September 29, 2022 |
Anthony Vaccarello explored the idea of enveloping the body from head to toe but because this is Saint Laurent, even a covered body must exude sensuality.
He started by looking at the striking, stretchy tube dresses that Martha Graham’s company wore for a 1930 production of Lamentation and then mined the YSL archive for looks that both covered and celebrated the body. He found that in Mr Saint Laurent’s hooded ‘’capuche’ pieces that rocked the runway in the mid-eighties.
And so the mood was set. He built a huge fully functioning fountain and flagged courtyard for his set and then unleashed his impossibly chic Saint Laurent girls onto the stage.
Almost every model wore a long, lean, knit-jersey tube dress. Some were semi-sheer, showing the shadow of the body beneath. Others were opaque, but they all followed the same extreme silhouette. Some dresses came with hoods, which recalled the sinuous Grace Jones as May Day in A View to a Kill.
It was supposed to be a summer collection but these languid, slinky dresses came in an array of sophisticated autumnal shades – mustard, ginger, aubergine, olive and navy. They were worn tone on tone, with floor-length masculine trench coats in buttery leather or wool – their wide, exaggerated shoulders contrasting with the soft, sinuous gowns beneath. Save for a few short leather blousons, the designer’s commitment to his long, lean line was absolute and mesmerising. The silhouettes exuded power and sensuality – two qualities that belong at Saint Laurent more than any other house.
Photography courtesy of Saint Laurent
