Yves Saint Laurent F/W 08.09 Paris

[TheoG]

I love perusing these older threads and it's clear the consensus was how incredible this collection was for Pilati at YSL. So proportionally interesting and structural. Loved this collection!

 

[GivenchyHomme]

This was his masterpiece. He finally arrived with this collection. It's such a shame that he lost favor with the critics and his bosses shortly thereafter. I was still a fan even if the critics weren't. His voice wasn't loud enough to fill YSL. If he had his own brand then that would be an entirely different story. I wonder if the rumors of Armani still hold true. I can't see any other reason as to why he hasn't started his own brand. He has the talent. His clothes were always chic. He will always be one of my favorite designers. This collection remains iconic and timeless. The same can't be said about Hedi or Vacarello.

 

[Lola701]

2008 was such a good year for YSL by Pilati. Both the menswear and the womenswear from SS & FW were flawless.
This is one of those fashion moment that you cannot forget. This collection was such a shock and at the same time, such a relief...

It's not very Saint Laurent but it is Saint Laurent at the same time. It's a strange feel and it was maybe his most personal collection IMO. Those shapes were kinda extreme for YSL (even if Tom did carrot pants for his first collection). I remember that Marc's collection for Vuitton had the same feel and silhouettes but i end-up buying Saint Laurent because of how powerful it was.

As you said Givenchyhomme, it is a pity that everything fell apart right after. I mean, FW08 was the season of the Muse 2 and the tribtoo (which were renamed tribute later) and the commercial success was insane. Even Hedi didn't managed to get rid of it.
It was also right after that collection that Pierre Bergé started to bash him in the media.

Looking back to Stefano's work at YSL, we can really see the influence he had on Phoebe Philo for Celine. I wouldn't be surprised to know that she used to buy his clothes.

It's insane to believe that this was presented a decade ago. FW 2008 was really an exceptional year for fashion. I can name more than 10 amazing collections of that season. Each city delivered.
Seeing those houses 10 years after can make someone sad. From YSL to Balmain, from Balenciaga to Prada and even from Versace to Alexander Wang...So much has changed.

 

[dior_couture1245]

^^Well, 2008 was the financial crash, and fashion has still yet to find its footing and seems to remain wholly confused about the purpose it should or can serve. It's been a very awkward decade since. I feel like we are only just barely getting whispers of new energy. It will still take another 5 years or so I think before we experience a Renaissance of sorts in fashion (and hopefully culture at large as well).

In regards to this collection, it still leaves me cold. I remember not loving it at the time, and I still don't feel much for it. 2008 was the turning point for me with Pilati - I lost interest because his work seemed to get zapped of all warmth and charm and sex appeal around that time.

I will always, always adore his work for the house from 2005-2007. Those collections were almost more YSL than YSL ever was...it's as if Stefano was able to capture the pure fantasy of what YSL means perfectly - a sort of erotic, fussy, bourgeois Parisian attitude....yards of ruffles in a some exotic colored silk, tantalizing glimpses of flesh hidden beneath. So gorgeous and sensual.

With this collection in particular, all that went away completely. His YSL became so clinical. I think you're right, though, Lola, that Phoebe seems to have found quite a bit of inspiration from this era of YSL, though - but where I feel like Stefano failed, Philo had succeeded. Maybe Stefano was too ahead of his time? But also, I think Philo has been able to work with "minimalism" in a very sensual way...Celine never feels clinical.

 

[Lola701]

^^
Yes, you're right... The crisis had a lot to do with what happened to fashion. 2010 was really the year where designers started to really do the DNA thing and to focus again on doing things meant to be sold.

His 2005/2007 period was very YSL as you said. I think that his first few collections (from spring 2005 to spring 2006) were really about he past of YSL and trying maybe to make Pierre Bergé and Yves happy. They weren't risky at all. FW06 was the first time he tried to give a new fresh perspective for the house.

What i love about this collection (and S/S 08 + FW 07) is the 80's feel. I just love 80's french fashion in general. I think that it was a real era of modernity for a new guard of designers.
I'm not a fan of ruffles by Pilati. It's something that is more in the DNA of Tom i think. Pilati struggled a lot with sensuality at YSL because he was (let's be honest) a bit pretentious.

He wanted so much to distant himself from Tom that he started to remove the sex and concentrate on the shapes and silhouettes (spring 2009 is a great example) without thinking about the woman and the house. YSL wasn't an intellectual designer and a lot of his collections were based around his fantasy and the frustration of the restrictions in the couture world.

This collection is very modern, very fashion with a capital F maybe. FW2007 is a lot more timeless.

Regarding Phoebe, i hate to use that card but she is woman who used to do Chloé and that has a lot of influence i think. And a part from Pilati, there's also a touch of Helmut, Margiela and sometimes of Tom in her designs and those designers were very sensual in their own way. She loves her clothes, she lives in them and it's a big difference.

I've always loved YSL menswear under Pilati and that has a lot to do with the way he dressed. It was very personal and sexy in a weird way. I don't think he had an alter-ego or a woman who capture his vision like Nicolas with MAS.

 

[dior_couture1245]

^Yes. Fall 2006, as well as Fall 2007 and even Spring 2007 were such amazing collections - and for me - even though that was the start of offering something stricter and more challenging in the silhouette, he still managed to maintain a sensuality and sense of eroticism in those collections. Very Parisian, very decadent, very 80's, very perverse. They were loaded collections. Very powerful.

Again, for me, when he stripped those things from his work around this 2008-2012, his work lost its potency. Those collection are neither memorable or interesting, for me. I think what made his earlier work up to 2008 so compelling was his ability to harness a lot of references, moods, ideas, feelings and attitude. In his effort to move into severe minimalism, I think he ended up distilling his work so much to the point that there was little substance or context left. Well designed pieces? Of course. A powerful sense of vision? No.

 

[YohjiAddict]

^I've personally never found him to be a good fit for this house, Stefano's clothes were either too frilly and inconsequential or were simply too ascetic and self-serious to be covetable. YSL does have a lot of "erotic, fussy, bourgeois Parisian attitude" but it also represented the bohemian lifestyle of the Rive-Gauche better than any other house. For me Pilati never captured the essence of YSL, let alone better than YSL himself, his vision was too one-dimensional especially so for a house that has such a complex history and visual vocabulary.