Having set a precedent for using multimedia visuals in place of a standard catwalk at the previous Yves Saint Laurent menswear collections, this season Stefano Pilati expanded on what is fast becoming his trademark.
Complementing the androgyny of the Spring/Summer '09 collection, which saw Pilati reinterpret traditionally feminine materials such as silk and crepe de chine, he created seven short films, each exploring different notions of masculinity. Arranged in seven panels (with the considerate addition of benches for a crowd that had spent the last fortnight on their feet), the films told the story of androgyny in all its guises.
'I want to push the barriers and challenge people,' explained Pilati of his choice of theme for the collection. This was aided by the manifesto, which quoted Plato's Symposium by Aristophanes thus: 'The original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman and the union of the two, of which the name survives but nothing else.'
As with the Autumn/Winter '08 video, Pilati enlisted the help of young UK film directors Sarah Chatfield and Chris Sweeney to turn his vision into a reality. And what of the reality? Once again, with both the collection and the experience of viewing it, Pilati's proved why he�s the man at the fore of the fashion crowd. 'When you design a show, they look good visually but you can never achieve all the inspiration that goes into the collection,' Pilati explained.
