If Hedi Slimane gave Saint Laurent’s Parisian babe a distinctly rock ‘n’ roll makeover, Anthony Vaccarello is now catapulting the brand into even more rarified air: the stratosphere of the street style celebrity. At his Fall/Winter 2017 show, miniature construction projects masquerading as dresses were marched down the runway.
The materials used in the construction could have been stolen from Lenny Kravitz’s bag of tricks: leather, vinyl and enough crystals to outshine anybody else in the room. It’s no secret that Monsieur Saint Laurent liked his women to have all the attention on offer. It’s a disposition Vaccarello can identify with — he did, after all, arrest eyeballs many seasons ago by sending model Anja Rubik down the ramp in a slit that shot well above her pelvic bone.
Are there enough souls bold enough to fulfil Vaccarello’s vision of womenswear off the runway? Maybe not, but wouldn’t that be a wonderful world to live in.