Stefano Pilati was born in Milan, Italy in 1965. He is an Italian fashion designer. He has been creative director at Yves Saint-Laurent since 2004.
Pilati was raised in Milan, where he grew up in a "family of stylish women". Inspired by his two sisters' fashion magazines, he created his first sketches for his sisters.
While Pilati was studying environmental design in Milan in the 1980s, he completed an internsip at Cerruti. He was later employed by an Italian velvet company before working for Armani between 1993 and 1995 as a menswear assistant. He joined the Prada Group in 1995, where he designed for Miu Miu's men's and women's collections. Pilati has also worked for Miu Miu. Pilati first joined YSL in March 2000 as women's design director, the second-in-command to then-creative director Tom Ford. In 2004, he was promoted to creative director with the apparent blessing of Yves Saint Laurent himself and former YSL head Pierre Berge, both of whom criticized Ford's designs. (Alexander McQueen had previously been considered for the position, but he turned down the job to concentrate on his signature collection.) Pilati's first designs were displayed in YSL's cruise and men's collections in June 2004, and his official international debut was the October 2004 Spring 2005 women's collection.