Saint Laurent

Francois Pinault Defends Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent Debut
Yves Saint Laurent

Did Francois Pinault Make Hedi Slimane Delete His "Catty" Horyn Tweets?

Like any father figure would, PPR chief Francois Pinault defended Hedi Slimane against some of the less kind things critics have said about his debut collection for Saint Laurent.
by



Like any father figure would, PPR chief Francois Pinault defended Hedi Slimane against some of the less kind things critics have said about his debut collection for Saint Laurent. In the process, he also sent a thinly veiled zinger in the direction of Cathy Horyn, and may well have put an end to the war of words between the critic and the designer.

"Hedi Slimane did a remarkable job. I liked last Monday's fashion show very much — the Saint Laurent collection exceeded my expectations," Pinault said. "The house needed both a renovation and a return to its roots and, with Hedi, we have started down that road. I totally stand by the house of Yves Saint Laurent and the decisions made by its teams or its artistic director, and I didn't appreciate that some people tried to use me by linking my name to chatter about invitations or the seating of this or that person."

By "some people," Pinault may have meant Horyn, who wrote in her review of the collection that Pinault expressed dismay when he found out Horyn hadn't been invited to the show. The unfavorable review spurred Slimane to write an open letter posted to Twitter and other missives decrying Horyn as a "schoolyard bully and also a little bit of a comedian." Those tweets have now been deleted. One wonders, now that Pinault has gotten what effectively is the last word in this saga, whether he asked Slimane to put those barbs away in the first place?

From left: Salma Hayek, Francois Pinault, Kate Moss, Jamie Hince, and Vivienne Westwood front row at the Saint Laurent Spring 2013 show in Paris.

Hedi Slimane Tweets Back at Cathy Horyn's "Silly Nonsense"
the new york times

This Again: Hedi Slimane Responds to "Catty" Horyn's "Silly Nonsense"

Hedi Slimane batted back against Cathy Horyn on Twitter once again Wednesday night, responding to her comment that his reaction to her critique of Saint Laurent's Spring 2013 show was "silly nonsense."
by

Hedi Slimane batted back against Cathy Horyn on Twitter once again Wednesday night, responding to her comment that his reaction to her critique of Saint Laurent's Spring 2013 show was "silly nonsense."

"The perfect integrity of The NewYork Times, and its writers, is not precisely 'just silly nonsense,'" Slimane tweeted. He continued, "What is a 'silly nonsense' to me is Catty [sic] Horyn still singing her tired bias tune for the nyt. This is an embarrassment for the newspaper."

The volleys started Monday, when Horyn wrote a post about Slimane's debut show for Saint Laurent (to which she wasn't invited), calling it "a nice but frozen vision of a bohemian chick at the Chateau Marmont. . . . Mr. Slimane's clothes lacked a new fashion spirit."

Slimane responded with an open letter Tuesday, calling Horyn "a schoolyard bully and also a little bit of a stand-up comedian." The letter continued to say that she would never be invited to a Saint Laurent show. Horyn told WWD on Wednesday that the war of words was "just silly nonsense to me."

Photo courtesy of Yves Saint Laurent.

Karl Lagerfeld Explains Chanel Hula Hoop Bag
Chanel

Chanel's Hula Hoop Explained, Alexa Chung's Book, and Insiders' Big Breaks

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.
by



Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

  • Remember the hula hoop bag from Chanel's Spring 2013 show? "It's for the beach," Karl Lagerfeld says. "You need space for the beach towel, huh? And then you can put it into the sand and hang things on it, and things like that." [Styleite]

  • Alexa Chung is writing a book that will be released in September 2013. We wonder if it'll debut during Fashion Week? [Vogue UK]

  • Cathy Horyn has responded to an open letter from Hedi Slimane, in which the designer called her a "schoolyard bully" for her critique of his debut at Saint Laurent. "It's just silly nonsense to me," she says. [WWD]

