One of the most long-and-well-established toasts of the schedule in Paris, Saint Laurent went ahead this season with generally the same Hedi Slimane founded formula, beautiful clothing on fashion bemused punk nymphettes with pallid skin. With Betty, Bergé and Catherine positioned as ever on the front row, the power three indeed had the best view of the bias-cut wonders in glittery flowing sequins that were worn with harsh leathers, furs and denim in a triumph of detached glamour.
The defiantly unmade-up faces were heavily on show nonetheless and pretty tiaras topped off the hardened looks, modelled to a tee by hard rock-ish icons of contemporary fashion including Lili Sumner, Staz Lindes and quite unexpectedly, Agyness Deyn, in her long-tressed return to the runway.
Boyish pop-culture nostalgia was less dwelled upon this season in favour of simply sexy clothing that included shiny animal prints with basic smoking jackets and even some gorgeously decadent furry pieces plucked from Slimane’s Saint Laurent Couture collection.
In its entirety the collection didn’t really diverge from the glamorous rebellion that all had a slight hint of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers about it. Elsewhere, elegance was evident and Slimane was actually pretty adept at harmonising this with his vision of YSL, presenting a smorgasboard of slinky silk bias cuts in long risk-taking gowns cut to the tip-top of the thigh.
One could even go as far as to say that the creative director has even carved out his own entirely maverick method of doing elegance, yes – albeit it niche’y on account of the nipple flaunting décolletages that ‘accidently’ fell well out of earshot of covering ones modesty, but if that’s what it takes to create a rousing modern reimaging of Laurent’s legacy, SS16 deserves a generous round of applause. Glass now finds itself getting more and more excited about what this marvellous maison’s future holds.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Saint Laurent Paris