Even though a few days have already gone by since we first heard of
Yves Saint-Laurent's death, I would like, as an ever-lasting admirer, to acknowledge what an immense void he has left. One that shall never possibly be refilled again. Firstly, I would like to point out what a dreadful parade his funeral was. Models laughing, fellow designers waving at the crowds, hideously dressed. Thankfully,
Stefano Pilati —either out of natural respect or as a requirement— both mourned and looked soberly elegant.
Secondly, as much as I would love to write myself a retrospective from the bottom of my heart, I don't feel I could do him any justice. That is why I would like to share that of an insider. Paul Smith, in his blog on Vogue.co.UK, managed a sincere short tribute I personally loved for lacking that sentiment-less pompous prose texts of the sort had everywhere else:
"It's incredibly sad about Yves Saint Laurent - he was too young to die. He was for me, like for many designers, a huge encouragement and influence - there was a newness about his work that was so special.
He took it to the next stage and he just had a sparkle that no one else has. I was fortunate enough to see some of this first haute couture shows in his Paris salon - one in particular I remember was in homage to the Vietnam war and it was all in black. Then he did the famous see-through blouse in clear silk chiffon.
The audience literally took a mass in-take of breath - as if we'd been watching a firework display. Obviously the fact that he pioneered le smoking for women proved how modern his thinking was.
Pauline and I went to his last couture catwalk presentation and afterwards, in his salon, we were privileged to be able to order from samples of all his past collections, including the famous Mondrian jersey dress and all the key pieces I remember from his career. We ordered Pauline a le smoking suit from 1967 - the year we met. Then we were invited to his retirement dinner later on - with Catherine Deneuve and Loulou de la Falaise and incredible people - so Pauline wore the suit to that.
He was such a great man and it is a timeless, wonderful fashion house. In the Sixties and Seventies we lived in Nottingham and our treat was to go to Rive Gauche in Paris and I'd just try to afford anything for Pauline - even just a scarf. Then as we worked more and had a little more money we kept going. Somewhere in storage Pauline has the beautiful red fox fur coat - not very P.C. now - but we bought quite a lot of the ready-to-wear over the years. He really meant a lot to us."
Paul Smith
[Pictures credit: YSL.com Vogue.co.uk & Men.Style.com]
You will be enormously missed.
I'm off.
If you read soVIPzone often you probably know already how incredibly fond of Yves Saint Laurent I am. I admire Stefano Pilati's work for the house so much that I tend to be slightly subjective when a new collection comes out. This, however, is not one of those moments. After a couple of slightly unfocused seasons, Pilati turned to the YSL archives to find inspiration for a collection we won't forget easily. He revisited the trench coat, the safari jacket and the über-famous Le Smoking, which he turned into a silk night gown ruffled at the sides and beautifully worn by Freja Beha Erichsen. Ruffles were, in fact, quite present on Cuban-inspired skirts and dresses, which Pilati perked up with dashes of bright colour. Yet black, white and sand ruled the colour palette. The sheer trend we have been seeing so far only left a slight mark on the collection as the designer preferred to bare the back. Parisian sophisticated elegance at its best. 
