Yves Saint Laurent has released it’s Spring Summer 2009 Manifesto, an initiative by Stefano Pilati, the House’s Creative Director. In contrast to the traditional glossy adverts, Pilati decided he wanted to communicate in a new, democratic way with customers and reach a wider demographic audience by getting down into the streets of the world’s major cities.
Pilati has always wanted to follow Mr Saint Laurent’s legacy in giving a democratic approach to luxury in the way the message is delivered and, in the same way as the latter decided to show at the Stade de France or be the first designer to use a black model, he also believe that the “Manifesto” is the next step to be taking.
The “Manifesto” is a twenty page booklet featuring the new, full and comprehensive images of the Yves Saint Laurent Spring Summer 09 Ad Campaign shot by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin with Claudia Schiffer. Over half a million copies of the Manifesto will be distributed on February 14, 2009 in the streets of Paris, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
These will be distributed in London from 11am on 14th February at the following locations: Bond Street, Knightsbridge, High Street Kensington and Covent Garden.
This is the fourth edition of the Manifesto. The first edition, featuring the Fall Winter 07/08 campaign with Giselle Bundchen was distributed during SS08 Fashion week in New York, London, Milan and Paris and was announced by chalk tags across the city. The second Manifesto featuring the Spring Summer 08 campaign with Kate Moss was distributed in New York, London, Milan, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong between February and April 2008 and also featured a “pop up gallery” of the images in the Dray Walk gallery off Brick Lane. The third edition was again distributed in the same cities on September, 6 2008 inside a Limited Edition Collector bag which vanished in a couple of hours.
The success of these previous editions have spurred Stefano to continue with this unique project and building upon the idea of seasonal collectors items, a custom USB key uploaded with the Manifesto video and images and a new cotton tote bag designed by Pilati will be distributed with the Manifesto to the first 2,000 passerby in each city. The USB key introduces the possibility of viral information channels and enhances the democratic foundation of the Manifesto’s message. The Manifesto itself has been reconsidered in a playful way to allow individuals to interact with it via removable stickers and a centrefold poster.
The Manifesto images and a short behind-the-scenes video will debut exclusively on www.ysl.com on the same say, February 14, 2009.
Image: Manifesto Tote
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