Daily Front Row

2012 October 2

Cathy Horyn on Saint Laurent: She Wasn't Invited, but She Didn't Like!

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Cathy Horyn
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Another day, another Cathy Horyn-related feud. Turns out that she joins the storied ranks of top eds who were not invited to witness Hedi Slimane's debut at Saint Laurent. While Saint Laurent has declined to comment on the snub, Horyn still reviews the collection. "I was not invited," she admits. "Despite positive reviews of his early YSL and Dior collections, as well as a profile, Mr. Slimane objected bitterly to a review I wrote in 2004 — not about him but Raf Simons." In fact, our Cathy raised the matter with PPR chef Francois-Henri Pinault, who expressed "dismay" but really, what could he do? Put Slimane in his place, so soon? Anyway, the review was rough: "...The collection was a nice but frozen vision of a bohemian chick at the Chateau Marmont. Or in St. Tropez. Mr. Slimane’s clothes lacked a new fashion spirit. Indeed, it was as though he refused to interpret the YSL style, beyond updating proportions. Even the colors seemed flat, suppressed," she writes. "Considering that Mr. Slimane was an avatar of youthful style, I expected more from this debut. I had the impression from the clothes of someone disconnected from fashion of the past several years. If so, that might be an interesting perspective. But there wasn’t something new to learn here."