being let go from ysl was "beautiful"

making his first public comments since his final fashion show for yves saint laurent, stefano pilati spoke at the the french institute alliance française on tuesday evening.
he talked mostly about his career, from his move as a senior designer at prada & miu miu to his role at yves saint laurent, where he was hired by tom ford. there were no regrets, he said, and he could not even identify a low point working at YSL, even though his career was marked by several points of turbulence. (the name of his successor, hedi slimane, never came up.)
asked if designing for saint laurent was challenging, mr. pilati replied: "let's not go there. challenging is not the right word. it was dramatic. it was tragical." he went on to say: "tom has enough confidence for everybody around him, and i definitely got it from him. i question every single moment of my life, what i say, what i didn't say, so imagine someone who actually brings me there and gives me a lot of responsibility with an amazing relationship, it was interesting."
asked about his approach at saint laurent, mr. pilati said he was proud that he maintained his instinctive approach. "at least one thing i wanted to keep completely intact was the be spontaneous and instinctive," he said, "which is also what i think that mr. saint laurent taught us. i always went with the first ideas." and about the big question facing him now - what's next? - he said "i am pretty sure i have the energy and the knowledge at least to try to do something relevant, something that is part of what people need." he went on to say, "i started to work in fashion at a really early age, and somehow leaving saint laurent ended a chapter, a career i started almost 30 years ago," he said. "for some reason, i realized i haven't planned any move."
when asked how young people should approach working in fashion he said, "don't lose your passion, be true to yourself....go to work as soon as you can - do any job in fashion. no matter what. i've been a salesperson in a shop. i've been an assistant, a stylist, done internships....i knew that i wanted to work in fashion. that for me was the same thing, to be a fashion designer came up, but you have to try many things."