Scene setting: At the pharaonic construction site that is the new YSL headquarters at the Rue de Bellechasse, guests were ushered to the ‘cour’, where a black pyramid of benches was built under a tent. Unfortunately, it was exactly at that time that the Parisian skies opened and it started to pour with rain – even inside the tent. Combined with the cold lights and the white stones covered in plastic and metal scaffolding, the setting gave the show an unusually eerie atmosphere.
Mood board: In Anthony Vaccarello’s hands, the Saint Laurent woman is actually a girl who parties like it’s 2002. The shorter the hem, the happier she is. The shinier the dress, the more she will dance. She is not afraid to wear ruched knee-high boots over black jeans or a nipple-flashing blue vinyl minidress. While rhinestone embellished dresses recalled the partywear of noughties LA-starlets, squared shoulders and ruffled details also provided a dash of eighties nostalgia, all with a soupçon of Parisian bourgeoisie. After all, Saint Laurent is not French for nothing.
Best in show: Vaccarello explored Yves Saint Laurent’s ‘Saharienne’ collection through a series of tan leather and shearling looks (an unexpected colour for him). A fitted leather mini dress with an interior shearling detail made quite an impression, as did Vaccarello’s first menswear collection for the maison, a departure from Hedi Slimane’s take on masculine fashion and an exercise in understatement and precision.
