THINGS I LOVE vol.11

　

　

At the time, we met at Café Des Pres, which was across Meiji Dori and across from Laforet Harajuku, around 9 p.m. It was my first time meeting Eddie, but I wasn't too nervous, just curious to see what kind of person he was. I was wearing a Shanghai Bund cheongsam jacket and a Dolce & Gabbana leopard print hat. Fashion producer Yoshio Wakatsuki and Mizuyo Yoshida, who was working in PR at the time, were also present.
Speaking of Eddie at that time, he was dressed in a burgundy set and had a serious expression on his face for some reason. He started saying, ``I want to do a Saint Laurent Jeans fashion show in Harajuku in a few months,'' and was asked for his opinion. I told them two things: ``It would be better to bring models from Paris'' and ``Tokyo is at the most advanced level in the world when it comes to love and knowledge about jeans.'' A week later, I happened to meet Eddie again in Paris. The location is Salwagram. It was a party hosted by Sylvie Grumbach, and it was an event to give awards to designers. It was a rather old-fashioned and somewhat boring event, with big names such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler among the winners, but it was interesting to see that Jeremy Scott won the Newcomer of the Year award. I was in attendance with designer Koji Tateno and current WAG, Inc. Chairman Mie Ito, and about halfway through the party, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. When I turned around, Eddie was standing there smiling. Although he looked grumpy in Tokyo, he had a peaceful expression at that time. He found me in the large venue and came over to talk to me. For some reason, he suddenly seemed like a really nice person.

In the end, many young Europeans came to Japan as models for the Saint Laurent Jeans show, and even Takuya Kimura appeared on the actual runway. This unprecedented event was held at the now-defunct Jingumae Studio. For several days before the show, buses wrapped with large portraits of Yves Saint Laurent, photographed by Jeanlou Sieff, ran along Meiji-dori. I think this advertisement was stimulating to a generation that didn't know what Saint Laurent was.
Eddie's Tokyo event was a great success. The excitement around this collection was considerable, and there is no doubt that it gave a strong impression of Eddie's presence in the industry. Since then, my friendship with Eddie has deepened. When I went to Paris Fashion Week, I saw Yves Saint Laurent, which I hadn't checked out before. I also included a Rive Gauche show in my schedule and went to see it. However, Eddie will be leaving Saint Laurent this next season. I think it was in 1999. The image of the models in gold five-pocket jeans and white shirts at the finale of the last show is still etched in my mind.

The reason for Eddie to leave Yves Saint Laurent was the acquisition of Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford, who had led the successful rebranding of Gucci. At the time, there was an atmosphere of extreme pessimism about the acquisition in the Parisian fashion industry. Along with Eddie's departure, Alber Elbaz also stepped down as women's director. There was no positive atmosphere of ``the beginning of a new era for Yves Saint Laurent'' or ``the start of rebranding,'' and Tom Ford was at an overwhelming disadvantage. Meanwhile, Eddie became the creative director of Christian Dior's men's brand Dior Homme at LVMH. Buoyed by the mood of the Parisian industry, which had a cold attitude toward American Tom Ford, Eddie suddenly became a new Parisian hero. Even I, who had no ties to Europe or America, could sense that kind of atmosphere, so I think the pressure on those people was enormous.

Just before Dior Homme's debut collection, I interviewed Eddie for the magazine ``MR High Fashion'' where I was working at the time. ``What kind of clothes do you make?'' I insensitively asked a difficult question to answer before the presentation, and Eddie took me to Christian Dior's store on Avenue Montaigne and told the tailor there, ``Make this person's suit.'' Even though I thought, ``What! That's not what I meant when I heard it,'' I felt like I was in a dream, thinking that this was something amazing. Then, in an instant, Eddie was gone, disappearing like the wind.
Two days later, Eddie's debut collection was held. At the venue, Yves Saint Laurent, Mick Jagger, Catherine Deneuve, Karl Lagerfeld, David Bowie, John Galliano, and many more were in attendance. The beauty of the slim white blouse worn by the beautiful model was overwhelming, and while it was reminiscent of the previous Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, it also defined the Dior Homme style.

One day, about two months after I returned to Tokyo, I received a phone call from Christian Dior's Japanese PR. ``A package addressed to Yuma-san has arrived.'' Since I don't usually do much work on women's clothing, I didn't have any interaction with PR people. The person on the other end of the phone was like, "Why are you receiving packages from Eddie?" At first I was wondering what he was talking about, but as we were talking, I realized, ``Oh! That's it. It must be the suit that was measured at Avenue Montaigne!'' and I replied, ``I'll come pick it up right away.'' ...However, on my way to the showroom, I was hit by a five-seater (originally four-seater) young man's car that ignored a right-turn signal and crashed into me head-on, and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance from the scene. The pickup was left behind. While being carried away in an ambulance, I used my cell phone to contact Dior PR and the editorial department of MR High Fashion. As the siren wailed, he announced, ``I'm going to be rushed to the hospital, so I can't go,'' which was so stupid that I'll never forget it.

A few days later, I safely picked up the suit at the Dior showroom. Reminding me of the debut collection I saw at Paris Fashion Week, I jumped a little and said, ``It's exactly like that.'' When I actually tried it on, I found that the minimalist, structured silhouette created by the tight and stiff texture of the fabric was amazing. While checking it in the mirror, I heard a voice say, "Yo!" Then, when I paired it with the white blouse I had already bought in Paris, I thought, ``This is it! This is Hedi Slimane's Dior Homme!'' Indeed, I was convinced that this was exactly the kind of clothing that would suit the streets of Paris.

(Continues from VOL.12)

■Tomoki Yuma (@stsukezane）
Born in Kyoto City in 1965. Started his career as an editor in the editorial department of Magazine House ``POPEYE''. Currently, in addition to planning and styling fashion pages for magazines, she also designs advertising costumes for artists and musicians. Before the coronavirus, he covered men's collections in Paris and Milan for over 35 years.

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