YVES SAINT LAURENT is releasing its Manifesto for spring/summer 2011 next weekend in all the usual cities - Paris, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo and Hong Kong - as well as in Los Angeles for the first time.The publication, now in its eighth edition will be distributed on the cities' streets on March 5 - and YSL creative director Stefano Pilati asserts the venture is as important as ever.
"One of my visions for Saint Laurent is about giving back," Pilati told us. "So that even if you can't afford it, you can still pick up the essence of the message, the elements of fashion that might be considered increasingly irrelevant but remain for me its main aspects: the silhouette, the way the clothes are cut, the fabrics, a special pattern. It's to say - 'These are my thoughts and this is my message - you can pick up something from this and do it yourself.'"
Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin again took the images that will appear in the book (no other photographer has ever shot for the Manifesto), and this time worked with the face of the spring/summer 2011 campaign Arizona Muse. The images can be seen online at
www.ysl.com at midnight on March 4 and then will be distributed globally and to the first 2,000 passersby in each city in a cotton YSL Manifesto tote bag.