Stefano Pilati - Designer

[Lola701]

I think people who never had the grand success people think they deserved always generate some kind of sympathy towards them. And in some ways, we often, in a superficial way, depict them as those saviors of fashion who didn’t sold their soul for success but I never think that it’s that simple.

Career choices, attitudes, behaviors, connections…Everything counts.

None of those acts are going to be as good as they were. Thyeskens is past his prime the same way that Ghesquiere or Prada are. The fact that he never got the career he deserved won’t change it.

I loved Miguel Adrover, Rodolfo Pagliangula and others. Even today, they wouldn’t be at their prime.

Stefano Pilati had a difficult exit from YSL but thankfully for him, he managed to stay on the scene to stay part of a conversation. The nostalgia or over praise considering is work is way more overrated than his contribution to fashion but it allowed him to have his name being relevant in the fashion conversation today. The question in fashion (for me) is never if it’s good or not but rather if it’s relevant.

We have come to appreciate what we hated. So the good or not is not relevant compared to the « right ».

Olivier’s body of work got him to design staged costumes for Mylène Farmer. Olivier never designed for the working woman. Stefano got to design a collection for Zara. In terms of exposure or money, those are miles apart but it allows them to work.

Sometimes my comments makes it feel like I’m against nostalgia. I’m not against it. However I don’t like when it’s in the conversation of fashion for today in driving fashion forward.

Olivier Thyeskens for an ambitious relaunch of Vionnet à la Schiaparelli or even better, driving his own brand forward is relevant. To imagine him at the helm of a multimillion or billion house is just science fiction. You don’t hire Olivier to design bags and pants for women to work.

There aren’t a lot of executives who like Della Valle are ready to lose money for a decade just because they have a beautiful brand in their portfolio…

 

[Lola701]

I like Stefano but I would rather have him at the helm of Zegna and have Lutz at a brand like Lanvin. Stefano is maybe too serious as a designer…

 

[yslforever]

I have posted this custom look because it's actually one I would totally wear, Pilati's menswear always stood on their own two feet, a hint of Lanvin by Lucas, an hint of old-school Armani, some flair, some ease, for grown-ups and not teens (see you Hedi).
I could still be one of his customers.

 

[Creative]

I’d love to see Theyskens somewhere. His level of poetry and attention to detail are heavily missed. He was a master of color. I don’t care if they don’t sell, I need someone financing him like they are doing with s!lly Schiap🫣 just some beauty for my eyes, please. It’s hard to see beautiful things in fashion these days.

 

[Squizree]

Theyskens BELONGS at LaCroix. He's the best fit imo

 

[tricotineacetat]

I think people who never had the grand success people think they deserved always generate some kind of sympathy towards them. And in some ways, we often, in a superficial way, depict them as those saviors of fashion who didn’t sold their soul for success but I never think that it’s that simple.

Career choices, attitudes, behaviors, connections…Everything counts.

None of those acts are going to be as good as they were. Thyeskens is past his prime the same way that Ghesquiere or Prada are. The fact that he never got the career he deserved won’t change it.

I loved Miguel Adrover, Rodolfo Pagliangula and others. Even today, they wouldn’t be at their prime.

Stefano Pilati had a difficult exit from YSL but thankfully for him, he managed to stay on the scene to stay part of a conversation. The nostalgia or over praise considering is work is way more overrated than his contribution to fashion but it allowed him to have his name being relevant in the fashion conversation today. The question in fashion (for me) is never if it’s good or not but rather if it’s relevant.

We have come to appreciate what we hated. So the good or not is not relevant compared to the « right ».

Olivier’s body of work got him to design staged costumes for Mylène Farmer. Olivier never designed for the working woman. Stefano got to design a collection for Zara. In terms of exposure or money, those are miles apart but it allows them to work.

Sometimes my comments makes it feel like I’m against nostalgia. I’m not against it. However I don’t like when it’s in the conversation of fashion for today in driving fashion forward.

Olivier Thyeskens for an ambitious relaunch of Vionnet à la Schiaparelli or even better, driving his own brand forward is relevant. To imagine him at the helm of a multimillion or billion house is just science fiction. You don’t hire Olivier to design bags and pants for women to work.

There aren’t a lot of executives who like Della Valle are ready to lose money for a decade just because they have a beautiful brand in their portfolio…

I’m hearing quite often here among your and other fellow tFSers the terms 'part of the fashion scene/conversation' but did it occur to anyone how a whole generation of designers, mainly the Japanese and the Belgians, built their own brands without playing along dictate of corporate fashion, defying the need of advertisement, dressing celebrities or receiving endorsement from major publications?

While Olivier was for time very much a darling to the industry and yes, has since become more of a niche creative, he has much like Chalayan or Viktor & Rolf, absolutely created a body-of-work that is relevant in the history of contemporary fashion - collections that deserve preservation and remain meaningful even past his active time in the limelight - I’m not sure how much of that accounts to to the later generations who may have enjoyed much bigger commercial success (arguably more difficult to replicate when a designer does not have the support of a major conglomerate) but have remained for the entirety of their careers designing for houses with an already established authority - Think of Blazy and Lee’s Bottega Veneta, Pilati’s YSL, or Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino).

