Faggoting: Italian Designer Revives French Elegance for Men who Won’t Notice

Faggoting*: Weekly observations on fashion from someone who knows better.

ELEGANCE IS A WORD used all too often and has overextended it’s potency into something banal and boring. People cite elegant Hollywood glamor, but when was the last time any celebrity looked truly elegant? Not in any candid tabloid photo and certainly not with a bronze tan and a over designed red carpet gown dripping with Harry Winston bling. When I hear someone or something described as being elegant I cringe as I see the cited example reeking of desperation clinging on to the last drop of subversion and poetry that still exists in our popular culture. This is when you hear people talk about Audrey, or Natalie Portman, or whatever thin brunette who hasn’t made totally awful movies. I’m almost ready to declare elegance dead.

Almost…

To look to menswear for elegance is counter-intuitive but it is in the most unexpected places that we find the last bastion of grace and civility. Enter Mr. Stefano Pilati. Since he took the reigns of YSL after Tom Ford vacated on ill terms with the PPR owned company he’s done much to recapture the energy and emotion that brought the house to the front of fashion. He’s done away with the mangled Frenchified Gucci that stood before and brought a vision unique to him and yet respectful to the essence of the late Yves Saint Laurent. In what was possibly the best menswear collection of the season (NY has yet to show their wares) Pilati showed how beautiful and sensitive a man could be and he did it without denying his strength or yours.

All the elements: historical allusion to the 1920’s, silk couture fabrics, an attenuated but relaxed silhouette, a dash of dashing masculinity developed into a look that looks both forward and back and draws the wearer into something genuinely new.
It’s no secret that Pilati possesses a prophetic eye and that eventually, at someone point, this new standard of elegance will do away with all the wingtip collars, peaked lapels, striped pink shirts, boot cut trousers, and gelled up faux-hawks that pass for men’s fashion. Until then I suggest to take a cue from this collection and begin planning for the future.

And what a treat, YSL went against the grain and commissioned a video starring John Huston to showcase their collection (for their second season). The video borders on tedious but allow yourself to indulge in Mr. Pilati’s world for full effect. — JEREMY L.

Photos from style.com.

*FAGGOTING: “A decorative stich used in sleaves, fronts of blouses and dresses. Attach two separate pieces of fabric together, leaving a little space in between.” -SINGER SEWING DICTIONARY

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