Apple adds Yves Saint Laurent CEO to executive team

Who better to advise on design, marketing of wearable tech than a fashionista?

Apple has hired now-former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve to work on "special projects", according to a tweet from Bloomberg technology reporter Adam Satariano.

Apple hires former CEO of the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. Apple says he'll report to CEO Tim Cook on "special projects," not retail

— Adam Satariano (@satariano) July 2, 2013

"We're thrilled to welcome Paul Deneve to Apple," Apple told Satariano.

If you want to be a force in wearable computing – which Apple CEO Tim Cook recently called an "incredibly interesting" market that was "ripe for exploration" – who better to hire than a man who has spent his recent career in the fashion industry?

Interestingly, however, Deneve has not spent his entire career in the business of defining styles and selling fashion. Although he held positions not only at YSL but also at Courrèges, Nina Ricci, and Lanvin, he spent seven years during the 1990s at Apple in European sales and marketing.

Early Tuesday, YSL announced Deneve's departure, saying only that he was "leaving to pursue a career in the technology industry." Now, it appears that he'll be blending his fashion sense with the design sense of Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive and his team, and reporting directly to Cook.

Something interesting is brewing in Cupertino. It may be an elegant breakthrough, a melding of the practical and the beautiful, or it may be a self-indulgent stew of tony, trendy, techy, tawdry conspicuous consumption.

Place your bets in the Comments section. ®