Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent was a designer who not only flou-ed with the best of them, he was the best of them. And in the ever fascinating way that Anthony Vaccarello continues to intuit the raison d’etre of the house—dress women, do it chicly, and sometimes bring a somewhat (and very YSL) eroticized edge to the proceedings—he has alighted (no pun intended) on the intricate delicacy of Saint Laurent from the past. That means the house’s use of lace, and lingerie, and a certain languorous silhouette scented with the heady bouquet of the 1920s and 1930s.
To make them work in 2024, Vaccarello has thought in terms of oppositions—the weighty with the gossamer light, the substantial over the soft, and transparency contrasted with toughness. Vaccarello’s fall rests, then, in some part on its rugged iteration of outerwear. There were plenty of great weathered leather coats, blousons, and belted utility jackets here, some with a big shouldered swagger, or punctuated with gleaming biker snaps and zippers.
There were also, it’s worth noting, two absolutely to die for le smokings, particularly the one suit whose tux jacket was faced with lace. Yet more lace turned up in the form of a peignoir-like trench coat. But essentially the drama was wrung out of the power of contrast—and what lies beneath those statement-y top layers.
.. You’re familiar, no doubt, with the winter 2024 collection, which caused a bit of a stir.
It was built on sheer stocking dressing, with fake fur.