(Yves) Saint Laurent’s Hedi Slimane now reinvents ‘Haute Couture’

By approving orders on a case by case basis, Saint Laurent aims to offer something “more exclusive” than couture. In 2002, the late Yves Saint Laurent showed his last haute couture collection in Paris.

Saint Laurent’s two couture ateliers are located at the recently renovated Hôtel de Sénecterre in Paris.The building, originally constructed in 1685, is located at 24 Rue de l’Université in Paris’s Left Bank, about a mile and a half’s walking distance from Yves Saint Laurent’s last couture house, which houses a museum.

There are two couture ateliers in the new building (officially called the Hôtel de Sénecterre), one for dressmaking, and another for tailoring. According to an insider source cited by Fashionista.com, Saint Laurent has no plans to show at couture week in Paris in the near future. Slimane will decide which private clients may make orders “case by case,” which “the House believes… is more exclusive than Couture,” the source added.

In a press release, Saint Laurent said that the ateliers will also produce hand-made pieces for movie stars and musicians. Ever the involved manager, “Hedi determines which of these pieces will carry the atelier’s hand-sewn couture label ‘Yves Saint Laurent,'” the release also noted, and all orders will be kept by “strict record” in a gold monogram book. As with the rest of Saint Laurent’s brand, Slimane takes its re-entry into couture very seriously.

A branding confusion remains ever since the arrival of Hedi Slimane as Creative Director. Soon after his arrival he pushed for an aggressive re-branding of the house as SAINT LAURENT PARIS, dropping ”Yves”. Then, following a backlash by L’Oreal who licenses the highly lucrative YSL beauty business, some newly opened stores, designed by Hedi Slimane now carry both the SAINT LAURENT and the YSL logos. Even the main website of the fashion house has remained ysl.com

 

 

 

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