September 26, 2024 |
In August, Stefano Pilati wiped his Instagram, swiping the slate clean and starting anew with a retrospective look at his career to date – charting his stellar eight-year tenure as the creative director of YSL (years before it became Saint Laurent). Important fashion history and a clue, perhaps, that the Italian designer was cooking something up?
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Pilati would be back behind the wheel designing for another brand once again – he launched his own hot, Berlin-based label Random Identities back in 2018 – this time, a one-off capsule for Zara.
Launching October 3, the collection unknowingly culminated a decade ago. “I got to know Marta almost 10 years ago and we kept in touch all these years, until we had a desire to do something together,” the designer tells 10 on his relationship with Inditex chair (Zara’s parent company) Marta Ortega. “Then, it happened.”
Initially starting as solely menswear, Pilati’s design prowess quickly expanded into a parallel womenswear too, though he sees it all as one. “The brief was to do 16 menswear looks, my take on my personal style in fashion,” he says. “It was a menswear capsule that was me, the way I dress, what I wear, what I like.” If you’ve ever peeped at Pilati’s Instagram (before it was wiped) or picked up an issue of 10, you’ll know he pairs ‘menswear’ and ‘womenswear’ with aplomb – doing away with gendered dressing. “I would have loved it if everything could have been mixed, I don’t understand why people are still using different sides for menswear and womenswear… I feel we have moved on.”
So, other than queues out of the door, what can the shopper expect? Pilati’s tailoring – his bailiwick – is louche for him and for her, paired with silk shirts or slender scarves. There are leather dresses and kilts, oversized faux chubbies and strings of pouches doubling as a necklace and unintentional snack holders. Plenty for the traditional buyer – chic eveningwear and office-appropriate shirts and cardis – as well as colour-block trousers, a grommeted jacket, and a dramatic cape for the more adventurous dresser.
Simple enough, it’s clothes you want to wear that can easily blend into the wardrobe you already have. “I wanted to do something that is daytime, but could also be for a cocktail or the evening,” the designer says. “Or maybe it’s dinner with friends or at somebody’s house. I like the idea that it can adapt to the situation.”
And don’t forget the shoes – “50 per cent of the silhouette,” the designer states – from over-the-knee lace-up boots and heels to comfy patent loafers. “You can have an amazing dress with the wrong shoe, you look like crap or you can have a shitty dress with a fantastic shoe and you look great.” Write that one down!
With a powerhouse designing the clothes, the accompanying campaign obviously needed the same gravitas – enlisting Gisele Bündchen and Steven Meisel to join the action. Classic black-and-white portraits capture the designer and supermodel looking like the hottest married couple (bisexual panic!) on the planet, while each takes a turn modelling the menswear and womenswear collection solo. It’s one of a handful of highlights, Pilati shares, from working on the collaboration. “I’m very curious about how it’s going to be received,” he says. “I can’t wait to wear it.” All of it, he promises.
Now that the design legend has flexed his muscles a little, will we be seeing him add more to his already impressive CV? “Possibly,” he teases. “Random Identities has a very precise mission – affordable clothes for a younger generation – but approaching design in a way that is more luxury, I’m thinking about it.”
With the current creative director moves – Chanel is still yet to announce its replacement for Virginie Viard – it’s news that will excite his fans (this writer included!). Maybe those Instagram posts were a hint after all… “Stay tuned,” he concludes.
Photography by Steven Meisel.
