lip service; The new guy at YSL pays his respects to his predecessors, but is starting to earn his own.

Byline: Sally Singer

On the morning after his debut men's presentation for Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Stefano Pilati is in that peculiar state of ecstasy and awe produced only by the receipt of flowers from Mr. Saint Laurent himself. "It's all too much for me," says the 38-year-old Milanese as he collapses elegantly into a straw chair upholstered in velvet. It's nerve-racking enough to pick up the YSL baton for men's and women's, but to have been handed it by Tom Ford in acrimonious circumstances is enough to make any designer go wobbly at the knees.

Pilati's presentation has met with great acclaim from the daily fashion press, and Saint Laurent's business partner, Pierre Berge, has added a twist to the celebration by making disparaging remarks to the press about Ford by way of praising the new guy. Pilati is keeping cool. He was, after all, the man who helped make Ford's collections for YSL (both men's and women's). That tiered peasant skirt? His. Those Chinese shoulders? Pilati. (Ford's magic was editorial and visionary: He reconceived the brand, made it buzzy-and hired Pilati in the first place, entrusting him with the job of working on the clothes, which are only one part of creating a fashion image.)

"I want to get the feeling of Saint Laurent back in fashion-French, elegant, classy-and in the market," Pilati says. "Rive Gauche used to sell a lot. It was very directional in the sixties and seventies." To this end, his initial efforts for resort 2005 are very, very Saint Laurent: rope belts on neat safari jackets with pleat-front trousers in khaki and navy; slinky jersey dresses the color of crushed berries; the lip-and-heart-print on a peasanty chiffon frock or a snazzy blazer. "I am not trying to please [Berge and Saint Laurent]," he says, "but I want to respect them."

In Pilati's view, Yves was the "the most elegant designer ever" and "the most spontaneous." He credits Miuccia Prada, interestingly, with whom he worked for five years-first as a fabric researcher and then as designer for Miu ...