Yves Saint Laurent Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear Collection on Style.com: Runway Review

Yves Saint Laurent

PARIS, October 4, 2010

By Tim Blanks

It was inevitable that the epic Saint Laurent exhibition, which recently closed after a six-month run in Paris, would make its presence felt in fashion this season. It certainly put the man who holds the reins at the house that Yves built in a reflective mood. In a blazingly focused, tightly edited show, Stefano Pilati revisited the Yves Saint Laurent codes one by one: beginning with a trenchcoat and building—naturally—to Le Smoking, in crepe de soir. In between came bowed blouses, blasts of color, cabans, paysanne ruffles, clouds of marabou, long forties lines, exotica, erotica, and more. It was a comprehensive guided tour of the YSL universe. And the location—a Rothschild hôtel particulier in the eighth—was a simpatico venue, its gilded, frescoed salons instantly creating a more appropriate, intimate mood than the cavernous glory of the Grand Palais, where Pilati had been showing for a while.

Speaking of simpatico, the clothes Pilati offered to an audience that ran the gamut from Janet Jackson to Florence Welch (minus her Machine for a fashion night out) underscored his instinctive connection to the fundamental ethos of the house. You could pose it as a face-off: restraint versus release. The specter of Belle de Jour hovers over such a notion, but here it was as simple as black and white, if you considered the pristine glare of that opening trench versus the inky blackness of the last jumpsuit. But Pilati also proposed a blouse that was proper bordering on prim, bar the fact that it was completely sheer, and a jumpsuit that turned out to be backless. The subtle baring of skin was something of a leitmotif, with the slit skirt or the exposed midriff. It fitted with the tribalism Pilati was talking about afterward: how fashion is a way for women to identify themselves, just as members of a tribe do. He made the connection explicit with a print that was—literally—thumbprints, or a texture that looked a little like scarified skin. The sophisticated, the primitive—again, restraint and release. It added up to a collection that should resonate loud and long for Pilati.

See all from Yves Saint Laurent › Timeline

A.F. Vandevorst	Acne	ADAM
A Détacher	Akris	Alberta Ferretti
Albino	Alexander McQueen	Alexander Wang
Alexandre Herchcovitch	Alexis Mabille	Alice + Olivia
Altuzarra	Andrew Gn	Anna Sui
Ann Demeulemeester	Anne Valérie Hash	Antonio Berardi
Antonio Marras	Aquilano.Rimondi	Araks
Azzaro

Badgley Mischka	Balenciaga	Bally
Balmain	Banana Republic	Band of Outsiders
Barbara Bui	Barbara Tfank	Basso & Brooke
BCBG Max Azria	Behnaz Sarafpour	Bensoni
Betsey Johnson	Betty Jackson	Bibhu Mohapatra
Bill Blass	Blumarine	Bottega Veneta
Brioni	Burberry Prorsum

Cacharel	Calvin Klein Collection	Carlos Miele
Carolina Herrera	Carven	Celine
Cerruti	Chado Ralph Rucci	Chalayan
Chanel	Charles Anastase	Charlotte Ronson
Chloé	Chris Benz	Christian Cota
Christian Dior	Christian Siriano	Christopher Kane
Clements Ribeiro	Collette Dinnigan	Comme des Garçons
Commuun	Costello Tagliapietra	Costume National
Cushnie et Ochs	Custo Barcelona	Cynthia Rowley
Cynthia Steffe

D&G	Damir Doma	Davidelfin
David Koma	Dennis Basso	Derek Lam
Diane von Furstenberg	Diesel Black Gold	DKNY
Dolce & Gabbana	Donna Karan	Doo.Ri
Douglas Hannant	Dries Van Noten	Dsquared²
Duro Olowu

Edun	Elie Saab	Elie Tahari
Elise Øverland	Emanuel Ungaro	Emilio de la Morena
Emilio Pucci	Emporio Armani	Erdem
Erin Fetherston	Etro