have the leather jacket and numerous trousers in the same vein . In fact I have a number of Yves leather jackets which are absolutely amazing , and I also have a dark brown leather trench maxi-coat from the first men's collection that he did , and was the subject of much publicity when the St.Laurent Rive Gauche Homme shop opened on the Brompton Road in 1970 .
There was a Russian feel to the collection , and I fell in love with a side buttoning astrakhan overcoat with wolf sleeves , that was THE piece of the collection , but well beyond my pocket at the time .
The Lady Rendlesham deigned to sell the side -buttoning black Russian shirt of the collection , at the extraordinary price of £10 , as a come on , and of course it was sold out in hours .
Another highlight of the collection was a knitted navy wool tank top with a circle of varicoloured lurex in the front , to be worn with one of the Yves basics , a mandarin collared silk shirt . Fabulous . It was said that Yves and Pierre had EVERY concierge in Paris , madly knitting away to meet the orders for this first , SO important men's collection .
As for the famous ' Montmartre poule ' collection , it caused a riot , as the ladies who lunch of the time , were appalled by the sight of young shapely women , dressed in broad shouldered red dresses , printed with lucious lips and swaying rhythmically with utter sexual abandon , and were expected to buy into this stack of memories that Yves retained from his youth .
To be entirely fair , La Rendlesham stoutly defended Yves and told him to send out his collection again to confound the critics , but unfortunately it only resulted in Yves sending out a very staid and safe collection the following season , very much based on clothes that were sold in the UK label ' JAEGER ' collections , if not like the equally bourgeois French ' Rodier ' collections .
Yves was a genius in ' L'Art de Choc ' and all this simply served to keep his name in the public eye as the ultimate fashion designer , despite the fact that Karl Lagerfeld was snapping at his heels at CHLOE , and the Italians , like Walter Albini were already on the horizon to challenge the French dominance of RTW .
There'll be more from me on this thread as I remember it , but in the meanwhile , thanks so much again for all these glorious images that make me SO regretful of Tom Ford's attempt to ' do ' an Yves and nearly ruin the label as a result , although I will allow that the refurbishment of the shops that went with his revamp , have kept alive a truly venerable French institution that Stefano Pilati has managed to get the measure of , and earning worthwhile praise for his efforts into the bargain .
Deneuve
told me that it really reflected the women's collection until a certain time...it would be interesting to see that...
