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It offered a taut, impeccably controlled silhouette that swept along and around the body from here to there, in the form of bow-collared blouses, pencil skirts and draped dresses to just below the knee, shapes that were the very definition of decorum, even if the transparency was not. All of this came in a beautiful palette ranging from taupe to caramel, olive, ochre, chocolate brown, vermilion and black. The accessories? Thin belts, burgundy patent leather or gold chain links; vernis wedge sandals with stiletto heel or ankle strap; stacked lucite bracelets; and, I suppose these would count as accessories here, fabulous marabou jackets with tassels that were often thrown casually over the arm while shrugged over the models’ bodies. Those tights even appeared as very Martha Graham headdresses.
However, let’s go back to the clothes for a minute. Sock fabric: It pulls, shreds, and scales a ton, so using it, to this extent, was clearly a way to showcase the exemplary craftsmanship of Saint Laurent’s ateliers, a challenge Vaccarello relished. But also, as he himself said, it was a collection destined to be ephemeral, fleeting, almost as fast as it takes to see how a match is lit and then the flame goes out. Yes, he agreed willingly, he saw the perversity in that; the idea of a designer, whose work is so charged with expectations of achieving big-name results, to focus on the pleasure of taking an idea that truly inspired him personally and putting it into practice. He already preempted any questions about how the runway collection could be marketed. “Don’t even ask me about the production, I can’t tell you,” he said with a soft laugh. For him to do a conventional fall show filled with outerwear was, he said, “very obvious and expected, but we’ll definitely have all that stuff to buy.”
For someone (i.e. me) who writes about shows from the point of view of what is supposedly designed to be worn, it presents an interesting challenge: how to cover a collection that, except for a few of the aforementioned pieces, and also some beautiful, soft and light pantsuits, is this really something that will practically only last until the morning? (If the models did not scale the pieces when entering them, they surely would do so when exiting them.) No doubt there will be a crack or two in the emperor’s new clothes, but you know, maybe that’s okay for a designer. To let loose once in a while and do something experimental, use his collection as a place to play.
It could be that Vaccarello’s instincts were right in doing so this season, when so many designers talk about reality, while their clothes seem to need a roadmap to find it and, indeed, how many of those clothes might ever intersect with our lives. . ? And all of this is certainly an indication of his level of confidence in his work for the house. Another thing this writer will say: I loved the collection, but I can imagine there will be other people who feel differently, especially considering the level of sheerness that exposes the breasts. However, Vaccarello is aware of the different opinions and is willing to accept them as well. “He’d rather people love him or hate him,” he said, “than feel nothing at all.”