September 27, 2017 |
Against a smoky runway built on the capital’s famous Fontaine du Trocadero, and in view of the sparkly lights of the Eiffel Tower, Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello just reignited Paris fashion with a series of shapes that will come to dominate much of the season ahead. Vaccarello’s sense of design and feel for nightclub-black shot through a collection of day, disco and evening looks, which incorporated details of past Couture silhouettes of Yves Saint Laurent’s most potent shows, as well as new ones.
Safari pockets came on micro-dresses in gold daubed fabrics and for those hot summer city nights, peasant blouses teamed with khaki leather frilled shorts were worn with gigantic feather-trim spikes and enormous earrings. His talented atelier resurrected the Victorian skill of faggoting, where intricate embroideries are brought together, to create beautiful doily-like sections and, in turn, delicate blouses.
Similar blouses in lace looked like the bride’s wedding lingerie; naughty and saucy and elegant all at the same time. A new take on Le Smoking got a gasp from serious YSL fans: a super-fitted tux jacket and long lace and leather mix pants were belted. Vaccarello’s girl – like Yves’ before him – just ripped up the Paris rulebook.
Said Anthony Vaccarello of his Saint Laurent new “dark angel” – “she has a sensual allure and drapes herself in black-sequined dresses, shining like the asphalt after the rain.” The final section of eveningwear was mind-blowing: a never ending series of bold and electric shapes. A ring of fabric, rounded like a bulbous circle, tilted up at the front to become a skirt or one shoulder on a dress; and a skirt shaped like a jelly mould came in undulating black leather. One red leather dress was dotted with gold rivets; the skirt was short with two arch-shaped cut-outs at the front; more Alexis Colby than Alexis Colby. Paris rocks!
Photographs by Jason Lloyd Evans
