Master of the catwalks in the 90s and early 2000s, he signed off on the novelty of a new masculine fashion that had been buried by centuries of stagnation. Hedi Slimane swept it all away to give a radical evolution to the male silhouette, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Giorgio Armani in the 70s. This language with references to rock and UK chic mixed with the precision of a cut that espouses the bodies of wafer-thin men with a dark gaze was reused by a good number of other brands, bringing ready-to-wear to the streets and inventing the modern day Parisian. All the same, in this new Fall/Winter 2014 collection, Slimane distances himself with the over-hashed look that he designed to approach the refined elegance of a Saint Laurent suit. Imbued with nostalgia mixed with 50s rockabilly and 70s rock’n’roll, this virtuoso highlights men next to their female counterparts. A unisex vision of fashion anchored in perfection with attention given to present day notions of gender; the media is helping to fuel widespread fear of the changes at hand. He fully throws his lost heart into it all to bring young musicians from rock groups with little known names down the runway. In the face of critics waiting for a revolutionary look and expecting the revelation of an entirely new genre, there’s a widespread feeling of déjà vu. But how could you go wrong with anything made by an artist who’s style was undefined by his predecessors?
The brand intends to renovate itself and keep the DNA of its past all at the same time. It’s by releasing a new version of the Duffle Bag, created by Hedi Slimane in April 2012, inspired by one of his travel bags, that you can make out the novelty of a brand that’s in the process of a total overhaul. Indeed, the brand’s classic, furious elegance is marvelously paired with their new creative director’s style. A piece that has become one of Saint Laurent Paris’ signatures, the Duffle Bag is available in a men’s and a women’s version, keeping the androgyny that echoes in the ready-to-wear collections. Slimane plays with the weak points of a brand that boasts iconic garments but has been falling short on their marketing strategy as of late, most of which now focus on couture houses’ accessory lines. No surprise then that a good number of creative directors from the big fashion houses graduated from programs that focus specifically on the objects themselves. Louis Vuitton, like so many others, keeps the cogs turning with their dreamlike bags. Saint Laurent is entering the tournament all while keeping their sleek and pure aesthetic united with the power of the photographer-designer’s style. The zipper may be discreet, but the leather strap that dresses the right side of the object is reminiscent of the strap-belts on perfecto jackets that fit into the same grunge rock aesthetic. Available in a number of dark and neutral colors, the men’s version could easily be confused with the women’s version with their shared minimalist curves and rigid look that add up to a frame that’s right on the mark for the Saint Laurent silhouette.
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