Just weeks after his stellar menswear showing, Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent took to the runway to deliver the designer’s F/W 2023 womenswear collection. Embodying the classic Saint Laurent woman, Vaccarello distilled the essence of the brand’s style, crafting a collection based on several core ideas – precision, emotion, and reticence, while combining all this with his own contemporary, reconfigured codes.
Precise, sharp shoulders
Blazers, a Saint Laurent staple, featured a precise, sharp shoulder. While jackets were structured, they were paired with scarves, creating a sharp, yet flowing look. The structured jacket was juxtaposed with scarf created an ultimately feminine look, with the scarf merging with the bow of a blouse or extending down like a stole.
Emotion – menswear codes inverted for womenswear
In the same vein as his menswear show inverted codes of womenswear to craft his menswear collection, Vaccarello inverted menswear codes to create a collection for women. Emotion finds its way into the collection through the effective dissolution of gendered exclusivity. Classic menswear forms – a blazer, as well as a leather bomber, and a sharply cut tank top, were seamlessly incorporated into the Saint Laurent woman’s wardrobe. But it wasn’t just the silhouettes and forms that were inverted, like with his menswear collection, Vaccarello inverted classic motifs that are traditionally associated with menswear and tailoring – pinstripes, tartans, glen plaids, and injected them with a striking lightness to form a new take on femininity.
Reticence through fabric
The alternating interplay between transparent and opaque finds itself through recurring pieces of chiffon, crepe-de-chine, and sheer stockings. The quintessential Saint Laurent woman chooses when she wants to expose herself, and when she prefers to cover up.
The combination of these elements creates key looks from the collection. A confident blazer is paired with a slim pencil skirt and timeless, elegant looks were achieved by combining refined details with luxurious materials.
Vaccarello was inspired by the ballroom of Paris’ Intercontinental Hotel where the house presented its Haute Couture collections between 1975 and 2011 as his inspiration. Just as he inverted traditional menswear codes and made them relevant to womenswear, the designer took references from the 70s to the earlier ought’s and made them relevant to today. Bronze chandeliers and the uniquely shaped runway were inserted into a radical, contemporary black box which served as the setting of the show.
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