Saint Laurent F/W 2015.16 Paris

[polypam]

His worst collection yet for Saint Laurent. As literal and unsurprising as his past work at the house has been, he's always been able to somewhat redeem it with a genuine conviction and a certain cool spirit. This, on the other hand, is just so try-hard and flat-out lame.

For the first time Slimane seems to be showing his age; this really really looks to me like what an older, out-of-touch person would think that young and cool kids would want to wear. That look on Esmerelda is just the worst.

Between this and the men's show back in January, it seems that Slimane is really running out of ideas (i.e. rock music eras to plunder).

Well, when your chosen frame of reference for a legendary house begins in 1970 and ends in 1978, there is a limit to how much you can mine from the house archives (or even rock n roll's archives)!

Each Saint Laurent collection just gets worse and worse. I agree with everything you said, this is an old man's vision of what a 20 year old girl in LA wants to wear. There's nothing sophisticated about it. Just Nasty Gal's clearance rack leftovers.

Hedi needs to know, there is a reason that Nasty Gal's sales have dropped this year. This look is OVER.

 

[Caffeine]

expensive hooker outfits.

 

[StoneSkipper]

^If I were a hooker, I'd be offended by the comparison.

As I've noted before, I don't really think this show, oddly enough, is about the clothes, the clothes are secondary to the spirit, to the woman, whether they've gone through a tragic punk phase or not. I'd love to hear more of why some are really finding this distasteful, is it the clothes, is it the attitude? What exactly are our expectations of how women should look now? Is this a case of styling with no substance? Is Spirit enough?

Here's the thing: his ideal of what women should like is, quite frankly, unrealistic. I'm aware that this is a problem with fashion at a larger scale, indeed, but while other designers are trying to go against this (not very hard, I'll admit, but trying), Slimane seems to fully embrace it. He says it himself - he only designs for that kind of girl, and that completely goes against my definition of a good designer, which is someone who promotes diversity and designs something that any woman can look and feel good in. It's a rare breed these days, and while SLimane might be talented, or notorious, he is certainly not a good designer in my book. Plus, there's the fact that this feels very out of tune with the image we have of the Saint Laurent woman.

 

[nataliaapple]

I wasn't able to get past the horrible makeup. =\

 

[FND74]

I find this collection quite funny...I dont hate it..but I can hear a dialogue in my head that goes like this.

"So what are you gonna be this Halloween?"
"I'm gonna go as like this 90s rock chick /party girl, like leather jacket, babydoll dress, torn fishnets. Like really cool, but kind of bitchy."
"Kate Moss or Courtney Love?"
"Of course Kate! I'll be 90s Kate, dancing on tables in Betsey Johnson but ignoring people"
"How is that Halloween?"
"Of course I'll have some crazy eye make up on, duh? Maybe like Natalie Portman in Black Swan or something. You got a like Minnie Mouse ears I can borrow?"
"I dont think people will get the concept".
"Who cares, I'm gonna be hot and you'll find me making out with people in every corner".

 

[Sweet rus]

Anyone knows how well YSL is selling? I am just surprised Slimane is not dismissed yet, because this is tragic what's happened with the house

 

[Mutterlein]

Anyone knows how well YSL is selling? I am just surprised Slimane is not dismissed yet, because this is tragic what's happened with the house

Extremely well, across all lines. It's been a runaway success.

 

[Koibito]

I find this collection quite funny...I dont hate it..but I can hear a dialogue in my head that goes like this.

"So what are you gonna be this Halloween?"
"I'm gonna go as like this 90s rock chick /party girl, like leather jacket, babydoll dress, torn fishnets. Like really cool, but kind of bitchy."
"Kate Moss or Courtney Love?"
"Of course Kate! I'll be 90s Kate, dancing on tables in Betsey Johnson but ignoring people"
"How is that Halloween?"
"Of course I'll have some crazy eye make up on, duh? Maybe like Natalie Portman in Black Swan or something. You got a like Minnie Mouse ears I can borrow?"
"I dont think people will get the concept".
"Who cares, I'm gonna be hot and you'll find me making out with people in every corner".

 

[FND74]

Anyone knows how well YSL is selling? I am just surprised Slimane is not dismissed yet, because this is tragic what's happened with the house

http://www.racked.com/2015/3/9/8174893/saint-laurent-hedi-slimane-success

 

[MulletProof]

I really liked that BOF article, here's why..

Hedi Slimane has led the house to spectacular results. In the three years since he took the creative reins, the brand has more than doubled annual sales revenue to €707 million in 2014 (about $787 million), up from €353 million in 2011.

...
Indeed, 2014 financial results for Saint Laurent, posted by parent company Kering, show that leather goods and shoes represent 66 percent of the business [..]

And the article ends in an emotional note with mytheresa.com's Justin O'Shea 'he is a genius'.