That being said - Chances are small for a shoe or handbag to reach an iconic recognizability and desirability beyond the reach of designer ready-to-wear when there are no resources to build the necessary marketing and retail visibility - Especially at a time when independent retail has significantly decreased, compared to previous decades.

 

[Lola701]

I’m hearing quite often here among your and other fellow tFSers the terms 'part of the fashion scene/conversation' but did it occur to anyone how a whole generation of designers, mainly the Japanese and the Belgians, built their own brands without playing along dictate of corporate fashion, defying the need of advertisement, dressing celebrities or receiving endorsement from major publications?

While Olivier was for time very much a darling to the industry and yes, has since become more of a niche creative, he has much like Chalayan or Viktor & Rolf, absolutely created a body-of-work that is relevant in the history of contemporary fashion - collections that deserve preservation and remain meaningful even past his active time in the limelight - I’m not sure how much of that accounts to to the later generations who may have enjoyed much bigger commercial success (arguably more difficult to replicate when a designer does not have the support of a major conglomerate) but have remained for the entirety of their careers designing for houses with an already established authority - Think of Blazy and Lee’s Bottega Veneta, Pilati’s YSL, or Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino).

That being said - Chances are small for a shoe or handbag to reach an iconic recognizability and desirability beyond the reach of designer ready-to-wear when there are no resources to build the necessary marketing and retail visibility - Especially at a time when independent retail has significantly decreased, compared to previous decades.

But that generation of designers dismissed the concept of being CD at fashion houses that weren’t their own…
That allows them to be always slightly « à la Marge », to be fully immersed in the system without feeling the weight of it and to do fashion in their own terms without having to be part of the « fashion conversation ».

The moment you suggest Olivier T. at the helm of another fashion brand, it implies that he has to be part of the fashion conversation because suddenly, the question of relevance, zeitgeist instead of individuality comes into play… Even more when it’s a « comeback ».
It becomes even more of a question because Olivier is not your everyday kind of designer like Dries, Margiela, Walter and others were. He is famous for making clothes for special moments of a woman’s life…He has always had a strong Redcarpet coverage compared to any other Belgian designer.

Margiela is maybe an exception with RAF because they did it while being at the helm of their brand. It created a different narrative.

The example of Chalayan is telling. Never been a fan personally but he tried to make a return with Vionnet and it flopped. Because suddenly, the conversation wasn’t about him but a brand.

That’s why I’m very much of champion of Olivier doing his own stuff. He will have much more impact there and maybe his fans should support more of what he is doing there instead of trying to include him in a fashion conversation where he his contribution would be questioned.

 

[tourbillions]

Sadly he is so niche that a conversation about him has to happen in pilati's thread rather than his so-called fans bumping his thread.

I still see him as a couturier than rtw designer. That for me is where he shines and unfortunately couture is a difficult niche to break through. With all that money that goes into buying a couture piece, it is a bit difficult to justify spending on an independent house. The customers wither have too much money that they only want from dior/chanel or they have saved all their life for a special moment where they probably would prefer to have the whole chanel couture experience with their matching flap.

 

[Kanzai]

I really don't see much of a connection between Christian Lacroix and Olivier Theyskens, they’re like night and day, he's more like Yohji. The idea of Olivier ever going there just doesn’t track, especially when his own namesake label is still there...

Now, whether he’s still relevant, capable of generating buzz, or even worthy of being part of the conversation - that’s another story. It depends on whether we’re talking about ‘conversation on tFS’ or ‘conversation on social media’. In the first case, absolutely yes. If he returns with a collection under his own label, he’ll certainly be welcomed, he remains a highly respected and dearly missed designer within the industry, and definitely among us here. But will he draw bigger attention on social media or newcomers? I doubt it, at least not under his own label. We've already seen how Pilati - someone arguably more hyped and with a more prominent legacy thanks to his tenure at YSL - hasn't been able to push Random Identities into any real commercial spotlight, despite the nonstop name-dropping by the new generation in these musical chairs.

In Olivier’s case, it’s even trickier. He doesn’t command the same kind of zeitgeist nostalgia as Margiela, Lacroix, or Helmut. To compare - take Ghesquière, who is undeniably one of the most influential designers of the 2000s, far more than Theyskens. And yet, even he doesn’t seem to receive overwhelming praise or obsession for his work at Louis Vuitton today. His Balenciaga era is appreciated on vintage markets, yes, but not in the frenzied way people still talk about Ford’s Gucci, for example.

So while I personally wouldn’t want to see Theyskens anywhere but at his own label, I also have to accept the reality that a major comeback under his namesake label is unlikely to translate into massive success. And let’s not hide behind the idea of it being ‘niche approaching’, that’s not a valid excuse anymore.