Saint Laurent Paris F/W 14.15 Paris

[Marc10]

MARCH 03, 2014
PARIS
By Tim Blanks

Little sets you up for a real pop show like having real pop stars in the front row. Brit rockers Alex Turner and Miles Kane played their parts to the hilt at Saint Laurent tonight: quiffs, shades, tight leather pants, and a magnum of champagne that provided liberal lubrication throughout the show. Afterward, they said the girls on the catwalk were the kind of girls they'd like to get to know, but let's imagine for a moment that there was more to that line than the obvious hookup. Yes, the models were perfect, sparkly, leggy complements to the lairy likes of Turner and Kane, but their outfits also distilled the mid-sixties moment when pop was purest—and when Yves himself was designing his own edgy responses to the tremors of London's youthquake. And the appeal of pure pop is timelessly potent for musicians like Turner and his Arctic Monkeys. (Of course, it doesn't hurt when it comes in the siren form of a supermodel.)

For his latest collection, Hedi Slimane chose Californian John Baldessari as the artist to feature in the little black folio that functions as his show invitation. Baldessari, now 82, is one of the grand masters of appropriation, repurposing preexistent or found imagery to create new art. It was an interesting choice on Slimane's part, maybe even a wry comment of sorts. "Appropriation" is a rather more agreeable word than other epithets that have been applied to his work at Saint Laurent, with its devotion to the source materials of youth culture.

But what this collection clarified is that appropriation can work in fashion as it works in art—something new can happen. Once again, context was critical. On arrival, the audience found a catwalk lined with mysterious metal troughs. As the show began, these "troughs" turned out to be huge hydraulic arms that formed a golden allée through which the models walked. (Slimane will always have a career in engineering if fashion lets him down.)

The notion of transformation seemed fundamental to the character of the clothes themselves. There were fifty-four outfits, but it felt like there were a thousand pieces within those outfits, ripe for recombining. Capes were significant, but so were glittery little dolly bird shift dresses. There were at least a dozen extremely desirable coats. The casual extravagance (extravagant casualness?) of Slimane's vision was best captured by Edie Campbell in a fur-trimmed army parka over a lamé top, black tights, and crystal-covered Mary Janes. Between the name and the look, it was hard to miss the spirit of Warhol's Edie, the ultimate pop princess.

At show's end, the hydraulic arms were reconfigured as golden arches. Not triumphal…that would have been too cynical. Instead, in all those pouty young women stomping out in their capes and glam, there was something that could be construed as celebratory. And defiant. Appropriation is, after all, still an act of creation. Ask Baldessari. Ask Warhol. Ask Slimane.

style

 

[VersaceVixen009]

EXTREMELY mediocre. I loved the Twiggy/Marianne Faithful inspired makeup of the show, but the styling was awful. Some of the mini dresses were cute, and the biker vest and biker jacket were cute too. But overall, mediocre. I would have expected something more sharper from Slimane.

 

[educo]

When did Zara suddenly decide to show at PWF?

I'm really starting to wonder why Hedi agreed to be a part of this. Was he bored with his photography? Did he need the money? You would think anyone would be excited to be at the head of this house. I don't feel that from him.

 

[LagerfeldBoy]

Loved Tim Blanks mentioning how appropriation can still indeed be art. However, Hedi Slimane really missed the mark in offering something quite new or innovative. Then again, his clothes do sell and the Saint Laurent customer will eat this up like any other collection. I, for sure, will. Don't get me wrong, there's dozens of pieces here that I find covetable, but alas there isn't anything quite compelling or interesting. I shouldn't really expect anything grand since it's Hedi, but it's YSL. There should be more to his collections than this.
Now, as for the pieces themselves, I find those embellished mary janes on the top my list. The sparkly pieces were another favorite thing about this collection. I thought the suits were quite nice. There's one on Hanne Gaby and a second to last one that were great. They evoked Saint Laurent while also sticking true to Hedi. Idk, they felt a bit relaxed, cool, and not too strict, if that makes sense. I honestly think his shows keep declining. He started off quite good with the first LA collection and the grunge one, but this year has been quite "meh" for me. I need something new.

 

[kewkaw]

Fashion Disaster.....

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I really like some of the outerwear on these cool girls & school girls. And I think Tim Blanks is right that Warhol's Edie would've liked these duds.

 

[pollywolly]

Wow, yet another nearly-all-white cast. Thank god Binx snuck her way into the lineup!

I can't say I'm surprised by this, but I certainly am still disappointed. The cast was so white-washed and bland, and perhaps it is just a weird photography angle but somehow all of them seem like petite models with overlarge heads. But I suppose a disappointing cast should match a disappointing collection.

