Hedi Slimane's plans to revampYves Saint Laurent has been the source of much controversy. While Karl Lagerfeld and Arizona Muse have supported the move, the announcement has, on the whole, been met with criticism. The designer has kept quiet about the controversy but recently decided to talk about the idea behind it in this month's Vanity Fair:
It is interesting to see how much reaction this retro branding has created ... Clearly, this period of the history of the house was not well-known, which I trust was a surprise for Pierre Bergé [Saint Laurent's long-term partner]. I went back to 1966 — just before the events of 1968 [when 11 million workers revolted against the conservative politics of then-President Charles de Gaulle — the biggest general strike in history], but the awakening of youth was in the air, and Yves Saint Laurent wanted to dissociate himself from the clientele of haute couture and embrace this new generation.
That rebellious spirit seems to be in line with Slimane's style and you can't deny that the decision was well-researched but the fact that people don't seem to remember this period is perhaps a sign?
That's the big question in publishing right now. Before we all complained about the prominence of actresses on the cover of fashion magazines but over the last two years reality stars have taken over. "If you look at what works for us, it's not the same stuff that used to work for us," Cindi Leive, American Glamour's editor-in-chief, told WWD recently.
And the numbers speak for themselves. Take US Glamour for example - in 2010 Lauren Conrad was their biggest selling cover and Kim Kardashian, who appeared on the most covers in 2011, had their best selling cover last year for their January issue. As part of their big revamp set to unveil in March, the magazine have confirmed that they intend to tap into this love of all things reality TV by giving it a big push in their editorial content.
The past few months have been pretty hard for US Vogue. As previously reported, the ad pages for their September issue have dropped by 36% from last year, with ELLE beating them in pages for the first time.
In light of these problems, recent reports claim that the magazine is quietly revamping. "Think a new circle of models, an influx of fresh, young photographers and a desire for 'unpredictability' in the stories."
