YSL : Sia La Luce!

(In memoriam)

***Preface***
(Gensi 1.2 La terra era informe e vuota e le tenebre coprivano la faccia dell'abisso)

Paris Fall/Winter 2008...




There are no words - or far too many - and my (self) editing skill are still to dewy to do this any real justice.

However, I will say...

Besides the obvious reasons to adore this piece, (Simon Woods, LCD Soundsystem, the pin-point polka-dot blazer), this film further allowed YSL's Stefano Pilati to raise the proverbial bar and reaffirm everything there is to revere about menswear : namely, that the medium itself is so intimately and successfully capable of "capitalizing on the cultural and technological changes afoot" and this season's second installment only furthers the affirmation.

***Sequel***
(Genesi 1.26 "Facciamo l'uomo a nostra immagine e a nostra somiglianza")

This year, Pilati has followed up with an equivalently brilliant show - teaming up for the second time with the UK duo Sarah Chatfield and Chris Sweeney of Colonel Blimp. The result is another successfully rendered collection that elevates expectations once again :




Gender ambiguity, no stranger to the runway, is clearly at the heart of this. However, here it is articulated in so much dimension that Galliano would be - should be! - envious. Visually bookended by chalky androgony (for what else is dance really good for???), fleshed out by the sounds of Laurie Anderson (O Superman? anyone???) and accents of Plato's Symposium ("At the origin of human nature there was man and woman, of which the name survives but nothing else.") it is a captivating synthesis of man's modern and lonely confidence and his ancient flirtation with sexuality.

Crafted around one ingenious and simple idea,women's fabric applied to the rules of menswear, the collection itself seamlessly complements the film but is an equally compelling commentary on its own two feet.

I am pretty sure that every living breathing designer just had a "duh" moment - but not without a lingering curiosity. It is just that kind - only that kind - of genius that does the late Mr. Laurent justice.

Two seasons deep and Pilati continues to pose a true and compelling question to his audience... I await The Fall with bated breath.