  • Fashion Week founder Fern Mallis got her first job in the industry by winning a contest at Mademoiselle magazine. "I was the guest editor. I won that contest, and that really started the whole ball rolling," she said. [Teen Vogue]

  • Victoria's Secret has asked Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Bruno Mars to perform at the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. [Jezebel]
Hedi Slimane Responds to Cathy Horyn's Saint Laurent Post
Oscar De La Renta

Hedi Slimane Responds to Cathy Horyn's Saint Laurent Critique

Hedi Slimane has added his name to the short list of designers to respond publicly to Cathy Horyn's criticism of their work this season.
by



Hedi Slimane has added his name to the short list of designers to respond publicly to Cathy Horyn's criticism of their work this season.

Slimane, who showed his Spring 2013 collection for Saint Laurent in Paris on Monday night, tweeted a message titled "My Own Times." The text read in part:

"Miss Horyn is a schoolyard bully and also a little bit of a stand-up comedian. Insiders argue she is an average writer, and a bit provincial, but I disagree, she did some great things. Her biggest achievement so far is a book about Bill Blass, that I haven't read. It might be terrific, and I'll be happy to recommend it, if it helps the sales. . . As far as I'm concerned, she will never get a seat at Saint Laurent, but might get two for one at Dior. She should rejoice. I don't mind critics, but they have to come from a fashion critic, not a publicist in disguise. I am quite mesmerized she did get away with it for so many years."

Horyn was not invited to the Saint Laurent show on Sunday and pointed that out in a post about the collection. She explained her exclusion thus:

"Despite positive reviews of his early YSL and Dior collections, as well as a profile, Mr. Slimane objected bitterly to a review I wrote in 2004 — not about him but Raf Simons. Essentially I wrote that without Mr. Simons's template of slim tailoring and street casting, there would not have been a Hedi Slimane — just as there would never have been a Raf Simons without Helmut Lang. Fashion develops a bit like a genetic line."

Oscar de la Renta took out a full-page ad in WWD to respond to Horyn calling him a "hot dog" in her critique of his Spring 2013 show. In it, the designer asked Horyn, "If you have the right to call me a hot dog why do I not have the right to call you a stale 3-day old hamburger?" Horyn later told us that she was trying to compliment de la Renta "as someone showing off his tricks, like a surfer."

A look at the full text of Slimane's tweet, below.

Saint Laurent Spring 2013 Runway (Video)
Fashion Flash

Saint Laurent's Rocker-Cool Spring '13 Collection Makes Us Feel Almost Famous

For his first collection for Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane fused the label's signature high-end sensibility with a modern, more wearable aesthetic.
by

For his first collection for Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane fused the label's signature high-end sensibility with a modern, more wearable aesthetic. The collection was decidedly reminiscent of the '60s and '70s and had an Almost Famous vibe that we're head over heels about. Billowy chiffon tie-neck blouses, pin-thin trousers, floaty capes, and wide-brimmed hats were major components of the collection — adding to an already amazing lineup of rocker-chic, boy-meets-girl pieces that we can see being sported by the Kates (Moss, Bosworth, and Hudson), as well as us come Spring 2013. Click now to watch the runway show in full.

Saint Laurent Spring 2013 | Runway
fashion week

Saint Laurent Spring 2013

Hedi Slimane's much-anticipated debut collection for Saint Laurent was heavy on '70s rock and roll glamour, tinged with a little bit of darkness.
by
Saint Laurent Spring 2013 | Runway

Hedi Slimane's much-anticipated debut collection for Saint Laurent was heavy on '70s rock and roll glamour, tinged with a little bit of darkness. Or, to be more accurate, a lot of darkness: most of the clothes the house's new creative director sent down the runway were black. And while the show contained veiled references to Yves Saint Laurent's work (a strong-shouldered take on Le Smoking, for example, was the first thing to come down the runway, and there were lots of tiered, sheer lace dresses, wide-brimmed hats, and even allusions to the safari-style clothing the founder called Saharienne), by and large, this collection was an exercise in Slimane doing things his way.

