Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/86796
rich sense of history attached to their respective brands, but they both bring their own energy and attitude to the labels. Both Raf Simons and Hedi Slimane have an appreciation for the the way women dress and the way they approach and appreciate fashion for years to come. That may sound like an overstatement, but Simons and Slimane have inherited these powerful positions at a moment when women, fashion—and the business of fashion—are experiencing seismic changes. Women want clothes that are beautifully made but can move in everyday life. Designers such as Slimane and Simons are finely tuned to the global culture of fashion and the vibe of the street, not having been formed in ivory tower-style ateliers. Instead, they are products of the commercial worlds of ready-to-wear and entertainment. Accordingly, they look beyond fashion for inspiration, drawing on the disciplines, sounds and aesthetics of contemporary music, industrial design and art. Their sense of technology and how it has revolutionized our visual world has shaped their style. And they design for both men and women, often cross- pollinating their ideas between the two wardrobes. For Simons and Slimane, their similarities as A look from the Christian Dior haute couture collection. creating ready-to-wear for YSL, Slimane will also redesign the YSL boutiques with a new Los Angeles-inspired concept and photograph the advertising campaigns himself. Image-making is no longer compartmentalized between skill sets— a designer of clothing can also be a designer of images. The legacy of designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior is that they didn't just design clothing, they created worlds that women could inhabit. Dior's world was one of Watteau-like colors, nature, sophistication and Parisian romance, while Saint Laurent's was one of sexual empowerment and multicultural awakening. Like Slimane, Simons has a sense of designers and the timing of their appointments are not a coincidence. Both have an appreciation for the rich sense of history attached to their respective brands, but they both bring their own energy and attitude to the labels. For Slimane, that means changing the Yves Saint Laurent brand name from YSL to Saint Laurent Paris, as the French refer to the brand as "Saint Laurent" and never say "YSL." For Simons, fusing history with modernity is the driving idea behind his approach to Dior. Recognizing that house's extremely architectural approach to constructing clothes, Simons wants to honor that precision but bring the attitude up to date. "We all know and we all perceive Christian Dior in a very specific way," Simons said in one interview. "In looking back, you really start to investigate how it's made. Finding myself in the house now, I discover many more things that I didn't see before—specific codes, gestures and attitudes. Dior was an extreme architectural designer." Their working styles have changed, too. Slimane has announced that he will work for the fabled Parisian brand from an atelier in Los Angeles. And why not? As YSL founder Pierre Bergé points out: "The creative studio is in a designer's head, it resides within the person. Hedi lives in Los Angeles. He should be left to do fashion in a city he likes." And if women are dressing to suit their dynamic, modern lifestyle, then designers must tune into their frequency. Slimane's present and future clients might not be society women who spend their days lunching at L'Avenue. Rather, they might be movie executives taking meetings at Café Gratitude or Silicon Valley entrepreneurs redefining the digital landscape. Just as women's roles have changed, so have designers'. In addition to modernity that will drive a new couture aesthetic—one that is very different than the idea we have harbored for so long about couture; this idea that it is a lost art, that it is clothing worn only by very rich women. In Simons' hands, couture will have an attitude again. And that is exciting. For his first Dior show, held at a private hotel particulier on Paris' Right Bank, Simons managed to weave in all of Dior's codes—color, romance, nature—without sacrificing his own design aesthetic. In the most dramatic gesture, he covered the walls of each salon in fresh orchids, irises, peonies and roses. Against this most romantic and extravagant backdrop he sent out the simplest silhouettes—first, a plain black pantsuit, beautifully cut in Dior's famous Bar Jacket shape; then, a series of gossamer tulle cocktail dresses with modern and historical embroideries. The coup of the collection, however, the real meeting of old and new, came in a series of strapless ball gowns that had been chopped off—literally—at the hips and paired with sleek, modern black pants. In a video interview he conducted after the show, Simons said that the gesture—pairing cut-off couture dresses with pants—changed the whole attitude of the brand. "It's a whole different dynamic and energy," Simons explained. "The girl can move, put her hands in the pockets. It doesn't become this kind of 'don't touch it, only look at it' situation. It's an attitude thing." Just as Dior's famous bell-shaped New Look skirt and structured Bar jacket spoke to the feminine, luxurious image women of the 1950s wanted to convey, Simons' and Slimane's sleek pantsuits and rigorous silhouettes evoke the hard- charging, complex lives of women today. When Slimane talks about his favorite Yves Saint Laurent silhouette, the tuxedo as portrayed by Helmut Newton in his famous 1975 Rue Aubriot photo, we think not of fragile, elusive couture clients, but of powerful women who are running the world—from Washington, D.C., to Wall Street. BH 82 BAL HARBOUR GETTY IMAGES