YVES SAINT LAURENT X BARNEY'S

Amber and I ventured out for the presentation of  Yves Saint Laurent's  'New Vintage' collection yesterday evening at Barney's. Among the guests was the designer himself, Stefano Pilati, as well as Julie Gilhart from Barney's, Joe Zee of Elle, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, daughter of Carine Roitfeld, the French Vogue Editor-in-Chief, and Olivier Zahm of Purple Magazine. There's been a lot of buzz and concern lately about how to respond to the need for more eco-friendly and sustainable fashion. In a recent panel discussion I attended at the Cooper Hewitt Museam, Designer, Rogan, and Scott from Loomstate spoke about their use of less toxic printing methods, utilizing organic fibers and emphasized building relationships with factories that promise safe and ethical work environments. But what I found to be most relevant was the concept of 'slow fashion,' essentially shopping less in an attempt to control the overproduction of the apparel industry. The main perpetrators of this being brands such as H&M, constantly refilling store floors and feeding consumers need to keep up with ever changing trends.  This notion of 'slow fashion' (a term which Rogan jokingly accused of not sounding very 'sexy') forces us to reckon with the idea of buying only the items that we really love and will wear over the span of many seasons, lessening the waste of clothing we toss after only a few wears. Pilato approached the topic by designing a capsule collection utilizing rolls of cotton drill he found in YSL's fabric archive. When I arrived an hour into the presentation, more than half of the collection had already sold! Pilati showed bags and shoes in addition to apparel. Colors consisted of ivory, khaki, pink, and an array of blues and grey.

Notice the dip-dyed, lazer cut jeans...!!!

One of the design details carried throughout much of the collection was lazer cutting. On this piece in particular, Pilati layered silver metallic fabric underneath to create a bit of sheen.

Killer Blazer

Cropped Jacket

Pilati (left) and Gilhart