ANDY WARHOL COURTESY OF CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES ©2014 THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, INC./ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK
PAPER DOLLS The increasingly mainstream direction of high fashion, as depicted by Andy Warhol in ‘‘Fashion Figure,’’ circa 1963.
Sign of the Times
Straightforward, commercial clothes used to be the antithesis of high fashion. Now, they are the benchmark. BY CATHY HORYN
IN THE SUMMER OF 1965, after several lackluster seasons, Yves Saint Laurent took a major step forward. Not only did he introduce his famous Mondrian shift, he also showed baby-doll dresses with wide collars and sashes. With their patent-leather shoes and hair bows, the models looked like little girls, Gloria Emerson wrote in The Times. Nonetheless, she called the collection ‘‘the brightest, freshest and best he has ever done.’’ The eagle-eyed Emerson also raved about the small jackets worn with studded belts: ‘‘Saint Laurent has probably never come face to face with a real Rocker, but his big belts seem reminiscent of the ones they wear.’’ At 29, Saint Laurent had finally caught the winds of the ’60s. But the youthful mood didn’t last. Before long he was paying extravagant homage to
gypsies and Russian peasants — not the freewheeling girls on the Left Bank. His clothes never again had the erotic sweetness of those lollipop dresses. That is, until Hedi Slimane revived them at Saint Laurent. His are not so sweet, but that is not the point. Slimane located the moment when the brand was truly cool, the years between 1965 and 1968. His predecessors at Saint Laurent tended to look at the whole YSL career, going for the key moments. Slimane, though, has largely confined his view to a single window. Then, adding a dark gloss of California rocker angst, he has kept his message stunningly simple — to the point where his clothes, while clearly high in quality, have the attitude of a trendy street label. It’s as though he refuses to strive for the standard goals of a luxury designer — to make modern,
September – October, 2014
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