 

[Zazie]

what did I miss? every tight is working as tight, they´re paired with skirts or dresses

I wouldn't call them "dresses" or "skirts" - if they are hovering at crotch level, they're just "tops".

Looks like season after season, he depends completely on skinny legs and glitter to make it "cool", "sexy" & "rockchick".

Collection = Tights + Shiny Little Top (+/- Skirt) + Jacket/Coat

This has got to be one of the least imaginative collections I've ever seen on a Parisian runway with standard fare that already hangs on most rails, except of course made out of finer materials.

It looks dated because of this.

LOVE the Set though it reminds me of last season. Looks like he spent more time on the Set than the Collection!

 

[emmadeelite]

How can this massacre keep on going from season to season?? Honestly loved his first collection for Saint Laurent (S/S 13) and then it feels like something happened and he decided to do only grungy cheap looking shows with unhealthy looking models.. What a pity

 

[Creative]

Overreaction... It's not worse than the 99% of the F/W collections (which are as bad as this), so don't get what the fuss is all about. Oh well...

 

[Whats Ur Name]

All I can do is look at this collection and shake my head, Yves must be rolling in his grave!!
How on earth is Hedi still in charge??

 

[XxpinktinksxX]

I'm one of the only ones who likes it. I think there's so many great pieces!!

 

[TheVeed]

I thought this was a great step for the label, I didn't hate it, I was just surprised by the lack of diversity on the runway.

 

[nita-karoliina]

I love it. Wearable and not trying too hard. But there is nothing new here. Belongs to my top 5 favourite collections this show season.

 

[HeatherAnne]

Givhan nailed it:

Robin Givhan: Lots of Teen Angst at Saint Laurent

A lot of design houses chase after youth, attracted to its beauty, freedom, and daring. In that regard, Saint Laurent is not unusual. But in its hunt for fresh-faced vigor, Saint Laurent -– as led by creative director Hedi Slimane – seems stuck on youth’s pitfalls rather than its pleasures. Slimane’s collections brim with teenage brooding, unattractive narcissism, and immature sexuality. One sometimes has the feeling that his models, with their style and carriage, could get a man arrested.

For his fall 2014 presentation, in an old Paris marketplace built in the 1800s and recently refurbished into an event space, Slimane designed a floor-level runway – each side flanked by 13 mirrored rods that rose from the ground like an automated honor guard as the models began their promenade. The show was lighter on Lolita-esque sexuality. Still, there was something discomforting about the stream of looks on Slimane’s runway Monday night. Youth was underscored and along with it, disenchantment and fatigue at a level that would make Willy Loman seem to be an optimist. The models were too cool for joy. With their heavy makeup, bedraggled hair and unsophisticated demeanors, they came across as smug, grumpy, and dour.

The music for Slimane’s show was a song called “Had Ten Dollaz” by Cherry Glazerr, a Los Angeles-based band and one whose two young female members bear little resemblance to the tortured souls on the Saint Laurent runway. But one has the sense that Slimane envisions dressing women like singer and guitarist Clementine Creevy.

For fall, he has revived the spirit of Saint Laurent, which was at its best in the 1960s and ‘70s, when it reflected the late fashion giant’s passion for the energy of the street and for contemporary culture. Slimane’s short leopard coats, glittering tartan mini-skirts, sparkly boots, gold mini shirtdresses, and shrunken suits speak of that era, when youth ruled and freedom – or at least the sense of it -- was everyone’s for the taking.

These are not sweet clothes or chic ones. They have an attractive edge and a free-spirited attitude that gives them the same kind of energy that reverberates from a rock band – that feeling of living at full throttle, grasping at the impossible and leaping without a net. The clothes are alive.

In designing this collection, Slimane celebrates the work of artist John Baldessari. The show invitation was a thick notebook filled with black and white images of his work. And on the runway, there were three twinkling Baldessari couture mini-dresses that will be created in limited editions of 10. Another glittering dress, covered in images of a handgun, made one think of Baldessari’s 1984 photo montage Kiss/Panic, which features a close-up of lips surrounded by images of guns. Without that rather esoteric reference, of course, the dress is a highly charged provocation at a time of widespread, indiscriminate gun violence. But, surely Slimane knew that when he focused on it among many other choices.

Baldessari, a contemporary artist who works in a variety of media, favors repurposing existing images for his own ends. He is a fitting complement to a designer whose task is to usher a respected design house, with its venerable aesthetic, into the future.

