Stefano Pilati's Fall collection was edgy and dark, with leather gracing everything from tuxedo lapels, to tops, to trousers — which Stefano teamed with luxe fur trim, large prints, and cinched waists. Ladylike silhouettes like pencil skirts and shift dresses were made out of chain mail, toughening up traditionally feminine pieces — and of course, it wouldn't be a YSL runway without a Le Smoking jacket or two. After watching the show, read our editors' full review.
Stefano Pilati bid adieu to Yves Saint Laurent with a dark, sexy Fall 2012 in all moody iterations of womanly dress. There's both a sultry undercurrent and a definitive strength that runs throughout Pilati's finale. It's a give and take — boxier leather jackets and trousers, and sharp outerwear have as much of a place as slinky dresses and pencil skirts constructed in light-reflecting mesh. Even when Pilati zeroes in on more masculine construction, he never misses the mark of a woman — nearly every look is completed with a wide belt to accentuate the waist and plush fur accents are thrown effortlessly over shoulders. It's the kind of thing that — without being glaringly obvious — speaks to the power, the allure of a woman. It's not done up in bells and whistles, but you have a sense that it takes a certain kind of confidence to pull off the line's structured, streamlined white suit or ultralow necklines — and it's clear Pilati's florals are crafted for women, not girls.
>> If you've got to go, might as well do it with a bang. Or better yet, with an army of sharp-shouldered power women leading the charge.
For his last collection at Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati did just that. His coats, dresses, tops, and trousers were cut in strongly tailored '80s shapes — broad-topped, angular, and belted. Chainmail dresses, slinky jumpsuits, and asymmetrical furs felt darkly glam in dusky greens and inky blacks; and the house's Le Smoking was re-imagined in sharp swaths of silver or leather. It was tough, chic, and as confident as they come.
Pilati may be out, but he's not looking back.
