AS DAY transitioned into night, the return of Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent to the Eiffel Tower marked the ultimate homecoming of Paris Fashion Week. But, this idea of coming back to the familiar stretched further than the location as the spring-summer 2022 collection shone a light on one of Yves Saint Laurent’s dear friends, collaborators and muses – Paloma Picasso.
For the founder, her entrance into his life was a monumental one. One that shifted his perception of art as a whole, helping him blur the lines of traditional haute couture and proving that prescriptive good taste was a little on the boring side.
Pierre Bergé, co-founder of the brand vividly recalls a party all those years ago, “At one point, I no longer spot Yves. I look for him and find him with a young unknown girl. She had wedge heels, a turban on her head, and things she had tinkered into clothes. It was Paloma Picasso.”
It is from anecdotes, archival photos and the duos collaboration on jewellery, that current creative director Anthony Vaccarello decided to take this woman’s independent free spirit and interpret it once again for Saint Laurent. Therefore, it goes without saying this collection is an ode to seduction and liberation, an overall celebration of strong women who have helped shape this house.
“For a long time, I wanted to transpose this meeting between Paloma Picasso and Yves Saint Laurent, whose importance few realise in the designer’s creative journey” explains Vaccarello. “It is a moment to which I am sensitive as a designer, because for me it is the defining moment when Saint Laurent’s fashion creativity became a style”.
Bringing back this long-lost tough glamour into SS22, Vaccarello decided to design a new type of sexy. Previous seasons have had the less-is-more mentality thriving off exposing skin, shortening mini skirts and layering lace, but now masculine tailoring is at the forefront of the designs injecting serious attitude into the looks.
Boxy, fitted blazers constructed with shoulder pads hint at the 80s era immediately making the current trend of oversized jackets one to forget while austere lines punctuate the female form creating a beautiful juxtaposition between masculinity and femininity. Cobalt blues and Paloma reds are intertwined with classic blacks, bright oranges and touches of denim to create new bourgeois for the modern Parisian woman.
This new turn in the Saint Laurent aesthetic proves that femininity doesn’t have to be all about sensuality within exposing sexuality, it can be just as powerful in tailored long lengths and archival prints. The unapologetic attitude attributed to Picasso will be next season’s biggest and best trend. The time has come to grab your sunglasses, red lipstick and blazers ladies!
by Imogen Clark