The idea of taking an established doctrine out of context to give it new meaning is a powerful one within fashion, an industry that spends a significant amount of time thumbing through history books for inspiration. Slimane took a host of notions associated with Saint Laurent – from peacoats and leopard prints, strong-shouldered jackets and the famed “le smoking” – and dipped them into a fountain of youth. His hemlines barely reached mid-thigh. The tailoring was sharp but the cut was slim. If a neckline was low-cut, it practically plunged. If a garment was sexy, it was meant to be a little tawdry -- a thumbing of the nose at the Establishment.

It was easy enough to like the clothes in this collection and connect to their spirit. Slimane is working with an incomparable archive. But admire them? The clothes read like Saint Laurent templates altered to fit a modern day sensibility. But they had not been transformed. They called to mind fantastic vintage store finds that had been dry cleaned, re-fitted, and re-styled.

Baldessari’s art makes viewers look at familiar words and images in new ways. He deepens our understanding of what might at first glimpse seem obvious. Slimane is neither comparing himself to the artist, nor aspiring to emulate him. But in bringing him into the conversation, Slimane forces the question: What new knowledge is he bringing to Saint Laurent? What new vision?

So far, it has only been the sight of privileged, teenage angst.

nymag

 

[Les_Sucettes]

His ideal woman ( should i say girl) looks awful, i thought we were done with the pasty complexion ill look. This is just part 2 of the last collection, nothing new. I like some pieces individually, but most of the casting kills it for me, i cannot see beyond it.
It's funny that they keep insisting he's inspired by the 60's and 70's, like it give him some sort of credibility when frankly his universe is very Soft Cell 80s. His source of his ideas, is already a diluted version of an idea.

 

[Nymphaea]

They called to mind fantastic vintage store finds that had been dry cleaned, re-fitted, and re-styled.

Yes, so nothing new, only old.

 

[Marc10]

 

[disco54]

Fashion critics can be so fake and superficial, just so they can guarantee a seat at the next show or not lose funding, they will use pseudo intellectual bs to praise even the most banal and pedestrian of collections.

At least the critic on nymag was on point and honest. All the other reviews are such paid reviews lol.

 

[Marc10]

Saint Laurent’s Teen Spirit
By SUZY MENKES

PARIS — At Saint Laurent, the designer Hedi Slimane became one of the first to drag fashion across the screen and take it downtown. Even when the clothes in his winter 2009 show were tailored and smartened up, the models acted like young women with a “don’t care” attitude.

Mr. Slimane stood backstage this week alongside one such woman: Clementine Creevy, 17, whose song “Teenage Girl,” originally sent to Rookie magazine, went viral. Expect the same for the sweet notes of “Had Ten Dollarz,” recorded especially for the Saint Laurent show in Paris on Monday.

If these young women with mascara-drenched eyes had $10 or, realistically, 100 times more, they would surely buy every one of Saint Laurent’s new pieces right off the runway, including the tailored coats stopping precisely where a short skirt, often twinkling with sequins, draws a line across the pantyhose that runs down to a pair of glittering Mary Janes.

The short skirts, sweaters with Aran detail and the ever-present tailoring were all wearable, although not inventive other than in presentation.

There is something mesmerizing about Mr. Slimane’s Saint Laurent shows. As ever, the set was simple but hyper-sophisticated, with hydraulic metal bars folding down and then swinging up to create a long catwalk.

It no doubt represented a road in Los Angeles, where friends were gathered, each reeking of sexuality from behind a black bow on a white satin collar or from the rounded capes, cut off just at that point on the thighs where a plaid kilt, scattered with sparkles, stopped.

These young women did not look as if they were having as much fun as two of the front-row guests, Alex Turner and Miles Kane, the British musicians behind the group The Last Shadow Puppets who were swigging down a bottle of champagne. But there was something charming about the clothes, their proportions and the way the glitter came like puddles on asphalt to lighten the taut tailoring. The droopy cardigans of Mr. Slimane’s earlier collections had been swept away and sweet flower patterns mostly extinguished.

There were still frissons of bad girls, as seen in a dress printed with guns that also appeared in some of the pictures produced from the ashes of paintings that the Los Angeles artist John Baldessari had burned. Mr. Slimane said backstage that Mr. Baldessari had been the show’s first inspiration.

“The project I did with John gave me the idea of proportion,” said the designer, whose short hemlines under the rounded capes created the memory stick of the show. “I started with three dresses, then the cape was a logic of evolution.”

Is it right for a designer to present clothes that seem to be reincarnations of what is already on the teen scene? With each collection, the Saint Laurent of Mr. Slimane seems increasingly convincing, a reinterpretation of the iconic designer of the early 1970s. (Significantly, the designer and that period are the subject of two current French films.)

The rejuvenated Saint Laurent girl has arrived in fashion. Or, as the Clementine Creevy lyrics go, “I know that she knows that it’s my way.”

nytimes