A Gilded Legacy at Saint Laurent

For Spring/Summer 2027, Anthony Vaccarello gilded Saint Laurent from head to toe, turning the house’s history into a gleaming procession of idols, icons and unmistakable Vaccarello-isms

There’s a story about Yves Saint Laurent that I love. You’ve heard it all before. At a point during his later years – addled by addictions, his brilliance dimmed – Saint Laurent was interviewed by the novelist Anthony Burgess, who asked for his view on women. He replied quietly, in faltering English. Burgess misunderstood and thought he said he saw them as dolls. Saint Laurent apologised and corrected him. “No – as idols.”

That was the immediate thought as the first of Anthony Vaccarello’s majestic models took to the lacquered black catwalk set across from a glittering golden Tour Eiffel (yes, that again). Likewise, they were clad, head to toe, in gold, each and every look – bar the ten black outfits as a closing statement, like shadows cast by their glittering predecessors. They each resembled an idol, their whole like a gilded iconostasis devoted to the worship of Yves Saint Laurent, old and indeed new. The forms of the clothes drew from the house antecedents, that distinct vocabulary of clothing anchored, forever, to the name Saint Laurent – sahariennes, blouses, trench coats and wrap skirts, the shapes that defined Yves Saint Laurent’s work and women. Here, they were truly idolised, alongside Vaccarello-isms, the distinct, swaggering proportions he brought to the house, Saint Laurent’s shoulders pushed out to capture imaginations within the attention-deficit 21st century and power the house to new global heights. 

As an obsessive observer of the past, I like to think, perhaps, that Vaccarello’s love and respect for the Saint Laurent archives – his deep knowledge, his instinctive feel for what may interest new generations drawn from that dusty past – may excite those fresh observers to dive into that history, to discover the greatness from which something new, and great, has been born. A legacy, rediscovered through another legacy – falling in love again. No one wants a knuckle-rapping education around luxury goods these days, but Vaccarello’s reanimation of the soul of Saint Laurent has been one of the most fascinating and successful brand reactivations in modern memory.

In contrast to the multifaceted output of the founder, what Vaccarello does so very well is to home in and define singular ideas – he’s done it throughout his tenure at Saint Laurent, single-story shows that compound a single notion, ad infinitum, until it convinces you it was of his invention. That obstinate conviction is something he undoubtedly shares with the house’s founder: he showed an entire collection bottomed with latex leggings, another entirely crafted from transparent, skin-tight stockinette material. “I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation,” Saint Laurent once said. “But with the perfection of my style.” There’s a similar mindset. Although Vaccarello leans towards the sensational. For Spring/Summer 2027, it was every nuance and permutation of gold, in gilt lamé or burnished, bubbling cloqué and brocade tipped in fur, in gilded guipure lace and molten metallic cotton and slithery, shining latex coated in gold leaf. It ensures these clothes will function as extraordinary objects later in their lives. Sensual, and sensational, indeed.

Here, though, they were like a gleaming mirage scintillating the eye. Vaccarello is a supreme image-maker. Saint Laurent was a crafter of clothes, but Vaccarello dreams up worlds. He’s fascinated with film – if anyone doubted that his work warranted that somewhat hackneyed descriptor of ‘cinematic’, they need only watch this fashion show, engineered for the hundreds attending, the thousands clustered outside and the many more watching online.

The end was a phalanx of black outfits, more greatest hits – of Saint Laurent and indeed Vaccarello, floating organza dresses and severe black velvet suits knotted with great taffeta bows and studded with crystal buttons, like medals of honour, or indeed service. Predecessors, antecedents, history, service. It would be remiss not to acknowledge the roiling rumours that this is Vaccarello’s final show for Saint Laurent – the designer himself sent a bouquet of flowers (chic) and a polite note to journalists who usually meet to preview the collection, to say he would rather not say too much, “and let you experience all its shades.” I wanted to say these clothes said it all, but in actual fact it was the entire show – far more than the sum of its parts – that exemplified Vaccarello’s powerful and resonant vision. Of fashion, sure, but more importantly of women. 

That’s Vaccarello’s own legacy at Saint Laurent. It’s formidable – in both the English and French translation.