r.i.p. andrée putman

andrée putman in her paris office

doorhandles, hotel particulier, paris, 2003

bathroom of the morgan's hotel, new york, 1984

le concorde

bouches du rhône, lecture hall

ministère de l'éducation, paris, 2002

andrée putman, gap ad

azzedine alaia, boutique, paris, 1985-86

anne fontaine store, staircase

french interior & product designer andrée putman has died at the age of 87. 

she began working in the 1960s for the magazine l'oeil & les cahiers de elle. in the 1980s she was instrumental in rediscovering the work of designers eileen gray, mallet-stevens, pierre chareau, mariano fortuny, rene herbst, jean-michel frank & others, launching ecart international to manufacture these forgotten modern classics.

1984 she designed the interior for ian schrager's morgans hotel in new new york & is credited with designing the first "boutique hotel".  putman has designed the interior of shops for yves saint laurent, karl lagerfeld, theirry mugler, azzedine alaia, cartier, ebel and others. she has worked on projects ranging from movie sets for peter greenaway's pillow book to revamping the concorde interiors for air france.

gaspard ulliel = yves saint laurent

actor gaspard ulliel, current face of "bleu de chanel" has been cast to play yves saint laurent in an upcoming film focusing on saint laurent's heyday from the mid 1960s through his seminal russian collection in 1976.  shooting is slated to begin in late spring of 2013. oh la la. 

saint laurent paris

wwd is reporting that a spokeperson for yves saint laurent has confirmed a name change to the house.
the branding makeover is a look back to 1966 when the company first introduced its ready-to-wear under the name saint laurent rive gauche.  the full yves saint laurent name will continue to be used for institutional purposes and the logo will remain the same but the new name will be saint laurent paris.
the spokesperson said that the changes are "restoring the house to its truth, purity and essence - and taking it into a new era" while "respecting the original principles and ideals," according the wwd.

he loves us, he really loves us....

hedi slimane will stay in los angeles for his new gig at yves saint laurent. while ysl will keep its atelier & offices on avenue george V in paris, slimane will design, do fittings & show the collection in la la land. (he has been here since leaving dior homme in 2007). oh, hedi, swoon, could i love you any more?

ysl + hedi slimane

ysl announced that only buyers will be invited to see slimane's first 2 collections - women's resort & mens. the spokesperson told wwd that these collections are "transitional" and will be presented around the end of july or beginning of august. guess we will all have to wait until paris fall fashion week to see what slimane is up to!

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."

oh, hedi

at the denver art museum opening gala for the exhibtion,  yves saint laurent: the retrospective, yves saint laurent co-founder & saint laurent's longtime partner, pierre bergé had this to say about the brand's new creative director, hedi slimane:  "i am very, very happy today to have hedi slimane because he is a great fashion designer and he has a great talent, a huge talent. i like him, he is a friend and he worked for saint laurent a long time ago and he's a member of the family, of the YSL family. i'm very happy."

opium by yves saint laurent

opium by yves saint laurent featuring emily blunt.

he's back!!

ysl & ppr have confirmed that hedi slimane will replace stefano pilati as creative director for the house.
a statement from ysl said that slimane has "total creative responsibility for the brand image and all of its collections." can. not. wait. hedi's back!!

yves saint laurent - fall 2012 - paris

beautiful finale

farewell mr. pilati - can't wait to see where you go next! 

confirmed: stefano pilati out at ysl

wwd is reporting that stefano pilati is out at ysl & will present his final collection on march 5th.  pilati said "[i am] incredibly proud of what i have accomplished with my teams over the past decade at saint laurent....i exit the house with fierce conviction in all that we have achieved and deep gratitude to those who have supported me along the way...i wish the maison yves saint laurent and its new creative director the very best for the future."

there have been problems between ysl executive pierre bergé & pilati for years - even saint laurent expressed dissatisfaction with pilati saying "some of what he does is good. some of it not so good."

regardless, pilati managed to turn the house around especially with bags & shoes.  ppr chairmain françois-henri pinault added, "i join paul deneve & the house of saint laurent in thanking stefano for his dedication and contribution to the story of yves saint laurent. i personally wish him all the best."

i'm just so on the fence because i have such a huge fashion crush on both pilati & slimane. i am super excited for slimane to return to fashion AND design for women but i will always have a soft spot for stefano pilati.  just recently, a friend & i were having a discussion about how 2012 has been the year of changes & it definitely seems to be true.  

there has been no confirmation regarding slimane's return but i can't imagine this rumour not to be true.  

hedi slimane returning to ysl?

holy guacamole. so much happening!  raf simons leaves jil sanders. jil sanders returns to her label. & now the gossip is that hedi slimane will replace stefano pilati as creative director at ysl.
i love stefano but.....hedi back at ysl? yes. please!!  love, love, love him.
a "source" is reporting that the "contract has been signed by both parties."  a spokesman for the ppr group, which owns ysl, declined to comment. slimane started his career at ysl in 1996 leaving in 2001 for dior homme. he left dior homme in 2007 saying he wanted a chance to design for women. he has since focused on photography shooting music & fashion. (he fast become one of my favorites as anyone who reads my blog knows!)
time will tell......

ads - spring 2012 - 9

natasha poly photographed by willy vanderperre for jil sander eyewear, spring/summer 2012.

mariacarla boscono photographed by david sims for yves saint laurent, spring/summer 2012.

gisele bundchen & ryan barrett by mert alas & marcus piggott for versace, spring/summer 2012.

liya kebede photographed by jack pierson for bottega veneta, spring/summer 2012.

jacquelyn "jac" jablonski, lindsey wixson, ruby aldridge, benjamin eidem & josh beech photographed by terry richardson for just cavalli, spring/summer 2012.

frida gustavsson & lindsey wixson photographed by tim walker for mulberry, spring/summer 2012.

ads - spring 2012 - 6

anja rubik photographed by inez van lamsweerde & vinoodh matadin for balmain, spring/summer 2012.

arizona muse photographed by inez van lamsweerde & vinoodh matadin for isabel marant, spring/summer 2012.

alexander cunha photographed by jack pierson for bottega veneta, spring/summer 2012.

edita vilkeviciute for patrizia pepe, spring/summer 2012.

greg vawrat for gucci, spring/summer 2012.

aline weber photographed by karim sadli for zuhair murad, spring/summer 2012.

bette franke, maud franzen, fei fei sun, zuzanna bijoch & clément chabernaud photographed by deborah turbeville for valentino, spring/summer 2012.

baptiste radufe photographed by david sims for yves saint laurent, spring/summer 2012.