Take for example the slim tailored suiting and skinny trousers, hallmarks of Slimane's days designing menswear for Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. Then there were the references to his adopted home in California and its music scene. In suede fringe jackets, loopy bow ties, and generous fur coats, some of the models looked like they'd just performed at a concert and were getting back into their limos, ready to be whisked back to their hotels.

Speaking of concerts, the show was held in a darkened room and opened with the lights turning up — much the same way musicians are revealed on stage. And after a selection of the solid black looks, Slimane closed the show with sleek evening gowns in pale blue, red, teal, and a variety of other colors. It was, literally and figuratively, a bright way to end Slimane's first show for the brand.

Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013 Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013 Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013 Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013 Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013 Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013 Saint Laurent Paris Spring 2013
View 69 Photos
Saint Laurent Spring 2013 | Pictures
fashion week

Saint Laurent Spring 2013

As one of the most anticipated shows of the season — with a modified name, restructured logo, and, oh yeah, designer Hedi Slimane at the helm — it would be fair to say that Saint Laurent Spring '13 had some high expectations to live up to.
by

As one of the most anticipated shows of the season — with a modified name, restructured logo, and, oh yeah, designer Hedi Slimane at the helm — it would be fair to say that Saint Laurent Spring '13 had some high expectations to live up to. Of course, it took all of half a second for us to remember why we've held Slimane in such high esteem since his days at Dior Homme. The proof was in his careful crafting and reverence to the label's legendary silhouettes, as much as it could be seen in his interpretation of Parisian-chic through an LA rock 'n' roll lens. The colorful evening caftan gowns were accented with long tassled necklaces and flowy capes, ultratailored silhouettes (we're taking superslim-cut trousers paired with and blazers) took on a more bohemian vibe via wide-brimmed floppy fedoras and loosely adorned bows, and the recognizable safari-chic dresses from seasons past came complete with sexy lace-up fronts and were finished with touches of Western-inspired fringe. From start to finish, there was an overwhelming sense of "cool" that couldn't be shaken — nor would you want to shake it — and while this debut collection from Slimane didn't override older notions of the iconic brand entirely, it certainly took aspects of Saint Laurent's past in a new, youthful direction.

  • Trends: Slimmer-than-slim silhouettes, dramatic large floppy hats, embellishments of every kind (fringe, studs, sheer panels, tassels, bows, etc.), the caftan, and tailored blazers.
  • Colors: Black, white, tan, brown, taupe, merlot red, and metallic gold — with a parade of red, blue, and purple at the show's end.
  • Key Piece: The caftan-meets-ruffled color evening gowns — especially in that deep burgundy hue.
  • Accessories: The essential platform pump, wide-brimmed hats, long tasseled necklaces, and floor-skimming capes.
  • Who Should Wear It: Front-row attendees Kate Moss and Jessica Chastain will definitely do the collection justice. Moreover, we think Slimane's newly installed brand of bohemian cool has Nicole Richie and Rachel Zoe written all over it.
View 70 Photos
Hedi Slimane's First Ad For Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent

Hedi Slimane's First YSL Ad Is Here

Judging by this just-released Saint Laurent ad — the first to be photographed by Hedi Slimane in his new role as creative director — we may be in for one wild rock 'n' roll ride on Oct.
by



Judging by this just-released Saint Laurent ad — the first to be photographed by Hedi Slimane in his new role as creative director — we may be in for one wild rock 'n' roll ride on Oct. 1, when he debuts his first runway collection for the brand. The ad, which is just the first of 15 campaign images, appears in this month's issue of Vogue Hommes Japan and features a black and white image of tattooed rocker Christopher Owens reclining on a velvet pillow. His shirtless torso, bare arms, and long mane of hair are facing the camera, and on the opposite page, in black typeface on a solid white background, is the new Saint Laurent Paris logo.