Hedi Slimane is off in his own little world designing for the house formerly known as Yves Saint Laurent. While this is only his second collection for the line he promptly renamed Saint Laurent Paris (and then moved the design studio to Los Angeles…huh?), Slimane gave us ‘haute couture made grunge’ per Kristen Dunst who was one of the celebrities at the show. While his first collection for Saint Laurent was 70’s hippie rock chic, with wide brimmed floppy hats and flowy maxi skirts, this collection was quite the opposite. Fall/winter 2013 spoke to 1990’s Seattle grunge rather than the iconic motifs from the YSL collections of decades past. Think Courtney Love. The collection featured a plaid babydoll mini dress with a sweet Peter Pan collar, floral dresses with oversized boyfriend sweaters, lots of leather in biker jackets, mini skirts, slashed leggings. Many of the looks either were characterized by a jacket/grandpa sweater over a dress or  a loose bow detail at the collar.

Monsieur Saint Laurent was one to push the envelope but his collections always had a classic element to them. I’ll admit, there were some cool looks in the show, but none of it was reminiscent of the house of Yves Saint Laurent. It reminded me of a Marc Jacobs or Alexander McQueen punk/grunge collection. I understand the YSL brand wants to capture a younger customer but they can’t forget who has the spending power. This new direction they have taken is moving them further away from the elite category with the likes of Chanel and Dior.  In an effort to be different, Hedi Slimane did something that was not directional nor original. Sure all the cool LA girls will grab up the ripped leather leggings and oversized sweaters….but I’m pretty sure I can get all of that right now at Zara, ASOS, Topshop, etc, etc.

Images: Vogue