Dress

Stefano Pilati|Yves Saint Laurent

fall/winter 2005–6 · (a) wool, cotton, mother-of-pearl, metal, (b) cotton · Costume Institute

This long-sleeved version of a “little black dress” by Stefano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent features a choirboy collar and cinched waist, paired with a large cut-out heart in the front. The heart-shaped cut-out, reminiscent of the iconography of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, gives a sensual accent to an otherwise restrained silhouette inspired by Flemish paintings featuring Jansenist nuns. These nuns were part of a Catholic breakaway group which showed some affiliation to Protestantism in their doctrine, and who always wore crisp, perfectly pressed fabrics. Their attention to detail and fabric matches the designer Stefano Pilati’s perfectionism in textile design. The silhouette shows Pilati’s reverential approach to the heritage of the late Yves Saint Laurent, whose cut-out shapes and short black dresses championed the 1960s body aesthetic, paired with the more restrained, structured and ladylike silhouettes of the 1970s. Pilati’s designs for Saint Laurent (2004–2012) were discreet, ladylike silhouettes which echoed Yves Saint Laurent’s structured but feminine tailoring of the 1970s. In a Vogue review of his fall/winter 2005–6 collection, he stated: "We want self-respect; and not to show our wealth so much."

Artist

Stefano Pilati|Yves Saint Laurent

Date

fall/winter 2005–6

Medium

(a) wool, cotton, mother-of-pearl, metal, (b) cotton

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Purchase, The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation Inc. Gift, 2018