.. they're showing you with numbers someone's doing business in its most conventional, reduced form.. the answer? 'GENIUS! '. Fashion, never change..

 

[Sweet rus]

Extremely well, across all lines. It's been a runaway success.

very sad
thanks

 

[FND74]

Come on folks, you gotta remember that most of the runway stuff wont end up on the selling floor or even if they do, they're mostly streamlined to be a bit friendlier. What Hedi is selling here is just the image of his rock & roll Saint Laurent girls.

Saint Laurent under Hedi have some really cool but timeless leather jackets though. Sure they are expensive, but definitely not as expensive as other brands. I bet they could just live on selling the same jackets for years.

 

[Mutterlein]

Come on folks, you gotta remember that most of the runway stuff wont end up on the selling floor or even if they do, they're mostly streamlined to be a bit friendlier. What Hedi is selling here is just the image of his rock & roll Saint Laurent girls.

Saint Laurent under Hedi have some really cool but timeless leather jackets though. Sure they are expensive, but definitely not as expensive as other brands. I bet they could just live on selling the same jackets for years.

To be fair, there's a whole other slew of pieces that don't get shown that are actually quite nice. And I imagine any one of us could find something to covet.

Saint Laurent always has fantastic suiting for women, if you want that perfect grey tweed jacket they'll have it. I love the more "career" looks he sometimes shoots for ads.

I don't mind so much what Slimane does but my god I just wish he'd be motivated to do something more interesting with his runway shows.

 

[Illithid Dude]

Come on folks, you gotta remember that most of the runway stuff wont end up on the selling floor or even if they do, they're mostly streamlined to be a bit friendlier. What Hedi is selling here is just the image of his rock & roll Saint Laurent girls.

Saint Laurent under Hedi have some really cool but timeless leather jackets though. Sure they are expensive, but definitely not as expensive as other brands. I bet they could just live on selling the same jackets for years.

Actually, with Saint Laurent, basically everything makes it to the store as it was on the runway.

I really liked this collection. Coked out vampires from the 80s. I'm about it.

 

[elle_gb]

I get it Hedi is into this kind of girl,so I don't expect any more glamour from his Saint Laurent. The collection looks repetition but still the detail is marvelous.

 

[kimair]

It's a pity to see such a representation of women in a brand known for celebrating women.

this sums up how i feel about saint laurent now...
i have vintage ysl, pieces from the tom ford years and the stefano pilati years (i wish i could find some alber elbaz for ysl), but i'll be damned if i would spend any of my hard earned money on this...
many of the pieces here you can get vintage, like a tweed blazer or a flight jacket (i have a great one from an army/navy store), or as other have said, find versions by betsey johnson or anna sui...

 

[TaylorBinque]

At the end it’a all about business and sales, isn’t it?

As much as I want to complain about his collections, I always find many pieces desirable but this collection is pure trash. I’ve always picture YSL women to be powerful and in full control of herself. Well, here they look drunk and.. god knows whatelse she’s taken.

And his creativity really has run out. That lipstick dress is just the same dress with a different print from last seasons, the lips dress and the heart dresses.

 

[disco54]

This looks pretty much like his spring collection last year. The look and feel of the clothes is very similar to Decarnin's Balmain. In fact some of the dresses look straight off from his 2008 and 2009 shows.


While YSL empowered women, Hedi turns them into teenage jokes with identity issues.

 

[disco54]

poor Betsy Johnson. She maintained a distinct point of view and went out of business for it and now this guy comes and does a crappier, more expensive version and gets a ton of praise and business.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

At this point it is exhausting to get angry at Slimane, I am increasingly inflamed every season. Looking through this collection I am now also genuinely heartbroken to see what the house has become and what people are willing to accept.

If only I knew when he debuted that would be best he had to offer it would have saved me a lot if energy. This is Slimane's worst collection to date, of any of his design posts, and one of the worst I have witnessed from anyone. It is absolute trash. Impeccably made, as is expected from Slimane, but a waste of labor and craftsmanship. This is void of any ingenuity, inventiveness, modernity, or dynamism. It is well made replicas of trashy scene girls garb, not women. I pity the woman that is desperate enough to clench onto the idea of youth to wear this.

I am also saddened to see his sales be used to defend this mediocrity. Business keeps fashion alive, but I did not fall in love with fashion - so in love I visit/write on a dedicated forum almost daily - for the raw business of it. The creativity and brilliance in design is what made me a fan of fashion and what keeps it churning, none of which is present here. If we are to only judge a collection/brand as good based on how much it sells we might as well give up and hand over fashion to the business execs and analysts so they can take it out back and shoot it and return with the creatively drained caucus that will remain.

P.S. Here's to another season of party girl themed stories because magazines want SL's ad money and his looks must be shot in full/ there's no other way to style this rubbish.