Are we on the periphery of another Saint Laurent brand evolution? In light of the latest autumn/winter 2015 campaign release photographed (as usual) by the man himself we take a closer look at creative director Hedi Slimane's trajectory and the ever-changing identity from of one of Paris' most recognised labels.
By Christopher Prince
Despite the changes Slimane has made since he took the helm of the faltering French house in 2012, reevaluating house codes, discarding the Yves and journeying us through the many stages of rock from psyche to sonic, his designs have consistently sold the same Cali-come-Paris ideal - until this season. There's been a cataclysmic shift in the Slimane muse. She's slightly more put together, a lithe, yet ultimately more elegant zeitgeist. Does this signal yet another twist in the Saint Laurent story? At 46, Slimane has been a stalwart pillar of the fashion community. His early years at Dior Homme (2000-07) informed his obsession with music where he frequently commissioned original runway soundtracks from the likes of The Rakes, Beck and Phoenix. Five years later saw a positioning at the flailing Yves Saint Laurent following Stefano Pilati's eight-year tenure. From then until now the house has fed the commercial flame, doubling its business since hiring Slimane. In 2014 alone, sales rose 27 percent to €707.3 million.
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If anyone were to challenge the status quo by flipping a heritage house on its head and coming out victorious on the other side, it would be Slimane. What the autumn/winter 2015 campaign showed us was that the Saint Laurent woman - and she is a woman, moreso than ever before - has finally grown up. Slimane's shift in aesthetic comes off the back of a polarising autumn/winter 2015 runway show that featured Siouxsie Sioux-eyed doppelgängers clad in all manner of zippered, shredded and slashed garb. Alongside the drama was a neat selection of staple peacoats, motorcycle jackets and cape silhouettes intrinsic to the Slimane Saint Laurent sensibility - mandatory from the first season to the present. So often with a Saint Laurent show the question of taste arises. Were the skirts this season cut a little too high? Did the torn hoisery verge on cliché? Yet sales defy the controversy, and each season a more forward-thinking and daring clientele is born.
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The DNA of Saint Laurent is now embroiled in music subcultures. His debut spring/summer 2013 show for the house proved just that. Slimane reworked the old classics via Le Smoking, pussy bows and the mousselines, yet dictacted a new Cali state of mind through pristine partywear. Incidentely enough, California is where Slimane headquarters the business, a testament to his all-pervasive power at Saint Laurent. Now, in respect of house codes, he has transformed Saint Laurent into a must-have label for both the old and the new generation. Autumn/winter 2015 marked what could be the final stage of his exhaustive musical exploration. Now with a fully realised campaign showcasing a muse far removed from Slimane's typical bohemia, this spring/summer season may signal a new chapter for the Saint Laurent legacy.
