Yves Saint Laurent hasn’t produced an Haute Couture collection since 2002, yet that hasn’t discouraged their seasoned creative director Hedi Slimane, responsible for the label’s contemporary overhaul, who began to recompose the traditional couture ateliers of the House of Yves Saint Laurent in 2012, and the ateliers have remained a central focus of Slimane’s Saint Laurent ‘project’ or vision since then.

Essentially, the Ateliers produce specially commissioned handmade pieces for a select clientele, with Slimane approving or denying prospective clients and determining which of these pieces will carry the atelier’s hand-sewn couture label ‘Yves Saint Laurent’, with each creation numbered for the Atelier’s record. Perhaps one of the most dynamic aspects of Saint Laurent’s new Haute Couture campaign is not just the collection but also the ornate surrounding environment of the campaign images.

Saint Laurent’s new couture campaign was shot in the Couture House of the late Yves Saint Laurent, which Slimane renovated extensively throughout the last three years, with the design following 18^th century design elements and architectural principles, and contemporary design elements incorporated – for example Slimane ordered the staircase to be finished in his signature black and white.