Saint Laurent Launches Couture Collection - By Invite Only

If you thought Hedi Slimane's vision for the house of Saint Laurent couldn't get any cooler, he's just announced the label will be doing couture again. But not as we know it. Read on for the full insider story...

When Hedi Slimane took over at Yves Saint Laurent, we knew that things at the sexiest house in Paris were about to change. First there was the re-name - Saint Laurent Paris to you, now, thankyou.

And then there was the new logo (or lack of) - the minimalist new nomenclature was unleashed to howls of outrage and controversy soon after he joined.

But with sales at the house now soaring - business has rumoured to have doubled since Slimane was hired - and everyone who's anyone on the waiting list for one of his cult bags or studded boots, the Skinny-Jean-Wearing One is having the last laugh at critics.

And for his next move?

Hot off the press is the news that the house will be returning to couture, something not seen since the late Yves' final couture collection was shown in 2002, to the tears of socialites the world over and deafening applause from the industry.

Now however, Saint Laurent clients will once again be able to invest in a made-to-measure piece. But it won't be couture as we know it, mais non. With a rule-breaker like Slimane at the helm, we'd expect nothing less.

Instead of showing a collection as part of Couture Fashion Week, clients will be decided on a case-by-case basis, with orders being taken from 'friends of the house' only, a representative told us. So essentially, even more exclusive than couture - fashion's most exclusive inner sanctum. Yikes! Hedi, can we be friends?

The campaign for the collection was shot at the newly-renovated couture house, Hotel de Senecterre. A 17th century building on Rue de L'Universite in Paris' Saint Germain, it's been lovingly restored by Hedi himself over the last three years.

With no catwalk show to look forward to, feast your eyes on the campaign, (shown here), while we wait for the collection's first outing on the red carpet (or more likely, red-gig-stage - we all know how Hedi loves his musician muses).

Take a trip down fashion memory lane with a peak back at the last-ever couture looks designed by Yves Saint Laurent himself in our gallery above.