February 28, 2012 |
FROM THE VAULT (WINTER / SPRING 2012)
Love, exciting and new / Come aboard, we’re expecting you / Love, life’s sweetest reward / Let it flow, it floats back to you / Love Boat soon will be making another run / The Love Boat promises something for everyone / Set a course for adventure / Your mind on a new romance / And love won’t hurt anymore / It’s an open smile on a friendly shore / It’s love / Welcome aboard / It’s love!
Where others, when flipping through the images of the Yves Saint Laurent cruise collection might see subtle references to both Yves’s original 1971 collection – the poppy prints, red and black colour palette – and his 1982 collection, which had this rather nautical theme, we see an homage to one of Aaron Spelling’s finest creations, The Love Boat. Hence its theme tune above. If you wanted to, you could substitute the word “love” with “Yves Saint Laurent” and it would work just as well. Even record it, so that when you watch a slideshow of the show online you can have background music and it feels as if you were there. In fact, it would probably help you to understand how we came to this Love Boat thing. The Love Boat originally ran 1977-1986. So, while, admittedly, it can’t have had any influence on the 1971 collection, the theme of that collection can be seen in the main female leads’ masculine suiting. By 1982, however, it was a television phenomenon and Yves was a huge fan. Well, we like to think so. Probably not. But that’s besides the point. Sometimes things just infiltrate your consciousness and you have no idea why. It would explain the nautical theme. Now, if you’ve ever seen The Love Boat (if you haven’t, YouTube it now), you’ll know that the clothes here are nothing like what the main characters wore. The main characters played roles of “staff”. Yves Saint Laurent is not “staff”. Staff wear uniforms. That’s how they are distinguished from passengers. Having your barman serve you a mai tai in the same blue and white striped anchor jacket as you would be rather unnerving. No, this is strictly fabulous passenger, or “cruiser” attire. A little literal, a little over the top, a touch kitsch. Well, when else can you dress in head-to-toe anchor and maillot motif if not when setting sail on the seven seas? This is a cruise collection. You are on a cruise ship. Sometimes being too literal just works.
by Natalie Dembinska
