Back in Fashion

Pilati was an exceptional student of fashion history. But when it came to his own creativity, he seemed to be more of a mimic than an original thinker.

"I think he's trying to find his way," says Susan Rolontz, executive vice president of the Tobe Report, a retail consultancy. "I don't think he has a signature or a grip on what the collection should really be."

Lost in Translation?

Pilati has tried his best to be the kind of sorcerer the fashion industry requires, turning up at high-profile events with a model dressed in YSL finery on his arm. Linda Evangelista wore one of his elaborately ruffled gowns to the gala that opened the "AngloMania" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last year. Julianne Moore presented an award to Pilati from Fashion Group International in fall 2006 wearing a pair of his heels that were so high she looked as though she was both en pointe and in pain. More recently, Moore wore one of Pilati's tuxedo mini-dresses to this year's Costume Institute gala at the Met. She was in constant danger of exposing a nipple.

"His clothes tend not to have red carpet appeal," says Hal Rubenstein, the fashion director of InStyle magazine. Pilati's clothes, Rubenstein says, typically are worn by actresses who might be considered cerebral: Moore, Cate Blanchett, Kristin Scott Thomas. "They are not going to get that big march down the red carpet. It's a much, much quieter look. The house has to figure out how to reach customers in a different way because they're not going to reach them from photos in Us Weekly."

There are two well-known ways to raise brands from the dead, as exemplified by Alber Elbaz's gentle elegance at Lanvin -- where he ultimately landed after his short, unsuccessful tenure at YSL -- and Karl Lagerfeld's jacket obsession at Chanel.

"Some people say Chanel would have had historical importance whatever happened to the house," Koda says. "But that's not true, based on the way fashion treats historical designers. If Chanel had continued without Karl, it would not have as vivid an iconography. The reason we think of her in such strong terms is not because of Chanel. Others were doing what she was doing. What made her memorable is another designer who deconstructed her and then reconstructed her in a different way."

"With Alber at Lanvin, he channeled the poetry of Lanvin," Koda says. "What he has done is really not about Lanvin per se, but something more conceptual."

Pilati began his tenure at YSL following the Lagerfeld/Chanel example. He took the company archive literally, drawing on history but failing to blow off the dust. Now, he has focused on the YSL poetry, on the rhythm and syntax of the house's language rather than the actual words.

Pilati reflected the spirit of the house in his choice of models for the fall show. Saint Laurent was known for celebrating black models and in a season when they were especially absent on the runways, Pilati, at least, had one.

"In the '70s, to have black models in Paris and Europe was sort of a message of having an open mind," Pilati says. "We were definitely less used to races crossing lines. It was definitely something coming from America."

Saint Laurent "was very sensitive to that. It was helping to add exoticism to the collection and to embrace the multicultural aspect of the work."

Why aren't there more black models working today? "To me, it is a matter of proportions and the bodies I choose. My fit model was a black model," he says. "When I wanted to translate what I put on her, it was a disaster. It would need 13 times more work in the atelier to modify it to put on a more Caucasian anatomy.