Yves St Laurent suits

[fatherseanfan]

What's the verdict on them? Bad, decent, great, fused, canvassed?

 

[LabelKing]

Only the YSL Rive Gauche suits are worth the money. I think they are made by Zegna.

 

[VMan]

Yes, the YSL Rive Gauche suits are decent, and fully canvassed I believe.

The other YSL lines - Pour Homme, etc - are simply licenced garments, and quality is pretty low. I have seen, however, some older YSL licenced items at thrift stores, made in France, with decent cuts and fabrics.

Side note - I am wearing a pair of YSL Rive Gauche laceups right now, and they are great. Sleek, comfortable, and elegant. Quality is good as well.

 

[Jovan]

It's a shame similar French clothier Pierre Cardin isn't making a good product anymore.

 

[LabelKing]

Originally Posted by Jovan

It's a shame similar French clothier Pierre Cardin isn't making a good product anymore.
He is apparently planning a comeback although like Issac Mizhari he did produce a private haute couture line in addition to the mass dross.

 

[aybojs]

Last time I went into a YSL boutique (last summer), all the Rive Gauche suits I saw were fused. I originally thought they were all canvassed, as they had been during previous visits, but apparently this isn't the case anymore.

 

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by VersaceMan

The other YSL lines - Pour Homme, etc - are simply licenced garments, and quality is pretty low. I have seen, however, some older YSL licenced items at thrift stores, made in France, with decent cuts and fabrics.
I used to buy the YSL licensed lines and I liked them. They were a good value for money in sales shop (I could get a suit for around 350 euros), middle-of-the-line quality, fused. They dropped all the licenses as part of the restructuring of the brand in the PPR/Gucci group, so you should normally find only YSL Rive Gauche nowadays.

 

[RJman]

My early morning taxi rides home often take me by Cardin's shop, which is in an elegant, kenpollock-worthy part of Paris. I cannot imagine anyone buying anything from the shop, however. It looks badly maintained and cheaply decorated, with shapeless, cheap-looking garments, both for men and for women, on the mannequins. Even the mannequins look lonely and dispirited. I am not certain if the items sold in his flagship boutique are any better made than those sold all over the world in grottier stores. The shop must exist solely as a loss leader for the prestige value of a Paris address. I believe Cardin may still do couture. Recently there appear to have been a spate of books out about Pierre -- the next time Labelkinbote is in Paris, he will have to stop by La Hune to see this for himself. Most refer to his vision. Cardin had vision, all right -- he is probably the richest designer ever, albeit his money has been gained from licensing his name for everything from formal wear to toilets to socks-and-calculator Christmas gift sets to furniture. It is surprising now to realize that he was hailed as a visionary in the 1960s and 1970s, and that he was enormously influential in creating men's fashion as we know it. Certainly, the French cut of a suit -- angular and columnar -- now means something very different from what it did pre-Cardin. However, what he has done may, on the whole, have harmed men's style by revealing that a brand may be more powerful, in the end, than quality,or even dignity (in the case of the Chiottes-Cardin).

I no longer see what vision Cardin has left. His couture appears dated, and the organic shapes he appears so much to love in his couture and his famous villa now make people look like punctuation marks or ladybugs. I don't know any major stores offhand that would touch his menswear with a stick -- perhaps Macy's, still, but they are not distinguished from the Geoffrey Beene, Oscar de la Renta and other licensed names inspired by what Cardin started. He owns Maxim's, which like him has been rather naff for years now, and has opened branches in cities around the world, from Mexico City to Beijing, as well as launching a very expensive line of Maxim's-branded delicacies (hot chocolate, coffee, cookies) which no one appears to buy and which seem destined for duty-free shops and Marshall's food aisle. He also opened a very, very expensive hotel, the Residence Maxim's, and I wonder how good it is and how it stays open. One recent book offers a Cardin timeline from strength to strength and celebrates in recent years the opening of boutiques and presentation of runway shows in cities like Budapest and Beijing. Is that a good thing? One would think that even in countries new to the capitalist markets, Cardin's opprobrium would have followed him.

 

[Duveen]

Great post, RJ.

For the group - is the cut of YSL Rive Gauche still fairly slim/modern? Any sources for the older YSL Rive Gauche stuff? A quick search of the 'Bay turned up next to nothing.

 

[RJman]

Stefano Pilati is designing the YSL Rive Gauche mens and it should be slim cut-- my impression is Slimane light.

Interesting side note [Sade note?] for the Labelroyalty out there -- from Wikipedia, "[Pierre] Cardin owns the ruins of the castle in Lacoste, Vaucluse that was formerly inhabitated by the Marquis de Sade. He has partially renovated the site and regularly organizes theatre festivals there." Theatre festivals, eh?

He and I have the same birthday, along with Ringo Starr, Doc Severinson, and Joseph-Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard loom... Jessica Hahn...

 

[rach2jlc]

In 1999-2000 or thereabouts, Slimane designed there and the items were cut SMALL and very much like his early Dior collections (i.e. black and white, slim, somewhat androgynous, etc.)

Most of the Rive Gauche items from then were made in France and the quality was very nice with prices to match (I had a pair of black silk pants from one of these collections that looked like something from the 23rd century and the retail was like $650 or something absurd. Luckily, I found it on sale but then realized I'd never in a million years find an occassion ((Star Trek convention or Vogue Fashion Party aside)) when I could wear them.)

Gucci bought YSL in 2001 and installed Tom Ford to design (Slimane, of course, went to Dior). Production moved to Gucci's Italian facilities; suits to Zegna (who also makes Gucci suits). I've only seen canvassed ones, but the earlier poster reported seeing fused ones also. I assume, like Gucci, there are probably a few "levels" of suit. But, the Tom Ford cuts were fairly slim, but were cut more 70's like and sexy... sort of like his Gucci suits but with a slight French twist.

Pilati started after Tom Ford left in 2004. He's doing a really great job, I think. Production is still in Gucci's facilities (after all, they're still owned by Gucci) and the cut is fairly similar to Tom Ford's. It's fairly slim, but I don't think you would need to "size up" in order to fit it, like you would with Dior or Balenciaga. If you are a 38R in general (48EU), then buy the 48 YSL.

Also, RJman, I've seen the Cardin store you mentioned earlier in your great post! I had the SAME impression as you when I saw it...

John

 

[whoopee]

I have a couple YSL suits/jackets. Very good quality for a designer suit, fully canvassed. Pilati is indeed doing an excellent job. His collections have consistently been wearable standouts.

 

[Holdfast]

As a follow-up to to RJMan's musings re Maxim's profitability... an interesting recent (last week) article I read on Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060621...festylefashion

Today his empire, which he owns alone, is said to have an annual turnover of some six billion euros (7.5 billion dollars), and in 2005 Challenge magazine ranked him 59th among France's wealthiest people with a personal fortune of some 500 million euros.

But some reports have said parts of his empire, notably the restaurants and theatres, have slipped into the red.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by Holdfast

As a follow-up to to RJMan's musings re Maxim's profitability...
I believe the magazine's profits could pull the whole empire...

 

[Jovan]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

He is apparently planning a comeback although like Issac Mizhari he did produce a private haute couture line in addition to the mass dross.
Hrm. All I've seen in recent years are the dreck lined with polyester at JC Penney.