Tuesday June 1, 2004
Exclusive: Stefano’s Saint Laurent
By Miles Socha
PARIS — Stefano Pilati is feeling the pressure now.
“But I have the age and experience to be able to deal with it,” he told WWD at a preview of his first solo effort at Yves Saint Laurent. “Now I have to discover myself and dig more and discover my style.”
Pilati, who succeeded Tom Ford as the designer of Saint Laurent, is a very different man from Ford, even though he worked under Gucci Group’s former creative director for three years and, together, they carved a new direction and image for Saint Laurent.
Of course, Ford is the kind of guy who tends to wear a black suit with a white shirt open down to there. Pilati is more apt to sport a blazer in an offbeat color, a natty
necktie and a small flower tucked in his lapel.
Ford is as American as Texas, where he was born. Pilati is Italian, raised in Milan. And even though he lives in Paris near the Bristol Hotel with his sidekick white boxer, Pilati remains close to his Italian roots and just purchased a cottage at Cinque Terra in Tuscany.
In unveiling his cruise collection that retailers begin seeing here today, Pilati is out not only to assure continuity at YSL, but to express his own point of view about one of France’s most beloved labels, and one of the 20th century’s most important designers.
“I’m different than Tom. I have a different background. I have a different vision,” Pilati said. “Maybe it will take a while to notice a big difference.
“If there are any differences, it’s not for me to judge it. Definitely, I work thinking what is right to do for the house, but balanced with what I feel.”
Yet in talking to Pilati, in his first interview since landing one of the most high-profile jobs in international fashion, one senses immediately his passion for the Saint Laurent legacy: how he inspired desire in women, but also served their needs.
“I hope that women will find easiness and joy and freedom to dress up and look chic in a natural way,” Pilati said, speaking in his Italian-accented English. “In the end, Saint Laurent was very easy to wear. It was never contrived. You can wear a little dress and feel very chic and Parisian because of the way you accessorize it or because of its proportions.”
A self-described YSL disciple, Pilati, 38, said even as a child he was fully aware of the designer’s stature as a top purveyor of head-to-toe French style. Growing up in a family of stylish women, he sketched his first designs for his two sisters after reading their fashion magazines. And he knew where the chic went to shop.
“I always heard from everyone who lived the experience of YSL Rive Gauche that it was a place where you could go and get anything you need, for any occasion, always,” he said. “They had the silhouettes, recognizable colors and a French spirit.”
The first couturier to recognize the power of ready-to-wear, Saint Laurent and his business partner, Pierre Berge, began planting Rive Gauche boutiques around the world starting in 1966. Under Gucci Group, which bought YSL in 1999, the network was overhauled and expanded from a dozen stores to 60.
Although Ford had chilly, and at times hostile, relations with Saint Laurent and Berge, Pilati seems to have started off on the right foot, attending the opening of the retired couturier’s museum last March during Paris Fashion Week. But he’s treading lightly.
“Mr. Saint Laurent is a special person and I don’t want to invade his space,” Pilati said. “For me, it’s important to say ‘Bonjour,’ but I won’t push it any further. Maybe [a relationship with him] will come naturally one day.”
Ford, a fervent YSL disciple himself, famously showed scant interest in the archive, much to the couturier’s and Berge’s chagrin.
By contrast, Pilati and his team have visited several times.
“Tom has his way to do things. I have mine,” Pilati said. “Even if I’ve seen those pictures [of famous YSL outfits] 25,000 times, you might find something else [in the archive], a dress you didn’t notice before. And from a technical point of view, it’s important to visit the archive to look at the construction of some of the pieces, and the finishing.
“The archive gives you something. It’s the only moment when I feel I’m surrounded by the YSL aura and the real YSL environment. I go there, I visit it and I love it because you breathe the Saint Laurent spirit. I want to make everybody feel it is part of the house.”
For cruise, Pilati said he set out to do a collection that is “really YSL Rive Gauche” and also “very sunny and summery and fresh, something that you will want to wear now.”
Among the “very YSL” propositions are strong-shouldered pantsuits in light, mannish fabrics; safari jackets, including some in velvet; compact yachting blazers in jersey with gold buttons; classic lip and heart prints recolored by Pilati, and tailored leather cocktail outfits.
For a brand lately associated with grand, red-carpet eveningwear, Pilati demonstrated a more varied, less strict approach. To wit: he went more pool party at night. “There are no black evening dresses. It’s really something to make you feel beautiful and to go to a summer party.”
Given his convictions about the brand’s legacy, Pilati set out to build a complete wardrobe for cruise, an idea he vows to carry forward in subsequent collections. “You really can find everything you need. You’ll find your pantsuits, your classic tailleur, your safari jacket, trenchcoats, jersey pieces, bathing suits — everything.”
An earnest, frank and unassuming man with an easy laugh, Pilati acknowledged the intense pressures of expectation bearing on him. Not only is he inheriting a brand with mythical status — and succeeding Ford, one of the most acclaimed fashion figures of his generation — Pilati is also at the design helm of a money-losing fashion house in desperate need of turnaround. As reported, operating losses at YSL widened last year to $94 million, or 76.4 million euros.
Yet Pilati said he is prepared to meet the challenge, with maturity, professionalism and the confidence that his long experience in the business affords him. Before joining Ford at YSL in 2000, he worked in senior design and fabric development positions for a number of Italian design houses, including Miu Miu, Prada and Giorgio Armani.
“There are a lot of changes in myself because I’ve never been in this position before. I’ve never known myself under this kind of pressure,” he said. “I know there’s a very big expectation. I’m on the top of the list of people to judge and criticize. I have to be objective about my work, more than anyone else.”
Pilati, working in the shadow of Ford, has kept his profile low — until now. Those who know the designer, who also stretches his artistic bent by painting, describe him as cultured, with refined taste.
Even Ford has given his vote of confidence to Pilati, along with the trio of designers who succeeded him at Gucci. When their appointments were made official last March, Ford praised the foursome as “very talented designers. I hired each of them and have tremendous faith in their abilities.”
Berge has also said Saint Laurent is “very happy” with the choice of Pilati, that it’s better to elevate someone who is unknown rather than bring in a marquee name.
Of course, Pilati’s big moment will come during Paris Fashion Week in October, when international press and retailers will receive a more potent blast of his vision for the brand. Already, the designer has decided to fold up the mammoth black tent at the Musée Rodin that was emblematic of the Ford-led YSL era in favor of a different approach.
He declined to give details, but said he’s already scouted several possible show locations. He is also mulling other crucial decisions related to the house’s image, for example, choosing photographers and other collaborators for the next YSL ad campaign.
“The old projects, I won’t try to change them,” he said, referring to YSL fragrance campaigns and other products in the pipeline. “I respect Tom. I respect all his work. I will start when it will be my moment.”
And that the October moment is only four months away inspires in Pilati only excitement. “I can’t wait, either to do it, see it or judge it,” he said.
Indeed, Pilati cast his fashion ambitions broadly, even beyond press acclaim and retail success for the new-look YSL.
“I hope to accomplish somehow that women will still have a dream for fashion, which has been missing a little bit lately,” he said. “It’s less about trying to be trendy, but being attracted by something because it’s beautiful. If they feel that, I will be very happy.”
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