Back in June, against the instantly recognisable backdrop of the New York City skyline, Anthony Vaccarello presented his first Saint Laurent menswear collection. The show was predominantly black, doused in glitter and embellishment, and generally left a lot to be desired, possibly highlighting Vaccarello’s inexperience with menswear. Yesterday at PFW, Vaccarello paraded his latest womenswear offering down a black liquid runway against the twinkling vista of the Eiffel Tower — the luminescent spectacle filling us with hope that this would be a lot more imaginative than his menswear debut.
Firstly, credit where credit is due. There’s no denying that over the past few seasons, Vaccarello has had to prove himself more than the average creative director. His predecessor, Hedi Slimane, did wonders for the Saint Laurent brand, totally overhauling its artistry and introducing a more luxe feel to the label. Slimane’s vision helped the brand make some of its biggest financial gains and re-established Saint Laurent as one of the worlds most prolific and important fashion houses. All things considered, it comes as no surprise then that Vacarello’s collections have often felt more like the handiwork of Slimane than his own creative masterpieces.
Images courtesy of Saint Laurent
For his SS19 collection, Vacerrello continued with his dark, vampish colour scheme: monochrome suiting, black skinny jeans and sultry, midnight ’60s shift dresses were commonplace throughout. Other Vacerrello flourishes included, fitted embellished suit jackets, long sheer dresses with bunched sleeves and hem-lines, complete with a bow detailing on the neck, as well as exquisite black sequinned shorts and playsuits in a series of styles and cuts. But the more interesting pieces were those that broke away from the monochrome motif and did something entirely different.
Bursts of unexpected colour punctuated the collection: a striped dress with a plunging neckline was detailed with red and white beading; a hint of a crimson shirt was just-visible beneath a grey sparkling mac. Elsewhere there were examples of bold anomalia in the form of sexy snakeskin shorts, leopard print dresses and fur coats. However, it was his liberal scattering of stars that stood out as the collection’s most spirited aspect. Adut Akech showcased a brilliant blue mini dress smattered with foil stars; Hiandra Martinez wore a black playsuit featuring stars in an array of bright, primary colours, and Binx Walton, arguably the star of the show, wore an embellished blue, red and green mini dress that twinkled under the glow of Paris’ most iconic landmark. As the lights went down, it was apparent that not only is the Saint Laurent women more powerful, provocative and fearless than ever, but that Vacarello is finally stepping out of Slimane’s shadow.
Images courtesy of Saint Laurent