Fashion knows no age limit at Saint Laurent. Kate Moss sat next to Catherine Deneuve on the last night of Paris Fashion Week, both in black suits, transparent shirts and high heels. Pedro Almodóvar and Rossy de Palma smiled for the camera, while Hailey Bieber and Charli XCX wore sunglasses.
The silhouette of Saint Laurent’s daywear this season was an inverted triangle, with wide shoulders narrowing to fitted skirts and transparent leggings. Evening wear was upside down, with tight sweaters and lush ball gowns. The colors were the same as the gemstones on cocktail rings: emeralds, sapphires, rubies and garnets.
And, of course, there was leopard print, printed on silk shirts with a silicone sheen. Models, with slicked-back hair, crystal jewellery shards, hands casually tucked into pockets – no such mundane thing as a handbag here – exuded a transcendental Parisian chic, strolling in stilettos to the sounds of Nina Simone.
Designer Anthony Vaccarello said before the show that he wanted the looks to be simple, without embellishment or decoration. “The simplicity of the silhouette – as if drawn with a few pencil strokes – defines the Saint Laurent ideal.”
Under Vaccarello, Saint Laurent has looked beyond fashion. Not content to be one of the leading names in fashion, the company has ambitions to become a cultural powerhouse. The show was moved from its usual opening time at Paris Fashion Week to the end to avoid a conflict with the Academy Awards, as Saint Laurent Productions is now a full-fledged film studio that produced Emilia Pérez, a multiple Oscar nominee.
Midway through awards season, the fate of Emilia Peréz was affected by the revelation of racist tweets from star Karla Sofia Gascón, but that didn’t stop Saint Laurent, which is also producing Paolo Sorrentino’s new film Parthenope. Saint Laurent sees film as a platform to extend its cool image beyond style to the wider cultural realm, with Vaccarello recreating Yves Saint Laurent’s famous 1966 Le Smoking tuxedo jacket for actress Celeste Dalla Porta to wear on screen. A Saint Laurent-backed project with director Jim Jarmusch is also in the works.
Saint Laurent’s cultural ambitions are also reflected in the ambitious renovation of its Paris flagship store in partnership with the Judd Foundation, which promotes the work of the late American artist Donald Judd. The Paris store sells furniture designed by Judd, displayed alongside Saint Laurent evening gowns and handbags, while Judd’s woodcuts and prints are exhibited upstairs. The brand has also branched out into the restaurant industry, opening a Parisian outpost of Sushi Park in Los Angeles.