With his numerous borrowings from the male, blue collar wardrobe, he irrefutably earned his work a social dimension. Saint Laurent is style beyond fashion. In 1978, he showed his concept to journalist John Helpern: “What I want to make is a perfect type – a type of perfect garment, even if it’s a simple blouse or a pair of pants, and to encourage woman to construct around them. From season to season, I always vary my style around the same base prototypes, in a way that a woman will never have to constantly change their wardrobe.” With these perfect types burst forth the apparent paradox of a talent who is a self-proclaimedly classical and revolutionary. That’s the meaning of this little quip launched in 1973 by the couturier: “For me, avant-garde is classicism.” [1] And what could be more classic than a wide-brimmed sunhat? Already in the Belle Epoque era, Miguel Zamacoïs was letting out a sigh, half-annoyed, half-amused, fallen prey at the theater to one of the immense headpieces that the elegant of his day couldn’t get enough of: “The hat was so pretty That kept me from seeing the play!”
The sunhat was made of straw in the 18th century, but branched out into other materials by the 20th century to become what we know it as today. Its forms and the way it’s worn have evolved through the eras, but this hat has always been a safe bet for elegant women, as soon as the first rays of sun come out for the season.The hat, throughout time, has known various fortunes. Born, like other headwear, not only from the necessity to protect oneself from the cold, the rain, or the sun, but also from the desire to embellish or distinguish oneself, it was little used in ancient times and the Middle Ages, at least until the 12th century.In France, women wore wimple hats, hooded veils worn both in and outside the dwelling, almost exclusively up until the Renaissance. The few exceptions still confirmed the rule, for representatives of the female sex, of only borrowing “real” hats from their companion for hunting and traveling. This rule remained in effect until the end of the 18th century when, after shepherd hats for garden walks, more hats started to blossom, announcing a new fashion. In the 19th century, the female hat finally got what it deserved! The decline of the wig led to a growth in the variety of hat styles, with extravagance being the keyword. Synonymous with elegance, the hat was to the outfit what the stone was to the crowning of an edifice – the finishing touch. The details of their creation was left to the stylists. The extravagances of their height, width, and ornamentation didn’t come free, for its privileged place at the top of the silhouette allowed it to elongate lines, compensate for volumes, satisfy the demands of decorative art, and even the architecture of the time. The bonds between haute couture and hats go back to Worth and his collaboration with Madame Virot in the 1890s. Virot worked closely with the couturier but interpreted his ideas in her own way. A good stylist was able to interpret the spirit of a collection without sacrificing their own creativity. Even though their contribution wasn’t officially recognized, all those who were part of the closed off world of Parisian fashion knew which stylists had created the models that went with the collection presented by a couturier. This tradition has only perpetuated itself: note the 1993 collaboration between Prudence Millinery and Tom Ford for the Saint Laurent Rive Gauche men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections at Yves Saint Laurent.
Back to the sunhat… The postwar period was a splendid one for hats.In that time of femininity and extreme refinement, it was the essential complement to any and every outfit, and the elegant changed into different ones many times per day to adapt to any circumstance. For their part, designers competed for the imagination to vary the forms of these little Parisian rooftops. Starting in 1947, to balance the long and wide New Look skirts, circles, ovals, and rectangles reappeared, falling slightly oblique to the top part of the cap. Yves Saint Laurent followed the trend and started designing elegant sunhats in the 50s for his little Paper Dolls. Just like the peacoat, “le smoking”, or the safari jacket, the sunhat is a timeless piece in the Yves Saint Laurent wardrobe. Let’s not forget the series made by photographer Franco Rubartelli that immortalized the sculptural Veruschka in a laced plunge-neck safari jacket, with a sunhat topping off her insubordinate, conquering allure. Ever since, Yves Saint Laurent’s descendants have continued to ceaselessly reinterpret the sunhat using their own stylistic dictionary. “Isn’t elegance totally forgetting what you’re wearing?” asked Yves Saint Laurent. The sunhat as Yves interpreted it brings a touch of sophisticated nonchalance to a Bohemian or 70s rock allure. In the Stefano Pilati era, the headdress became more cerebral. Pilati, obsessed by the line, gave the sunhat a super pure allure, confining it to austerity. During the Fall/Winter 2010-2011 runway, the Yves Saint Laurent took not the veil but the sunhat. Black dominated, and the Italian put the sunhat on sensible little black dresses and other stark getups. It was far from the gaudy porno chic of the Tom Ford years. Often black, sometimes in see-through plastic, the sunhat oscillated, just like Pilati’s style, between monastic rigor and a futuristic allure. Half-obscuring the face, it gives a mysterious aura… Prude or erotic?
The arrival of Hedi Slimane at the head of the brand, marks a return to its roots. Yves Saint Laurent said “I created for my time and I try to anticipate for tomorrow.” Slimane creates for tomorrow by taking inspiration from yesterday all while taking care to break the rules today. The sunhat accompanies the key pieces in Yves Saint Laurent’s DNA, the chiffon blouse, the gypsy dress, “le smoking”, and the safari jacket, transformed into an evening dress. Say goodbye to Pilati’s religious ambiance; the Yves Saint Laurent woman has a rendezvous with the night…
[1] In Catalogue from the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, Grand Palais, 2010, article by Florence Müller.
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