Who would have thought that the coolest party in Paris Fashion Week would be thrown by Zara, but that’s what happened Thursday evening at the launch of its collab’ with Stefano Pilati.

Truly a testament to the enormous respect in which is held Pilati, often regarded by fashionistas as the best dressed man in the industry. Hence before anyone checked out the collection, they first surveyed Stefano. For the record, he was attired in a voluminous black frack over billowing gray trousers; white shirt with cuffs turned up and a signature silk stock.
 
Though the presentation was in a dark chiaroscuro set, Pilati also wore diabolic wee shades, one suspects not unrelated to a recent night of clubbing in Berlin, where he resides.

Kate Moss showed up as did Giselle Bundchen, Lila Moss, Iris Law, Romeo Beckham, Rianne van Rompaey, Fabien Baron, Mario Sorrenti, Pat McGrath, Guido Palau, Luca Guadagnino, Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele, Charlotte Stockdale, Julia Nobis and Pierpaolo Piccioli – no less.
 
The co-ed collection itself was spot-on, worn on models strolling along the guests and clearly loving the clothes.
 
For girls some brilliantly draped black crepe dresses; faux fur rock goddess coats; laced up vixen leather boots – all recalled Stefano’s glory days at the house of Saint Laurent. 
 
For guys, gray bankers but cut for rockstars with swagger, or some big bold cabans and peacoats. Volume with élan.
 
Zara honcho Marta Ortega Pérez and Stefano Pilati hosted the champagne cocktail to fete the launch of what is called Stefano Pilati x Zaracollection inside a former Treasury building on rue de la Banque. A once gloomy space, where ex pat writers would balefully write cheques for the income tax in years past, suddenly transformed into hipster central. 
 
Zara executives looked quietly ecstatic – speaking of the “universal ethos at the heart of Zara’s approach to fashion,” i.e. the championing great design – at an affordable price. 
 
After leaving YSL, Pilati has kept a low profile, living in a restored bus depot in the German capital. He did emerge in 2017 with a memorable avant garde collection presented in Pitti. But since then, his only other runway moment was as a model – in Pharrell Williams’ debut show at Vuitton on Pont Neuf.
 
Though when asked about his comeback, Pilati responded with a wry smile: “Comeback? I have moved ahead; it was the others who stayed behind.” Eh oui.
  
The Stefano Pilati x Zara collection debuts globally on October 3, alongside a campaign photographed in New York by Steven Meisel, featuring Stefano Pilati himself alongside supermodel Gisele Bündchen.